Royals › Monarch / Emperor
Emperor Hui of Jin
Western Jin Monarch at the Center of the War of the Eight Princes
Mural of the event “War of the Eight Princes”, which this person took part in.
Early Western Jin overturned the Wei policy of keeping kinsmen out of power and broadly enfeoffed Sima clansmen with troops of their own. The accession of the cognitively limited Emperor Hui triggered violent harem power struggles.
Also known as Sima Zhong · Emperor Hui · Jin Huidi · Sima Zhengdu
- Roles
- Monarch / Emperor
Emperor Hui of Jin, Sima Zhong, the second son of Emperor Wu and Yang Yan, took the throne in 290 as the second emperor of the Western Jin and died in 307. Empress Jia Nanfeng held great power; she had Yang Jun killed, had the crown prince Sima Yu deposed in 299 and killed the next year. Rivalry among the princes led to the War of the Eight Princes (291 to 306) and the decline of Jin. The Book of Jin has him asking why starving people did not eat meat porridge, and says he died after eating poisoned cakes, with rumour blaming Sima Yue, Prince of Donghai.
Life and times
Dates 259 - 307
- 291War of the Eight PrincesTook part