Yuan Gong

Biography

Inheritance and Feigned Deafness

Yuan Gong was the son of Yuan Yu, Prince Huiguang of Guangling, born in Luoyang in 498. In his youth he was dignified and prudent, with ambition and bearing. As he grew older he loved learning and was known for his filial devotion to his grandmother and stepmother. During the Zhengshi era (504–508), he inherited his father's title Prince of Guangling. Later, due to Yuan Cha's usurpation of power, Yuan Gong feigned deafness and retired to the Longhua Buddhist Temple for eight years, avoiding all outside contact as a means of escaping political persecution.

Installation as Emperor

After Erzhu Rong was killed by Emperor Xiaozhuang, Erzhu Shilong considered Yuan Gong "a man of established reputation who had remained in seclusion" and suitable for installation as emperor to win popular support. In the second month of 531, Erzhu Zhao and other Erzhu clan leaders installed Yuan Gong as emperor, changing the era name to Putai. Yuan Gong appointed various Erzhu clan members to princely ranks. However, all military and state power remained in the hands of the Erzhu brothers.

Deposition and Death

In 532, Gao Huan decisively defeated the Erzhu clan at the Battle of Hanling. He entered Luoyang and deposed Yuan Gong, reasoning that Yuan Gong had been installed by the Erzhu clan and was therefore illegitimate. Yuan Gong was confined in Chongxun Buddhist Temple. In the fifth month, he was poisoned at Menxia Wai Province. When Emperor Xiaowu (Yuan Xiu) was installed, Yuan Gong's temple was given special funeral rites.

Yuan Gong, courtesy name Xiuye, was a grandson of Emperor Xianwen, Tuoba Hong, and son of the Prince Hui of Guangling, Yuan Yu, born at Luoyang in 498. Grave and cautious as a child, with ambition and presence, he grew up fond of learning and was known for his filial service to his grandmother and principal mother, being appointed cavalier attendant in ordinary in the Yanchang years. He inherited the title of Prince of Guangling and held the offices of grand master of the golden purple and the three offices, steady in temper and upright in conduct.

During the domination of Yuan Cha he feigned muteness to avoid trouble, withdrawing to the Longhua Buddhist temple and having no dealings with anyone, silent for eight years. At the end of Emperor Xiaozhuang's reign someone reported that he was only pretending and harbored ambitions; he fled in fear to Mount Shangluo, was arrested by the governor of Luozhou and sent to Luoyang, imprisoned a long while and released for want of evidence. In 531 the Erzhu, holding the Prince of Changguang, Yuan Ye, too distant in descent and without prestige, planned to enthrone a closer kinsman and chose precisely this prince who had "kept silence for many years." They sent a man to sound him out, and Yuan Gong answered with the four words "what does Heaven say?"; delighted, the Erzhu had the abdication document written at the southern slope of Mount Mang and forced Yuan Ye to sign it, and Yuan Gong thrice declined and then took the throne, changing the era to Putai.

After his accession he wrote the amnesty text himself, its language notably fitting. The Comprehensive Mirror records that he had been silent eight years and that on his speaking all within and without rejoiced, taking him for a wise ruler and hoping for peace. But military and political power lay entirely with the Erzhu brothers, and his throne depended from first to last on those who had raised him. When Gao Huan destroyed the Erzhu in 532, Yuan Gong was deposed, and in the fifth month of that year he was poisoned by Gao Huan at the outer chancellery at the age of thirty-five. Later Yuwen Tai of the Western Wei gave him the posthumous name Emperor Jiemin, and the histories also call him the Deposed Emperor of Wei.

His era name Putai was in use less than two years, its edicts mostly drafted by the Erzhu. The Record of the Monasteries of Luoyang and similar works describe Luoyang in the Putai years, supplementary material for the period.

From his accession to his deposition was less than two years, in which the government at Luoyang was run by Erzhu Shilong, Erzhu Dulü and others, his own influence being very limited.

The Book of Wei judges him rather favorably, recording the eight years of silence and saying that at his accession people within and without hoped for peace.

Where he was buried after being poisoned is not clearly recorded.

The succession in the last years of the Northern Wei changed with extreme frequency: Xiaozhuang killed Erzhu Rong, the Erzhu raised Yuan Ye, the Erzhu deposed Yuan Ye and raised Yuan Gong, and Gao Huan deposed Yuan Gong and raised Yuan Lang and then Yuan Xiu — four sovereigns in a few years. Yuan Gong's eight years of silence and his brief reign are one link in that chain. His caution and silence spared him the troubles of Yuan Cha's and the Erzhu's earlier days but could not spare him the fate of being raised and cast down, and the contrast between his character and his times is a picture of late Northern Wei politics.

Fragments of the documents surrounding his accession survive in the Book of Wei and the Comprehensive Mirror: the Erzhu completed the change by abdication and Yuan Gong answered with the ritual of three refusals, such procedures reflecting the standard practice by which powerful ministers replaced emperors. His writing of the amnesty text himself is regarded by later ages as one of the few things he did on his own initiative.

In the last years of the Northern Wei the real power at Luoyang passed in turn to Erzhu Rong, Erzhu Shilong and Gao Huan, the emperor serving chiefly to provide legitimacy for these ministers. Yuan Gong's elevation and destruction are products of that structure; his silence and caution brought him no real power, leaving in the histories only the detail of eight years' silence, often used by later writers to discuss the plight of the throne in the late Northern Wei.

