Sima Pi

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Sima Pi was born into the Eastern Jin imperial house. He was the eldest son of Emperor Cheng of Jin, Sima Yan, and Noble Lady Zhou. Lady Zhou was selected for Emperor Cheng's palace, won his favor, and gave birth to Sima Pi and his younger brother Sima Yi, after which she was appointed a noble lady. In 341, the seventh year of the Xiankang era, Sima Pi was born in Jiankang, Danyang Commandery.

In 342, the eighth year of the Xiankang era, Emperor Cheng of Jin became gravely ill. Under the principle of succession by the eldest legitimate son, Sima Pi should have inherited the throne. However, Secretariat Director Yu Bing, an imperial in-law who wielded power comparable to that of the ruler, feared that his influence would decline after Emperor Cheng's death. He therefore argued that the state faced powerful enemies and required an adult sovereign, and supported Emperor Cheng's younger brother, Sima Pi's uncle Sima Yue, as emperor, who became Emperor Kang of Jin. The Book of Jin records the episode as follows: “At first, when Emperor Cheng became ill, Secretariat Director Yu Bing, relying on his position as the emperor's maternal uncle and exercising power comparable to that of the ruler, feared that after a change of reign his kinship ties would become more distant. He therefore said that the state had powerful enemies and that an adult ruler should be established, and thus made the emperor the successor.” Sima Pi was only two years old and thereby lost the throne that otherwise would have been his. In the same year, he was enfeoffed as Prince of Langya.

Over the following decade or more, Sima Pi gradually accumulated political standing as an imperial prince. In 345, the first year of the Yonghe era, he was appointed Regular Mounted Attendant; in 356, the twelfth year of Yonghe, he was additionally made General of the Central Army; and in 359, the third year of Shengping, he was appointed General of Agile Cavalry. Although these posts were largely honorary, they steadily raised his status within the imperial clan.

Accession to the Throne

In May 361, the fifth year of the Shengping era, Emperor Mu of Jin, Sima Dan, died without children. Empress Dowager Chu Suanzi issued an order declaring that Sima Pi represented the legitimate imperial line and that “back in the Xiankang era, he was the one who should have occupied the position of heir.” He had failed to succeed only because of his youth, she stated, and no one was now more suitable to inherit the imperial succession. The officials therefore prepared the full imperial carriage procession and escorted Sima Pi from the residence of the Prince of Langya to ascend the throne.

After his accession, Sima Pi proclaimed a general amnesty and enfeoffed his younger brother Sima Yi as Prince of Langya. The imperial edict stated: “We have received the enlightened mandate and entered into succession to the great line... The Prince of Donghai, Yi, is a close member of the imperial kin and should uphold the main lineage; let Yi be made Prince of Langya.” In July that year Emperor Mu of Jin was buried at Yongping Mausoleum, and in September Sima Pi elevated his consort Wang Muzhi to empress.

During Sima Pi's reign, the Eastern Jin faced military pressure from Former Yan. In January 362, the first year of the Longhe era, Former Yan commanders Lü Hu and Fu Mobo captured Xiaolei and advanced toward Luoyang. Sima Pi appointed General Who Assists the State Yu Xi as General of the North of the Household and inspector of Xu and Yan provinces, stationed at Xiapi; he also appointed Vanguard Army Supervisor Yuan Zhen as General of the West of the Household and inspector of Yu Province, stationed at Runan. In April Lü Hu again attacked Luoyang. In May, Sima Pi sent Yu Xi and the administrator of Jingling, Deng Xia, with a naval force to relieve the city. By July, Lü Hu's army withdrew to Xiaopingjin, ending the siege of Luoyang.

Elixir Ingestion and Final Years

Sima Pi was deeply interested in the teachings of Huang-Lao and firmly believed in the possibility of immortality. Not long after ascending the throne, he began fasting and ingesting alchemical elixirs according to longevity methods taught by Daoist practitioners. Attendant-in-Ordinary Gao Song remonstrated: “This is not something appropriate for one who has inherited the imperial carriage; what Your Majesty is doing is truly an eclipse of the sun and moon.” Sima Pi did not listen. In March 364, the second year of the Xingning era, excessive ingestion of elixirs caused a severe toxic reaction. He became unable to manage state affairs, and Empress Dowager Chongde, Chu Suanzi, again assumed regency.

In July 364, Sima Pi issued an edict summoning Grand Marshal Huan Wen to court to assist in government. In August Huan Wen reached Zheqi (present-day Fanchang District, Wuhu, Anhui), where he built a fortified settlement and refused to proceed to the capital, openly revealing his power and ambition. Sima Pi remained emperor in name, but real authority had largely fallen into Huan Wen's hands.

