Emperor Ai

Emperor Ai (892–908) was the last emperor of the Tang dynasty. Born Li Zuo, he was renamed Li Zhu (Li Chu in the older Wade-Giles spelling) when he was made crown prince, and he is also known by part of his posthumous name, Emperor Zhaoxuan.

He came to the throne as a child in 904, after the warlord Zhu Quanzhong had his father murdered, and reigned under the Tianyou era name until 907. Real power lay with Zhu throughout. In 907 Zhu forced him to abdicate and founded the Later Liang, ending nearly three centuries of Tang rule.

Background of the Last Tang Ruler

Li Zuo was born in 892 at the palace in Chang'an, the Tang capital. He was the ninth son of Emperor Zhaozong, and his mother was Consort He. In 897 he was created Prince of Hui, and later that year his mother was made empress.

By then the Tang court was at the mercy of the regional military governors. In 903 Zhu Quanzhong, the jiedushi (military governor) of Xuanwu Circuit, took control of Zhaozong's court at Chang'an, in alliance with the chancellor Cui Yin.

Generalissimo and Crown Prince

That same year Emperor Zhaozong planned to make Zhu deputy generalissimo of all the circuits, with one of his own sons as generalissimo. He intended the post for his older son Li Yu, but Zhu preferred a young prince who would not draw authority away from him. At Zhu's prompting, Cui recommended Li Zuo, and the emperor agreed.

In 904 Zhu forced Zhaozong to move the capital from Chang'an to Luoyang, where it was firmly under his control. Later that year, fearing that the emperor would move against him while he was away on campaign, Zhu had Zhaozong assassinated.

Passing over Li Yu and the other older princes, Zhu issued an edict in Zhaozong's name that made Li Zuo crown prince and changed his name to Li Zhu. Li Zhu then took the throne as Emperor Ai, and his mother, Empress He, was honoured as empress dowager.

Reign of Emperor Ai

Emperor Ai was eleven when he came to the throne. He reigned in name only: Zhu Quanzhong's officials ran the court.

The Purges of 905

In 905, encouraged by his associates Li Zhen and Liu Can, Zhu had Emperor Ai issue an edict summoning senior aristocratic officials to Baima station on the Yellow River. There they were ordered to take their own lives, and their bodies were thrown into the river. In the same year nine of the emperor's brothers, Li Yu among them, were killed on Zhu's orders.

Meanwhile Zhu's close associates, including Liu Can, Jiang Xuanhui and Zhang Tingfan, were preparing the ceremonies by which Emperor Ai would hand the throne to Zhu. Edicts issued in the emperor's name created Zhu Prince of Wei and granted him the nine bestowments, the traditional honours given to a minister before a change of dynasty.

The End of the Tang and the Later Liang

In 907, on the advice of Luo Shaowei, military governor of Weibo Circuit, Zhu decided to take the throne himself. He made the young emperor abdicate, ending the Tang dynasty, and founded the Later Liang with himself as Emperor Taizu.

Several regional warlords refused to recognise him and became rulers of their own states: Wu, Qi, Jin and Former Shu. Wu, Qi and Jin went on using Emperor Ai's Tianyou era name, a sign that they did not accept the new dynasty.

Death of Emperor Ai

After the abdication, Zhu made Li Zhu Prince of Jiyin and moved him from Luoyang to Cao Prefecture, in present-day Shandong. The mansion where he was held was heavily guarded and surrounded by a fence of thorns. In 908 he was poisoned on Zhu's orders.

In 928, under Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang, officials proposed a temple in his honour, and Mingzong ordered one built at Cao Prefecture. In 929 they proposed a fuller posthumous name, Emperor Zhaoxuan Guanglie Xiao, together with the temple name Jingzong. Because his shrine was not part of the imperial ancestral temple, the temple name was dropped and only the posthumous name was adopted.

Traditional Chinese histories generally call him Emperor Ai, though he is sometimes referred to as Emperor Zhaoxuan. His reign closes the story told on our Tang dynasty emperors page.

For collectors, nothing can be tied to Emperor Ai himself, but the ceramics of the late Tang are well represented in collections: green-glazed Yue ware from Zhejiang, white wares from the northern kilns, and the painted stonewares of Changsha in Hunan, made in large numbers for export. Our page on Tang art and inventions includes a note on the period's ceramics and metalwork.