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Emperor Zhongzong of Tang (唐中宗) (26 November 656 – 3 July 710), personal name Li Xian (李顯), at times during his life Li Zhe (李哲) and Wu Xian (武顯), was the fourth Emperor of the Tang Dynasty of China, ruling briefly in 684 and again from 705 to 710. Emperor Zhongzong was the son of Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Empress Wu (later known as Wu Zetian). He succeeded his father in 684. His mother, however, deposed him less than two months later in favor of his younger brother Emperor Ruizong. The former emperor, demoted to a princely rank, was sent in exile in the provinces and placed under house arrest. Six years later, Emperor Ruizong in turn relinquished the throne to his mother and Empress Dowager Wu officially proclaimed herself "Emperor", while Emperor Ruizong was made crown prince. By 698 the court was caught in the middle of a bitter power struggle. In an attempt to decrease the power struggle, Empress Wu liberated the former emperor from his 14 years of seclusion and recalled him to the capital in April 698. He was reinstated as crown prince in October 698, taking the place of his brother. On 20 February 705, a palace coup deposed Wu Zetian and Emperor Zhongzong was restored as emperor three days later. Emperor Zhongzong reigned for five years but was a rather weak and easily influenced ruler. Real power was in the hands of his empress consort, Empress Wei and her lover Wu Sansi (Wu Zetian's nephew). In 710, Emperor Zhongzong died, allegedly poisoned by Empress Wei, who then installed his son, Li Chongmao, as emperor. Empress Wei, who had failed to install her daughter Li Guo'er, the Princess Anle, as heir to Emperor Zhongzong, thought that Li Chongmao, born of Zhongzong and a concubine and who was only 16 years old, would be easy to control and allow her to preserve her power. The scheme failed, however, when Princess Taiping, the sister of Emperor Zhongzong, launched a coup two weeks later with her nephew Li Longji (later Emperor Xuanzong), son of the abdicated Emperor Ruizong, and overthrew Empress Wei and the young emperor. Emperor Ruizong, the father of Li Longji and the older brother of Princess Taiping, was restored as emperor. ==Background== Li Xiǎn〔Tonal signs for his original name are used in this section only to disambiguate between him and his brother Li Xián.〕 was born in 656, as the seventh son of his father Emperor Gaozong and the third son of his mother, Emperor Gaozong's second wife Empress Wu (later known as Wu Zetian). In 657, he was created the Prince of Zhou and nominally made the prefect of the eastern capital prefecture Luo Prefecture (洛州, roughly modern Luoyang, Henan). In 661, when his older brother Li Xián the Prince of Pei had the literarilly-talented official Wang Bo on staff, the princes were apparently often engaged in cockfighting. Wang Bo wrote a playful piece entitled the ''Declaration Against the Prince of Zhou's Cock'' (檄周王雞文), which, however, when Emperor Gaozong read it, caused Emperor Gaozong to be angry, as he believed this would cause discord between his sons, and therefore expelled Wang from the Pei mansion. However, in 674, a similar incident happened by Emperor Gaozong's own instigation—as, at an imperial feast, he divided the imperial musicians into two teams and had Li Xián and Li Xiǎn lead the two teams in competition—although he stopped when the chancellor Hao Chujun pointed out the potential for rivalry. Meanwhile, during the years that Li Xiǎn was the Prince of Zhou, he had married a daughter of his grandaunt the Princess Changle and her husband, the general Zhao Gui (趙瓌), as his wife and princess. Emperor Gaozong had often shown favors to Princess Changle, and this displeased Empress Wu. In 675, on account of this, she had Princess Zhao accused of crimes and put into solitary confinement at the bureau of eunuchs. She was given raw vegetables and raw meat for her to cook them herself. However, some time later, the kitchen stopped to have smoke and steam come out of it, and when Empress Wu had her confinement house opened, Princess Zhao was seen dead inside, having starved to death. Empress Wu also demoted Zhao Gui to be the prefect of Kuo Prefecture (括州, roughly modern Lishui, Zhejiang) and ordered Princess Changle to accompany her husband to Kuo Prefecture, and further ordered that neither Zhao Gui nor Princess Changle would be allowed to enter the palace. In 676, when Tufan attacked Tang's western prefectures, Li Xiǎn and his younger brother Li Lun the Prince of Xiang were nominally put in charge of the two armies that were actually commanded by the generals Liu Shenli (劉審禮) and Qibi Heli (契苾何力), but neither Li Xiǎn nor Li Lun actually set out with the troops. In 677, Li Xiǎn had his title changed to Prince of Ying. His name was also changed to Li Zhe. He was also made the prefect of the capital prefecture Yong Prefecture (雍州, roughly modern Xi'an, Shaanxi). By 680, Li Xián, who was then crown prince, had lost Empress Wu's favor. After she suspected him of having had her trusted sorcerer Ming Chongyan (明崇儼) assassinated, she had him investigated for treason, and subsequently, he was found guilty. He was reduced to commoner rank and exiled, and Li Zhe was created crown prince to replace him. Hao Chujun and another chancellor, Liu Rengui, were made his senior advisors. Emperor Gaozong also recruited the famed hermit scholar Tian Youyan (田遊巖) to serve as an advisor, although Tian would later draw criticism from others for not having any actual good advice for the crown prince. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Emperor Zhongzong of Tang」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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