Princess Taiping

Biography

Imperial Favor and the Daoist Pretext Princess Taiping was born around 665 (the second year of Linde under the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang) in the inner palaces of Chang'an. While her personal birth name was omitted from official dynastic records, her religious Daoist name was Taiping ("Great Peace"). She was the youngest daughter born to Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi) and Empress Regnant Wu Zetian, and the darling of the imperial household. Her elder brothers included Crown Prince Li Hong, Crown Prince Zhanghuai (Li Xian), Emperor Zhongzong (Li Xian), and Emperor Ruizong (Li Dan). Surrounded by imperial majesty and absolute indulgence from infancy, Princess Taiping grew up in the most opulent quarters of the imperial capital. In 670 (the first year of Xianheng), when the Princess was approximately six years old, her maternal grandmother, the Lady of Rong (mother of Wu Zetian), passed away. Seeking to accrue post-mortem Buddhist and Daoist spiritual merits for the deceased matriarch, Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu formally tonsured the young child as a Daoist nun, bestowing upon her the religious title "Taiping." However, because she was young and deeply adored, she never relocated to an ascetic monastery, continuing to reside within the imperial palace tended by ladies-in-waiting and wet nurses. In 679 (the first year of Tiaolu), the formidable Tibetan Empire (Tubo) dispatched special envoys to Chang'an, seeking a prestigious marriage alliance with the Tang imperial house. The Tibetan imperial court explicitly demanded the hand of Princess Taiping. Both Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu were utterly horrified at the prospect of exiling their beloved youngest daughter to the cold, desolate Himalayan plateau. Yet Tubo commanded massive military legions, making outright refusal dangerously provocative. To resolve this dilemma, Wu Zetian ordered the construction of the magnificent "Taiping Nunnery" in the Eastern Capital of Luoyang, formally staging a lavish ordination ceremony where the fifteen-year-old Princess donned religious vestments and assumed the role of abbess. The Tang court then formally notified the Tibetan ambassadors: "Our Princess has dedicated herself to the sacred Daoist mysteries; by religious and imperial statutes, she is forever barred from secular wedlock." The Tibetan envoys were outmaneuvered and departed empty-handed. ### Marital Tragedies and the Crucible of Wu Zhou As she matured into womanhood, Princess Taiping grew exceptionally tall, dignified, and strikingly beautiful. During an imperial banquet, she appeared before Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu dressed in purple warrior robes, wearing a military officer's leather cap and girded with an ornate jade belt and military quiver, performing a spirited martial dance. Laughing heartily, her parents inquired: "You are a woman, not a military officer; why do you wear such armor?" Smiling radiantly, the Princess replied: "Since I cannot serve as a warrior, why not bestow these garments upon a worthy consort?" Comprehending her desire for marriage, Gaozong immediately initiated a nationwide search among the empire's premier noble families. In 681 (the first year of Kaiyao), the seventeen-year-old Princess married her maternal cousin, Xue Shao, an officer of the palace guards. Xue Shao was the son of Emperor Taizong's daughter Princess Chengyang and Xue Guan of the Hedong Xue clan, one of the most illustrious aristocratic lineages in China. Gaozong and Empress Wu staged a wedding of unimaginable grandeur. The imperial torchlit procession stretched from the Wannian County offices to Xuan Yang Ward, illuminating the night sky like broad daylight and scorching roadside trees with its heat; when the bridal carriage proved too wide to pass through the city gates, imperial engineers tore down the walls to accommodate it. Over seven years of marriage, the couple lived in harmonious affection, producing two sons and two daughters. However, dynastic catastrophe shattered her marital bliss. In 688 (the fourth year of Chuigong), following Gaozong's death and Wu Zetian's consolidation of power, Prince of Langya Li Chong launched a rebellion to preserve the Li family dynasty. Xue Shao's elder brother, Xue Yi, secretly participated in the anti-Wu conspiracy. Following Li Chong's defeat, Xue Yi was executed. Wu Zetian, merciless in suppressing dissent, arrested Xue Shao as an accomplice. Despite Princess Taiping's tearful prostrations while holding her infant child, Wu Zetian ordered Xue Shao starved to death in the Luoyang judicial prison at age twenty-something. In 690 (the first year of Zaichu), Wu Zetian founded