Chao Cuo

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Chao Cuo was born in 200 BCE, the seventh year of Emperor Gaozu of Han, in Yingchuan Commandery, present-day Yuzhou in Henan. Historical sources record little about his family. It is known that during the controversy over reducing the feudal domains his father came from Yingchuan to remonstrate with him and eventually committed suicide by poison. As a young man Chao studied under Zhang Hui of Zhi, in present-day Jiyuan, Henan, learning the teachings of Shen Buhai and Shang Yang concerning administrative techniques, legal methods, and the relationship between names and responsibilities. Song Meng and Liu Dai of Luoyang studied under the same teacher. This Legalist training helped shape Chao's later direct, severe, and utilitarian style of statecraft.

During Emperor Wen's reign Chao became an Erudite's clerk at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices because of his literary ability. When the court sought men knowledgeable in the Book of Documents, the court sent Chao to Jinan to study with Fu Sheng, a former Qin Erudite. Fu Sheng was over ninety and spoke indistinctly, so his daughter relayed his words and Chao recorded and organized them. Chao returned from this study with knowledge of both Legalist administrative theory and the Confucian Book of Documents, making him one of the relatively unusual figures of Emperor Wen's court who combined the two traditions.

Emperor Wen's Reign: Rise to Prominence

After returning, Chao submitted memorials on government and was appointed attendant to the crown prince, later gate official and Erudite. While serving as Erudite, he submitted the Memorial Arguing That the Crown Prince Should Understand Administrative Techniques, maintaining that the heir apparent should understand both the “techniques” of Shen Buhai and Legalist law. Emperor Wen approved and appointed him steward of the crown prince. Chao was eloquent and skilled at analysis and became highly trusted by Crown Prince Liu Qi, whose household called him the “Resourceful Adviser.”

In 169 BCE, repeated Xiongnu incursions struck the frontier around Didao and Emperor Wen mobilized troops. Chao submitted the Memorial on Military Affairs, proposing “using the barbarians to attack the barbarians.” He advocated employing surrendered Hu and Yiqu groups against the Xiongnu and emphasized four factors: equipment, soldiers, commanders, and the ruler's selection of leadership. Emperor Wen praised the proposal by edict but did not adopt the recommendation for offensive war.

Chao next submitted the Memorial on Guarding the Frontier and Encouraging Agriculture, proposing economic incentives to move settlers to the frontier in order to resist the Xiongnu. Emperor Wen adopted the idea and recruited people to settle below the frontier passes. Chao then submitted the Memorial on Recruiting People to Settle the Frontier, giving detailed proposals for the settlement, organization, and defense of migrants and arguing that they should be arranged in military units while combining production with defense. These policies strengthened frontier defenses in the short term and, according to the source, anticipated later military-agricultural settlement policies.

In 168 BCE Chao submitted the Memorial on Valuing Grain. He argued that tensions between farmers and merchants were causing rural people to flee and grain supplies to decline and advocated elevating agriculture, restraining commerce, accepting grain into government stores, and granting ranks in exchange for grain. Emperor Wen adopted the proposal, allowing grain deliveries to the frontier in exchange for ranks, from 600 shi for the rank of Shangzao through 4,000 shi for Wudafu and 12,000 shi for Dashuzhang. The court later reduced agricultural taxes as well, contributing to the recovery of production in the early Han.

In 165 BCE Emperor Wen ordered officials to recommend men of worth, uprightness, and literary learning. Chao was nominated and ranked first among more than one hundred candidates in the emperor's policy questions concerning the fundamental principles of the state. His answer became known as the Policy Response of a Worthy and Upright Candidate. Emperor Wen praised him and promoted him to Palace Grandee. Chao thereafter repeatedly proposed reducing princely power and revising laws. Emperor Wen did not accept all of these plans but greatly valued his ability. Crown Prince Liu Qi favored his proposals, while Yuan Ang and a number of other officials disliked him.

Emperor Jing's Reign: Highest Office and the Disaster of Domain Reduction

In 157 BCE Emperor Wen died and Crown Prince Liu Qi became Emperor Jing. Chao was promoted to metropolitan governor. He often received private audiences to discuss state affairs, and the emperor accepted his advice to a degree surpassing the Nine Ministers; many laws were revised or established through Chao's participation.

