Sima Yue

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Sima Yue was born into the Eastern Jin imperial house. His father, Emperor Ming of Jin, Sima Shao, had suppressed the rebellion of Wang Dun and stabilized the dynasty's early rule. His mother Yu Wenjun, a younger sister of Grand Commandant Yu Liang, was the first empress of the Eastern Jin. Sima Yue was Emperor Ming's second son, and his full elder brother was the future Emperor Cheng, Sima Yan. In 325, the third year of the Taining era, Emperor Ming died. Sima Yue, only four years old, lost his father, and Sima Yan succeeded to the throne as Emperor Cheng of Jin.

On the thirteenth day of the tenth month of 326, the first year of the Xianhe era, Emperor Cheng enfeoffed Sima Yue as Prince of Wu. On the sixteenth day of the twelfth month of the following year, Emperor Cheng transferred his uncle, Prince Sima Yu of Langya, to the title Prince of Kuaiji and redesignated Sima Yue as Prince of Langya. Sima Yue subsequently rose through the ranks during Emperor Cheng's reign. On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth month of 334, he was appointed Regular Mounted Attendant and additionally Cavalry General. On the sixteenth day of the twelfth month of 339, he was promoted to Attendant-in-Ordinary and Minister of Education. Although he exercised little direct governing authority during this period, as a close imperial kinsman he had already reached one of the highest ranks at court.

Designation as Successor and Accession

In the fifth month of 342, the eighth year of the Xiankang era, Emperor Cheng fell ill. On the fifth day of the sixth month, his condition worsened. Emperor Cheng's two sons, Sima Pi and Sima Yi, were still infants. The emperor's maternal uncle Yu Bing, whose brothers had long controlled government, feared that after a generational change the Yu family's kinship to the sovereign would become more distant and leave them vulnerable to political attacks. Arguing that the state faced powerful external enemies and therefore needed an adult ruler, he urged Emperor Cheng to designate Sima Yue as successor. Emperor Cheng agreed and issued an edict naming Sima Yue his heir.

On the seventh day of the sixth month, Emperor Cheng ordered Prince Sima Xi of Wuling, Prince Sima Yu of Kuaiji, Secretariat Director Yu Bing, Secretariat Director He Chong, and Secretariat Director Zhuge Hui to receive his final commands and assist Sima Yue. Emperor Cheng died on the eighth day. On the ninth day, Sima Yue ascended the throne, proclaimed a general amnesty, and ordered civil and military officials stationed in the provinces and local administrators not to leave their posts merely to attend the mourning ceremonies. On the fourteenth day, he enfeoffed Emperor Cheng's sons Sima Pi as Prince of Langya and Sima Yi as Prince of Donghai. Because Sima Yue was then observing mourning and spoke little on political matters, he entrusted government to Yu Bing and He Chong.

Reign and Death

After Sima Yue's accession, the era name was changed to Jianyuan. During his brief reign, he issued orders concerning the recovery of the Central Plains and sought to strengthen Eastern Jin rule, while employing Yu Yi and other ministers to assist government. On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month of 344, the second year of the Jianyuan era, he named his son Sima Dan crown prince. On the twenty-sixth day of the ninth month, according to one account the twenty-third, Sima Yue died in Shiqian Hall at the age of twenty-three. He received the posthumous name Emperor Kang. Crown Prince Sima Dan then succeeded as Emperor Mu of Jin. On the twenty-third day of the tenth month, Emperor Mu buried his father at Chongping Mausoleum, in the area of present-day Purple Mountain in Nanjing.

Major Activities

Political Measures

Sima Yue reigned for only three years and left few major political achievements, but he was not entirely inactive. According to the Book of Jin, after his accession Emperor Kang ordered reductions in troop increases previously made by Yu Bing and Yu Yi and remitted various miscellaneous levies in order to ease burdens on the population. He also issued an edict calling for measures toward the Central Plains. Faced with northern regimes that controlled troops independently and threatened the lower Yangzi, he did not simply yield to their strength but expressed a determination to maintain the Eastern Jin position, even though he was unable to achieve a decisive recovery.

Calligraphy

Sima Yue was accomplished in calligraphy. His representative work, the Lu Nü Modelbook, was included in the Song-dynasty Model Calligraphy of the Imperial Library from the Chunhua Era and was praised as having “broad and powerful strokes, with a force capable of surpassing all before it, transforming the calligraphic tradition of the Jin emperors.” In 992, the third year of the Chunhua era of the Northern Song, Emperor Taizong of Song ordered calligraphic works held in the palace collection to be brought out and commissioned the Hanlin calligrapher Wang Zhu to arrange and reproduce them on stone inside the palace. The resulting Model Calligraphy of the Imperial Library from the Chunhua Era was China's earliest major collection of facsimiles of calligraphy by multiple masters and was later celebrated as a foundational anthology of model calligraphy. Sima Yue's Lu Nü Modelbook was among the works included. Qing scholar Wang Shu wrote in his Critical Study of the Chunhua Secret Pavilion Model Calligraphy: “It is regrettable that his years were not long; perhaps this was Heaven's will. Yet in mourning he observed the full rites, and he too was capable of stirring up and reversing a declining current.”

Anecdotes

According to later encyclopedic compilations, during Emperor Kang's reign a New Year's banquet was held for court officials, and an ornate white-beast wine vessel was placed in the palace. When an official offered forthright remonstrance, Emperor Kang would reward him by allowing him to drink from the vessel, symbolizing that he did not fear candid criticism. The story appears in sources cited by Ming-dynasty encyclopedic works but is not recorded in the standard histories and therefore survives only as isolated testimony.

