Liu Zhiyuan, later changed to Liu Gao (劉暠), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Gaozu of Han (漢高祖), was the founding emperor of the Shatuo-led Chinese Later Han dynasty, the fourth of the Five Dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. He was the older brother of the Northern Han founder Liu Min.

The Shatuo, or the Shatuo Turks were a Turkic tribe that heavily influenced northern Chinese politics from the late ninth century through the tenth century. They are noted for founding three, Later Tang, Later Jin, and Later Han, of the five dynasties and one, Northern Han, of the ten kingdoms during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Northern Han would later be conquered by the Song dynasty. Sometime before the 12th century, the Shatuo disappeared as a distinct ethnic group, many of them having become acculturated and assimilating into the general population around them.