Gao Zhan

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Gao Zhan was born in 537, the fourth year of Eastern Wei's Tianping era. His mother was Lou Zhaojun, the principal wife of the Eastern Wei strongman Gao Huan. As a child Gao Zhan was described as exceptionally handsome and imposing and was deeply favored by his father. While Gao Huan was serving at Huaihuang Garrison, he arranged the betrothal of the eight-year-old Gao Zhan to Yujiulü Chidelian, daughter of the Rouran prince Yujiulü Anluochen; she bore the title Princess Linhe. The Book of Northern Qi described Gao Zhan as dignified in dress and bearing, calm and detached in expression, and admired alike by Chinese and non-Chinese observers. During the Eastern Wei Yuanxiang era (538–539), he was made Duke of Changguang Commandery.

Among Gao Huan's sons, Gao Zhan ranked ninth. His full brothers included Gao Cheng, Gao Yang, and Gao Yan. Gao Cheng became the dominant minister of Eastern Wei before being assassinated; Gao Yang founded Northern Qi and became Emperor Wenxuan; Gao Yan became Emperor Xiaozhao. Although Gao Zhan was not the eldest among his brothers, his father's favor and the succession of his full brothers to the throne gave him an exceptional political position.

Enfeoffment and Coup

In the sixth month of 550, the first year of Tianbao, Gao Yang proclaimed himself emperor and founded Northern Qi. Gao Zhan was promoted to Prince of Changguang and appointed Prefect of the Masters of Writing. He soon concurrently served as Minister over the Masses and was then promoted to Defender-in-chief. In the later years of Gao Yang's reign, the emperor became violently abusive under the influence of alcohol. Gao Yang died suddenly in 559, the tenth year of Tianbao, and Crown Prince Gao Yin succeeded him.

In 560, the first year of Qianming, the deposed emperor Gao Yin and Yang Yin and their allies secretly distanced themselves from and grew suspicious of Gao Zhan, Prince of Changguang, and Gao Yan, Prince of Changshan. Yang Yin planned to eliminate the two princes and appointed Gao Zhan Grand Marshal and Governor of Bingzhou in an attempt to remove him from the center of power. Gao Zhan and Gao Yan conspired together and struck first, launching a coup, killing Yang Yin and his associates, and deposing Gao Yin. Gao Yan then became emperor and promoted Gao Zhan to Grand Preceptor, placed him in charge of the Department of State Affairs, and made him Grand Commander of the Capital Region.

Before the coup Gao Yan had promised that, if it succeeded, Gao Zhan would become imperial younger brother and heir. After taking the throne, however, Gao Yan named his own son Gao Bainian Crown Prince in the eleventh month of 560, the first year of Huangjian. Gao Zhan was deeply dissatisfied. Gao Yan resided at Jinyang, while Gao Zhan, as his closest brother, guarded Ye and was entrusted with government affairs there.

Accession and Government

In 561, the second year of Huangjian, Emperor Xiaozhao Gao Yan became gravely ill. Gao Zhan secretly discussed launching troops and seizing the throne with his clan nephew Gao Yuanhai, Gao Guiyan, and others, but refrained after a diviner declared the timing unfavorable. As Gao Yan approached death, he decided to pass the throne to his brother in order to prevent his son Gao Bainian from suffering the same fate as Gao Yin. Gao Yan died in the eleventh month, and Gao Zhan entered the succession in accordance with his testament. He went to the Jinyang Palace and held mourning rites for Emperor Xiaozhao at Chongde Hall. Empress Dowager Lou ordered a eunuch to announce the testamentary edict. Left Grand Councilor Hulü Jin led the officials in urging Gao Zhan to accept the throne, and only after repeated memorials did he consent.

