Thursday, September 4, 2008

Emperor Ai of Tang

Emperor Tang Aidi , born Li Zhu, was the last emperor of the Tang dynasty of China. He reigned from 904 to 907. Aidi was the son of .

Aidi ascended the throne at the age of 13 after his father, the Zhaozong was murdered by Zhu Wen in 904. Under Zhu Wen's regency, Aidi was only a puppet emperor. In 905, seeing the timing was ripe, Zhu Wen forced Aidi to issue an edict and ordered the execution of all remaining handful of ministers still loyal to the imperial Li family. The ministers were brought to a river and summarily executed after which their bodies were thrown into the river. Less than two years later, Zhu made his final move against Aidi himself and the emperor was forced to abdicate and demoted to Ji Yin Wang whilst Zhu Wen proclaimed the Later Liang Dynasty thus ending 290 years of rule by the Tang dynasty.

In 908, Aidi was poisoned to death by Zhu Wen. He was only 17.