the Wu Zhou Dynasty. To bridge the lethal gulf between the Li and Wu clans and bind her beloved daughter irrevocably to her regime, Wu Zetian arranged a second marriage for the Princess with her nephew Wu Youji. Because Wu Youji was already married, Wu Zetian secretly commanded his wife to commit suicide, vacating the position of primary consort. Wu Youji was a meek, self-effacing aristocrat who deferred to the Princess in all affairs. Profoundly traumatized by Xue Shao's murder, Princess Taiping discarded her youthful innocence, adopting a life of extravagant hedonism, amassing vast estates, and maintaining numerous male favorites while keeping a watchful, calculated eye on the lethal palace arena. ### The Shenlong Coup and Entering Court Politics During the Shengli era, Empress Wu Zetian reached advanced old age. Factional conflicts escalated between her Wu nephews and her exiled sons Li Xian and Li Dan. Concurrently, Wu Zetian's handsome favorites, Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Changzong, monopolized access to the throne, terrorizing princes and ministers alike. In this perilous environment, Princess Taiping revealed profound political acumen. Sima Guang recorded in *Zizhi Tongjian*: "Princess Taiping was composed, astute, and gifted with grand strategy. The Empress Regnant believed the Princess resembled herself in spirit and loved her deeply; whenever secret palace maneuvers were contemplated, she invariably consulted the Princess." Moving between factions with supreme finesse, the Princess ostensibly maintained cordial relations with the Zhang brothers while covertly aligning with the Li Tang loyalists. In February 705 (the first year of Shenlong), as the eighty-two-year-old Wu Zetian lay incapacitated in the Changsheng Hall, Chancellor Zhang Jianzhi, Cui Xuanwei, and senior loyalists launched the Shenlong Coup. Exploiting her unrestricted access to the inner palace, Princess Taiping served as the vital inside accomplice, coordinating the entry of palace guards who beheaded the Zhang brothers, compelled Wu Zetian to abdicate, and restored Emperor Zhongzong. In gratitude for her pivotal role, Emperor Zhongzong conferred upon her the supreme honorific title "Princess Taiping of Zhenguo" (Stabilizer of the State), granting her an unprecedented fief of 10,000 households, vast agricultural estates, and ennobling three of her sons as kings. For the first time, Princess Taiping emerged as an acknowledged titan of open court politics. Under Zhongzong's weak rule, Empress Wei and Princess Anle sought to emulate Wu Zetian, with Anle demanding to be named Crown Princess. When Crown Prince Li Chongjun launched his abortive 707 coup, Empress Wei attempted to frame Princess Taiping. Standing fearlessly before the throne, Princess Taiping successfully vindicated her loyalty, while quietly embedding her loyalists throughout the capital's elite guard formations. ### The Tanglong Coup and Destroying the Wei Faction In June 710 (the fourth year of Jinglong), Emperor Zhongzong died suddenly, widely believed to have been poisoned by Empress Wei and Princess Anle. Empress Wei concealed the death, placed her kinsmen in command of the imperial guards, installed sixteen-year-old Li Chongmao as Emperor Shao, and prepared to seize the imperial throne. Confronting this existential crisis, Princess Taiping forged an alliance with her nephew, Prince of Linzi Li Longji (future Emperor Xuanzong). Princess Taiping deployed her second son, Xue Chongjian, as her plenipotentiary coordinator, meeting nightly with Li Longji. Leveraging her extensive contacts within the Northern Guard divisions, she subverted key commanders such as Ge Fushun and Chen Xuanli, while Li Longji organized armed volunteers outside the palace. On the night of July 21, 710, amidst howling wind and lightning, Li Longji and Xue Chongjian breached the Xuanwu Gate, decapitating the Wei commanders. Imperial guards swept into the palace, executing Princess Anle before her vanity mirror and cornering Empress Wei, who was hacked to pieces. At dawn, Princess Taiping entered the palace to oversee the succession. As young Li Chongmao sat terrified upon the dragon throne, refusing to move, Princess Taiping strode up the dais, grasped his sleeve, and declared before the assembled court: "The empire faces mortal peril; the throne belongs to an experienced sovereign, not a child!" She personally escorted him from the throne, taking her brother Li Dan (Emperor Ruizong) by the hand to ascend the imperial seat, securing the dynastic restoration of the Tang. ### The Zenith of Supremacy and Dynasty-Shaking Power Under Emperor Ruizong, Princess Taiping attained political power unmatched by any princess in Chinese history. Weary of bloody purges, Ruizong deferred