Emperor Jing of Liang
| Emperor Jing of Liang | |||||||||||||
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| Reign | November 1, 555 – November 16, 557 | ||||||||||||
| Born | 543 | ||||||||||||
| Died | May 5, 558 | ||||||||||||
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| Dynasty | Liang Dynasty | ||||||||||||
| Full name | |
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| Era dates | |
| Shàotài (紹泰) 555–556 Tàipíng (太平) 556–557 |
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| Posthumous name | |
| Jìng (敬), "alert" |
Emperor Jing of Liang (Chinese: 梁敬帝; 543–558), personal name Xiao Fangzhi (蕭方智), courtesy name Huixiang (慧相), nickname Fazhen (法真), was an emperor of the Chinese Liang Dynasty. As the only surviving son of Emperor Yuan, he was declared emperor by the general Chen Baxian in 555, but in 557 Chen forced him to yield the throne and established Chen Dynasty. In 558, Chen had him killed.
Xiao Fangzhi was born in 544, when his father Xiao Yi was the Prince of Xiangdong during the reign of his grandfather, the founding emperor Emperor Wu. His mother was Xiao Yi's concubine Lady Xia. He was Xiao Yi's ninth son. He was created the Marquess of Xingliang in 549, probably by Xiao Yi, exercising acting imperial powers, as that year, the capital Jiankang fell to the rebel general Hou Jing, who took Emperor Wu and his crown prince, Xiao Fangzhi's uncle Xiao Gang hostage, and the subsequent acts of Emperor Wu and Xiao Gang (who succeeded to the throne as Emperor Jianwen later that year when Emperor Wu died) were not recognized as genuine imperial edicts.
In 552, after Xiao Yi had defeated Hou and taken the throne at his headquarters of Jiangling (江陵, in modern Jingzhou, Hubei) as Emperor Yuan, he created Xiao Fangzhi the Prince of Jin'an, and honored Xiao Fangzhi's mother Consort Xia as the Princess Dowager of Jin'an. In 553, Xiao Fangzhi was made a general and the governor of Jiang Province (江州, modern Jiangxi), although, because he was just nine years old, actual gubernatorial authorities were probably carried out by staff members.
In winter 554, Jiangling, then the capital, fell to Western Wei forces. Emperor Yuan was captured and subsequently executed around the near year 555, as were all of the then-surviving brothers of Xiao Fangzhi. Western Wei created Xiao Fangzhi's cousin Xiao Cha Emperor of Liang. However, most of the remaining Liang provinces were under the control of Emperor Yuan's general Wang Sengbian and Wang's lieutenant Chen Baxian, and they refused to recognize Xiao Cha as emperor. Rather, they welcomed Xiao Fangzhi to the old capital Jiankang, initially offering him the title of Taizai (太宰) and had him formally exercise imperial power. In spring 555, they declared him the Prince of Liang and had him take the throne—but not with imperial title.
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