Emperor Wu of Han

Emperor Wu of Han (156-87 BCE) was the seventh emperor of China's Han dynasty, reigning for 54 years, one of the longest and most consequential reigns in Chinese imperial history. He greatly expanded the territory of the Han Empire through military campaigns against the Xiongnu confederation and into Central Asia, Korea and southern China, and opened the trade routes later known as the Silk Road. Domestically he centralized imperial authority, established Confucianism as the state orthodoxy taught in an imperial academy, and reorganized the empire's finances, leaving a lasting imprint on the structure of Chinese government.