Emperor Ai of Tang

Emperor Ai of Tang
唐哀帝
Emperor of the Tang dynasty
Reign26 September 904[1][2] – 12 May 907[1][3]
PredecessorEmperor Zhaozong
SuccessorDynasty abolished
BornLi Zuo
27 October 892[1][4]
Died26 March 908 (aged 15)[1][3]
Burial
Wen Mausoleum (溫陵)
Full name
Era name and dates
Tiānyòu (天祐) (inherited from Emperor Zhaozong): 28 May 904[1][5] – 12 May 907[a]
Posthumous name
Emperor Ai (哀皇帝) (conferred by Later Liang) or
Emperor Zhaoxuan (昭宣皇帝) (conferred by Later Tang) (short)
Emperor Zhaoxuan Guanglie Xiao (昭宣光烈孝皇帝) (conferred by Later Tang) (full)
Temple name
Jǐngzōng (景宗) (not commonly used)
HouseLi
DynastyTang
FatherEmperor Zhaozong
MotherEmpress Xuanmu
Tang Aidi
Chinese唐哀帝
Literal meaning"Pitious Emperor of the Tang"
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinTáng Āidì
Li Zuo
Chinese李祚
Literal meaning(personal name)
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinLǐ Zuò

Emperor Ai of Tang (27 October 892 – 26 March 908), also known as Emperor Zhaoxuan of Tang (唐昭宣帝), born Li Zuo, later known as Li Chu (Chinese: 李柷; pinyin: Lǐ Chù[6]), was the last emperor of the Tang dynasty of China. He reigned—as a puppet ruler—from 904 to 907. Emperor Ai was the son of Emperor Zhaozong. He was murdered by Zhu Wen.

Emperor Ai ascended the throne at the age of 11 after his father, the Emperor Zhaozong, was assassinated on the orders of the paramount warlord Zhu Quanzhong in 904, and while Emperor Ai reigned, the Tang court, then at Luoyang, was under the control of officials Zhu put in charge. In 905, under the instigation of his associates Liu Can and Li Zhen, Zhu had Emperor Ai issue an edict summoning some 30 senior aristocrats at Baima Station (白馬驛, in modern Anyang, Henan), near the Yellow River; the aristocrats were thereafter ordered to commit suicide, and their bodies were thrown into the Yellow River. He could do nothing to stop Zhu from murdering his brothers and mother in the same year. Less than two years later in 907, Zhu made his final move against Emperor Ai himself, forcing the young emperor to abdicate to him. In Zhu's new Later Liang dynasty, the former Tang emperor carried the title of Prince of Jiyin, but in 908, Zhu had the prince poisoned, at the age of 15.

  1. ^ a b c d e Academia Sinica Chinese-Western Calendar Converter Archived 16 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 265.
  3. ^ a b Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 266.
  4. ^ Old Book of Tang, vol. 20, part 2.
  5. ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 264.
  6. ^ 现代汉语词典(第七版) [A Dictionary of Current Chinese (7th ed.)]. Beijing: The Commercial Press. 2016. p. 197. ISBN 978-7-100-12450-8. 柷 chù 用于人名，李柷，唐哀帝


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