Xiao Ni (蕭嶷) (444– 27 May 492According to

Xiao Ze Emperor Wu of Southern Qi (南齊武帝) (440– 27 August 493), personal name Xiao Ze (蕭賾), courtesy name Xuanyuan (宣遠), childhood name Long'er (龍兒), was the second emperor of the Chinese Southern Qi dynasty. He is generally considered ...

's biography in ''Book of Southern Qi'', Xiao Ni died on the ''xinchou'' day of the 4th month of the 10th year of the ''Yongming'' era of his reign. This corresponds to 27 May 492 on the Julian calendar. ( ��明十年��四月辛丑，大司马豫章王嶷薨。) ''Nan Qi Shu'', vol.03),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Xuanyan (宣儼), formally Prince Wenxian of Yuzhang (豫章文獻王), was an imperial prince during the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

dynasty

Southern Qi Qi, known in historiography as the Southern Qi ( or ) or Xiao Qi (), was a Chinese imperial dynasty and the second of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties era. It followed the Liu Song dynasty and was succeede ...

. He was a son of the founder Emperor Gao (Xiao Daocheng) and a brother of Emperor Wu (Xiao Ze).

Background

Xiao Ni was born in 444 as the second son of Xiao Daocheng and his wife Liu Zhirong (劉智容), four years younger than his older brother Xiao Ze. Because Xiao Daocheng was a

Liu Song Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. ...

general who contributed in military campaigns, Xiao Ni served in a number of low level government posts early in his life, including as a county magistrate and as an administrator in the census bureau. Around 466, when his father was given a greater title for his contributions in

Emperor Ming of Liu Song Emperor Ming of (Liu) Song ((劉)宋明帝) (9 December 439 – 10 May 472), personal name Liu Yu (劉彧), courtesy name Xiubing (休炳), childhood name Rongqi (榮期), was an emperor of the Chinese Liu Song dynasty. He became emperor after h ...

's war for the throne with

Liu Zixun Liu Zixun (劉子勛) (456 – 19 September 466According to Emperor Ming's biography in ''Book of Song'', Liu Zixun was forced to commit suicide on the ''jimao'' day of the 8th month of the 2nd year of the ''Taishi'' era of Emperor Ming's reign. T ...

, Xiao Ni was given his father's old title of Marquess of Jinshou. He later served as a general under his father during the rebellion of Emperor Ming's brother Liu Xiufan (劉休範) the Prince of Guiyang in 474, early in the reign of Emperor Ming's son Emperor Houfei. By 477, the young but violent and arbitrary Emperor Houfei was universally feared by officials and the people, for he was in the habit of roving outside the palace with his guards, killing all humans or animals that they came in contact with. One night, Emperor Houfei and his guards descended on the Xiaos' old house in Qingxi (青溪), a suburb of the capital

Jiankang Jiankang (), or Jianye (), as it was originally called, was capital city of the Eastern Wu (229–265 and 266–280 CE), the Jin dynasty (317–420 CE) and the Southern Dynasties (420–552), including the Chen dynasty (557–589 CE). Its walls ...

, where Xiao Ni was residing. Xiao Ni had his guards perform a sword dance in the courtyard, and as Emperor Houfei saw it, he assumed that Xiao Ni would be ready for any attacks, and so left. Meanwhile, Xiao Ni's father Xiao Daocheng was fearful for his own life and, as suggested by his distant cousin and associate Xiao Shunzhi (蕭順之), considered going to Guangling (廣陵, in modern

Yangzhou Yangzhou, postal romanization Yangchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province (Suzhong), East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yan ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

) to start a rebellion there; Xiao Ni, however, opposed, reasoning that rebellions from afar rarely succeeded, and that because of Emperor Houfei's arbitrary behavior, it would be easier to act against him from within the capital. Xiao Daocheng agreed, and soon was able to conspire with Emperor Houfei's attendant Yang Yufu (楊玉夫) to assassinate Emperor Houfei and effectively take over the Liu Song, making Emperor Houfei's brother Liu Zhun emperor (as

Emperor Shun Emperor Shun () was a legendary leader of ancient China, regarded by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors being the last of the Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he lived sometime between 2294 and 2184 BC. Tradition a ...

), but in actuality his puppet. During this period, as Xiao Daocheng prepared to take over the throne, Xiao Ni carried the title of Duke of Yong'an, and in 478 (after Xiao Daocheng defeated

Shen Youzhi Shen Youzhi (沈攸之) (died 478), courtesy name Zhongda (仲達), was a general during the Chinese dynasty Liu Song, who, in the final moments of the dynasty, made a final failed attempt to prevent Xiao Daocheng from seizing the throne. Service ...

, who opposed his seizure of power) was made the governor of the key Jing Province (荊州, modern central and western

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

). In 479, Xiao Daocheng had Emperor Shun yield the throne to him, ending Liu Song and starting Southern Qi. He created Xiao Ni the Prince of Yuzhang.