Besides the annals in the Book of Wei, scattered notices of him appear in the Record of the Monasteries of Luoyang and the History of the Northern Dynasties. The posthumous and temple names of Northern Wei emperors were often fixed separately by the Eastern and Western Wei, and his posthumous name, granted by the Western Wei, itself embodies the contest over Northern Wei legitimacy during the split.

His character and ability are given favorable notice in the histories: the Book of Wei calls him fond of learning and filial in serving his kin, rarer among the late Northern Wei emperors. That he preserved himself through the ascendancy of Yuan Cha and the Erzhu shows the same caution in dealing with others. These notices stand against his powerlessness on the throne, together forming the later impression of him: an emperor of virtue without position.

After his deposition and death the throne passed under Gao Huan's direction to Yuan Lang and then Yuan Xiu, and the next year the Northern Wei split into Eastern and Western Wei. In the chronology of the dynasty his reign stands in the last phase of Northern Wei unity, his personal fate almost simultaneous with the end of the state.

Northern Wei clansmen generally fared badly at the end: Yuan Ye was put to death, Yuan Lang deposed and killed, Yuan Xiu fleeing west into the passes, few ending well. Though known for his caution, Yuan Gong could not escape being poisoned, a result showing that in an age of ministers succeeding one another in power, membership in the clan was itself a danger.

On his deposition the Comprehensive Mirror records that after entering Luoyang Gao Huan deliberated with his generals on a new ruler, deposing Yuan Gong on the ground of his remoteness in descent and raising Yuan Lang instead; Gao Huan himself hesitated, saying that deposing and installing was no light matter, and in the end political need decided. The record shows that even among powerful ministers the making and unmaking of an emperor required some reason and procedure.

The contest between the Erzhu and Gao Huan at the end of the Northern Wei ended with Gao Huan holding Luoyang and raising Yuan Xiu; Yuan Xiu then fled west into the passes to Yuwen Tai, and the dynasty divided into Eastern and Western Wei. Yuan Gong's brief reign stands on the eve of that division, his case often used to show the throne's complete loss of authority under ministerial politics.

His posthumous name Jiemin contains in "min" a sense of compassion and in "jie" that of holding to principle — a rendering that fits his life well and reflects the sympathy of later historians for his position. Many clansmen of the late Northern Wei are remembered in such notices of sympathy and helplessness, and Yuan Gong is one of the more fully recorded.

He was poisoned soon after his deposition, the same end as his predecessor Yuan Ye, showing how thoroughly Gao Huan dealt with the Northern Wei clan. Thereafter no force in the clan could contend with the powerful ministers, down to the division into Eastern and Western Wei.

Many Northern Wei emperors were deposed and killed, and Yuan Gong is among the better recorded. His career offers a concrete case for understanding the ministerial politics of the dynasty's last years: the throne was gained and lost at others' arrangement, and an emperor's own virtue and ability scarcely affected his position.

His tomb and burial place are not recorded, nor is anything known of later sacrifices to him.

The Book of Wei places him in the imperial annals with Yuan Ye and Yuan Lang.

His career is also recorded in the History of the Northern Dynasties, to be read against the Book of Wei.

Major Activities

Defending the Predecessor's Reputation and Limiting Erzhu Rewards

When Yuan Gong came to the throne, the amnesty text drafted by Xing Shao condemned Emperor Xiaozhuang for killing Erzhu Rong. Yuan Gong held that the execution of an overmighty minister should not be used to portray the emperor as having lost virtue, and rewrote the amnesty himself. He also refused to enfeoff Shi Wulong and Yang Wenyi, who had surrendered to the Erzhu, as marquis of a thousand households, explaining that the two had "rendered service to a prince but none to the state".

Adjusting Government and Relations with the Nan Liang

After coming to the throne Yuan Gong issued an edict abolishing the offices that taxed markets and salt. He ceased to call the Nan Liang the "pseudo Liang" and restored intercourse between the Northern Wei and the Nan Liang. These measures appear in the records of the edicts issued after his accession.

Limited Resistance to Erzhu Dominance

Yuan Gong opposed the arbitrary power of Erzhu Shilong and his persecution of the Yang family, but was unable to prevent the Erzhu from controlling the court and putting Yang Chun, Yang Jin and others to death. The sources also show that he was not wholly unable to issue orders during his reign, but that the power he could dispose of was constrained by the Erzhu.

Personal Relations

• Yuan Yu**: Father, Prince Huiguang of Guangling
• Tuoba Hong**: Grandfather, Emperor Xianwen
• Erzhu Zhao**: Supporter who installed him as emperor
• Gao Huan**: Warlord who deposed and killed him
• Yuan Ye**: Predecessor (Prince of Changguang)

Representative Works

• "Poem" (opening line "The vermilion gate has long been a source of trouble"):

The vermilion gate has long been a source of trouble; the purple pole is no plaything of the heart. Overthrow may be awaited any day — three changes of ruler in a single year. Such are the turns of fortune; only the cultivation of the true way endures.

Historical Assessment

Yuan Gong's experience of feigning deafness for eight years was highly unusual in Northern Wei history. During his brief reign, he personally wrote an edict of amnesty, demonstrating his literary ability. He was regarded by contemporaries as a potential wise ruler ("rejoicing within and without，thinking him a wise ruler"). However, he remained a puppet of the Erzhu clan throughout his reign and was deposed when Gao Huan's power supplanted theirs. His posthumous name "Jiemin" (Jiemin) reflects the evaluation that he maintained integrity in difficult circumstances.