Long ago, as Prince Li Zhong’s enemies were closing in on him, he disguised himself as a woman, seeking refuge in the women’s quarters, where assassins might not follow him. He was right, but they caught up with him eventually, and forced him to commit suicide.
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A poet reflected on his fate in these haiku:
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I am twenty two,
Have lived my life to the full,
Got and given love,
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Chrysanthemum Thrones
And Princely names, Prefectures
Given and taken:
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The old Emperor danced
When I was born, but this new
Empress stamps on me—
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I’ve hidden myself,
Disguised my sex, who I am’s
No longer my choice:
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My favourite people
Taken from me, I must go
Find my rest with them.
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Life in the imperial family could be as brutal as the violent deaths they were addicted to inflicting on each other.
The prince’s namesake, writing a few centuries later, was a great poet who often reflected on fate, and unfulfilled promise, and may well have done so when pondering the prince’s, on the anniversary of his death, which happened on 6 January 665.
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Photo by Freddie Oomkens
Very interesting! I didn’t know the story of Prince Li Zhong
Thanks, Luisa. It’s a sad tale, tragic and fascinating. Puts some things into perspective.
How uplifting to commemorate Prince Li Zhong’s life on the 1,360 Anniversary of his death!
I am of the nature to die, I cannot escape death.
Courtly politics could turn brutal and bloody. Nothing changing from such points of view, although all is change from another.
All the world is afflicted by death and by decay. And so, the wise do not grieve, having realized the nature of the world.
The gender aspects, I do not know to compare. But, perhaps they were under much stress, that was being applied to them by the Empress Wu, I think, and making them want to conceal?
I believe that, as they prepared for death, they became heedful. Heedfulness is the path to the Deathless. Heedlessness is the path to Death. The heedful die not. The heedless are as if dead already.