Li Xuan

Also known as Tang Xizong · Li Yan · Pu Wang

Li Xuan, Emperor Xizong of Tang, was the fifth son of Emperor Yizong, first named Li Yan, Prince of Pu. When Yizong died in 873 the eunuchs Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue enthroned the eleven-year-old, who reigned under five era names from Qianfu to Wende. He called the eunuch Tian Lingzi his foster father and left the government to him. Wang Xianzhi and then Huang Chao rose in the Qianfu years, and when Huang Chao entered Chang'an in January 881 the emperor fled to Chengdu until 885. That year Tian Lingzi quarrelled with Wang Chongrong, governor of Hezhong, over the salt lakes; Wang and Li Keyong marched on the capital, Xizong fled again to Fengxiang and Xingyuan, and the Binning governor Zhu Mei set up the Prince of Xiang as a rival emperor. Back in Chang'an in 888, he died a month later in the Wude Hall, with the temple name Xizong. The Comprehensive Mirror (Zizhi tongjian) records his boast that a polo examination would find him first.