entirely to his sister's judgment. Dynastic chronicles record: "In all affairs of state, major or minor, the Emperor invariably consulted the Princess prior to execution. Whomever the Princess recommended was immediately appointed, with the Secretariat and Chancellery daring not utter a word of dissent." Her private mansion in the Xingning Ward rivaled the imperial palace in architectural grandeur. Over half of all prime urban real estate, agricultural estates, and commercial markets in Chang'an belonged to her household. Provincial tribute was delivered first to her mansion for her personal selection before being delivered to the imperial treasury. Of the seven reigning chancellors, five—including Dou Huai Zhen, Xiao Zhizhong, and Cen Xi—were her direct political clients. Only Song Jing and Yao Chong maintained principled judicial independence, refusing to flatter her faction. Yet her overwhelming supremacy sowed the seeds of fatal conflict with Crown Prince Li Longji. Having commanded the shock troops that crushed Empress Wei, Li Longji was brilliant, resolute, and backed by the military elite. Princess Taiping viewed the formidable Prince as an insurmountable obstacle to her perpetual regency. She unleashed an aggressive campaign to depose the Crown Prince. She subverted court astrologers to warn Ruizong that "celestial signs indicate the Crown Prince plots to usurp the throne," while spreading rumors that Li Longji was not the eldest son and lacked legitimacy. Concurrently, she urged Ruizong to replace him with his docile elder brother Li Chengqi. Recognizing the Princess's tyrannical overreach, Chancellors Song Jing and Yao Chong secretly petitioned Ruizong in 711 to appoint Li Longji regent over the civil administration while banishing Princess Taiping to the Eastern Capital of Luoyang. Discovering the plot, Princess Taiping wept violently before Ruizong, forcing the weak emperor to banish Song Jing and Yao Chong to remote provincial governorships. ### The Xiantian Coup and Tragic Extinction In August 712, a comet illuminated the night sky over Chang'an. Princess Taiping instructed her court diviners to advise Ruizong that the portents required a change in ruler, intending to force the Prince's downfall. To her shock, Ruizong resolved: "If Heaven demands a change, I shall abdicate to my worthy son!" On September 8, 712, Ruizong abdicated, and Li Longji ascended the throne as Emperor Xuanzong. Although Xuanzong reigned, Ruizong retained imperial veto power as Retired Emperor (*Taishang Huang*). Protected by her brother, Princess Taiping intensified her seditious plots. Allied with Chancellors Dou Huai Zhen, Xiao Zhizhong, and Cen Xi, and Northern Guard commanders Chang Yuankai and Li Ci, she finalized plans to launch a coup on August 1, 713, utilizing palace guards to assassinate Emperor Xuanzong during an imperial audience. Informed of the conspiracy, the young Emperor moved with ruthless speed. On July 29, 713 (the third day of the seventh month), Xuanzong assembled thirty trusted warriors, including Prince of Qi Li Fan, General Guo Yuanzhen, and eunuch confidant Gao Lishi, launching the historic Xiantian Coup. Imperial guard squadrons stormed the command tents, beheading Generals Chang Yuankai and Li Ci at the gates. Xuanzong marched to the throne room, arresting and executing Chancellors Xiao Zhizhong and Cen Xi on the palace steps. Dou Huai Zhen committed suicide by drowning in a well; Xuanzong had his corpse dragged out, beheaded, and posthumously renamed his clan "Du" (Viper). Terrified by the total collapse of her faction, Princess Taiping fled through secret tunnels, hiding in a remote Buddhist temple in the Zhongnan Mountains. Retired Emperor Ruizong personally pleaded with Xuanzong to spare his sister's life. Recognizing that her formidable political intellect made her an eternal threat to imperial peace, Xuanzong adamantly refused. On August 2, 713, Princess Taiping was forced to return to her Chang'an residence, where Xuanzong dispatched an imperial decree commanding her suicide; her age at death is not explicitly recorded in the corresponding . Her sons, including Wu Chongmin and Wu Chongxing, were executed, with only Xue Chongjian spared and granted the imperial Li surname due to his consistent opposition to her plots. When imperial bailiffs inventoried her private estate, her stockpiles of gold, silver, and precious silks required months of heavy wagon convoys to clear. Princess Taiping's demise permanently brought down the curtain on the extraordinary era of female political supremacy that had defined Tang governance since the rise of Wu Zetian. With her fall, imperial authority was concentrated entirely in Emperor Xuanzong's hands, inaugurating the golden age of the Kaiyuan Prosperity.

