Emperor Yuan of Liang
| Emperor Yuan of Liang | |||||||||||||||||
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| Reign | December 13, 552 – January 7, 555 | ||||||||||||||||
| Born | September 16, 508 | ||||||||||||||||
| Died | January 27, 555 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Dynasty | Liang Dynasty | ||||||||||||||||
| Full name | |
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| Era name and dates | |
| Chéngshèng (承聖): December 13, 552 – July 1, 555 | |
| Posthumous name | |
| Emperor Yuán (元皇帝, "discerning") (short) Emperor Xiàoyuán (孝元皇帝, "filial and discerning") (full) |
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| Temple name | |
| Shìzǔ (世祖) |
Emperor Yuan of Liang (Chinese: 梁元帝; pinyin: Liáng Yuándì) (508–555), personal name Xiao Yi (蕭繹), courtesy name Shicheng (世誠), nickname Qifu (七符), was an emperor of the Chinese Liang Dynasty. After his father Emperor Wu and brother Emperor Jianwen were successively taken hostage and controlled by the rebel general Hou Jing, Xiao Yi was largely viewed as the de facto leader of Liang, and after defeating Hou in 552 declared himself emperor. In 554, after offending Yuwen Tai, the paramount general of rival Western Wei, Western Wei forces descended on and captured his capital Jiangling (江陵, in modern Jingzhou, Hubei), executing him and instead declaring his nephew Xiao Cha (Emperor Xuan) the Emperor of Liang.
Emperor Yuan was a renowned writer and collector of ancient books, but was criticized by historians for concentrating on eliminating potential contenders for the throne rather than on fighting Hou Jing. As Jiangling was sieged by Western Wei troops, Emperor Yuan set his collection of more than 140,000 volumes of ancient books on fire, and this is commonly considered as one of the greatest disasters for the study of ancient works in Chinese history.
Xiao Yi was born in 508, as the seventh son of the dynasty founder Emperor Wu. His mother was Emperor Wu's concubine Ruan Lingying (阮令贏), whose original surname was Shi (石), and who had previously been concubine to the Southern Qi prince Xiao Yaoguang (蕭遙光) and then the emperor Xiao Baojuan, and whose surname was changed to Ruan by Emperor Wu. In 514, at the age of six, he was created the Prince of Xiangdong. As the years went by, he got increasingly higher offices, and by 547 he was not only the governor of the key Jing Province (荊州, modern central and western Hubei), but was also titular commander of the troops of the other provinces in the central empire.
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