During Wu Zetian's Reign
Later in 690, Empress Dowager Wu had Emperor Ruizong yield the throne to her, and she took the throne as "emperor" of a new Zhou Dynasty, interrupting Tang Dynasty. Xing continued to serve as chancellor. However, later that year, when the chancellor Zong Qinke was accused of corruption and exiled, Xing was accused of being an associate of Zong's and demoted to be the prefect of Zhen Prefecture (珍州, roughly modern Zunyi, Guizhou). Soon after his demotion, there was an imperial messenger sent to Zhen Prefecture, and Xing, believing that the messenger must be sent to arrest him, committed suicide by hanging.
Read more about this topic: Xing Wenwei
Famous quotes containing the word reign:
“I am monarch of all I survey;
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From the center all round to the sea
I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
O Solitude! where are the charms
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Better dwell in the midst of alarms,
Than reign in this horrible place.”
—William Cowper (1731–1800)