No free photograph
Chao Cuo
Chinese writer and government official (c.200-154 BC) · Academics · Lived 200 BC to 154 BC · aged 46
Chao Cuo was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer. He was a political advisor and official of the Han dynasty, renowned for his intellectual capabilities and foresight in martial and political matters. He was an early advocate of revoking the heqin treaty with the Xiongnu nomads of the north.
Chao Cuo is read about 73 times a day, in 11 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 8 October 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 120 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?Media & music
Photos 5
A Western Han dynasty ceramic model of a cavalryman
Bronze remains of a Han dynasty crossbow
A map showing the Han Empire by 2 AD, which extended much further than in Chao's time, with frontier administrative units of the Hexi Corridor as far west as Dunhuang and with loyal tributary states located as far west as Dayuan, located in what is now the Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
Eastern Han dynasty (22-220 AD) earthenware models of watchtowers (and other buildings), which would have been erected at watch stations and forts on Han China's frontiers.![Woven silk textile from Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, China, dated to the Western Han dynasty (2nd century BC); although Emperor Gaozu of Han (r. 202-195 BC) passed a law forbidding merchants to wear silk clothing or ride on horseback, this was flouted by the merchants who wore fine silk garments and rode in fancy carriages.[16]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/Woven_silk%2C_Western_Han_Dynasty.jpg/500px-Woven_silk%2C_Western_Han_Dynasty.jpg)
Woven silk textile from Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, China, dated to the Western Han dynasty (2nd century BC); although Emperor Gaozu of Han (r. 202-195 BC) passed a law forbidding merchants to wear silk clothing or ride on horseback, this was flouted by the merchants who wore fine silk garments and rode in fancy carriages.[16]About this person
He compared the relative strengths and weaknesses of both Han Chinese and Xiongnu military tactics. In a written work of 169 BC, he advocated a systematic policy to populate and defend frontier zones. He proposed that civilian migrants supported by the government could simultaneously train as militia units while developing and cultivating remote regions which were under frequent attack by nomadic forces. He fell victim to execution when political rivalries at the imperial court convinced Emperor Jing that Chao's death would curtail or at least mitigate the Rebellion of the Seven States.