Chief minister Shentu Jia resented Chao and sought his execution on the charge that Chao had improperly cut through the wall of the ancestral temple of the exalted emperor. Chao learned of the accusation in advance and explained the matter to Emperor Jing first. Shentu Jia failed and, enraged, fell ill and died. After his death, Emperor Jing promoted Chao to Imperial Counselor, one of the Three Excellencies, increasing his power and prestige.

In 155 BCE Chao submitted the Policy on Reducing the Feudal Domains. He argued that the feudal kings would rebel whether their lands were reduced or not: if reduction came early, the rebellion would be sooner but the harm smaller; if no reduction occurred, rebellion would be delayed but the disaster greater. Because princely power was already expanding, he believed early reduction was safer. Emperor Jing ordered senior ministers, marquises, and imperial clansmen to discuss the proposal. Since the emperor trusted Chao, few dared oppose him publicly; Dou Ying alone argued forcefully against it and thereafter became Chao's enemy.

Emperor Jing ordered the reduction of Changshan Commandery from the king of Zhao, six counties from the king of Jiaoxi, Donghai and Xue commanderies from the king of Chu, and Yuzhang and Kuaiji from the king of Wu. Chao revised thirty sections of law, provoking fierce opposition among the princes. His father came from Yingchuan and asked why, just after the emperor's accession, Chao was using political power to strip territories from the princes, alienate imperial relatives, and create widespread resentment. Chao answered that without this the Son of Heaven would not be respected and the ancestral temples would not be secure. His father lamented that the Liu house might be secured while the Chao house would be endangered, returned home, and committed suicide by poison because he could not bear to see the disaster reach the family.

The Rebellion of the Seven States and Execution at the Eastern Market

A little more than ten days after the domain-reduction orders, Liu Bi, king of Wu, joined the kings of Chu, Zhao, Jiaoxi, Jiaodong, Zichuan, and Jinan in rebellion under the slogan of “punishing Chao Cuo and clearing the ruler's side.” The uprising became known as the Rebellion of the Seven States. When Emperor Jing and Chao discussed military operations, Chao advised the emperor to lead the army personally while he remained to guard the capital. This angered other officials.

Dou Ying entered the palace and asked Emperor Jing to summon Yuan Ang, who had once served as chancellor of Wu. Yuan argued that the rebels claimed only to want Chao killed and their territories restored; if Chao were executed and an envoy announced pardons and restoration of the lost lands, the revolt could be ended without battle. Emperor Jing remained silent for a long time and finally decided to sacrifice Chao. He appointed Yuan to a high ceremonial office and secretly prepared him for a mission to Wu.

More than ten days later, chief minister Tao Qing, commandant Chen Jia, and minister of justice Zhang Ou jointly impeached Chao, accusing him of seeking to alienate officials and commoners and of proposing to give cities to Wu, conduct they described as gross rebellion against ministerial duty. They proposed exterminating his family. Emperor Jing approved the memorial without Chao's knowledge. The commandant went to Chao's home with an edict and deceived him into believing he was being summoned to court to discuss affairs. When the carriage reached the eastern market of Chang'an, the commandant stopped, read the edict, and had Chao, still in court robes, executed by waist-cutting. His parents, wife, siblings, and other immediate relatives, young and old, were also executed in the marketplace.

After Chao's death, commandant Deng returned from the front. Emperor Jing asked about negotiations with the rebels. Deng stated directly that “clearing the ruler's side” was only a pretext, that killing Chao had silenced loyal ministers at home and avenged the princes abroad, and that the rebellion would not end. Emperor Jing agreed. The court then sent armies against the rebels and suppressed the revolt within three months. The emperor deeply regretted Chao's execution.

Chao Cuo was a native of Yingchuan, born in 200 BCE. In his youth he studied the legalist doctrines of Shen Buhai and Shang Yang under Zhang Hui, with Song Meng of Luoyang and Liu Dai as fellow students, and under Emperor Wen he held the post of master of records in the office of sacrifices for his literary ability. Sent by that office to study the Book of Documents under Fu Sheng in Jinan, he received training in the Confucian classics; on returning he was made attendant and grand master of the heir's household and then a court scholar.

