Emperor Wu had black hair, yellow skin, brown eyes. Appearance matches standard East Asian, contradicts blonde-haired stereotypical Xianbei image. 60% ancestry from ancient Northeast Asians in Heilong River Basin. 30% ancestry from Yellow River Basin populations. One-third Yellow River ancestry stems from Xianbei royalty intermarrying Han nobles. Grandmother likely belonged to Han ethnic group. Xianbei ancestors originated in northeastern Asia and Yellow River regions. Died at 36 from chronic arsenic poisoning. Bones show elevated arsenic, boron, antimony versus civilians and nobles. Poison accumulated long-term via diet in femur bones. Symptoms match historical illness records. Poisoning likely from Taoist elixirs sought by elites for longevity. Skull nearly intact from 1993 tomb excavation. DNA from 1 million gene loci reconstructed traits. Challenges include complete skulls and high-quality genomes.