Li Zhan

Also known as Tang Jingzong · Prince of Jing

Li Zhan, eldest son of Emperor Muzong, was born in 809, made Prince of Jing in 821 and named heir the following year. He took the throne at sixteen when his father died early in 824 and adopted the era name Baoli in 825. He gave his days to polo, wrestling matches and fox hunts by night, came late to audiences and ignored remonstrance. In the fourth month of his first year a dyer's labourer named Zhang Shao led some hundred men into the palace while the emperor was playing polo in the Qingsi Hall, and he had to flee to the camp of the Left Shence Army. In January 827, back from a night hunt and drinking with the eunuch Liu Keming, the polo officer Su Zuoming and others, he went into an inner room to change; the candles went out and Liu's men killed him. He was eighteen by Chinese reckoning, and his temple name is Jingzong.