57 Emperor Houzhu of Chen Dynasty

A Notorious Emperor Who Lost His Country

During the South & North Dynasties Period, the ethnic majority Han founded four dynasties (Song Dynasty, Qi Dynasty, Liang Dynasty, Chen Dynasty) one by one in the south, all with their capital in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Though there showed up some capable emperors in the time, the one who sounded most famous in history was a notorious evil and voluptuary emperor, Emperor Houzhu of Chen Dynasty (553-604, Houzhu literally “Latter King).

Nanjing boasted of its geographical advantages with Mount Zhongshan sheltering at back and Yangtze River running in front, been admired as “a place showing off a kingdom style” or “a shape of dragon staying and tiger squatting”. Nanjing had been the capital of six dynasties, including: Wu State in the Three Kingdoms Period, East Jin, as well as four states Song, Qi, Liang, Chen in the South & North Dynasties Period. Nanjing therefore earned a title of “the capital of six ancient dynasties”.

During the time of the South & North Dynasties Period, Nanjing reached its heyday of civilization, while many cities in the north were much less developed due to the minorities’ occupation. But Emperor Houzhu of Chen drew a full stop for Nanjing’s prosperity. He led a voluptuous life on people’s suffering and disaster. He was a talent for arts, and his pretty concubine Zhang Lihua was a star for singing and dancing. It was said, one day Concubine Zhang’s excellent performance was suddenly stopped when the enemy Sui troops had broke in the wall of the Forbidden City. Emperor Houzhu and Concubine Zhang began to escape aimlessly and climbed down into the “Rouge well” in Jingyang Palace, but they were quickly searched out by Sui soldiers, then both being executed.

In Tang Dynasty (300-400 years later), some cities in the north, like Chang’an (present Xi’an, Shaanxi Province), Luoyang (Henan Province) rose up, and Nanjing turned to be wore-out and wretched. When visiting Nanjing, many poets couldn’t but compose poems voicing out their feelings of vicissitudes, and Emperor Houzhu was inevitably ridiculed as “the King of a Conquered Nation”, and his music was deemed as “the Corrupted and Rotten Sound”.