Emperor Gaozu of Han
Emperor Gaozu of Han (; 256 BCE – 1 June 195 BCE), born Liu Bang (劉邦), was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning from 202 – 195 BCE. He was one of the few dynasty founders in Chinese history who was born in a peasant family.
Government of the Han dynasty
The Han system of imperial government borrowed many of its core features from the regime established by the Qin dynasty. For example, Gaozu's Chancellor Xiao He (d. 193 BC) integrated much of the statutes of the Qin law code into the newly compiled Han law code. Yet Gaozu's establishment of central control over only a third of the empire—the other two-thirds of territory was controlled by semi-autonomous kingdoms—strayed from Qin's imperial model which gave the emperor direct control over all of China. However, a series of reforms eventually stripped away any vestiges of the kingdoms' independence. Han emperors thereafter enjoyed full and direct control over China, as had the first Qin emperor. The Han court's gradual move towards reestablishing central control can also be seen in its monetary policy. While the Qin regime installed a nationwide standard currency, the early Western Han regime oscillated between abolishing and legalizing private mints, commandery-level mints, and kingdom-level mints issuing various coins. In 113 BC the Han court finally established the central government's monopoly control over the issuance of a standard, nationwide currency.