border army) rebelled in197 bce, Liu Bang discovered that all of Chen’s
generals were formerly merchants. Their background, at least from the
historian Ban Gu’s perspective, allowed Liu to bribe a number of them to
surrender.^17 Who fought was still an important question for Liu Bang, as
he, on the one hand, demobilized some of his former soldiers and exempted
them from further military service, but on the other hand, spent the rest of
his reign putting down rebellions across the Han empire.
Liu Bang himself provided an interesting coda to his life. The Han emperor
was wounded by an arrow in195 bcewhile suppressing yet another rebel-
lion. A doctor was called, and though he said he could heal him, Liu rejected
the aid:“Wearing plain clothes and raising three feet [of steel (i.e., a sword)],
I seized the empire. Was this not Heaven’s Mandate? My fate is then with
Heaven.”^18 Liu chose to die in much the same way as Xiang Yu, wounded
in battle and functionally by his own hand. And like Xiang Yu, it was very
much a warrior’sdeath,reflecting the ethos of a man who had taken a
personal part in combat his entire adult life.
The Han Dynasty Hundred Events (百戲) and Martial Arts
Subsequent emperors, of course, were not warriors by training, though
they may have had some introduction to the martial arts as part of their
basic education. Martial arts nevertheless remained popular in the realm of
entertainment. The Hundred Events performances and competitions of
the Han dynasty may have had their start in the wrestling competitions
of the Qin, but they included a much wider range of entertainments and
martial contests beyond just wrestling.^19 Wrestling nevertheless remained
a very important component of the Hundred Events. The specific activities
included in a Hundred Events performance might vary, and the term seems
a general one for a kind of variety show. Hundred Events performances
were often enacted for visiting guests from the various non-Han peoples.
In addition to the singing and dancing performances, the Hundred
Events could also include archery and contests of strength. These latter
martial practices had formerly been part of local and court ceremonies, or
parts of military training. Visiting non-Han envoys could therefore view
the Hundred Events performances staged in their honor in a number of
ways. First, was simple entertainment value. The Hundred Events was
popular even among ordinary Chinese. When Han emperor Wudi held a
wrestling competition in the spring of112 bceat the capital, it was said
that people came from a hundred miles around to watch it. Similarly, the
66 The Qin and Han Dynasties