Emperor Ai of Tang

Emperor Ai of Tang (Chinese: 唐哀帝) (892–908), also known as Emperor Zhaoxuan (昭宣帝), born Li Zuo(Chinese: 李祚), later Li Zhu (Chinese: 李柷), was the last emperor of the Tang dynasty of China. He reigned from 904 to 907. The Ai Emperor was the son of Emperor Zhaozong.

The Ai Emperor ascended the throne at the age of 13 after his father, the Zhaozong Emperor, was murdered by Zhu Wen in 904. Under Zhu Wen's regency, the Ai Emperor was only a puppet emperor. In 905, seeing the timing was ripe, Zhu Wen forced him to issue an edict and ordered the execution of all the remaining handful of ministers still loyal to the imperial Li family. The ministers were brought to a river and summarily executed after which their bodies were thrown into the river. Less than two years later in 907, Zhu made his final move against the Ai Emperor himself and the emperor was forced to "voluntarily" abdicate and was demoted to Prince of Jiyin whilst Zhu Wen proclaimed himself Emperor and the Later Liang Dynasty thus ending 290 years of rule by the Tang dynasty.

In February 908, fearing reprisal and vengeance, Zhu Wen ordered the Ai Emperor to be poisoned to death. He was 17.

It was said that Ai Emperor left a son named Xizhao(李熙照).

Notes and references

• 任士英 (2005) 正說唐朝二十一帝 Taipei (台北): 聯經. ISBN 978-957-08-2943-3