On the gengshen day of the first month of 365 (February 22), Empress Wang Muzhi died. On the bingshen day of the second month (March 30), Sima Pi died in the Western Hall from elixir poisoning at only twenty-five years of age. He received the posthumous title Emperor Ai and was buried at Anping Mausoleum, south of Jilong Hill in present-day Jiangning District, Nanjing, without a raised burial mound. Sima Pi had no surviving heir, and the empress dowager issued an order that his younger brother, the Prince of Langya Sima Yi, should succeed to the throne.

Major Activities

Reduction of Land Taxes

In January 362, the first year of the Longhe era, not long after his accession, Sima Pi issued an edict reducing the land tax to only two sheng per mu. The measure lessened the burden on common households and was an important welfare policy of his reign. In October of the same year, he also granted rice to the poor, five hu per person.

Gengxu Household-Registration Reform

On the first day, a gengxu day, of the third month of 364, the second year of the Xingning era, Sima Pi ordered the implementation of the “Gengxu household-registration reform,” also called the “Gengxu regulations.” Its main purpose was to define the jurisdictions of provinces, commanderies, and counties, register residents according to their actual places of residence, conduct a census of households, and strictly enforce the law. The policy promoted administrative uniformity and reduced expenditures. According to historical records, a large number of concealed and omitted households were uncovered. Prince Xuan of Pengcheng, Sima Xuan, was found to have concealed five households and was handed over to the Court of Judicial Review. The reform produced substantial results at the time, but it ceased after Huan Wen's death.

Plowing the Ritual Field

On the guimao day of the second month of 364, Sima Pi personally plowed the ritual field to encourage agriculture and sericulture. Such an act was uncommon among the emperors of the Eastern Jin and reflected his concern for agricultural production.

Calligraphic Achievements

Sima Pi was skilled in calligraphy. The Jin court, although based in the south, had a strong literary and calligraphic culture, and works attributed to Sima Pi survived in later collections. The Model Calligraphy of the Imperial Library from the Chunhua Era, the earliest Chinese collection of model calligraphy by many masters, includes a work attributed to Emperor Ai of Jin, Sima Pi, titled Zhongshu Tie. In 2003, the Shanghai Museum paid US$4.5 million to acquire the piece from the collection of the noted American antiquities collector Robert Hatfield Ellsworth.

Military Response to Former Yan

In 362, the first year of the Longhe era, the Former Yan commanders Lü Hu and Fu Mobo captured Xiaolei and advanced on Luoyang. Sima Pi responded decisively by appointing Yu Xi as General of the North of the Household and stationing him at Xiapi, and Yuan Zhen as General of the West of the Household at Runan. He then sent Yu Xi and Deng Xia with a naval force to relieve Luoyang, eventually driving back the Former Yan army and securing the city. In August of the same year, he further ordered Yuan Zhen to transport 50,000 hu of grain to Luoyang for military supplies.

The stages of his later reign were as follows: in 362 (first year of Longhe) the Former Yan generals Lü Hu and Fu Mobu took Xiaolei and appeared before Luoyang, and he appointed Yu Xi as general of the north at Xiapi and Yuan Zhen as general of the west at Runan while sending Yu Xi and Deng Xia with the fleet to relieve Luoyang, eventually driving the Yan back; in the eighth month of the same year he ordered Yuan Zhen to send fifty thousand piculs of grain to Luoyang for military use; in 363 (first year of Xingning) he changed the era name to Xingning and proclaimed a general amnesty, his mother the imperial consort dowager of the Zhou clan dying in the third month and the birth of a prince in the ninth month leading to another amnesty; in the second month of 364 (second year of Xingning) he ceremonially ploughed the field to encourage farming, and in the third month, poisoned by an elixir and unable to govern, he had the empress dowager Chu hold court as regent, the Gengxu land registration being carried out that year; in the second month of 365 (third year of Xingning) he died of the poisoning in the Western Hall at the age of twenty-five and was buried at the Anping Mausoleum. His military and civil measures alike concerned the frontier and famine relief, while the elixir poisoning directly cost him the ability to govern.

