Li Chen

Also known as Tang Xuanzong · Li Yi · Guang Wang

Li Chen, first named Li Yi, was the thirteenth son of Emperor Xianzong by the lady Zheng and became Prince of Guang in 821. Quiet to the point of being thought slow-witted, he was chosen by the eunuch Ma Yuanzhi and others as imperial heir with the unusual status of uncle to the dying Emperor Wuzong, and took the throne in 846, adopting the era name Dazhong the next year. He banished Li Deyu, the dominant minister of the previous reign, and lifted the Huichang restrictions on Buddhism. In 849 three prefectures and seven passes held by Tibet came back to Tang, and in 851 Zhang Yichao of Shazhou sent envoys with the maps and registers of eleven prefectures in the Hexi corridor. Taking alchemical elixirs in his last years, he died in the eighth month of 859 and was buried at the Zhen Mausoleum with the temple name Xuanzong; the Comprehensive Mirror (Zizhi tongjian) records that people later remembered him as a 'little Taizong'.