Liu Yuan (劉淵) (died 29 August 310[1]), courtesy name Yuanhai (元海), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Guangwen of Han (Zhao) (漢(趙)光文帝) was the founding emperor of the Xiongnu-led Han-Zhao dynasty of China during the Sixteen Kingdoms period.

[3] With the dissolution of the Southern Xiongnu in 216, the last vestiges of their power were divided into Five Divisions in Bing province around modern-day Shanxi.

Liu Yuan was born into the aristocracy of the Five Divisions and was sent to the Chinese capital, Luoyang as a hostage during his youth, where he became highly sinicized and later held several government offices under the Western Jin dynasty.

His declaration, along with the founding of the Cheng-Han dynasty in Sichuan that same year, marked the formal end of the Western Jin's brief unification of China following the Three Kingdoms period.

He became well known for his studies, particularly of the Zou version of Confucius' Spring and Autumn Annals and of the military strategies of Sun Tzu and Wu Qi.

Once Liu Yuan returned to his people, he gathered 50,000 men quickly and was readying himself to rush to Sima Ying's aid, but he also publicly accepted the title of Grand Chanyu.

He spent great energy on trying to restore the Han system of government, but he himself was unable to quickly expand his sphere of influence.

He set his capital at Lishi (離石, in modern Lüliang, Shanxi), but his control of territory became limited to that local region.

That year, after capturing more territory, Liu Yuan moved his capital to Puzi (蒲子, in modern Linfen, Shanxi) and declared himself emperor, signifying an even more complete break from Jin.

By this time, Liu Cong and Wang Mi had eventually been able to control all of southern Shanxi for Han, and they again attacked Luoyang, but were again repelled.

The Chuge are theorized to be the descendants of King Xiutu's tribe, who surrendered to the Han dynasty much earlier than the Southern Xiongnu in 121 BC.

It is possible that Liu Yuan and Han-Zhao historians fabricated his ties to the Luandi clan for more legitimacy by presenting his rule as both a continuation of the Southern Xiongnu chanyus and a restoration of the Han dynasty.

[5][6] However, another modern scholar, Zhou Weizhou (周伟洲), challenged Tang's hypothesis, asserting that the three discrepancies he pointed out could easily be explained and that the records clearly states that Liu Yuan was a descendant of the Southern Xiongnu Chanyu.

For his last point, Zhou explains that the offices of the Southern Xiongnu, including that of the chanyu family, were mostly empty titles and that their positions can be easily changed by the Jin court as a method of divide and rule, though they may occasionally be sent back to their respective tribes to recruit and garrison soldiers.