Sima Yu
| Sima Yu | |||||||||
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| Crown Prince of Jin Dynasty | |||||||||
| Reign | 290-300 | ||||||||
| Successor | Sima Zang (imperial grandson) | ||||||||
| Born | 278 | ||||||||
| Died | 300 (aged 21–22) | ||||||||
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| Father | Emperor Hui of Jin | ||||||||
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| Full name | |
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Family name: Sima 司馬 Given name: 遹 Courtesy name: Xizu 熙祖 |
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| Posthumous name | |
| Crown Prince Minhuai 愍懷太子 |
| This article is part of the War of the Eight Princes series. |
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|---|---|
| Eight Princes | |
| Sima Liang | |
| Sima Wei | |
| Sima Lun | |
| Sima Jiong | |
| Sima Ai | |
| Sima Ying | |
| Sima Yong | |
| Sima Yue | |
| Other key figures | |
| Emperor Hui | |
| Emperor Huai | |
| Empress Yang Zhi | |
| Jia Nanfeng | |
| Yang Xianrong | |
| Sima Yu | |
| Yang Jun | |
| Wei Guan | |
| Zhang Hua |
Sima Yu (司馬遹) (278–300), courtesy name Xizu (熙祖), formally Crown Prince Minhuai (愍懷太子) was a Chinese crown prince during the Jin Dynasty (265-420).
Sima Yu's father Sima Zhong was developmentally disabled, and before he, then crown prince, was to marry his wife Jia Nanfeng, his father Emperor Wu gave him one of his own concubines, Consort Xie Jiu (謝玖), so that Consort Xie could teach him how to have sexual relations. While Crown Princess Jia bore the crown prince four daughters, Sima Yu was his only son.
When Sima Yu was four years old, there was a fire in the palace, and Emperor Wu walked up a tower to observe it. Sima Yu pulled him aside and said, "At night, when something unusual like this happens, we should take precautions. The light of the fire should not shine on the emperor." Emperor Wu was surprised by this perceptive observation by a child, and praised the young prince as very much like his own grandfather Sima Yi. This was part of the reason why Emperor Wu let Crown Prince Zhong remain his heir. In 289, he created Prince Yu the Prince of Guangling. After Emperor Wu died in 290, Crown Prince Zhong ascended the throne as Emperor Hui, and Prince Yu was created crown prince.
As Crown Prince Yu grew in age, however, he lost some of the good reputation that he had as a child, as he disliked studying and spent much time on building projects and games. Empress Jia, who had constantly been jealous of Crown Prince Yu and Consort Xie, did not discourage this behavior, but in fact encouraged it to further damage Crown Prince Yu's reputation. When Crown Prince Yu's staff would try to correct his ways, he would not listen to them. He also would not listen to them with regard to their advice to maintain strong relations with Empress Jia's family members. Empress Jia's mother Guo Huai (郭槐) had constantly advised Empress Jia to treat Crown Prince Yu well, as her own son, and she advocated marrying a daughter of Empress Jia's sister Jia Wu (賈午) to Crown Prince Yu. However, Empress Jia and Jia Wu opposed this, and instead married a daughter of the official Wang Yan (王衍) to Crown Prince Yu. (Wang had two daughters, but Empress Jia had Crown Prince Yu marry the less beautiful one and had her nephew Jia Mi marry the more beautiful one.) After Lady Guo's death, the relationship between Empress Jia and Crown Prince Yu quickly deteriorated, as Jia Wu and another associate of Empress Jia, Emperor Wu's concubine Consort Zhao Can (趙粲), provoked difficulties between them. Further, Crown Prince Yu and Jia Mi never liked each other, and Jia Mi, as a result, also advised Empress Jia to depose Crown Prince Yu.
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