Two further military arrangements of his reign are recorded: when the Former Yan attacked Luoyang in 362 (first year of Longhe) he stationed Yu Xi and Yuan Zhen at Xiapi and Runan to form a defensive line north of the Huai; and in the eighth month of the same year he ordered Yuan Zhen to send fifty thousand piculs of grain to Luoyang as military supply, showing that the grain route to Luoyang was a focus of frontier policy. In addition, the land registration of 364 (second year of Xingning) went together with a general amnesty and the ceremonial ploughing, showing adjustments in finance and agriculture; after the elixir poisoning left him unable to govern, the court was held by the empress dowager Chu, and imperial authority returned once more to the empress dowager and the regents.

In terms of the substance of his rule, the Eastern Jin between the Shengping, Longhe and Xingning eras still faced the double pressure of confrontation with the north and internal finances: the repeated northern campaigns were led by commanders such as Huan Wen and Yin Hao, while the court had to deal with grain transport, recruitment and the household registration involved in the land survey. Emperor Ai's measures centred on meeting external military pressure and reforming internal finance, and his personal conduct of government was interrupted by the elixir poisoning, after which the court was again held by the empress dowager and the regents, an arrangement not essentially different from the pattern since the reigns of Emperor Cheng and Emperor Kang.

Personal Relations

• Father: Sima Yan, Emperor Cheng of Jin
• Mother: Noble Lady Zhou, a consort of Emperor Cheng; after Emperor Ai's accession she was honored as Imperial Consort Dowager
• Younger brother: Sima Yi, the deposed emperor of Jin
• Empress: Wang Muzhi, a native of Jinyang in Taiyuan and daughter of Wang Meng
• Son: Name unknown; born in 363, the first year of the Xingning era, and died young
• Chu Suanzi: Empress Dowager Chongde; supported Sima Pi's accession and later resumed regency when he became seriously ill
• Huan Wen: Grand Marshal; dominated the court. Sima Pi once summoned him to the capital, but Huan Wen reached Zheqi, built a fortified settlement, and did not proceed
• Yu Xi: General of the North of the Household; led a naval force to relieve Luoyang
• Deng Xia: Administrator of Jingling; led a naval force with Yu Xi to relieve Luoyang
• Yuan Zhen: General of the West of the Household; stationed at Runan and later transported grain to Luoyang
• Gao Song: Attendant-in-Ordinary; remonstrated against Sima Pi's ingestion of alchemical elixirs
• Yu Bing: Secretariat Director; in 342, the eighth year of the Xiankang era, prevented the young Sima Pi from succeeding the throne and supported Emperor Kang instead

Historical Assessment

Eastern Jin and Contemporary Assessments

• The Book of Jin states: “Emperor Ai was broad-minded and benevolent and could have made a worthy ruler, but his rites to avert calamity and appeal to Heaven stained his virtue.” The judgment presents Sima Pi as generous and humane but criticizes his belief in occult practices and ingestion of elixirs.
• Attendant-in-Ordinary Gao Song warned that taking alchemical elixirs was “not something appropriate for one who has inherited the imperial carriage,” reflecting contemporary concern among officials over the emperor's faith in such practices.
• Empress Dowager Chongde, Chu Suanzi, described Sima Pi as “the legitimate line of the restoration, illustrious in virtue and close in kinship,” presenting him as the rightful imperial successor and one esteemed by the clan.

Southern Dynasties and Sui–Tang Periods

• Fang Xuanling and the other compilers of the Book of Jin grouped Sima Pi together with Emperor Mu and the deposed emperor Haixi in a shared imperial biography. Their account repeatedly notes his short reign and death from elixir ingestion, carrying an implicit criticism.
• The Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance records Sima Pi's use of alchemical elixirs, and Sima Guang used Gao Song's remonstrance to convey disapproval of a ruler's belief in such practices.

Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Periods

• Song scholars frequently noted the short lives of Eastern Jin emperors. Sima Pi, who died at twenty-five, was often cited as a warning about rulers' belief in alchemical or occult techniques because his death was directly associated with his ingestion of elixirs.
• Ming and Qing historians discussing Eastern Jin aristocratic politics often cited Sima Pi as an example of a puppet emperor, arguing that effective power during his reign was held by Huan Wen.

Modern Assessments

• Modern historians often focus on the positive significance of Sima Pi's Gengxu household-registration reform, regarding it as an important Eastern Jin household-registration measure that helped strengthen central authority.
• Modern studies of calligraphy regard Emperor Ai's Zhongshu Tie as one of the representative calligraphic works of the Eastern Jin imperial house and as having considerable artistic value.
• Modern historians of medicine have treated Sima Pi's death from alchemical poisoning as a representative case of the Wei–Jin practice among elites of ingesting Five Minerals Powder.