On the guichou day of the eleventh month of the first year of Daning (December 3, 561), Gao Zhan ascended the throne in the Southern Palace, proclaimed a general amnesty, and redesignated the second year of Huangjian as the first year of Daning. Early in his reign he ordered commissioners to travel throughout the realm to inspect official administration, inquire into popular conditions, and promote worthy men. He also appointed a number of senior officials: Gao Guiyan, Prince of Pingqin, as Grand Preceptor; Gao Rui, Prince of Zhao Commandery, as Prefect of the Masters of Writing; Defender-in-chief Yu Can as Grand Protector; Prefect of the Masters of Writing Duan Shao as Grand Marshal; Lou Rui, Governor of Fengzhou, as Minister of Works; Hulü Guang, Governor of Bingzhou, as Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs; and Gao Bainian, the former Crown Prince of Emperor Xiaozhao, as Prince of Leling Commandery.

In the first month of 562, the first year of Heqing, Gao Zhan made his consort Lady Hu empress and his heir Gao Wei Crown Prince. In the first month of 563, the second year of Heqing, he personally presided over the palace examination of xiucai candidates. In the third month he ordered Minister of Works Hulü Guang to supervise troops of the Five Camps in constructing a garrison at Zhiguan. In the fourth month, locusts and drought struck Bing, Fen, Jin, Eastern Yong, and Southern Fen prefectures, and he sent envoys to distribute relief.

Period as Retired Emperor

A comet appeared in the third month of 565, the fourth year of Heqing. In the fourth month, court astrologers reported that the celestial signs indicated the removal of the old and establishment of the new and that a new emperor should appear. To “respond to the heavenly signs,” on the bingzi day of the fourth month (June 8), Gao Zhan sent Grand Chancellor Duan Shao, concurrently Defender-in-chief, as Bearer of Credentials to present the imperial seals and transfer the throne to Crown Prince Gao Wei. A general amnesty was proclaimed and the era name changed to Tiantong. The high nobles granted Gao Zhan the title Retired Emperor, and all major military and state affairs continued to be reported to him.

On the xinwei day of the twelfth month of the fourth year of Tiantong (January 13, 569), Emperor Wucheng died at Qianshou Hall in the Ye palace at the age of thirty-two. He received the posthumous title Emperor Wucheng and the temple name Shizu. On the jiashen day of the second month of the fifth year of Tiantong (March 27, 569), he was buried in Yongping Mausoleum.

Gao Zhan was the fourth emperor of the Northern Qi, Emperor Wucheng. Born in 537, his mother was Lou Zhaojun, Gao Huan's principal wife. Handsome and striking as a child, he was much loved by his father, who while serving at Huaihuang had him betrothed to Yujiulü Childilian, daughter of the Rouran crown prince Anluochen — later known as the Rouran Princess Lü, whose epitaph was unearthed in modern times and is important material for Northern Qi relations with the Rouran.

After the founding of the Northern Qi he was first made Duke of Changguang and later Prince of Changguang. In 562 his brother Emperor Xiaozhao, Gao Yan, died and Gao Zhan took the throne as Emperor Wucheng. In his reign he favored He Shikai and others, the government largely conducted by close attendants; meanwhile the war with the Northern Zhou went on, the Qi victory at Mangshan near Luoyang in 564 being one of the few large successes of the time.

In 565 he abdicated in favor of the heir Gao Wei, taking the title of retired emperor and retaining part of the power. He died in 568 at only thirty-two. The killing within the Qi imperial clan continued in his reign: he had Gao Bainian, son of Emperor Xiaozhao, and others put to death, and this series of slaughters weakened the state's foundations.

The Northern Qi lasted less than thirty years from Gao Yang's founding in 550 to its destruction by the Northern Zhou in 577, its successions frequent and clan slaughter alternating with ministerial domination. The negligence and clan strife of Gao Zhan's reign are an important link in that course, later accounts of the state's fall generally reckoning the family's self-destruction among the chief causes.

Politics in his reign joins on to that of his brother Emperor Xiaozhao, Gao Yan. Gao Yan was Gao Huan's sixth son; in 560 he deposed his nephew Gao Yin, the deposed emperor, and took the throne, dying little more than a year later and passing the throne to Gao Zhan rather than to his own son Gao Bainian to avoid clan slaughter. Gao Zhan nonetheless killed Gao Bainian after his accession, showing that suspicion within the Qi imperial clan could no longer be dissolved.

