Li Ying (李瑛) (died June 737), né Li Siqian (李嗣謙), known from 725 to 736 as Li Hong (李鴻), was a

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

of the Chinese

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

during the reign of his father Emperor Xuanzong. He was later removed and forced to commit suicide due to the machinations of Emperor Xuanzong's favorite and influential

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship, interpersonal and Intimate relationship, sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarde ...

Consort Wu and her powerful and corrupt ally, the

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Li Linfu.

Background

It is not known when Li Siqian was born, but it is known that he was the second son of Li Longji, then the Prince of Linzi under Li Longji's uncle Emperor Zhongzong. His mother Consort Zhao, who would eventually receive the imperial consort rank of ''Lifei'' (麗妃), the second highest rank for imperial consorts,''

Old Book of Tang The ''Old Book of Tang'', or simply the ''Book of Tang'', is the first classic historical work about the Tang dynasty, comprising 200 chapters, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories. Originally compiled during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

''
vol. 51
. was said to be a prostitute who was capable in singing and dancing, and who became a

of Li Longji's when Li Longji was serving as the secretary general for Lu Prefecture (潞州, roughly modern

Changzhi Changzhi ( zh, s=长治) is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Shanxi Province, China, bordering the provinces of Hebei and Henan to the northeast and east, respectively. Historically, the city was one of the 36 administrative areas ( ...

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

), in 708. In 710, after Li Longji's father Li Dan became emperor (as Emperor Ruizong), Li Longji was created

, and his sons were created princes. Li Siqian was created the Prince of Zhending.

During Emperor Xuanzong's reign

In 712, Emperor Ruizong passed the throne to Li Longji, who took the throne as Emperor Xuanzong. Li Siqian's title was upgraded to Prince of Ying. At this point, Consort Zhao was Emperor Xuanzong's favorite concubine, and he gave high official offices to her father Zhao Yuanli (趙元禮) and brother Zhao Changnu (趙常奴). Further, in 715, he created Li Siqian

, even though Li Siqian was not his eldest son. (Emperor Xuanzong's eldest son Li Sizhi was alive, but his face might have already been badly injured, which was considered unfit for an emperor and might be the reason that he was never created crown prince.) In 719, Li Siqian ceremonially donned adult clothing, and a ceremony was held at the imperial university to commemorate the beginning of his formal studies, with the official Chu Wuliang (褚無量) presiding. Meanwhile, over the years, another concubine of Emperor Xuanzong's, Consort Wu gained great favor, and Empress Wang lost favor. In 724, Empress Wang's brother Wang Shouyi (王守一) was discovered to have used magic to try to regain favor for Empress Wang. Empress Wang was deposed and died soon thereafter, and Wang Shouyi was forced to commit suicide. Emperor Xuanzong considered creating Consort Wu empress, but eventually did not do so due to official opposition based on two grounds—that Consort Wu was of the family of Emperor Xuanzong's powerful grandmother

Wu Zetian Wu Zetian (624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was List of rulers of China#Tang dynasty, Empress of China from 660 to 705, ruling first through others and later in her own right. She ruled as queen consort , empress consort th ...

, who seized the throne herself for over a decade as "emperor" and interrupted the Tang dynasty, and that Consort Wu was not Li Siqian's mother and therefore might seek to endanger Li Siqian. Still, Consort Wu's son Li Qing (李清) the Prince of Shou became Emperor Xuanzong's favorite son, and Li Siqian began to lose favor. In 725, Li Siqian's name was changed to Li Hong. In 726, Li Hong's mother Consort Zhao died. In 728, Emperor Xuanzong decreed a search among officials' daughters who could be the wife to Li Hong, and eventually selected the daughter of Xue Tao (薛縚) the deputy minister of ceremonies, to be Li Hong's wife and crown princess. Meanwhile, Consort Wu had designs to have Li Qing, whose name was by then changed to Li Mao (李瑁), named crown prince. She and the official Li Linfu entered into an alliance, where Li Linfu agreed to help her to have Li Mao created crown prince, while she recommended Li Linfu to be chancellor. Li Linfu became chancellor in 734, and thereafter began to lobby on Li Mao's behalf. In 736, Li Hong's name was changed to Li Ying. At some point thereafter, there was a time when Li Ying met with his brothers Li Yao (李瑤) the Prince of E, born of Consort Huangfu, and Li Ju (李琚) the Prince of Guang, born of Consort Liu, and each of them was complaining about how their mothers, originally favored by Emperor Xuanzong, had lost favor to Consort Wu. Princess Xianyi's husband Yang Hui (楊洄) reported this to Consort Wu, and she tearfully accused Li Ying of defaming her and Emperor Xuanzong. Emperor Xuanzong, in anger, discussed the possibility of deposing Li Ying with the chancellors. The senior chancellor Zhang Jiuling firmly opposed this, and when Consort Wu sent her servant Niu Gui'er (牛貴兒) to try to lobby him, he refused and reported this to Emperor Xuanzong. Because of Zhang's firm opposition to Li Ying's removal—citing examples of

