During Emperor Gaozong's Reign and Emperors Zhongzong and Ruizong's First Reigns
Li Chongrun, then named Li Chongzhao, was born in 682, to then-Crown Prince Li Zhe and Li Zhe's wife Crown Princess Wei. Shortly after Li Chongzhao's birth, Li Zhe's father Emperor Gaozong created Li Chongzhao the unprecedented title of Deputy Crown Prince (皇太孫, Huang Taisun) and gave him a staff. When Emperor Gaozong became ill at the eastern capital Luoyang late in 683, Emperor Gaozong summoned Li Zhe to Luoyang and left the capital Chang'an, where Li Zhe was previously in charge, nominally under Li Chongzhao, but with the chancellor Liu Rengui actually in charge. Later that year, Emperor Gaozong died, and Li Zhe succeeded him (as Emperor Zhongzong), although Li Zhe's mother Empress Wu wielded actual power, as empress dowager.
In spring 684, after Emperor Zhongzong showed signs of independence, Empress Dowager Wu deposed him and reduced him to the title of Prince of Lulin, replacing him with Li Chongzhao's uncle Li Dan the Prince of Yu (as Emperor Ruizong). Shortly thereafter, Li Chongzhao was reduced to commoner rank. It is not completely clear, but he appeared to have been exiled with his parents to Jun Prefecture (均州, in modern Shiyan, Hubei). It might have been around that time that he was renamed to Li Chongrun, to observe naming taboo of Empress Dowager Wu's personal name.
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