The Tongdian also records an issue of name taboo. Because Emperor Kang's personal name, Yue, was identical in writing to the word in “Five Sacred Peaks,” officials proposed changing the names of mountains and rivers. The Imperial University submitted an opinion based on documents from the Department of State Affairs, and Xu Chan consulted the scholars Wang Zhi, Hu Ne, and Xu Han. They concluded that the Erya supplied no earlier basis for the proposed interpretation and that one should not arbitrarily create new names for the Five Sacred Peaks simply because mountains were high and great. According to this account, the practice of applying imperial name taboos to mountains and rivers began under Emperor Kang.

His descent and career can be set out as follows: born in 322; in 325 his father, Emperor Ming, died and his full brother Sima Yan succeeded; in 326 he was enfeoffed as Prince of Wu and in 327 transferred to Prince of Langya; in 334 he became a regular attendant of the palace with the title general of fleet cavalry, and in 339 was promoted to attendant of the palace and minister of education; in 342 he was made heir to the throne and came to it after Emperor Cheng's death in the sixth month of that year; in 344 he made his son Sima Dan crown prince and died in the ninth month at the Shigan Hall. His calligraphic work "Tie for the Lu Girl" was included in the Song Chunhua ge tie, and stands in the history of calligraphy alongside the other Eastern Jin imperial pieces, showing that he had attainments to record beyond his brief reign.

The arrangements within and outside the court after his accession, and the honours after his death, are also recorded: on his accession in 342, Yu Bing and Yu Yi held power inside and outside the court respectively; in 344 he made his son Sima Dan crown prince and died at the Shigan Hall in the ninth month of that year, being buried at the Chongping Mausoleum with the posthumous title Emperor Kang and the temple name Xianzong. In those three years the court's appointments still centred on the Yu family and He Chong as regents, and his own intentions were expressed mainly through edicts and personnel arrangements, a distinction to be preserved in judging his short reign.

Personal Relations

• Father: Sima Shao, Emperor Ming of Jin
• Mother: Yu Wenjun, Empress Mingmu
• Elder brother: Sima Yan, Emperor Cheng of Jin
• Wife: Chu Suanzi, Empress Kangxian
• Son: Sima Dan, Emperor Mu of Jin
• Sisters: Sima Xingnan, Princess Nankang, wife of Huan Wen; Sima Nandi, Princess Luling, wife of Liu Tan; Princess Nanjun, wife of Yang Ben
• Maternal uncles: Yu Liang, Yu Yi, Yu Tiao, and Yu Yi, all representatives of the Yu clan of Yingchuan; Yu Bing was among its major political figures
• Maternal aunt: Lady Yu, wife of the son of He Rui, Administrator of Anfeng
• Ministers entrusted with the final mandate: Sima Xi, Prince of Wuling; Sima Yu, Prince of Kuaiji; Yu Bing, Director of the Secretariat; He Chong, Secretariat Director; Zhuge Hui, Director of the Department of State Affairs

Historical Assessment

Eastern Jin and Contemporary Views

• Cao Pi wrote in “Song for Emperor Kang”: “Solemn was Emperor Kang, reverently succeeding to great virtue. He governed without overmastering, and refined sounds filled the four quarters. With sincerity he kept evil at a distance, and with quietness he settled all things. His awe stilled the realm; his Way was proclaimed through the state.”
• The “Lamentation for Emperor Kang” praised him as a ruler born through auspicious mandate, precociously intelligent, steadfast in virtue, and fragrant in reputation.
• Shen Yue's Book of Song, in its treatise on music, preserves Cao Pi's hymn in the “Temple Songs of the Jin on the Left of the Yangzi,” reflecting Emperor Kang's place in dynastic ancestral ritual.

Tang Period

• Fang Xuanling and the other compilers of the Book of Jin wrote: “Emperor Kang was endowed by Heaven, and in mourning observed elaborate rites. Fallen institutions were just beginning to rise again; why was his allotted lifespan so short?” The judgment suggests that they regarded his qualities favorably but lamented the brevity of his reign.
• The Book of Jin also records his orders to reduce troop levies and remit miscellaneous assessments, showing that his reign was not entirely without policy initiatives.

Song and Yuan Periods

• The Song-dynasty Model Calligraphy of the Imperial Library from the Chunhua Era included his Lu Nü Modelbook, whose calligraphy was later praised as “broad and powerful, with a force capable of surpassing all before it, transforming the calligraphic tradition of the Jin emperors,” indicating the standing of his calligraphy in the Song period.
• Wang Shu wrote in the Critical Study of the Chunhua Secret Pavilion Model Calligraphy: “It is regrettable that his years were not long; perhaps this was Heaven's will. Yet in mourning he observed the full rites, and he too was capable of stirring up and reversing a declining current.”

Ming, Qing, and Modern Views

• Du You's Tongdian records the controversy over taboos on names of mountains and rivers under Emperor Kang, an important case in later studies of ritual institutions.
• Modern scholar Zhu Changxiao discusses the historical circumstances of Sima Yue's brief reign in Misty Rain over the Eastern Jin.
• Overall, later historians have tended toward a neutral assessment: Sima Yue was not without ability, but his reign was too short for major achievements.