Li Chongfu

Li Chongfu (李重福) (680? – September 10, 710) was an imperial prince of the Chinese Tang Dynasty. He was a son of Emperor Zhongzong, but was not favored during Emperor Zhongzong's reign and was exiled. After Emperor Zhongzong's death in 710 and a subsequent coup by Li Chongfu's cousin Li Longji the Prince of Linzi and Li Chongfu's aunt Princess Taiping placed Li Longji's father Emperor Ruizong on the throne, Li Chongfu tried to rise against Emperor Ruizong, to claim the throne himself, but was quickly defeated, and he killed himself by drowning. During Emperor Gaozong's reign and the first reigns of Emperors Zhongzong and Ruizong Li Chongfu was probably born in 680. His father Li Zhe was then crown prince under his grandfather Emperor Gaozong. His mother's name was not recorded in history, but it is known that he was not a son of Li Zhe's wife Crown Princess Wei. In 683, he was created the Prince of Tangchang. Later that year, when Emperor Gaozong became ill at the eastern capital Luoyang, he summoned Li Zhe from the capital Chang'an to Luoyang; in Li Zhe's absence, Li Chongfu might have been nominally in charge of Chang'an, but with the chancellor Liu Rengui actually in charge. Emperor Gaozong died later in 683. Li Zhe succeeded him (as Emperor Zhongzong), but Li Chongfu's grandmother Empress Wu wielded actual power as empress dowager. In spring 684, when Emperor Zhongzong displayed signs of independence, she deposed him and reduced him to the title of Prince of Luling, replacing him with his younger brother Li Dan the Prince of Yu (as Emperor Ruizong). Li Zhe was subsequently exiled to Jun Prefecture (均州, in modern Shiyan, Hubei). It is not known whether Li Chongfu followed his father into exile, nor whether he, like his brother Li Chongzhao, was reduced to commoner rank. During Wu Zetian's reign In 690, Li Chongfu's grandmother Empress Dowager Wu forced his uncle Emperor Ruizong to yield the throne to her, interrupting Tang Dynasty and establishing her own Zhou Dynasty with her as "emperor" (thereafter known as Wu Zetian). In 698, under the advice of the chancellor Di Renjie, she recalled Li Zhe to Luoyang, which had been made capital. Soon thereafter, Li Dan, who had been made crown prince when he yielded the throne, offered to yield the position of crown prince to Li Zhe. Wu Zetian agreed, and created Li Zhe crown prince, changing his personal name to Xian and further changing his surname to Wu.