Emperor Wen of Han quickly shows an aptitude to govern the empire with diligence, and appears to be genuinely concerned for the people's welfare.

Heavily influenced by his Taoist wife, Emperor Wen governs the country with the general policies of noninterference with the people and relaxes laws.

His personal life is marked by thriftiness and general willingness to forgive.

He is initially very deferential to Zhou Bo, Chen Ping, and Guan Ying, who had been instrumental in his accession, and they are to serve as successive prime ministers.

In 179 BCE, he abolishes the law that permitted the arrest and imprisonment of parents, wives, and siblings of criminals, with the exception for the crime of treason.

He also creates a governmental assistance program for those in need.

Loans or tax exemptions are offered to widowers, widows, orphans, and seniors without children.

He further orders that monthly stipends of rice, wine, and meat be given to seniors over eighty years in age, and that additional stipends of cloth and cotton be given to seniors over ninety years in age.

Moreover, he makes peace with Nanyue, consisting of parts of the modern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and much of modern northern Vietnam, whose king, the Han Chinese general Zhao Tuo, Empress Dowager Lü had offended by an economic embargo and which has therefore engaged in raids against the Principality of Changsha (modern Hunan) and the prefecture of Nan (modern Hubei).

Emperor Wen accomplishes this by writing humble yet assertive letters to Zhao offering peace with dignity and by caring for Zhao's relatives remaining in his native town of Zhending (in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei).

Finally, after some hesitation (during which he, apparently influenced by the theory of chanrang, thought that maybe it would be more proper for him to find the wisest person in the empire and offer the throne to him, or that he should consider offering the throne to his uncle Liu Jiao, the Prince of Chu; his cousin Liu Pi, the Prince of Wu; or his younger brother Liu Chang, the Prince of Huainan), he creates his oldest son Liu Qi the Crown Prince and Prince Qi's mother, Consort Dou, Empress.