Li Zhong

Li Zhong (643 – 6 January 665), courtesy name Zhengben (正本), formally Prince of Yan (燕王), previously Prince of Chen (陳王) and Prince of Liang (梁王), was a prince of the Tang dynasty of China. He was the eldest son of Emperor Gaozong and was created crown prince in 652 even though he was not the son of his then-wife Empress Wang. After Empress Wang was displaced by Empress Wu (popularly known as Wu Zetian) in 655, Li Zhong was caught in Empress Wu's crosshairs and was forced to yield the crown prince position to his younger brother Li Hong, born to Empress Wu, in 656. He was later further reduced to commoner rank and put under house arrest, and when the chancellor Shangguan Yi failed in his attempt to persuade Emperor Gaozong to depose Empress Wu in 664 and was executed, Empress Wu took the opportunity to accuse Li Zhong of being complicit in Shangguan's plans. Around the new year 665, Emperor Gaozong at the urgent request of Empress Wu ordered Li Zhong to commit suicide. He was posthumously honored as an imperial prince, but not as crown prince, during the second reign of his younger brother Emperor Zhongzong.