刘相夫 / Princess Liu Xiangfu

Overview

刘相夫 / Princess Liu Xiangfu enters the wiki through Hanji 444 as a Western Han heqin princess whose mission is canceled before she reaches 乌孙. 汉宣帝 sends her west to marry Yuanguimi and reinforce the Han-Wusun alignment against 匈奴, but the Wusun succession changes while she is at Dunhuang, so the court recalls her.

Current Profile

The source presents Liu Xiangfu as a high-stakes but briefly visible frontier actor. Her planned marriage follows 解忧公主’s earlier Wusun role: Wengguimi wants Xieyou’s son Yuanguimi to inherit and asks Han to send another princess for him, which would bind Wusun more tightly to Han and weaken Xiongnu leverage. Xuan accepts despite 萧望之’s warning that Wusun is too distant and unstable.

The plan fails because its political premise collapses en route. Liu Xiangfu reaches Dunhuang after months of travel, but Wengguimi has died and 泥靡 / 狂王 has taken the Wusun throne. The intended groom is no longer the Han-favored Yuanguimi. The source stresses that Nimi’s Xiongnu maternal connection and Wusun household custom would expose Liu Xiangfu to a changed and humiliating marriage environment.

Her importance is therefore negative evidence: she shows that heqin could be reversed before completion when frontier succession turned the bargain into a different risk. After Xuan accepts Xiao Wangzhi’s renewed advice, Liu Xiangfu returns from Dunhuang to Chang’an, and the episode says later records no longer follow her life.

Key Characteristics

• Western Han princess created for a Wusun heqin mission under Emperor Xuan.
• Intended bride for Yuanguimi, the Han-favored son of Xieyou Princess and Wengguimi.
• Sent with major gifts and escorted west before the Wusun succession change becomes known.
• Reaches Dunhuang but never enters the completed Wusun marriage.
• Her mission becomes unsafe when Nimi takes power and the intended groom changes.
• Functions as a contrast case to embedded heqin princesses: recall remains possible before local rules capture the marriage.

Evidence

• Mission creation: Hanji 444 says Xuan makes Liu Xiangfu a princess and gives her wealth for marriage to Wusun.
• Intended groom: Hanji 444 says she is expected to marry Yuanguimi, Xieyou Princess’s son and Wengguimi’s preferred successor.
• Dunhuang interruption: Hanji 444 says the party reaches Dunhuang when news arrives that Wusun has changed rulers.
• Risk transformation: Hanji 444 says Nimi’s accession means she would no longer marry the intended successor and would face a politically awkward household relationship with Xieyou.
• Recall decision: Hanji 444 says Xuan accepts Xiao Wangzhi’s advice and recalls Liu Xiangfu from Dunhuang.

Qualifications

This page is bounded to one compact podcast note. Liu Xiangfu’s full genealogy, formal princess title, age, personal preferences, route details, return life in Chang’an, and later death are not settled here. Yuanguimi, Wengguimi, Chang Hui, and the Wusun escort remain source-scoped because this source uses them mainly to explain the aborted marriage.

What Changed

• Created the page from Hanji 444 as the wiki’s first canonical Liu Xiangfu note.
• Established Liu Xiangfu as an aborted-heqin contrast to later Wusun cases where the princess is already trapped inside succession and remarriage rules.

Relationships

• 乌孙 - frontier polity whose succession change cancels Liu Xiangfu’s marriage mission.
• 解忧公主 - aunt and earlier Wusun heqin figure whose son was the intended groom.
• 狂王泥靡 - Wusun ruler whose accession turns the mission into a different and riskier marriage.
• 汉宣帝 - ruler who first approves the marriage and then recalls Liu Xiangfu.
• 萧望之 - official whose caution against the Wusun marriage is vindicated by events.
• 汉匈和亲政策 - broader marriage-diplomacy frame, though Liu Xiangfu’s immediate target is Wusun.
• 和亲公主继承困局 - contrast concept because Liu Xiangfu is recalled before becoming trapped inside Wusun succession.