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:
“Nature seemed to have adorned herself for our departure with a profusion of fringes and curls, mingled with the bright tints of flowers, reflected in the water. But we missed the white water-lily, which is the queen of river flowers, its reign being over for this season.... Many of this species inhabit our Concord water.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)