Royals › Monarch / Emperor
Liu Yilong
Third emperor of the Liu Song whose Yuanjia reign brought prosperity, but whose hasty northern campaigns ended in defeat.
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 Emperor Wen of Liu Song · Xiaozi Che'er
- Roles
- Monarch / Emperor
Liu Yilong, third son of Liu Yu (Emperor Wu of Song), took the throne in 424 and is known by his temple name Taizu and posthumous title Emperor Wen. His thirty-year reign of administrative reform, agriculture and learning is remembered as the Yuanjia Prosperity. In 450 he sent Wang Xuanmo and others north against the Northern Wei; the campaign collapsed and Emperor Taiwu of Wei drove to the Yangtze, devastating the Huai region. He was murdered by his heir Liu Shao in 453. Xin Qiji's lyric at Beigu Pavilion laments this rash Yuanjia campaign.
Life and times
Dates 407–453 CE (r. 424–453)