Family Background
Then-Prince Da was born to then-Crown Prince Liu Zhuang and one of his consorts, Consort Jia, in 57. As Crown Prince Zhuang's favorite, Consort Ma – Consort Jia's aunt (her mother's sister) – had no sons, at Crown Prince Zhuang's instruction, Consort Ma adopted Prince Da as her own son. Prince Da therefore grew up considering Consort Ma as his mother, and while he clearly knew that Consort Jia was his birth mother, he never treated her as mother.
Also in 57, Prince Da's grandfather Emperor Guangwu died, and his father Crown Prince Zhuang succeeded to the throne as Emperor Ming. In 60, at the behest of his mother Empress Dowager Yin Lihua, Emperor Ming created Consort Ma empress, and Prince Da, as her son, was created crown prince, even though he had four brothers older than he was.
Read more about this topic: Emperor Zhang Of Han
Famous quotes containing the words family and/or background:
“If a family lives in harmony, all its affairs will prosper.”
—Chinese proverb.
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)