Qian Hongchu

Also known as Qian Chu · Wu Yue Zhong Yi Wang · Deng Wang · Qinguo Wang

Qian Hongchu was a grandson of Qian Liu and the ninth son of King Wenmu, Qian Yuanguan; he was born in 929. In January 948 the general Hu Jinsi deposed his brother Qian Hongzong and put him on the throne, and for thirty years he acknowledged the dynasties of the north as overlords. After the Song was founded he dropped the character Hong, which was taboo as part of the name of Emperor Taizu's father, and in 975 he sent troops at Song command to take Changzhou and Runzhou from Southern Tang. In 978 he went to the Song court at Kaifeng and surrendered his thirteen prefectures, one garrison district and eighty-six counties, ending Wuyue; he was then given a succession of titles ending as Prince of Deng. He died suddenly at Nanyang in 988 after a banquet for his sixtieth birthday and was named King Zhongyi. When Hangzhou's Leifeng Pagoda collapsed in 1924, sutra scrolls he had printed in 975 were found inside its bricks.