Sun Xiu

Wu Jǐngdì ( 吳景帝 )
Family name :	Sūn ( 孫 )
First name :	Xiū ( 休 )
Major Age Name (Zi):	Cilia ( 子 烈 )
Posthumous title : (short)	Jǐng ( 景 )
Reign:	258 - 264
Era names :	Yǒng'ān ( 永安 ) 258 - 264

Sun Xiu (* 235 ; † 264 ) was a son of Sun Quan and the third emperor of the Wu Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms .

Childhood and youth

Sun Xiu was born in 235 to the first Wu emperor Sun Quan and his concubine Wang. As a child he was known for his erudition. At around 250, at the instigation of his father, he married the daughter of his sister Sun Xiaohu and her husband Zhu Ju.

Shortly before Sun Quan's death (252) he was made Prince of Langye. Later, after his brother Sun Liang became emperor under the reign of Zhuge Ke , Zhuge withdrew the princes from their militarily important fortresses, so that Sun Xiu had to go to Danyang. Unlike his brother Sun Fe (the prince of Qi), who resisted, Sun Xiu did not resist. His commandant in Danyang, Li Heng, treated him very rudely, so Sun Xiu asked his brother for another transfer and was sent to Kuaiji.

In 255, the regent Sun Jun , who killed and replaced Zhuge Ke, killed Sun Xiu's sister, Sun Xiaohu. Sun Xiu was frightened and sent his wife, Princess Zhu, back to Jianye and offered her divorce, but Sun Jun refused and sent her back.

After Sun Liang tried to depose Sun Lin (who succeeded Sun Jun) in 258 , he was deposed. Sun Lin invited Sun Xiu to the capital and declared him emperor.

Domination

Elimination of Sun Lin

To appease Sun Lin, Sun Xiu gave him five more lands for his mark and also made his brothers marquises. But one day, Sun Lin became abusive because of a relatively minor incident: Sun Lin had brought meat and wine to the palace to dine with the emperor, but when Sun Xiu refused the offer, Sun Lin took the food to General Zhang Bu's home . He expressed disappointment to him at Sun Xiu's disapproval - including a remark that he might raise another emperor - and Zhang reported Sun Lin's lawsuit to Sun Xiu. He was worried, but outwardly continued to show his favor to Sun Lin. Sun Lin offered to leave Jianye City to strengthen the defense of the secondary capital, Wuchang . Sun Xiu agreed. However, he feared that Sun Lin might take over the city and rebel. He conspired with Zhang Bu and veteran general Ding Feng to kill Sun Lin at the Laba Festival . This news reached Sun Lin, who, despite his caution, showed up at the festival and was arrested by Ding Feng and Zhang Bu. Sun Lin pleaded with Sun Xiu for his life and offered to go into exile or even become a slave in Jiao Province, but Sun Xiu refused: Sun Lin did not offer this to either Teng or Lu. Sun Lin and his kin were executed.

Unrestricted rule

As an emperor, Sun Xiu was known for his tolerance of different opinions as well as his erudition. In spite of everything, he did not seem to be a particularly capable emperor, neither in military nor in domestic matters. He entrusted most of the important business to Zhang Bu and Puyang Xing, who were also not particularly gifted and also quite corrupt. So the government was not efficient or effective. For example, on Puyang Xing's suggestion, Sun Xiu 260 began an expensive project: the construction of an artificial lake (Puli Lake) as a defense against the Wei. Most officials thought this was a waste of time, effort, and resources. When it became clear that the lake could not be completed, Sun Xiu eventually abandoned the project.

In the same year, he deposed his brother Sun Liang for fear of rumors about his lordship ambitions as Prince of Kuaiji and made him Marquis of Houguan. The brother died on the way to his marrow.

The Wu ambassador, Xue Xu, who visited Ally Shu Han in 261, tried to rouse Sun Xiu by reporting on the dire situation there. Sun Xiu did not react as expected.

In 262 he married the princess Zhu and made her empress; he appointed his eldest son, Sun Wan, crown prince.

In 263 the residents of the Jiaozhi commandant's office (today's Hanoi ) rose because they could no longer endure the corruption of their commander Sun Xu. They teamed up with the residents of Jiuzhen (now Khan Hoa ) and Rinan (now Quảng Trị ). They sought military support from the Wei. Thanks to this help, the uprising lasted until 271, long after Sun Xiu's reign. The successor dynasty of the Wei, the Jin Dynasty , also supported the rebels.

In 263 the Wei also conquered Shu, whom Sun Xiu came to aid. He sent two separate armies: one to attack Shouchun, one to go to Han Zhong, and then rush to the aid of the Shu inland, but neither succeeded. After Liu Shan's abdication in Chengdu , Sun Xiu heard of the perplexity of many Shu cities and decided to conquer them, but former Shu general Luo Xian repulsed them because he wanted to surrender to the Wei, as Liu Shan had ordered.

In the summer of 264, Sun Xiu fell ill and lost his speech, so that he could only communicate in writing. So he wrote an edict in which he ordered Puyang Xing to the palace and gave him the reign of the Crown Prince Sun Wan. Shortly afterwards he died.

progeny

Puyang Xing did not follow the emperor's wish because he wanted to choose a responsible emperor for the people. Zhang Bu agreed with him. It is not known how old Sun Wan was at the time, but because Sun Xiu died at the age of 29, the Crown Prince could hardly have been more than ten years old. On the recommendation of General Wan Yu, who was sympathetic to Sun Hao (the son of the former Crown Prince Sun He ), they made Sun Hao emperor.

Offspring

Sun Xiu had four sons, and each but Sun Mang had their names written with unique characters. The names can therefore not be reproduced in Unicode .

• Wife: Empress Zhu († 265)
  • Sun Wan, the Crown Prince (appointed 262), later Prince of Yuzhang (264), executed 265
  • Sun Gong, Prince of Ru'nan (appointed 264, executed 265)
  • Sun Mang, the Prince of Liang (appointed 264)
  • Sun Bao, the Prince of Chen (appointed 264)

Sun Quan 182-252

Wang

Zhu Ju 194-250

Sun Xiaohu † 255

Sun Xiu 235-264

Zhu † 265

Sun Wan † 265

Sun Gong † 265

Sun Mang

Sun Bao

Web links

• Family tree of the Sun family (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
Sun Liang	Emperor of China 258–264	Sun Hao