His reign had several features: the emperor gave himself to pleasure and left business to close attendants; He Shikai and others rose by flattery and wielded conspicuous power; and the princes held troops of their own while the center's control of the provinces remained limited. These features resemble the problems under Gao Yang and Gao Yan, showing that the political structure of the Northern Qi was unstable from its founding.

The battle of Luoyang in 564 was one of the larger engagements between the Qi and the Zhou. The Zhou besieged Luoyang and the Qi sent Duan Shao, Hulü Guang and others to its relief, routing the Zhou army about Mangshan. Qi then held the upper hand for a time, though the wars continued until the state fell in 577. Hulü Guang and other great commanders were later killed by the Qi court, gravely weakening its military strength.

After his abdication the government lay with his son Gao Wei, the last emperor, though the retired emperor and the favorites still influenced it. Under Gao Wei politics grew more corrupt and such commanders as Hulü Guang and the Prince of Lanling, Gao Changgong, were killed in turn, so that the Zhou advance met little resistance. In the Qi's rise and fall his reign stands at the point where strength turned to decline: the military power to match Zhou still existed in his day and was lost afterward.

The Northern Qi's institutions largely followed Eastern Wei precedent, its central organs including the Secretariat, the Chancellery and the Grand Secretariat with offices for Xianbei tribal affairs; locally there were provinces, commanderies and counties. Its armies consisted chiefly of Xianbei tribal troops and Chinese militia, commanded by princes of the clan or noble generals. Under Wucheng these arrangements continued broadly, change appearing mainly in personnel.

The court life of his reign and his son's is recorded in some detail in the Book of Northern Qi and the History of the Northern Dynasties, their notices of banquets, Buddhist activity and palace building providing material for the study of Northern Qi material culture and religion. Buddhism flourished under the dynasty, the monasteries and cave sculptures about Yecheng of considerable scale and their art named with Yungang and Longmen, a religious flowering directly connected with imperial patronage.

His foreign relations were chiefly a standoff with the Northern Zhou and the Chen. The Chen had recently been founded and fought the Qi in the Huai region, while the Zhou held Guanzhong and faced the Qi along the Luoyang and Hedong line. Relations among the three shifted from time to time, the Qi generally on the passive side.

The histories judge him chiefly as dissolute and suspicious. In his reign he gave himself to pleasure while guarding against his kin and ministers, the killing of Gao Bainian especially criticized later. Yet the Qi in his time still had a complete military and civil apparatus, and its victory at Luoyang shows that its forces could still fight.

The state's rapid decline after him is not his doing alone: Gao Yang's cruelty in his last years, the deposition of Gao Yin, the mutual suspicion of Gao Yan and Gao Zhan, and the corruption and killing of commanders under the last emperor together brought the Qi down. His reign stands in the middle of that sequence, and he was both a beneficiary and a continuer of its problems.

The epitaph of the Rouran Princess Lü, unearthed in modern times, provides new material on his early marriage and on Northern Qi relations with the Rouran. Its record of the date of the match, the standing of the parties and the scale of the funeral supplements the histories and is important evidence for the Qi's dealings with the northern peoples.

The edicts and appointments of his six years are recorded in the annals of Emperor Wucheng in the Book of Northern Qi. As retired emperor the government rested nominally with the last emperor but in practice still felt his influence until his death.

His career is inseparable from the history of clan slaughter in the Northern Qi: his brother Gao Yan deposed his nephew and took the throne, handing it to him rather than to his own son, and he killed his nephew after his accession, while his own son killed more princes in turn. The cycle shows that the state's succession never had stable institutional guarantees.

The Book of Northern Qi, treating his life, records both the military and political business of his reign and notes his indulgence in wine and desire; the swift decay under the last emperor is directly connected with the political temper formed in his time. The fall of the Qi is therefore attributed in large part to the corruption and internal exhaustion of the ruling house itself.

The military and diplomatic business of his reign was largely conducted by such veteran commanders as Duan Shao and Hulü Guang; their ability was the key to the Qi's holding out against the Zhou, and their successive killings were among the direct causes of its fall. In his time these commanders still lived and the frontier was maintained.

His six years as emperor and three as retired emperor fall in the period of the Northern Qi's turn from strength to decline.

