Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was one of the most accomplished emperors in Chinese history, alongside Qin Shi Huang in the ranks of the "Emperor of the Ages", known in history as "Emperor Han wu of Qin". However, Emperor Wu of Han was the title of the later Western Han Dynasty monarch, and his real name was Liu Che. Therefore, from the beginning of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the word "Che" became a taboo word, and the "Chu Hou" of the Qin Dynasty was also changed to "Tong Hou".
However, according to some historical records, emperor Wu of Han in his childhood was not called "Liu Che", but "Liu Yan", and "彘" means "pig". It is said that this name was also given to Emperor Jing of Han by Liu Bangtuomeng, the ancestor of Han Gao, to show that Emperor Wu of Han was the person to whom the Mandate of Heaven belonged. So did Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty ever use the name "Liu Yan"?
First of all, the historical record that Emperor Wu of Han's name was "Liu Yan" was a book called "The Story of Han Wu". The specific date of this book is no longer verifiable, but it will not be earlier than the Three Kingdoms and Two Jin Dynasties. The "Records of History" and "Book of Han", which are closer to the era of Emperor Wu of Han and have a higher degree of credibility, do not record that Emperor Wudi of Han once used the name "Liu Yan".
Secondly, "The Story of Han Wu" is a Zhiwei novel that contains a large number of immortal techniques and more literary strokes, and there are many historical errors in the book. For example, the "Story of Han Wu" says that there was a minister named Gongsun Xiong who committed suicide because he was repeatedly rejected by Emperor Wu of Han, but none of the ministers during the entire period of Emperor Wu of Han was named Gongsun Xiong.
Third, according to the records of the Zhengshi "Shi Ji Xiaojing Benji" and the "Hanshu Xiaojing Ji Fifth", Emperor Wu of Han was already called "Liu Che" when he was crowned as the King of Jiaodong, that is, when he was about three years old, and the later Zizhi Tongjian also used this record. It can be seen from this that it is not credible to say that emperor Wu of Han's name was "Liu Yan" in his childhood.
Finally, according to current academic research, during the Han Dynasty, "Che" and "彘" were homophones, and only later were gradually distinguished in phonetics, so "Liu Che" could be pronounced "Liu Yan" in the Han Dynasty. Written after the Han Dynasty, the Story of Han Wu may have been misrepresented because it was not clear that "Che" and "彘" were homophones in the Han Dynasty.