Li Zhong (李忠) (643 – January 6, 665Volume 201 of ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynas ...

'' recorded that Li died on the ''wuzi'' day in the 12th month of the 1st year of the Linde era of Tang Gaozong's reign. This date corresponds to 6 Jan 665 on the Gregorian calendar. 麟德元年十二月)戊子，赐忠死于流所/ref>),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China China, officially the People's R ...

Zhengben (正本), formally Prince of Yan (燕王), 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 is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wife ...

of the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

dynasty

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

. He was the oldest son of Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi) and was created crown prince in 652 even though he was not the son of his then-wife Empress Wang. After Empress Wang was displaced by

Empress Wu The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vo ...

(later known as Wu Zetian) in 655, however, Li Zhong was caught in Empress Wu's crosshairs and was forced to yield the crown prince position to his younger brother

Li Hong Li Hong () (652 – 25 May 675), formally Emperor Xiaojing (孝敬皇帝, literally, "the filial and respectful emperor") with the temple name of Yizong (義宗), was a crown prince (not emperor, despite his formal title) of the Chinese dynasty ...

, born of Empress Wu, in 656. He was later further reduced to commoner rank and put under house arrest, and when the

chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Shangguan Yi Shangguan Yi (; 608 – 4 January 665), courtesy name Youshao (), formally Duke of Chu (), was a Chinese poet and politician. He was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, serving as chancellor during the reign of Emperor Gaozong ...

failed in his attempt to persuade Emperor Gaozong to depose Empress Wu in 664 and was executed, Empress Wu took the opportunity to accuse Li Zhong of being complicit in Shangguan's plans. Around the new year 665, Emperor Gaozong at the urgent request of Empress Wu ordered Li Zhong to commit suicide. He was posthumously honored an imperial prince, but not a crown prince, during the second reign of his brother Emperor Zhongzong.

Background

Li Zhong was born in 643, shortly after his father Li Zhi became

under his grandfather Emperor Taizong. His mother was Consort Liu, who was of lowly birth. He was Li Zhi's oldest son, and Li Zhi convened a feast with his staff at Hongjiao Hall (弘教殿) to celebrate. Emperor Taizong personally attended as well and danced to celebrate the grandson's birth. In 646, Emperor Taizong created Li Zhong the Prince of Chen. After Emperor Taizong's death in 649, Li Zhi succeeded him (as Emperor Gaozong), and he made Li Zhong titular prefect of the capital prefecture, Yong Prefecture (雍州, roughly modern

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ning ...

As crown prince

Emperor Gaozong's wife and

empress An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( em ...

Empress Wang did not have a son, and her uncle, the

Liu Shi suggested to her to have Li Zhong made crown prince, hoping that he would be grateful to her. Empress Wang agreed, and Liu Shi subsequently lobbied the other chancellors, including Emperor Gaozong's powerful uncle

Zhangsun Wuji Zhangsun Wuji (; died 659), courtesy name Fuji (輔機), formally the Duke of Zhao, was a Chinese politician who served as a chancellor in the early Tang dynasty. He was Empress Zhangsun's brother, which made him a brother-in-law of Emperor Taiz ...

, into agreeing to and requesting the same. Emperor Gaozong agreed, and in 652, he created Li Zhong crown prince. The chancellors

Yu Zhining Yu Zhining (于志寧) (588–665), courtesy name Zhongmi (仲謐), formally Duke Ding of Yan (燕定公), was a Chinese politician during the Tang dynasty, during the reigns of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong. He had served on the staff of E ...

, Zhang Xingcheng, and Gao Jifu took on additional titles as the young crown prince's advisors. In 655, Empress Wang, due to false accusations of murder and witchcraft by Emperor Gaozong's

concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubi ...

Consort Wu (later known as Wu Zetian), was deposed, and Consort Wu was created empress to replace her. Empress Wu had two sons of her own by this point, and the oldest,

, was three years old. Empress Wu's ally, the official

Xu Jingzong Xu Jingzong (592 – September 20, 672), courtesy name Yanzu, posthumously known as Duke Gong of Gaoyang, was a Chinese cartographer, historian, and politician who served as a chancellor in the Tang dynasty. Allied with Emperor Gaozong's powerf ...

