The kingdom was founded when Emperor Gaozu granted the territory to his follower Wu Rui in 203 or 202 BC, around the same time as the establishment of the Han dynasty.

However, the creation of this second kingdom coincided with the Rebellion of the Seven States and the subsequent reforms under Emperor Jing, and Changsha under the imperial family saw its autonomy greatly diminished.

[4] In 207 BC, Rui's army joined forces with the Han leader Liu Bang (the future Emperor Gaozu, at the time one of the rebel generals) and marched to the Guanzhong Plain, where they received the surrender of Ziying, the last ruler of Qin.

[7] The new kingdom helped the Han dynasty consolidate control over the Chu heartland and served as a buffer state against the independent realm of Nanyue founded by the Qin general Zhao Tuo in present-day Guangdong.

[8][9] Rui died shortly after moving to his new territory, and the title passed to his son, Wu Chen (吳臣, Wú Chén).

[12] In the first years after the founding of the Han Empire, the Emperor Gaozu embarked on a campaign to eliminate kings that were not members of the imperial family.

The kings first grew to prominence as heads of independent factions in the chaos following Qin's fall, and the emperor viewed them as great threats to his authority.

As Ying retreated south of the Yangtze River, the King of Changsha pretended to assist him in his escape to Nanyue but instead killed him in Cixiang (茲鄉, Cíxiāng) near Poyang.

[11][17] At the time, the Han dynasty was under Emperor Hui and Empress Lü, who favored lenient laws and political views of the Huang–Lao school of philosophy.

[2][22] After the extinction of this house, Emperor Jing granted Changsha to his son Liu Fa (劉發, Liú Fā) in 155 BC.

[23] Changsha Kingdom was held by the Liu family until early 1st century AD, when the Han dynasty was interrupted by usurper Wang Mang.

[27][28] On the other hand, other preserved and unearthed texts have shown that there were two other commanderies actually controlled by the Changsha Kingdom: Wuling (武陵, Wǔlíng) and Guiyang (桂陽, Guìyáng).

[32] The population primarily consisted of descendants of Chu colonizers, members of the Qin military garrison and their offspring, assimilated Nanman, and the native Baiyue tribes.

[40][41] The responsibilities of the royal secretary (御史大夫, yùshǐ dàfū) were similar to the imperial equivalent, i.e. supervision over the bureaucrats, although his status was likely lower than the court clerk.

Counties were each headed by a magistrate and were subdivided into townships and villages (里, lǐ) in the same manner as in centrally administered territories of the Han dynasty.

In 145 BC, the vassal kingdoms were stripped of the right to appoint officials with salaries higher than 400 dan, which covered everyone from ministers in the royal court to county magistrates.

Rice, the staple food in Changsha, was cultivated with a diverse range of varieties, while wheat, barley, common and foxtail millet, beans and hemp were also grown, as evidenced by seeds unearthed from tombs.

[49] Fish farming and animal husbandry provided non-staple food for the population;[50] livestock such as horses, cattle and sheep were also exported to Nanyue.

[51] Mawangdui tombs, the early 2nd century BC burial complex of chancellor Li Cang and his family, are a particularly rich source of knowledge on the kingdom.

[54] The intact embroidered silk from Mawangdui shows intricate patterns of swirling clouds, with more than 20 dyes used in the making of the diverse colors.

[56][57] Iron was widely applied for agricultural and military use, and ironwares found in Changsha tombs include spades, pickaxes, daggers, spears, swords, axes, and coins.

The forms of ancient Chinese clothing usually found in the tombs of Changsha aristocrats were silk gauze undergarments (襌衣, dānyī) and long robes with elaborately woven patterns.

[61] Among them, a two-meter-long fēiyī (非衣, possibly meaning "flying garment")[62] in the tomb of Lady Dai is one of the finest examples of art in early China.

In an iconographic image of Taiyi from Mawangdui, it was depicted with the Thunder Lord, the Rain Master (雨師, Yǔshī), and the Azure and Yellow Dragons, with explanatory texts on military fortunes associated with these deities.

[69] In addition, there are also texts on the philosophy and techniques of "nurturing life" (養生, yǎngshēng), covering practices from therapeutic gymnastics and dietetics to sexual cultivation.

[71][72] The latter, likely a work by a Chu author of the Warring States period, included a collection of illustrations of astronomical and atmospheric features such as clouds, mirages, rainbows, stars and comets.