Emperor Xiaowu of Jin - Early Life

Early Life

Sima Yao was born in 362, when his father Sima Yu was the Prince of Kuaiji and the prime minister for his grandnephew Emperor Ai. His mother, Li Lingrong, was originally a servant involved in textile production, but based on a magician's words that she would bear his heir (his sons all having died early by that point), Sima Yu took her as his concubine, and she gave birth to Sima Yao. As he was born at dawn, she named him Yao, with the courtesy name Changming, both meaning "dawn". A year later she would give birth to his brother Sima Daozi. As the oldest surviving son of Sima Yu, Sima Yao was designated as the heir apparent early in his life, and in 365, when he was just three years old, Emperor Fei offered the greater title of Prince of Langye to his father and the title of Prince of Kuaiji to him. Sima Yu declined, both personally and on his son's behalf, and Emperor Fei did not insist on them taking on the greater titles.

In 371, having lost a devastating battle to the Former Yan general Murong Chui in 369, the paramount general Huan Wen decided to display his power by falsely accusing Emperor Fei of impotence and not being the actual father of his sons, and then deposing him. He made Sima Yu the new emperor (as Emperor Jianwen), although actual power was in his own hands, as he considered usurping the Jin throne. In 372, as Emperor Jianwen grew ill, he created Sima Yao crown prince, but in his will initially offered the throne to Huan Wen if he wanted it, until his official Wang Tanzhi (王坦之) objected and authored, with his approval, an amendment wherein Huan was only compared to the statesmen Zhuge Liang and Wang Dao. Nevertheless, after Emperor Jianwen then died, many officials, apprehensive of Huan, were not immediately willing to declare Crown Prince Yao the new emperor, wanting to wait to see Huan's signal. At the instigation of one Wang Biaozhi (王彪之), however, Crown Prince Yao took the throne as Emperor Xiaowu.