, submitted a petition arguing that it should be the empress' son who is made crown prince. Emperor Gaozong agreed, and in spring 656, Li Zhong was deposed and reduced to the title of Prince of Liang. He was further removed from the capital, to serve as the prefect of Liang Prefecture (梁州, roughly modern

Hanzhong Hanzhong (; abbreviation: Han) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Shaanxi province, China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the south and Gansu to the west. The founder of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang, was once enfeoffed as t ...

). Li Hong was created crown prince in his stead.

After removal

Later in 656, Li Zhong was moved from Liang Prefecture to Fang Prefecture (房州, roughly modern

Shiyan Shiyan () is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hubei, China, bordering Henan to the northeast, Chongqing to the southwest, and Shaanxi to the north and west. At the 2020 census, its population was 3,209,004 of whom 1,033,407 lived in th ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The pr ...

). As he grew in age, he began fearful that he would be a target of Empress Wu, and he sometimes wore women's clothes to try to evade assassins and engaged fortunetellers to try to see his future. These acts were reported to Emperor Gaozong, and in 660, Emperor Gaozong reduced him to commoner rank and put under house arrest in Qian Prefecture (黔州, modern southeastern

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Cou ...

), held at the same house that his uncle

Li Chengqian Li Chéngqián (李承乾) (618 – 5 January 645), courtesy name Gaoming (高明), formally Prince Min of Hengshan (恆山愍王), was a crown prince of the Chinese Tang Dynasty. He was Emperor Taizong's oldest son and first crown prince, but wa ...

, who had been crown prince before Emperor Gaozong, had been held after his removal in 643. In 664, after the chancellor

made an unsuccessful attempt to have Emperor Gaozong agree to have Empress Wu removed on account of her misbehavior, Empress Wu had Xu Jingzong accuse Shangguan Yi and the

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2n ...

Wang Fusheng (王伏勝, who had reported Empress Wu's misbehavior to Emperor Gaozong), both of whom had previously served on Li Zhong's staff, of conspiring with Li Zhong to commit treason. On January 4, 665, Shangguan and Wang, as well as Shangguan's son Shangguan Tingzhi (上官庭芝) were executed, and two days later, on January 6, Emperor Gaozong ordered Li Zhong to commit suicide. Later in 665, at Li Hong's request, Li Zhong was given a proper burial, After the death of Li Zhong, Empress Wu formally took over the government. Decades later, after Empress Wu's death in 705, her son Emperor Zhongzong posthumously honored Li Zhong as the Prince of Yan, but not crown prince.

Titles

* 646-652: ''His Imperial Highness'' The Prince of Chen * 652-656: ''His Imperial Highness'' The Crown Prince * 656-660: ''His Imperial Highness'' The Prince of Liang * 660-664: Commoner * Posthumous titles: ''His Imperial Highness'' The Prince of Yan

Ancestry

Notes and references

* ''

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 Kin ...

'', vol. 8

* '' New Book of Tang'', vol. 8

* ''

'', vols. :zh:s:資治通鑑/卷199, 199,

200 __NOTOC__ Year 200 ( CC) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Victorinus (or, less frequently, year 953 ''Ab u ...

201 Year 201 ( CCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Fabianus and Arrius (or, less frequently, year 954 ''Ab urbe condit ...

External links

*Books of the ''

Quan Tangshi (''Complete Tang Poems'') is the largest collection of Tang poetry, containing some 49,000 lyric poems by more than twenty-two hundred poets. In 1705, it was commissioned at the direction of the Qing dynasty Kangxi Emperor and published under ...

'' that include collected poems of Li Zhong at the

Chinese Text Project The Chinese Text Project (CTP; ) is a digital library project that assembles collections of early Chinese texts. The name of the project in Chinese literally means "The Chinese Philosophical Book Digitization Project", showing its focus on books ...

:
Book 747

Book 748

Book 749

Book 750
{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Zhong Tang dynasty imperial princes 643 births 665 deaths Heirs apparent who never acceded