Emperor Gaozong of Tang
| Full name | |
|---|---|
|
Family name: Li (李) Birth name (小名): Zhinu (雉奴) Given name (大名): Zhi (治) Courtesy name (字): Weishan (為善) |
|
| Posthumous name | |
|
Short: Great Emperor Tianhuang 天皇大帝 Full: Emperor Tianhuang Dasheng Dahong Xiao 天皇大聖大弘孝皇帝 |
|
| Temple name | |
| Gaozong (高宗) |
| Tang Gaozong | |||||||||||
| Chinese | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Literal meaning | "High Ancestor of the Tang" | ||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| Li Zhi | |||||||||||
| Chinese | |||||||||||
| Literal meaning | (personal name) | ||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Táng Gāozōng |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | Tòhng Gōujūng |
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Léih Jih |
Emperor Gaozong of Tang or Emperor Kao-tsung of Tʻang (21 July 628 – 27 December 683), personal name Li Zhi (Wade–Giles: Li Chih), was the third emperor of the Tang dynasty in China, ruling from 649 to 683 (although after January 665 much of the governance was in the hands of his second wife Empress Wu (later known as Wu Zetian)). Emperor Gaozong was the son of Emperor Taizong and Empress Zhangsun.
Emperor Gaozong was aided in his rule by Empress Wu during the later years of his reign after a series of strokes left him incapacitated. Emperor Gaozong delegated all matters of state to his wife and after he died in 683, power fell completely into the hands of Empress Wu, who subsequently became the only Empress regnant in Chinese history. After his death, he was interred at the Qianling Mausoleum along with Wu Zetian.
Historians have generally viewed Emperor Gaozong as a weak ruler, inattentive to the business of the state and leaving such business to his powerful wife Empress Wu. During the first part of his reign, Tang territorial gains, which started with his father Emperor Taizong, continued, including the conquest of Baekje, Goguryeo, and Western Tujue, but throughout the 670s, much of those gains were lost to Tufan, Silla, Khitan, and Balhae. Further, territory previously conquered that belonged to both Eastern and Western Tujue were subjected to repeated rebellions.
Li Zhi was born in 628. He was the ninth son of his father, Emperor Taizong, and the third son of his mother, Emperor Taizong's wife Empress Zhangsun. In 631, he was created the Prince of Jin. In 633, he was made commandant of Bing Prefecture (并州, roughly modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), but remained at the capital Chang'an rather than reporting to Bing Prefecture. When Empress Zhangsun died in 636, Emperor Taizong was particularly touched by the grief that Li Zhi displayed, and from that point on particularly favored him. Sometime while he was the Prince of Jin, at the recommendation of his grand aunt Princess Tong'an, he married the grandniece of Princess Tong'an's husband Wang Yu (王裕) as his wife and princess.
...
Wikipedia