Emperor Taizu of Later Zhou

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Emperor Taizu of the Later Zhou Dynasty 後周太祖 (904-954) was born as Guo Wei 郭威. Guo was a well-educated Chinese who served the Later Han Dynasty as Assistant Military Commissioner. He founded the Later Zhou Dynasty in 951.

[edit] Service under the Later Han

The Later Han Dynasty was founded by a Shatuo Turk by the name of Liu Zhiyuan, posthumously known as Gaozu of Later Han. Guo Wei was already familiar with life under the Shatuo Turks as he had lived under their rule since he was nineteen years old. He served as the Assitant Military Commissioner to the founder of the Later Han. However, when a teenager assumed the throne in 948, court intrigue enabled Guo to usurp the throne in a coup and declare himself the founding emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty on New Year’s Day in 951.

[edit] Reign

He was the first Han Chinese emperor in northern China since 923. His rule was able and he passed reforms that attempted to relieve pressures on China’s massive peasantry. Still, we will never know if he would have made an effective emperor because he died from an illness just three years into his reign in 954.

[edit] Reference

Mote, F.W. (1999). Imperial China (900-1800). Harvard University Press, 13-14. 

Preceded by Liu Chengyou (劉承祐) of the Later Han Dynasty

Emperor of Later Zhou Dynasty 951-954

Succeeded by Shizong of Later Zhou Chai Rong (柴榮)