Background
Liu Zhun was born in 467, and ostensibly, his parents were Emperor Ming and Emperor Ming's concubine Consort Chen Farong -- but history does not provide a conclusive account of his actual parentage. Historical accounts, written during the succeeding Southern Qi Dynasty, indicate that Emperor Ming was impotent, and that although he had 12 sons, those were the results of his having seized his brothers' pregnant concubines and kept the children if they bore males, or his having had his concubines have sexual relations with others. (However, the fact that Emperir Ming's wife Empress Wang Zhenfeng had two daughters, although no sons, may argue against such allegations, because it appeared rather unlikely that Emperor Ming would do this over female children—indeed, the allegations stated that he would only do this if his brothers' concubines bore males—or that the morally upright Empress Wang would engage in sexual relations with others, thus suggesting that the allegations were made to delegitimize Emperor Ming's sons Emperor Houfei and Liu Zhun vis-à-vis Southern Qi.) Those accounts allege that his biological father was Emperor Ming's brother Liu Xiufan (劉休範) the Prince of Guiyang, and his biological mother was a concubine of Liu Xiufan. In any case, whether he was born of Consort Chen or not, she raised him. In 471, he was created the Prince of Ancheng.
After Emperor Ming's death in 472, Liu Zhun's older brother Liu Yu the Crown Prince became emperor (as Emperor Houfei). Liu Zhun himself was made the governor of the important capital region, Yang Province (揚州, modern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu), but actual governance was carried out by his staff members. In 474, after Liu Xiufan rebelled and sieged the capital Jiankang, the official Chu Cheng (褚澄), not knowing that assassins sent by Emperor Houfei's general Xiao Daocheng had already assassinated Liu Xiufan, seized Liu Zhun and surrendered Liu Zhun's headquarters to Liu Xiufan's army, claiming that Liu Xiufan had declared Liu Zhun to be his son. (Liu Xiufan himself made no such public declaration before his death.) However, when Liu Xiufan's army later found out that he was already dead, it collapsed, and Liu Zhun was not harmed.
By 477, Emperor Houfei had shown himself to be a cruel and violent ruler, often roving outside the palace with his guards and killing any person or animal that they encountered. Xiao, in fear of being killed by Emperor Houfei, engaged his associates to have him assassinated, and then used his personal control of the army to effectively force other high level officials Yuan Can and Liu Bing to grant him near-imperial powers. He then made Liu Zhun emperor (as Emperor Shun), but the 10-year-old emperor was little more than Xiao's puppet.
Read more about this topic: Emperor Shun Of Liu Song
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