His abdication and death roughly coincide with political changes in the Northern Zhou and the Chen; in this period relations among the three were adjusted repeatedly, the Qi's response being mostly to hold what it had without any forward design.

His burial place and posthumous titles are briefly recorded in the histories of the Northern Qi and Northern Dynasties. His posthumous and temple names were settled by his son, the last emperor, the Qi tombs lying mostly about Yecheng and Jinyang.

In the chronology of the Northern Qi his reign comes after Gao Yang and Gao Yan and before the last emperor; short as it was, its political and military events are fairly dense, and the dynasty's very brevity and turbulence make the part of any single emperor hard to judge alone rather than through the history of the whole state.

The rewards, punishments and appointments of his reign were much influenced by close attendants, as his annals and the biographies of He Shikai and others reflect.

The Qi's taxes and military service changed little in his reign, the finances and military expenditure of the period drawing chiefly on the resources of Yecheng and Jinyang, coordinated through the Secretariat and the provinces.

Major Activities

Political Measures

At the beginning of his reign, Gao Zhan ordered commissioners to travel through the realm, examine good and bad administration, ask about popular hardships, and promote capable and worthy men, showing a measure of diligence in government. He sought to correct the breakdown of legal discipline that had developed under Emperor Wenxuan Gao Yang. He ordered the completion of the Qi Code and promulgated it throughout the realm, after which officials began to observe statutory rules more consistently. He also ordered the sons of officials and eunuchs to study the laws regularly, increasing knowledge of law in Northern Qi. The Great Qi Code introduced the “Ten Grave Crimes,” a forerunner of the “Ten Abominations” of Sui and Tang law, giving it an important place in Chinese legal history.

Suppression of Rebellion

In the second month of 562, the first year of Heqing, Gao Zhan sent his clan uncle Gao Guiyan, Prince of Pingqin, whose support had been important to his accession, out of the capital as Governor of Jizhou. Gao Guiyan became anxious after arriving there and rose in rebellion in the seventh month. Gao Zhan ordered Grand Marshal Duan Shao and Minister of Works Lou Rui to campaign against him; they captured Gao Guiyan. On the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month, Gao Guiyan, his three sons, and more than twenty associates were executed in the marketplace at Ye.

Resistance to Northern Zhou and the Türks

In the twelfth month of 563, the second year of Heqing, Northern Zhou general Yang Zhong led more than 200,000 troops, including forces of the Turks under Muqan Qaghan, from Hengzhou in three columns to attack and plunder Northern Qi. Heavy rain and snow had continued for months, leaving snow several feet deep across more than a thousand li from north to south. Gao Zhan went personally to Jinyang to supervise the defense. As Zhou forces approached Bingzhou, Northern Zhou also sent General-in-Chief Daxi Wu with tens of thousands of troops to Eastern Yong and Jin prefectures to coordinate with the Turks.

In the first month of 564, the third year of Heqing, the Northern Zhou army drew up below the city and fought a major battle west of the walls. The Northern Zhou and Turkic forces were heavily defeated, with dead men and animals lying along the route for hundreds of li. Gao Zhan ordered Duan Shao, Prince of Pingyuan, to pursue them beyond the frontier before returning. In the intercalary ninth month the Turks again attacked Youzhou, while Northern Zhou forces advanced in three columns: Yuchi Jiong attacked toward Luoyang, Yang Biao entered Zhiguan, and Quan Jingxuan approached Xuangu. In the eleventh month Yuchi Jiong and the others besieged Luoyang. Defender-in-chief Lou Rui defeated the Northern Zhou army at Zhiguan and captured Yang Biao. In the twelfth month Grand Preceptor Duan Shao decisively defeated Yuchi Jiong and relieved Luoyang. Gao Zhan then went to Luoyang, remitted one year's taxes in Luozhou for districts through which the Zhou army had passed, and pardoned condemned prisoners within the prefectural city.

