Gao Shaoyi

Gao Shaoyi, often known by his princely title Prince of Fanyang, was an imperial prince of the Chinese Northern Qi dynasty. He claimed the Northern Qi throne in exile under the protection of Tujue after the rival Northern Zhou dynasty seized nearly all of Northern Qi territory and captured the emperors, Gao Shaoyi's cousin Gao Wei and Gao Wei's son Gao Heng in 577. In 580, Tujue, after negotiating a peace treaty with the Northern Zhou, turned Gao Shaoyi over to the Northern Zhou, and he was exiled to modern Sichuan, ending his claim on the Northern Qi imperial title. Most historians do not consider Gao Shaoyi a legitimate emperor of the Northern Qi. Background Gao Shaoyi was the third son of Emperor Wenxuan, Northern Qi's first emperor. His mother was Emperor Wenxuan's concubine Consort Feng, who carried the title of Shifu (世婦), a title for third class imperial consorts. It is not known when he was born. In 559, Emperor Wenxuan created him the Prince of Guangyang. After Emperor Wenxuan's death later that year, Gao Shaoyi's older brother Gao Yin became emperor (as Emperor Fei), and around the new year 560, Emperor Fei changed Gao Shaoyi's title to Prince of Fanyang. During Emperor Fei's reign and the subsequent reigns of Gao Shaoyi's uncles Emperor Xiaozhao and Emperor Wucheng, Gao Shaoyi was gradually promoted through the official ranks, and, during Emperor Wucheng's reign, he was the mayor of the capital Yecheng. He was said to like drinking with his associates, and he was accused of having his eunuchs kill his teacher Ren Fangrong (任方榮). Emperor Wucheng caned him 200 times, and then sent him to Emperor Wenxuan's wife Empress Li Zu'e, who further caned him 100 times. Nothing is known about Gao Shaoyi's activities in the following years. In 577, with rival Northern Zhou having launched a major attack on Northern Qi, then-emperor Gao Wei (Emperor Wucheng's son) fled from the secondary capital Jinyang (晉陽, in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi) back to Yecheng, and he made Gao Shaoyi the governor of Ding Province (定州, roughly modern Baoding, Hebei). Subsequently, after Gao Wei was captured by Northern Zhou forces, most Northern Qi provinces surrendered.