Emperor Wen of Liu Song
| Liu Yilong | |||||||||||||
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| Emperor of Liu Song Dynasty | |||||||||||||
| Reign | 424-453 | ||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Emperor Shao | ||||||||||||
| Successor | Emperor Yuanxiong | ||||||||||||
| Born | 407 | ||||||||||||
| Died | 453 (aged 46) | ||||||||||||
| Empress | Yuan Qigui | ||||||||||||
| Issue | 19 sons and 11 daughters | ||||||||||||
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| Father | Emperor Wu of Liu Song | ||||||||||||
| Mother | Consort Hu | ||||||||||||
| Full name | |
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Family name: Liu (劉; liú) Given name: Yilong (義隆, yì lóng) |
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| Posthumous name | |
| initially Jing (景, jǐng), literary meaning "decisive", later Wen (文, wén), literary meaning: "civil" |
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| Temple name | |
| initially Zhongzong (中宗), later Taizu (太祖) |
Emperor Wen of Liu Song ((劉)宋文帝, (Liu) Song Wen-di) (407–453), personal name Liu Yilong (劉義隆), nickname Che'er (車兒), was an emperor of the Chinese dynasty Liu Song. He was the third son of the dynastic founder Emperor Wu (Liu Yu). After his father's death in 422, Liu Yilong's eldest brother Liu Yifu took the throne as Emperor Shao. In 424, a group of officials, believing Emperor Shao to be unfit to be emperor, deposed Emperor Shao and placed Liu Yilong on the throne as Emperor Wen.
In his 29 years of rule, Emperor Wen largely continued the grand plan of his father and some of the land policies of the Jin Dynasty. The period, called the "Yuanjia administration" (元嘉之治), is seen as a period of prosperity and strength, because of the emperor's diligence and ability to find capable and honest officials to serve in his administration. However, Emperor Wen was faulted for making repeated failed attempts to attack rival Northern Wei and using the wrong strategies in doing so, weakening his state toward the end of his rule. In 453, angry that his crown prince Liu Shao was using witchcraft to curse him, he planned to depose Liu Shao; when this plan was leaked, Liu Shao staged a coup and assassinated him, replacing him on the throne, although less than a year later Liu Shao's younger brother Liu Jun defeated him and took the throne as Emperor Xiaowu.
Liu Yilong was born at Jingkou (京口, in modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) in 407, to Liu Yu and his concubine Hu Dao'an (胡道安), as Liu Yu's third son; at that time, Liu Yu was already the paramount general for Jin, and so Liu Yilong was born into a household of power and wealth. For reasons lost to history, in 409, Liu Yu put Consort Hu to death. Liu Yilong's maternal grandmother Lady Su was involved in his upbringing, and he was particularly close to her as he grew up. In 410, while the Jin capital Jiankang was under attack by the warlord Lu Xun (盧循), Liu Yu had his assistant Liu Cui (劉粹) accompany the three-year-old Liu Yilong to serve as the defender of Jingkou. In 415, he was created the Duke of Pengcheng. In 417, while Liu Yu was attacking Later Qin, he had Liu Yilong, again assisted by his staff, remain at Pengcheng to serve as the governor of Xu Province (徐州, modern northern Jiangsu and Anhui), to guard his rear. In 418, after Liu Yu conquered Later Qin, Liu Yilong was made the governor of the important Jing Province (荊州, modern Hubei and Hunan), and commander of armed forces of the western empire. Those who served on his staff included Dao Yanzhi (到彥之), Zhang Shao (張邵), Wang Tanshou (王曇首), Wang Hua (王華), and Shen Linzi (沈林子), with Zhang actually in charge of headquarters due to Liu Yilong's young age. After Liu Yu seized the Jin throne in 420, establishing Liu Song (as Emperor Wu), he created a number of his sons princes, and Liu Yilong was created the Prince of Yidu at that time. Around this time, he became known as studious in the Confucian classics and histories, and was also a good calligrapher.
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