Royals › Monarch / Emperor
Meng Zhixiang
Later Tang governor of Xichuan who absorbed Dongchuan by defeating Dong Zhang and in 934 proclaimed himself emperor of Shu at Chengdu, founding the Later Shu
In a side chamber of a palace, a yellow ceremonial robe embroidered with a dragon hangs on a wooden stand, its hem worked with waves and rocks, before a carved folding screen, while a black lacquer chest sits on a low table by a lattice window and no person is in view.
Also known as Zi Baoyin · Houshu Gaozu
Meng Zhixiang, courtesy name Baoyin, came from Longgang in Xingzhou and married a daughter of Li Kerang, elder brother of Li Keyong; under Emperor Zhuangzong of the Later Tang he served as governor of Taiyuan and warden of the northern capital. After the Later Tang destroyed the Former Shu in 925 he was named military governor of Xichuan and reached Chengdu the following year. When the court under Mingzong set out to curb the provincial governors, he joined Dong Zhang of Dongchuan in defying it in 930, and in 932 he turned on Dong, killed him and took both halves of Sichuan. Created Prince of Shu in 933, he declared himself emperor at Chengdu in the first month of 934 under the era name Mingde, founding the state later called Later Shu. He died that seventh month at sixty-one, with the temple name Gaozu, and his son Meng Chang ruled for three decades before surrendering to the Song.
Life and times
Dates 874 CE–934 CE