As a court scholar he memorialized that the heir apparent ought to understand the arts of government, was commended by Emperor Wen and made tutor to the heir's household. Eloquent and skilled at analyzing problems, he won the affection and trust of the heir, the future Emperor Jing, whose household called him "the bag of wisdom." In 169 BCE, when the Xiongnu raided the frontier repeatedly and the emperor sent troops against them, Chao Cuo memorialized on military affairs, arguing for using barbarians against barbarians and employing surrendered Hu troops against the Xiongnu; he then memorialized on defending the frontier and encouraging agriculture, proposing that settlers be moved to the border with land, houses and tools, soldiers and farmers in one, to relieve the burden of rotating garrisons. Parts of this were adopted, and the policy of settling people on the frontier spread in the early Western Han.

In 165 BCE he placed high in the imperial examination and was made grand master of attendants, memorializing repeatedly thereafter on reducing the principalities and on statutes needing revision; Emperor Wen did not adopt them but thought highly of his ability. Under Emperor Jing he was first an interior minister and then censor-in-chief, becoming the chief figure of reform at court. He insisted on stripping the princes of their lands, holding that "to reduce them is rebellion and not to reduce them is also rebellion," and was unbending. In 154 BCE the seven states of Wu and Chu rose under the slogan of executing Chao Cuo to clear the emperor's side; divided in counsel, Emperor Jing took Yuan Ang's advice and had Chao Cuo executed in the eastern market, yet the rebellion was not quelled and was put down by force in the end. Sima Qian describes him as "harsh, upright and severe," and the relation between that temper and his end is a subject later writers return to.

Both of Chao Cuo's proposals — reducing the principalities and settling people on the frontier — mattered in Western Han political history. The reduction cost him his life and brought the revolt of the seven states, but the power of the princes was indeed much weakened, and Emperor Wu's decree of extending favors built on that basis; the settlement of people on the frontier was carried out gradually under Wen and Jing and became an important part of the Western Han defense system, later military farming and frontier settlement policies being related to it.

His antagonism with Yuan Ang is the immediate background to his execution. Yuan Ang had been chancellor to the King of Wu and long at odds with Chao Cuo; when the seven states rose he told Emperor Jing that executing Chao Cuo would end the rebellion, and the emperor accepted — though Wu and Chu did not lay down arms. That miscalculation turned later judgment of his death toward sympathy: Sima Qian and Ban Gu both record his far-sighted service to the state while noting that he acted too abruptly and failed to manage relations with his colleagues at court.

In institutional terms his proposals matched the political needs of the time: the enfeoffments of the early Han had by Wen and Jing become an obstacle to central power, and reduction was bound to come, only the method and timing being unsettled. As censor-in-chief he pressed it sharply and without buffer, becoming the focus of conflict, and his death did not change the course of events but left the reduction to be carried out more cautiously afterward.

His writings are listed in the bibliographic chapter of the Han History and concern chiefly statutes and frontier defense, most now lost; his descendants were still known in the later Western Han. He is often named with Jia Yi as a statesman of the Wen-Jing period advocating reform, their proposals largely unrealized in their day yet implemented in varying degrees under Emperor Wu.

The Han History preserves his memorials on military affairs and on defending the frontier and encouraging agriculture in full, both important sources for Western Han frontier policy. The first analyzes the military situation between Han and the Xiongnu, noting the latter's advantages in horsemanship, archery and knowledge of terrain and the Han's in weapons, organization and discipline, and proposes incorporating surrendered Hu troops into the Han army to use barbarians against barbarians; the second urges permanent settler communities on the frontier with land, houses, tools and seed, to farm and defend at once and reduce the rotation of garrisons from the interior. Both were partly carried out under Wen and Jing and became foundations of the Western Han frontier system.

Under Emperor Jing his position rose quickly: first interior minister in charge of the capital region, then censor-in-chief among the three excellencies. He then had some thirty chapters of statutes revised, touching the powers of the princes and local officials, which stirred the court and the realm. His father came from Yingchuan to Chang'an to ask why he must make enemies of the princes; Chao Cuo answered that otherwise the Son of Heaven would not be honored nor the ancestral temples secure, and his father, sighing that the Liu house would be safe and the Chao house endangered, took poison. The episode is recorded in the Records and the Han History and is read by later ages as a footnote to his character and fate.

Judgments of Chao Cuo have followed two lines: one looks to his policies, holding that reducing the principalities and settling the frontier were far-sighted answers to real ills and that his execution was Emperor Jing's error under pressure; the other looks to his manner, holding that his severity and the number of enemies he made sharpened the conflict. Sima Qian gave him a joint biography with Yuan Ang, using their antagonism to display the tension among ministers under Wen and Jing, a treatment that frames later understanding of the politics of the period.