Major Activities

Architect of the Shenlong and Tanglong Coups Princess Taiping's paramount historical legacy lies in her decisive execution of the two great palace coups that preserved the Li Tang dynastic succession. In the 705 Shenlong Coup, she served as the vital inside operative within Wu Zetian's inner sanctum, enabling Chancellor Zhang Jianzhi's guards to execute the Zhang brothers and restore Emperor Zhongzong. In the 710 Tanglong Coup, she partnered with Li Longji to organize the night assault that eradicated Empress Wei and Princess Anle, preventing the establishment of a second female dynasty and placing Emperor Ruizong on the throne. These achievements established her as a legendary kingmaker of the Tang Empire. ### Construction of Autonomous Regency and Factional Governance Under Emperor Ruizong, Princess Taiping constructed the most formidable private political apparatus in Tang history. Operating beyond established statutory institutions, she transformed her private mansion into the supreme executive center of the realm. She commanded the loyalty of five prime ministers, appointed hundreds of civil magistrates through private patronage ("oblique-sealed appointments"), and established deep command networks across the imperial guards. This extensive factional architecture demonstrated remarkable political organization, effectively functioning as an autonomous regency that eclipsed the imperial throne. ### The Final Showdown with Imperial Autocracy Her final struggle against Emperor Xuanzong was of monumental institutional significance. It represented the ultimate historical clash between the late-seventh-century tradition of female consort-kin governance and the restored centralizing autocracy of the Confucian bureaucratic state. Her defeat in the Xiantian Coup of 713 permanently dismantled the power base of imperial princesses and consort clans, eliminating the recurring palace coups that had paralyzed the Tang court for fifty years and laying the structural foundation for the bureaucratic golden age of the Kaiyuan Era of Prosperity.

