Xiao Tong

Xiao Tong (, September/October 501 – 30 May 531), courtesy name Deshi, formally Crown Prince Zhaoming (昭明太子, literally "Accomplished and Understanding Crown Prince"), was a crown prince of the Chinese Liang Dynasty, posthumously honored as Emperor Zhaoming. He was the oldest son of Emperor Wu of Liang, whom he predeceased. Xiao Tong's enduring legacy is the literary compendium Wen Xuan (Selections of Refined Literature). Birth and childhood Xiao Tong was born to Xiao Yan, then a Southern Qi general nearing final victory in a civil war against the cruel and violent emperor Xiao Baojuan, in winter 501. He was born at Xiao Yan's power base of Xiangyang, to Xiao Yan's concubine Ding Lingguang. (Xiao Yan's wife Chi Hui had died in 499, and from that point on he had only concubines and never made any of them his wife.) After Xiao Yan's victory later in 501, he forced Emperor He of Southern Qi, whom he had supported as a rival claimant to the Southern Qi throne, to yield the throne to him in 502, ending Southern Qi and starting Liang Dynasty (as its Emperor Wu). The officials requested that he make Xiao Tong, then an infant, the crown prince, and while Emperor Wu initially declined on account that the empire had not been pacified, he did so in winter 502, when Xiao Tong was only one year old. After Xiao Tong was created crown prince, his mother Consort Ding, while not made empress, was given a special status co-equal with her son. Xiao Tong was said to be intelligent, kind, and obedient to his parents from his childhood. As per customs of the time, in 506, he was housed in the Yongfu Mansion, the residence for the crown prince, in his childhood, but he missed his parents, and so every few days or so Emperor Wu would spend several days at Yongfu Mansion. (Whether Consort Ding did the same is not recorded in history.) In 515, he went through his rite of passage and was declared an adult, and Emperor Wu bestowed him a crown. As adult As Emperor Wu was an avid Buddhist, Xiao Tong also became one, and he studied sutras intently, often inviting Buddhist monks to his palace to preach and to discuss Buddhist doctrines. After his rite of passage, Emperor Wu also began to gradually have him handle more and more matters of state, becoming less involved in the day-to-day operations of the empire.