Su Shi's essay on Chao Cuo criticizes him, holding that calamity often begins when matters seem easiest and that Chao Cuo provoked the revolt of 154 in haste and then failed to face the danger himself, so that his execution was of his own making. The judgment became widely known and exists alongside the more sympathetic view of his policies, forming the two basic positions in discussing him.

His death did not end the fighting; the revolt of the seven states was put down by Zhou Yafu in three months, and Emperor Jing's reign continued to weaken the principalities, though by gentler means.

Yingchuan was a key area of the central plains in the Western Han, its scholarly tradition combining legalist and classical learning; Chao Cuo's early education drew on both, as his later proposals show.

His writings and proposals are often cited in later political essays.

Major Activities

Literary Contribution

Chao Cuo was an important political prose writer of the early Western Han. The bibliographic treatise of the Book of Han listed thirty-one pieces under his name, of which eight relatively complete works survive. Representative pieces include the Memorial on Valuing Grain, Memorial on Military Affairs, Memorial on Guarding the Frontier and Encouraging Agriculture, Memorial on Recruiting People to Settle the Frontier, and Policy Response of a Worthy and Upright Candidate. His essays are characterized in the source as analytically deep, logically tight, persuasive, plain in style, substantive, and direct. Lu Xun, in Outline of the History of Chinese Literature, praised his political prose as “great prose of the Western Han” whose influence nourished later writers. Chao's memorials typically identified practical social problems and proposed concrete solutions rather than abstract discussion. His military essays, for example, advocated “using barbarians against barbarians” and settling migrants on the frontier, and parts of these proposals were adopted by Emperor Wen.

Political Activity

Chao's political career spanned the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing. Under Emperor Wen he served as an Erudite's clerk at the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, attendant to the crown prince, Erudite, steward of the crown prince, and Palace Grandee, repeatedly submitting memorials on education of the heir apparent, frontier defense, military affairs, and economic policy. Under Emperor Jing he became metropolitan governor and Imperial Counselor, helped revise thirty sections of law, and strongly advocated reducing princely domains. His program developed Jia Yi's concept of creating more princes while reducing the power of each, but Chao pressed it more decisively and helped put it into practice by reducing territory from Zhao, Jiaoxi, Chu, and Wu. After the Rebellion of the Seven States was suppressed, Emperor Jing prohibited feudal kings from directly governing their kingdoms and reformed the offices of the kingdoms, strengthening central authority and preparing the way for Emperor Wu's Decree of Extending Favor.

Economic Policy

In 168 BCE Chao submitted the Memorial on Valuing Grain, developing Jia Yi's agricultural emphasis and advocating agriculture over commerce. He analyzed the growing power of merchants and the impoverishment of farmers and proposed two principal measures: “valuing the five grains and devaluing gold and jade” and “using grain for rewards and punishments.” Emperor Wen adopted the proposal and instituted ranks in exchange for grain delivered to the frontier, from 600 shi for Shangzao to 4,000 shi for Wudafu and 12,000 shi for Dashuzhang. Agricultural taxes were later reduced, and the government encouraged farming and sericulture, kept levies light, accumulated reserves, and sought not to disrupt the farming calendar. The source credits these policies with contributing to early-Han agricultural growth and the material foundations of the “Rule of Wen and Jing.”

Frontier Strategy

Chao took a harder line toward the Xiongnu than Jia Yi. He first advocated a military solution in the Memorial on Military Affairs, proposing “using barbarians to attack barbarians” and combining allied or surrendered non-Han groups against the Xiongnu so that different forces could use their respective strengths. When Emperor Wen did not adopt this proposal, Chao turned to active defense. In the Memorial on Guarding the Frontier and Encouraging Agriculture, he analyzed the failures of Qin frontier policy and the mobile characteristics of the Xiongnu and proposed moving civilians to populate the frontier, using preferential terms to recruit settlers and organizing them in military formations so that production and defense could be combined. In the Memorial on Recruiting People to Settle the Frontier he set out detailed arrangements for settlement. Emperor Wen adopted the policy. The source presents it as a precursor to later military-agricultural settlements, including Zhao Chongguo's colonies under Emperor Wu and Cao Cao's tuntian policy in the Three Kingdoms period.

