Emperor Gaozu of Han, personal name Liu Bang, was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty.
A Ming dynasty portrait of Liu Bang
Liu Bang, in an illustration by the Qing dynasty artist Shangguan Zhou (上官周; 1665–1749)
A Western Han female dancer in silk robes, 2nd century BC, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Xiang Zhuang intended to assassinate Liu Bang by pretending to perform a sword dance
A portrait of Liu Bang from an 18th-century album of Chinese emperors' portraits[citation needed]
Lü Zhi, courtesy name Exu, and commonly known as Empress Lü and formally Empress Gao of Han, was the empress consort of Gaozu, the founding emperor of the Han dynasty. They had two known children, Liu
Emperor Gaozu of Han
…corvée labour in the Qin capital at Xianyang, he witnessed Qin Shi Huang undertaking an inspection tour; the royal procession impressed him. Liu's wife, Lü Zhi, was the daughter of Lü Wen (呂文), a wealthy and influential member of the gentry recently migrated from Shanfu County. After moving to Pei County, Lü…
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A Western Han (202 BC – 8 AD) ceramic statuette of a seated woman and court attendant holding up her robes, from a tomb in Xianyang, Shaanxi province
Lü Zhi's jade seal, excavated from Xianyang, now in the Shaanxi History Museum.
Tomb of Empress Lü in Changling, Xianyang, Shaanxi