Personal Relations

• | Relationship | Name | Identity / Description |
• | :--- | :--- | :--- |
• | Father | Emperor Gaozong of Tang (Li Zhi) | Third Emperor of Tang; doted upon Princess Taiping with extreme indulgence |
• | Mother | Wu Zetian | Empress Regnant of Zhou; praised the Princess as "resembling myself," drawing her into statecraft |
• | Elder Brother | Emperor Xiaojing (Li Hong) | Eldest son of Gaozong and Wu Zetian; died young |
• | Elder Brother | Crown Prince Zhanghuai (Li Xian) | Brilliant scholar and statesman; forced to commit suicide by Wu Zetian |
• | Elder Brother | Emperor Zhongzong (Li Xian) | Restored monarch; elevated the Princess to Princess Taiping of Zhenguo with 10,000 households |
• | Elder Brother | Emperor Ruizong (Li Dan) | Restored monarch and Retired Emperor; entrusted all state and military affairs to her prior deliberation |
• | Nephew & Nemesis | Emperor Xuanzong (Li Longji) | Former coup ally; ascended the throne and crushed her faction in the 713 Xiantian Coup, ordering her suicide |
• | First Husband | Xue Shao | Aristocratic officer; son of Princess Chengyang; starved to death in prison following his brother's rebellion in 688 |
• | Second Husband | Wu Youji | Nephew of Wu Zetian; wedded to the Princess after Wu Zetian forced his first wife to commit suicide; Duke of Ding |
• | Eldest Son | Xue Chongxun | Son by Xue Shao; ennobled as prince; executed following the 713 coup |
• | Second Son | Xue Chongjian | Son by Xue Shao; consistently opposed his mother's treason; spared by Xuanzong and granted the imperial Li surname |
• | Third Son | Wu Chongmin | Son by Wu Youji; ennobled as King of Lijie; executed following the 713 coup |
• | Fourth Son | Wu Chongxing | Son by Wu Youji; ennobled as King of Anlu; executed following the 713 coup |
• | Partisan Chancellor | Dou Huai Zhen | Core chancellor partisan; committed suicide by drowning upon the failure of the coup; corpse decapitated and renamed "Du" |
• | Partisan Chancellor | Xiao Zhizhong | Senior chancellor allied with the Princess; executed on the palace steps during the Xiantian Coup |
• | Partisan Chancellor | Cen Xi | Senior chancellor allied with the Princess; executed during the Xiantian Coup |
• | Principled Opponent | Song Jing | Chancellor under Ruizong; petitioned to exile the Princess to Luoyang to preserve imperial law; demoted through her wrath |
• | Foremost Adversary | Yao Chong | Preeminent chancellor who consistently checked the Princess's usurpations; architect of the Kaiyuan Prosperity |

Historical Assessment

• Wu Zetian: "This child is composed, astute, and gifted with grand strategy. She truly resembles me!"
• **Sima Guang (*Zizhi Tongjian*)**: "Princess Taiping was composed, astute, and gifted with grand strategy. The Empress Regnant believed the Princess resembled herself in spirit and loved her deeply; whenever secret palace maneuvers were contemplated, she invariably consulted the Princess. After the death of the Empress Regnant, the Princess repeatedly instigated palace coups, shaking the court and realm. Five of seven chancellors issued from her gates, and her wealth rivaled the imperial treasury. Yet clinging to power and plotting treason against the altars of state, she died by the hand of the young sovereign, bringing about her own destruction!"
• **Song Qi (*New Book of Tang*)**: "The Princess was resolute, astute, and rich in counsel; the Empress Regnant cherished her intellect. After the Jinglong reign of Zhongzong, the Princess checked Wu Sansi and the Wei faction, ultimately pacifying the dynastic crisis. Under Ruizong, her power eclipsed the sovereign, and the empire bowed to her wind. Yet bloated with pride, she plotted to depose the Crown Prince, ending in catastrophic extinction. Alas! When women meddle in governance, the ruin of lineages and states is profound indeed!"
• **Liu Xu et al. (*Old Book of Tang*)**: "The Princess possessed versatile cunning, especially beloved by Empress Wu, participating in every palace design. Under Zhongzong she was titled Zhenguo; under Ruizong all imperial affairs required her consultation. Yet consumed by greed for supreme office and plotting against Xuanzong, she died beneath imperial decree, allowing all affairs under Heaven to return to serene peace."
• **Fan Zuyu (*Tang Jian*)**: "Princess Taiping dominated the Son of Heaven as a woman, with chancellors executing her commands and her prestige shaking the realm. Li Longji moved with the times, eradicating the wicked faction in a single stroke to secure the altars of state. Great was the glorious merit that founded the Kaiyuan era!"
• **Wang Fuzhi (*Du Tongjian Lun*)**: "The treason of Princess Taiping was an inevitable consequence of circumstance. Ruizong was weak and yielding, entrusting the sacred vessel of the state to his sister; the Princess abused imperial favor, treating the Crown Prince as a disposable straw. Had Xuanzong not wielded resolute judgment, the vessel of the Great Tang would have fallen into Taiping's hands!"