Why Emperor Wu Became Obsessed with Immortality

In the last episode, Liu An of Huainan spent years circling rebellion and still died before he could truly rise.

By this stage Emperor Wu had pressed down the princes and held the political center tightly. Yet what increasingly occupied him was not where to extend the empire next, but whether he himself could escape aging and death.

Once the Emperor Began Thinking This Way, Chang'an Filled with Wonder-Workers

The later Emperor Wu became, the less willing he was to let go of life and power.

As soon as the ruler starts longing for immortality, a whole class of men appears. Specialists in strange arts, spirit mediums, coastal wonder-workers from Yan and Qi, and men who claimed to summon ghosts all began pressing into the palace.

As long as the emperor believed, fortune lay before them.

One of the First to Rise Was Shaoweng

Shaoweng looked young but claimed to have lived for centuries. He also boasted that he could call spirits into visible presence.

At just this time, one of Emperor Wu's beloved consorts, Lady Wang, had recently died. Her absence only deepened his attachment. Shaoweng immediately offered something irresistible: he said he could let the emperor see her spirit again.

The emperor believed him.

The Spirit Summoning Worked Because the Emperor Wanted It to Work

At night Shaoweng set up curtains, lamps, and offerings in a closed room, placing Lady Wang's clothing inside while Emperor Wu watched from a distance.

At midnight a female figure seemed to appear behind the curtains.

The emperor was overwhelmed. He nearly rushed forward. Shaoweng restrained him, warning that the living and the dead could not touch freely.

This success made him powerful at once.

The Palace Soon Began Remodeling Itself for Gods Who Never Came

Shaoweng argued that immortals would not descend into ordinary human quarters. If the emperor truly wished divine contact, buildings, halls, fabrics, and ritual spaces all had to be transformed into something worthy of spirits.

Emperor Wu obeyed. Structures at Ganquan were altered. Images and ritual objects multiplied. Yet the immortals themselves did not arrive.

When doubt finally began to stir, Shaoweng tried another trick.

His "Book from Inside a Bull" Exposed Him

He wrote on silk, fed it secretly to a bull, and then theatrically predicted that the animal's belly concealed a heavenly message.

The bull was cut open. The silk was there. But Emperor Wu examined the writing and recognized too much of Shaoweng's own hand in it.

Under arrest Shaoweng confessed. The ghostly apparitions had been frauds as well.

Emperor Wu had him killed, though he tried to hide the embarrassment by giving out another explanation for his death.

Killing One Fraud Did Not Break the Pattern

Another spirit medium from Shang commandery was brought in when Emperor Wu later fell ill. Predictably, the man's ritual answers aligned with the natural course of the emperor's recovery, and the emperor interpreted healing as proof of supernatural efficacy.

Then came Luan Da.

Luan Da Was Even Better at Telling the Emperor What He Wanted to Hear

Handsome, eloquent, and shrewd, Luan Da said that he had encountered immortals but that these beings looked down on ordinary men and had been frightened away by the suspicious death of his "senior" Shaoweng.

Once he saw Emperor Wu eager to believe and eager to separate himself from Shaoweng's execution, he pressed forward. He performed flashy tricks, including a famous self-moving chessboard display, and was rewarded with title after title.

Emperor Wu even married his beloved eldest daughter, Princess Wei Zhang, to him.

Still, the gods did not come.

In Time, He Too Was Exposed

Luan Da eventually claimed he needed to go to sea and consult his master. Emperor Wu secretly had him watched. The reports that came back showed only boasting, indulgence, and deception.

When Luan Da returned with empty explanations, the emperor had him cut in half at the waist.

Another grand fraud had collapsed.

Yet Emperor Wu Kept Moving Toward the Same Hope

Treasure cauldrons unearthed near a sacrificial site, clouds in the sky, and strange animals were all read as auspicious signs. Wonder-workers like Gongsun Qing then tied these supposed signs to stories about the Yellow Emperor, who, in later tradition, had ascended to heaven on a dragon.

Gongsun Qing told Emperor Wu that a sacred ruler of Han, descended from Gaozu, was destined for similar ritual greatness and should perform the imperial sacrifices at Mount Tai.

This too the emperor wanted to hear.

The Search Spread Across the Empire

Roads were improved, shrines multiplied, and more boats went eastward seeking Penglai and other legendary islands. Gongsun Qing claimed to find giant footprints and traces of divine visitors. Other men claimed to glimpse mysterious old figures who vanished at once.

Again and again, Emperor Wu's skepticism would stir briefly and then be overcome by desire.

Dongfang Shuo tried to restrain him, arguing that if true transcendents existed, they need not be chased across the sea by an emperor in panic. But restraint never lasted long.

The Older He Grew, the More Dangerous This Longing Became

By the late 90s BCE, Emperor Wu was old.

Shaoweng, Luan Da, and Gongsun Qing had all disappointed him in different ways. Yet he still would not truly release the search. Palaces, altars, and roads kept growing even while immortality remained absent.

And while wonder-workers continued arriving, a darker tension was gathering in the eastern palace, the residence of the crown prince.

In the next episode, that tension breaks open in the witchcraft disaster that destroys both crown prince Liu Ju and his mother Wei Zifu.