Favoritism toward Corrupt Courtiers

Among his ministers, Gao Zhan especially favored Palace Attendant He Shikai. He Shikai's ancestors had been merchants from the Western Regions whose original surname was Suhe; they later settled in Linzhang. Before becoming emperor, Gao Zhan enjoyed the board game woshou, at which He Shikai excelled, and this helped bring him advancement. He Shikai was adept at pleasing Gao Zhan and also played the Central Asian pipa, and the two became extremely close. He Shikai once told Gao Zhan, “Your Highness is not merely an immortal in heaven, but the emperor of heaven.” Gao Zhan replied, “You are not merely a man in this world, but an immortal in this world.”

He Shikai even advised Gao Zhan that emperors since antiquity had all turned to ashes, that Yao and Shun had ultimately met no different a fate from Jie and Zhou, and that Gao Zhan should therefore enjoy himself while young and leave state affairs to ministers. He Shikai also had an affair with Gao Zhan's Empress Hu, which Gao Zhan did not punish. Gao Zhan suffered from asthma that flared whenever he drank, yet repeatedly drank despite his illness. On one occasion He Shikai remonstrated with him in tears, and Gao Zhan temporarily stopped.

Suspicion of the Imperial Clan and Acts of Violence

Gao Zhan was described as cold and ruthless. During Gao Yang's reign, his half-brothers Gao Jun and Gao Huan were falsely accused and imprisoned in an underground cell for a year. Gao Yang was considering pardoning them, but Gao Zhan, who had long been hostile toward Gao Jun, said, “How can fierce beasts be released from their den?” Gao Yang fell silent. On hearing this, Gao Jun and Gao Huan shouted Gao Zhan's childhood name, “Buluoji, Heaven sees you!” They were later stabbed repeatedly with lances on Gao Yang's orders and burned to death.

In the third month of 564, the third year of Heqing, Gao Zhan killed Grand Preceptor Gao You, Prince of Pengcheng. In the sixth month of the same year, he killed Gao Bainian, Prince of Leling and son of Emperor Xiaozhao Gao Yan. Gao Yan had transferred the throne to Gao Zhan precisely to protect his son, yet Gao Zhan still had Gao Bainian killed.

Gao Zhan also forced himself sexually on Gao Yang's widow Li Zu'e. Fearing for her son's life, Li Zu'e submitted. After she became pregnant, her son Gao Shaode taunted her angrily. She later gave birth to a daughter and strangled the infant. When Gao Zhan learned of this, he became enraged, seized Gao Shaode in the palace, and killed him on the spot. He then stripped Li Zu'e naked, flogged her, placed her in a hemp sack, and threw her into a canal to be carried away by the current. She remained unconscious for a long time before reviving and was later sent to Miaosheng Temple to become a Buddhist nun.

Promulgation of the Great Qi Code

During Gao Zhan's reign the Great Qi Code was promulgated. Before his death, Emperor Wenxuan Gao Yang had ordered officials to revise the Northern Wei Linzhi Ge into a Qi Code, but after a long period the work remained unfinished. After Gao Zhan took the throne, he sought to correct the collapse of legal discipline. The Qi Code was completed during his reign, and only thereafter did officials begin to observe the law more consistently. Its “Ten Grave Crimes” became the source of the “Ten Abominations” in Sui and Tang law and had a lasting influence.

