For centuries, the role of the Chinese emperor was strictly symbolic, being a sort of messenger with the spirits who governed nature or a legendary figure, until in 221 BC Ying Zheng unified China and proclaimed himself first “true” Chinese emperor.
After the end of his dynasty, which historians gave the name of dinastia Qintook over han dynasty, who had to face several problems. Religious and economic changes and numerous conflicts with neighboring countries or former allies were about to turn China upside down, problems that one of the longest-lived emperors of the classical era, Liu Che, who changed his name to Han Wudi.
This emperor ruled China from 141 BC until 87 BC and was characterized by political acumen, for his reforms in the agrarian and economic fields, for having consolidated its military power and for having undertaken a campaign of expansion that allowed the empire to subjugate Korea, Vietnam, southern Manchuria, eastern Uzbekistan and part of present-day Chinese Mongolia. He was also among the first emperors to decide to cover their dead with jade robes.
Beloved by his heirs for having changed the fortunes of China, Emperor Wudi was inspired by several other subsequent emperors, including Emperor Wu of the Zhou Dynasty, who ruled part of western China in one of the most complex historical periods of the Chinese empire, from 560 to 578 AD.
At the time, China was divided into different kingdoms, in constant struggle with each other, and various emperors tried to take control of the situation, also subjugating the barbarian and Turkic populations that were pressing at the borders.
In 1996, however, a team of archaeologists managed to find Emperor Wu’s tomb, proving that he himself belonged to a nomadic population, belonging to the Xianbei tribe. Since then her remains have been analyzed by experts, until recently a new group of experts first sequenced her DNA and then decided to make a facial reconstruction, starting from her skull. A technology that is used more and more often to give a face to the protagonists of the story.
The information thus obtained allowed scientists to discover that the emperor had brown eyes, dark hair and a probably darker complexion than modern Chinese. Furthermore, the bone structure of his face was more similar to that of the northern and eastern Chinese compared to the southern ones.
Died at 36, his DNA had several genes that subjected him to a greater risk of stroke and this information is in line with official historical descriptions, which describe him as a victim of aphasia, with drooping eyelids and an abnormal gait.
The results of this study were published on Current Biology, while as regards the fate of Emperor Wu he failed to re-establish control over the neighboring kingdoms. Unlike Han Wudi, he did not prove to be a good administrator and his illness probably marked his short reign.
On Apple AirPods with charging case via cable (second gen is one of today’s best sellers.