Duke Xian of Jin Duke Xian of Jin (), personal name Ji Guizhu, was a ruler of the Jin state, reigning for 26 years. He moved the capital from Quwo (曲沃) to Jiang (絳). He was named after the Rongdi (戎狄) leader Guizhu (詭諸), whom his father and predece ...

Emperor Wu of Han Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), born Liu Che and courtesy name Tong, was the seventh Emperor of China, emperor of the Han dynasty from 141 to 87 BC. His reign lasted 54 years – a record not broken until the reign of the Kangxi ...

Emperor Hui of Jin Emperor Hui of Jin (; 259 – January 8, 307), personal name Sima Zhong (司馬衷), courtesy name Zhengdu (正度), was the second emperor of the Western Jin dynasty. Emperor Hui was a developmentally disabled ruler, and throughout his reign, th ...

, and

Emperor Wen of Sui Emperor Wen of Sui (; 21 July 541 – 13 August 604), personal name Yang Jian (), Xianbei name Puliuru Jian (), was the founding Emperor of China, emperor of the Chinese Sui dynasty. As a Buddhist, he encouraged the spread of Buddhism through ...

, each of whose states was destroyed or greatly weakened as the result of a change in the crown prince position—it was said that Li Ying's position was firm for as long as Zhang remained chancellor, but after Zhang was removed later in 736, things began to change. In 737, Consort Wu decided to try to trick Li Ying, Li Yao, and Li Ju. She had a message sent to the three princes, stating, "There are bandits in the palace. Please report at once in armor!" The three princes arrived in full armor, and she thereafter told Emperor Xuanzong, "The three princes are planning treason. Look, they have come in full armor." Emperor Xuanzong had his eunuchs check out the situation, and the three princes were seen in full armor. Yang Hui subsequently accused Li Ying, Li Yao, and Li Ju of treason. When Emperor Xuanzong discussed this with the chancellors, Li Linfu, by now the most powerful official at court, stated, "This is Your Imperial Majesty's family matter. We will not interfere." The three princes were soon reduced to commoner rank and forced to commit suicide. His sons were raised by his older brother Li Cong. A number of the clan members of his mother Consort Zhao and his wife Crown Princess Xue were exiled. After Li Ying's younger brother Emperor Suzong became emperor, he exonerated Li Ying and rehonored him as Crown Prince; at the same time, Emperor Suzong removed Consort Wu's posthumous honor as empress.

Personal information

*Father **

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (; 8 September 685 – 3 May 762), personal name Li Longji, was an Emperor of China, emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, reigning from 712 to 756. His reign of 44 years was the longest during the Tang dynasty. Throu ...

*Mother **Consort Zhao (d. 726) *Wife **Lady Xue, daughter of Xue Tao (薛縚), the Deputy Minister of Ceremonies *Sons **Li Yan (李俨), Prince of Xinping **Li Shen (李伸), Prince of Pingyuan **Li Qian (李倩) **Li Qiu, Prince of Qing **Li Bei (李备) **Li Jing (李儆)

References

Citations

Sources

* ''

''
vol. 107
* ''

New Book of Tang The ''New Book of Tang'', generally translated as the "New History of the Tang" or "New Tang History", is a work of official history covering the Tang dynasty in ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of the So ...

''
vol. 82
* ''

Zizhi Tongjian The ''Zizhi Tongjian'' (1084) is a chronicle published during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) that provides a record of Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynasties and spanning almost 1400 years. The main text is ...

'', vols. 210,

211 Year 211 ( CCXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, in the Roman Empire it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Terentius and Bassus (or, less frequently, year 964 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomin ...

, 212,

213 Year 213 ( CCXIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time (in Rome), it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Calvinus (or, less frequently, year 966 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 213 ...

, 214. {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Ying Tang dynasty imperial princes 737 deaths Forced suicides of Chinese people People executed by the Tang dynasty 8th-century executions by the Tang dynasty Year of birth unknown Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Chinese crown princes who never acceded