Family Background and Life As Imperial Prince
Then-Liu Jizi was born in 9 BC. His father Liu Xing (劉興) was the youngest son of Emperor Yuan and the younger brother of Emperor Cheng. His mother was one of Prince Xing's consorts, Consort Wei (衛姬). Prince Jizi had three sisters (whose names are not recorded in history) but no brother. He was born with a heart ailment, which, when affliciting him, causes him to have circulation problems, manifesting itself outwardly as having his lips and appendages turn blue. He was raised by his paternal grandmother Consort Feng Yuan, a concubine of Emperor Yuan, who then had the title princess dowager in Prince Xing's principality.
Around the time of Prince Jizi's birth, Prince Xing was considered a potential imperial heir, because Emperor Cheng had no heirs, but eventually Emperor Cheng chose his nephew (Prince Jizi's cousin) Liu Xin (劉欣), because Emperor Cheng considered Prince Xin to be more capable than Prince Xing, and also wanted to adopt Prince Xin and make him his own son. When Emperor Cheng died in 7 BC, Prince Xin took the throne as Emperor Ai.
Also in 7 BC, when Prince Jizi was just 2, Prince Xing died, and Prince Jizi inherited his principality as the Prince of Zhongshan (roughly modern Baoding, Hebei). He continued to be periodically afflicted with his heart disorder. As a result, his grandmother Princess Dowager Feng hired many physicians and often prayed to the gods. In 6 BC, Emperor Ai, hearing about his cousin's illness, sent imperial physicians along with his attendant Zhang You (張由) to go to Zhongshan to treat Prince Jizi. This, however, would have dire consequences of Princess Dowager Feng.
The imperial attendant Zhang was himself afflicted with a psychiatric condition (probably bipolar disorder), and when he got to Zhongshan, he suddenly, in a rage, left there and returned to the capital Chang'an. Once he did and was ordered to explain his conduct, he made up a false reason—that he had discovered that Princess Dowager Feng was using witchcraft to curse Emperor Ai and his grandmother, Empress Dowager Fu. Empress Dowager Fu and Princess Dowager Feng were romantic rivals when they were both consorts to Emperor Yuan, and Empress Dowager Fu decided to use this opportunity to strike at Princess Dowager Feng. She sent a eunuch, Shi Li (史立), to serve as investigator, and Shi tortured a good number of Princess Dowager Feng's relations (including her sister Feng Xi (馮習) and her sister-in-law Junzhi (君之)), some to death, but still could not build a solid case against Princess Dowager Feng. Shi Li decided to show Princess Dowager Feng who was actually behind the investigation, by referring to an incident in which then-Consort Feng defended Emperor Yuan against a bear which had broken loose. Princess Dowager Feng, realizing that Empress Dowager Fu was behind the investigation, went back to her palace and committed suicide. In total, 17 members of the Feng clan died as a result of the investigations. Prince Jizi, then still a toddler, was spared. (Princess Dowager Feng's reputation would be restored, and her accusers severely punished, in 1 BC, after the deaths of Emperor Ai and Empress Dowager Fu.)
In 1 BC, Emperor Ai died without an heir. His stepgrandmother, Grand Empress Dowager Wang, quickly seized power back from Emperor Ai's male favorite (and probable lover) Dong Xian, and recalled her nephew Wang Mang as regent. Wang Mang quickly carried out a wave of retaliation against Dong Xian and Emperor Ai's Fu and Ding (relatives of his mother Consort Ding) relations, purging them from government, and at the same time purging many actual or potential political enemies, while at the same time pretending to Grand Empress Dowager Wang to be faithful to Han. Prince Jizi, as the only surviving male descendant of Emperor Yuan (both Emperors Cheng and Ai having died without issue), was considered the logical successor, and he was welcomed to Chang'an to succeed his cousin.
Read more about this topic: Emperor Ping Of Han
Famous quotes containing the words family, background, life, imperial and/or prince:
“Like many another romance, the romance of the family turns sour when the money runs out. If we really cared about families, we would not let “born again” patriarchs send up moral abstractions as a smokescreen for the scandal of American family economics.”
—Letty Cottin Pogrebin (20th century)
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“I think it’s the real world. The people we’re writing about in professional sports, they’re suffering and living and dying and loving and trying to make their way through life just as the brick layers and politicians are.”
—Walter Wellesley (Red)
“Fair tresses man’s imperial race ensnare,
And beauty draws us with a single hair.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“Subordination to morality can be slavish or vain or self- interested or resigned or gloomily enthusiastic or thoughtless or an act of despair, just as subordination to a prince can be: in itself it is nothing moral.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)