Royals › Monarch / Emperor
Wang Jipeng
Min ruler who took power in 935 in a coup during which his father Wang Yanjun was killed, and who was overthrown and strangled by mutinous guards in 939
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 Wang Chang · Min Kangzong
- Roles
- Monarch / Emperor
Wang Jipeng, eldest son of the Min ruler Wang Yanjun, held the title Prince of Fu. When his father fell gravely ill in 935, he feared a seizure of power by the faction of the empress Chen Jinfeng and joined the palace commander Li Fang in a coup that killed the empress and her followers; his father died in the upheaval, and Wang Jipeng took the throne, changed his name to Chang and adopted the era name Yonghe, replaced the next year by Tongwen. He spent heavily on palaces and Daoist halls such as the Ziwei Palace, raised money by selling offices, and repeatedly put kinsmen to death on suspicion. After a fire in the northern palace in August 939 he suspected the guards, and their commanders Zhu Wenjin and Lian Zhongyu rose against him; he fled, but his uncle Wang Yanxi sent a nephew, Wang Jiye, after him, and he was caught and strangled. He received the temple name Kangzong.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–939 CE