 Ostensibly the purpose of this, according to Liu An, was to instruct his nephew, Emperor Wu of Han, in the proper ways to maintain the empire, unifying the people while allowing for their differences, which would prove much more effective than attempting to eliminate these differences or impose norms. There was likely another more personal purpose behind the text as well. In the mid to late second century BCE, the central Han government began moving away from an older model of imperial control in which vassal rulers were given independent control of distant states. These vassal kingdoms were generally handed out to family or those otherwise demonstratively loyal to the Han, such as Liu An, who was the uncle of the Emperor Wu. In the early days of the Han empire, such a political structure was necessary because of the inexperience of the Han court (or any political entity for that matter) in administering a vast and diverse empire. By the time of the Huainanzi’s construction, however, the Han had developed the experience, organizational structure, and centralized power to more directly administer the various regions. The central Han government began to take direct control of these regions, moving away from the older system of vassal rulership. Liu An, as one of these vassal rulers in the dying years of the practice, wanted to secure the practice in order to keep his position and lands. Thus the pluralistic argument of the Huainanzi was to a large extent also an argument to Emperor Wu for why he should leave the vassal kingdoms intact, rather than bringing them under the direct control of the Han.