Gao Yang

Also known as Zi Zijin

Gao Yang, courtesy name Zijin, came from Tiao in Bohai and was the second son of Gao Huan. When his elder brother Gao Cheng was assassinated he took swift control and inherited the regency of the Eastern Wei. In 550 he accepted the abdication of Emperor Xiaojing, founded the Northern Qi and took the reign title Tianbao. In his first years he attended closely to government, merging and cutting back prefectures and commanderies, led campaigns against the Rouran, the Khitan, the Kumoxi and the Shanhu, and in 555 conscripted 1.8 million laborers to build a long wall in the north. After six or seven years he gave himself to drink and killing, and in 559 had more than seven hundred members of the Wei imperial Yuan clan put to death and thrown into the Zhang River. He died that autumn, worn out by drinking, aged thirty-three. His temple name was first Weizong and later Xianzu, and his posthumous title Emperor Wenxuan.