Personal Relations

• Gao Huan: father, Emperor Shenwu
• Lou Zhaojun: mother, Empress Wuming
• Gao Cheng: full elder brother, Emperor Wenxiang
• Gao Yang: full elder brother, Emperor Wenxuan
• Gao Yan: full elder brother, Emperor Xiaozhao
• Gao Jun: half-brother, killed by Gao Yang after Gao Zhan argued against pardoning him
• Gao Huan: half-brother, killed by Gao Yang
• Gao Bainian: nephew, son of Emperor Xiaozhao Gao Yan, killed by Gao Zhan
• Gao Shaode: son of Gao Yang, killed by Gao Zhan
• Gao Guiyan: clan uncle, Prince of Pingqin, executed by Gao Zhan after rebelling
• Gao Xiaoyu: clan nephew, Prince of Henan
• Gao Yuanhai: clan nephew
• Yujiulü Chidelian: Rouran Princess Linhe, betrothed to Gao Zhan in childhood
• Hu Aidao: empress, Lady Hu
• Lady Li, titled Lady Hongde
• Lady Peng: foster mother of Gao Kuo, Prince of Qi'an
• Lady Wang: formerly a consort of Gao Yang
• Lady Lu: foster mother of Gao Renguang, Prince of Huainan
• Lady Ma: forced to hang herself after incurring Empress Hu's jealousy
• Erzhu Monü: had an affair with Gao Xiaoyu
• Lady Ren: mother of Gao Renzhi, Prince of Danyang
• Gao Wei: Later Ruler
• Gao Chuo: Prince of Nanyang, eldest son by a concubine
• Gao Yan: Prince of Langye, later posthumously styled Emperor Chugong'ai
• Gao Kuo: Prince of Qi'an
• Gao Zhen: Prince of Beiping
• Gao Renying: Prince of Gaoping
• Gao Renguang: Prince of Huainan
• Gao Renji: Prince of Xihe
• Gao Renyong: Prince of Leping
• Gao Renjian: Prince of Yingchuan
• Gao Renya: Prince of Anle
• Gao Renzhi: Prince of Danyang
• Gao Renrang: Prince of Donghai
• Princess Yongchang: fourth daughter, died young and was posthumously married to Yushi Xing
• Princess Dong'an
• One daughter by Li Zu'e, strangled immediately after birth
• He Shikai: favored minister and Palace Attendant; had an affair with Empress Hu
• Duan Shao: Grand Preceptor and Grand Marshal; distinguished commander who repeatedly defeated Northern Zhou
• Hulü Guang: Minister of Works and Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs; distinguished general
• Lou Rui: Defender-in-chief and Gao Zhan's maternal uncle
• Gao Rui: Prince of Zhao Commandery and Prefect of the Masters of Writing
• Wei Shou: Junior Preceptor of the Crown Prince and concurrently Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs
• Yang Yin: killed jointly by Gao Zhan and Gao Yan

Historical Assessment

Northern Qi / Contemporary

• The Book of Northern Qi described him as “magnificent and outstanding in appearance, especially beloved by Shenwu,” praising his youthful bearing.
• The Book of Northern Qi records He Shikai's advice that Gao Zhan should “give himself over to pleasure,” reflecting contemporary criticism of his indulgence.
• Before their deaths, Gao Jun and Gao Huan shouted “Buluoji, Heaven sees you,” expressing hatred of Gao Zhan's ruthlessness.

Sui and Tang Periods

• Li Baiyao's Book of Northern Qi criticized Gao Zhan with the judgment that “when Wucheng took the throne, he exalted and trusted the wicked,” condemning his closeness to petty men and corrupt conduct.
• The Book of Sui, compiled under Wei Zheng, treated the corruption of Gao Zhan's reign as an important cause of Northern Qi's fall.
• The Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance records Gao Zhan's coercion of Li Zu'e and killing of Gao Shaode; Sima Guang used the episodes to condemn what he called “the conduct of beasts.”

Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Periods

• Sima Guang's Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance repeatedly condemned Gao Zhan, arguing that despite the dignity of an emperor he engaged in the filth of the marketplace and was morally corrupt in private life.
• Hu Sansheng, commenting on the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance, noted that Gao Zhan could control his ministers but ruined government by favoring He Shikai and other petty men.
• Wang Fuzhi's Du Tongjian Lun criticized Gao Zhan for “killing members of the imperial clan out of suspicion,” arguing that he alienated the Northern Qi ruling house.

Modern Scholarship

• Lü Simian's history of the Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties noted that although Gao Zhan achieved success in resisting Northern Zhou, political corruption during his reign accelerated Northern Qi's decline.
• Zhou Yiliang's notes on Wei, Jin, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties analyzed the relationship between Gao Zhan and He Shikai and treated the emperor's favoritism toward corrupt courtiers as one sign of Northern Qi's political deterioration.
• Tian Yuqing's The Hegemony and Decline of Eastern Wei and Northern Qi regards the promulgation of the Great Qi Code as a positive achievement, but judges Gao Zhan's government overall as extravagant, neglectful, and suspicious of the imperial clan, contributing to Northern Qi's mid-dynastic decline.