Cao Rui
| Cao Rui 曹叡 |
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| Emperor of Cao Wei | |||||||||||||||||
| Reign | 226 – 22 January 239 | ||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Cao Pi | ||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Cao Fang | ||||||||||||||||
| Born | 204 or 206 | ||||||||||||||||
| Died | 22 January 239 | ||||||||||||||||
| Burial | Gaopingling (高平陵), Luoyang, Henan | ||||||||||||||||
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| Father | Cao Pi | ||||||||||||||||
| Mother | Lady Zhen | ||||||||||||||||
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Family name: Cao (曹) Given name: Rui (叡) Courtesy name: Yuanzhong (元仲) |
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| Emperor Ming (明帝) | |
| Temple name | |
| Liezu (烈祖) |
| Cao Rui | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 曹叡 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
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| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Cáo Ruì |
| Gwoyeu Romatzyh | Tsaur Ruey |
| Wade–Giles | Ts'ao2 Jui4 |
| IPA | [tsʰǎu ɻwêi] |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | Chòuh Yeuih |
| Jyutping | Cou4 Jeoi6 |
| Southern Min | |
| Tâi-lô | Tsô Jūe |
| Middle Chinese | |
| Middle Chinese | Dzaw Jwèj |
Qinglong (青龍): 233–237
Cao Rui (204 or 206 – 22 January 239), courtesy name Yuanzhong, was the second emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. His parentage is in dispute: his mother, Lady Zhen, was Yuan Xi's wife, but she later remarried Cao Pi, the first ruler of Wei. Based on conflicting accounts of his age, Pei Songzhi calculated that, in order to be Cao Pi's son, Cao Rui could not have been 36 (by East Asian age reckoning) when he died as recorded, so the recorded age was in error; Lu Bi and Mou Guangsheng argued instead that Cao Rui was Yuan Xi's son.
Cao Rui's reign was viewed in many different ways throughout Chinese history. He was an emperor who was known to have been a strong military strategist and a good leader astute in commissioning capable officials. At the same time, he was personally a supporter of arts. He devoted much resources into building palaces and ancestral temples, and his reign saw the stalemate between his empire, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu become more entrenched. His building projects and his desire to have many concubines (who numbered in the thousands) greatly exhausted the imperial treasury. On his deathbed, he entrusted his son Cao Fang to the regency of Cao Shuang and Sima Yi — a fatal mistake for his clan, as Cao Shuang monopolised power and governed incompetently, eventually drawing a violent reaction from Sima Yi, who overthrew him in a coup d'état (Incident at Gaoping Tombs) and became in control of the Wei government, eventually allowing his grandson Sima Yan to usurp the Wei throne. After his death, Cao Rui was posthumously honoured as "Emperor Ming" with the temple name "Liezu".
When Cao Rui was born (likely in 204), his grandfather Cao Cao was the paramount warlord of Han Dynasty, who had rendered Emperor Xian of Han a mere figurehead. His father Cao Pi was Cao Cao's oldest surviving son and the heir apparent. His mother Lady Zhen had been the wife of Yuan Shao's son Yuan Xi, but when she was seized by Cao Cao's army in 204, Cao Pi forced her to marry him, and she gave birth to Cao Rui only eight months after the wedding—leading to theories that Cao Rui was actually biologically Yuan Xi's son and not Cao Pi's. This eventually was used to great advantage by Cao Pi's concubine Guo Nüwang to create tension between Cao Pi and Lady Zhen. Cao Pi, after his father's death in 220, forced Emperor Xian to yield the throne to him and established Cao Wei. Lady Zhen was not allowed to accompany him to the new capital Luoyang, and in 221 he forced her to commit suicide.
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Wikipedia