Personal Relations

• Father: Chao's father, personal name unknown; opposed the policy of reducing the domains and committed suicide by poison after failing to dissuade his son
• Mother: Chao's mother, personal name unknown; executed under collective punishment after Chao's death
• Wife: Chao's wife, personal name unknown; executed under collective punishment
• Son: Chao's son, personal name unknown; executed under collective punishment
• Zhang Hui: From Zhi; taught Chao the administrative and legal theories associated with Shen Buhai and Shang Yang
• Fu Sheng: Former Qin Erudite; Chao was sent to study the Book of Documents with him
• Song Meng and Liu Dai: Men of Luoyang who studied under Zhang Hui with Chao
• Jia Yi: Political essayist under Emperor Wen; Chao's domain-reduction policy developed Jia's proposal to create many princes while diminishing their individual power
• Liu Heng, Emperor Wen of Han: Valued Chao's talent and adopted his recommendations on frontier settlement and agriculture, though not his proposal to reduce princely domains
• Liu Qi, Emperor Jing of Han: Trusted Chao as crown prince and called him the “Resourceful Adviser”; after accession promoted him to Imperial Counselor but during the Rebellion of the Seven States accepted Yuan Ang's advice and had him executed
• Shentu Jia: Chief minister who resented Chao and unsuccessfully tried to bring about his execution
• Yuan Ang: At odds with Chao and proposed his execution during the Rebellion of the Seven States
• Dou Ying: Opposed domain reduction and became Chao's enemy
• Liu Bi, king of Wu: Principal target of the reduction policy and leader of the Rebellion of the Seven States

Historical Assessment

Han Dynasty / Contemporary Views

• Sima Qian, in the “Biographies of Yuan Ang and Chao Cuo” in the Records of the Grand Historian, criticized Chao for changing institutions too abruptly and failing to proceed gradually, arguing that his handling of princely power helped provoke the rebellion.
• Ban Gu, in the “Biographies of Yuan Ang and Chao Cuo” in the Book of Han, wrote that Chao was keen in making long-range plans for the state but failed to foresee danger to himself; although his career ended badly, later generations mourned his loyalty.
• Commandant Deng told Emperor Jing after Chao's death that Chao had feared princely power would become uncontrollable and had therefore requested reductions to strengthen the capital, a policy of benefit for ten thousand generations; executing him had silenced loyal ministers and avenged the princes.

From the Wei-Jin to the Tang-Song Periods

• The source connects Cao Cao's Three Kingdoms tuntian policies to the long-term influence of Chao's idea of settling migrants on the frontier.
• Tang scholar Sima Zhen preserved discussion of Chao in his Seeking the Obscure in the Records of the Grand Historian without extensive independent judgment.
• Sima Guang's Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance gave a detailed account and criticized Emperor Jing for killing Chao after adopting his policy, comparing it to taking poison as medicine and then killing the physician.
• Goryeo writer Yi Gyubo composed an “Essay Vindicating Chao Cuo” in his collected works, arguing that Chao's desire to reduce overly powerful princes was loyal to the state and condemning Emperor Jing's decision as both avenging Yuan Ang privately and avenging the princes publicly.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Ming thinker Li Zhi, in Critical Essentials of the Historical Outline, considered Chao's policy correct but his implementation too hasty, arguing that his death resulted not simply from Yuan Ang but from the speed of the reductions.
• Qing thinker Wang Fuzhi, in Reflections on Reading the Comprehensive Mirror, argued that Chao's reduction of the seven kingdoms effectively provoked them into rebelling and accelerated disaster, while also criticizing Emperor Jing for killing him unjustly.
• Qing textual scholar Yan Kejun collected Chao's writings in the Complete Prose of Antiquity through the Six Dynasties, helping preserve them for later scholarship.

Modern Assessments

• Lu Xun, in Outline of the History of Chinese Literature, called Chao's political prose “great prose of the Western Han” with a deep influence on later writers.
• Qian Mu, in Outline of National History, regarded Chao's policy as consistent with the trend toward centralization but too hurried and insufficiently sensitive to circumstances.
• Lü Simian, in History of the Qin and Han, described Chao as highly talented but narrow in temperament, affirming his political ability while criticizing flaws of character.
• Contemporary scholarship generally considers Chao a figure whose policy survived his death: the program to weaken princely power prepared an intellectual foundation for Emperor Wu's Decree of Extending Favor and contributed to the consolidation of central authority.