Under Emperor Gao

Soon after the establishment of Southern Qi, Emperor Gao recalled Xiao Ni back to Jiankang to serve as the governor of the capital region,

Yang Province Yangzhou, Yangchow or Yang Province was one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China mentioned in historical texts such as the ''Tribute of Yu'', ''Erya'' and ''Rites of Zhou''. Name There are four different theories regarding the origin of the ...

(揚州, modern

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

and southern

), a highly important post, and a post that he would retain for the rest of his life. Xiao Ni was very close to his older brother Xiao Ze, who was created the

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title is crown princess, which may refer either to an heiress apparent or, especially in earlier times, to the wif ...

after Emperor Gao took the throne. In one incident when Emperor Gao got exceedingly angry at Xiao Ze after being informed (while Xiao Ze was outside the capital) that both Crown Prince Ze and his jester Zhang Jingzhen (張景真) were being overly wasteful and using items that were only appropriate for emperors, it was Xiao Ni who rode on a horse to warn Xiao Ze what the situation was, allowing Xiao Ze to quickly return to Jiankang to react to the incident. Emperor Gao at one point considered replacing Xiao Ze with Xiao Ni, but because Xiao Ni served his brother carefully, their relationship was not affected. In 482, Emperor Gao died. Xiao Ni was said to be mourning so bitterly that his eyes and ears bled. Crown Prince Ze succeeded Emperor Gao, as Emperor Wu.

Under Emperor Wu

Emperor Wu conferred a number of honorific titles on Xiao Ni, and while publicly, Xiao Ni did not participate in policy decisions, in private they often discussed important matters of state, and Emperor Wu almost always listened to Xiao Ni's suggestions. He also frequently visited Xiao Ni's mansion, where both he and Xiao Ni would wear informal wear that brothers would wear while meeting with each other, rather than the formal clothing of an emperor and his subject. As a special honor, Emperor Wu also made Xiao Ni's wife Princess Yu be in charge of the ancestral worship of their parents and grandparents. Xiao Ni was said to be tall and attentive to his appearance, but careful in his actions. Several times he sought to transfer the powerful governorship of

to Emperor Wu's son Xiao Ziliang (蕭子良) the Prince of Jingling, who was also a trusted advisor of Emperor Wu, but Emperor Wu refused, telling Xiao Ni that the post was his for life. Initially, Xiao Ni did not have any sons, and probably sometime during Emperor Gao's reign, he adopted Emperor Wu's son Xiao Zixiang (蕭子響) as his

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

-- a status that Xiao Zixiang, by Xiao Ni's request, continued to hold even after Xiao Ni had his own sons. However, in 488, after an incident where Xiao Zixiang threw a temper tantrum over not being able to wear the same style as his brothers (because his brothers were princes, while he was just the heir apparent of a prince), the adoption was rescinded, and Xiao Zixiang was returned to Emperor Wu's line and created the Prince of Badong. (Xiao Zixiang was subsequently executed in 490 after he killed a number of his advisors.) In 492, Xiao Ni died and was buried with great honors. In words that he left his five sons, he stated: :''As for ability, some are capable and some are less capable. As for official posts, some are fortunate to be promoted while some are blocked. As for fortune, some are rich and some are poor. These are all natural phenomena, and you should not use your position to bully others.'' The high praise that Xiao Ni received in official histories might be related to the fact that his fifth son

Xiao Zixian Xiao Zixian (, 489–537), courtesy name Jingyang (景陽), formally Viscount Jiao of Ningdu (寧都驕子), was a Chinese historian best known for producing the '' Book of Qi'Book of Liang'', vol. 35. (also known as ''Book of Southern Qi'') ...

(蕭子顯) was the official who was later, in the succeeding

Liang Dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was preceded by the South ...

, commissioned to author the official history of Southern Qi, the ''

Book of Qi The ''Book of Qi'' (''Qí Shū'') or ''Book of Southern Qi'' (''Nán Qí Shū'') is a history of the Chinese dynasty Southern Qi covering the period from 479 to 502, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories of Chinese history. It was written by ...

''.

References

* ''

Book of Southern Qi The ''Book of Qi'' (''Qí Shū'') or ''Book of Southern Qi'' (''Nán Qí Shū'') is a history of the Chinese dynasty Southern Qi covering the period from 479 to 502, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories of Chinese history. It was written by ...

'', vol. 22. * ''

History of the Southern Dynasties The ''History of the Southern Dynasties'' () is one of the official Chinese historical works in the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' canon. It contain 80 volumes and covers the period from 420 to 589, the histories of Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang dyn ...

'', vol. 42. * ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...

'', vols.

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. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ni, Xiao Liu Song dynasty people Southern Qi imperial princes 444 births 492 deaths