卫太子刘据 / Liu Ju, Crown Prince of Western Han

Overview

卫太子刘据 / Liu Ju enters the wiki through Hanji 396-2 as the dead former crown prince whose name is used by 程方遂 in a palace-gate imposture under 汉昭帝刘弗陵.

Current Profile

The episode does not give Liu Ju a full biography. His source role is posthumous and political: because he was 汉武帝’s crown prince and was believed dead after the 巫蛊之祸, the claim that he had returned carries enough charge to unsettle officials and draw a large crowd near 未央宫. The case shows that a dead heir can remain politically active as a memory, rumor, and claimant identity even when the living claimant is false.

Key Characteristics

• Former Western Han crown prince and son of Han Wudi.
• Figure associated in the episode with the Wugu affair and presumed death before Han Zhao’s reign.
• Posthumous claimant identity used by Cheng Fangsui to seek wealth and rank.
• Succession-memory figure whose possible survival makes officials hesitate.
• Legitimacy-risk figure because his name can attract public attention and destabilize a young ruler’s court.

Evidence

Posthumous political charge:

• Hanji 396-2 says a man at Weiyang Palace’s north gate claims to be Liu Ju, even though Liu Ju was already believed dead after the Wugu affair.
• Hanji 396-2 says Han Zhao orders senior officials to inspect the claimant and that the resemblance makes them hesitate.
• Hanji 396-2 says commoners gather at the palace gate after hearing the rumor of the crown prince’s return.

Imposture resolution:

• Hanji 396-2 says Jun Buyi argues that even a real surviving Liu Ju would not be a valid returning claimant after offending the former emperor and fleeing.
• Hanji 396-2 says the claimant later confesses that he is Cheng Fangsui, not Liu Ju.

Qualifications

This page is bounded to Hanji 396-2. It does not reconstruct Liu Ju’s full life, his mother and household, the complete Wugu affair, the evidence for his death, or later historiographical debates about his responsibility.

What Changed

• Created the page to distinguish Western Han crown prince Liu Ju from the existing late-Han 刘矩 page.

Relationships

• Emperor Wu of Han / 汉武帝 - father and former emperor whose authority frames Jun Buyi’s reasoning.
• 汉昭帝刘弗陵 / Emperor Zhao of Han - later young emperor whose court faces the false-return claim.
• 隽不疑 / Jun Buyi (Western Han) - official who neutralizes the claimant crisis.
• 程方遂 / Cheng Fangsui (Western Han) - diviner who impersonates Liu Ju.
• 巫蛊之祸 / Wugu Incident (Western Han) - succession trauma that makes Liu Ju’s name politically explosive.
• Claimant-Impostor Crisis Handling / 宗室冒认危机处置 - concept showing how Liu Ju’s memory becomes a crisis surface.