Emperor Gaozong of Tang

Tang Gaozong (b. 628; † December 683) was a Chinese emperor of the Tang dynasty. He reigned from 649 to 683.

Gaozong (or Kao Tsung) was born Prince Li Zhi, son of Emperor Tang Taizong. Li Zhi was considered a quiet and docile person without much initiative. These traits may have been decisive when Li Zhi was made crown prince in 643, even though he was only the ninth-born son of Emperor Taizong. Previously, the crown prince Li Chengqian's lifestyle had made him ineligible to assume the imperial dignity. After intrigue among the Tang princes, a majority of ministers favored Li Zhi as the future heir to the throne.

In the year 649 (sometimes the year 650 is assumed in research) Li Zhi became emperor of China after the death of his father under the temple name Gaozong. In his first years of rule, influential ministers led the affairs of state, although Gaozong showed no initiative in any major decision.

The expansionist policy of the Tang dynasty resulted in a steady deficit in its early phase. Under Gaozong, however, the state reserves were still large enough due to the extreme taxation of households under the preceding Sui dynasty, so that the large expenditures had no further consequences.

In the west, there had already been violent conflicts with the Arabs under Gaozong's predecessor. For this reason, the imperial court attempted to forge an alliance with Eastern Rome in the early 660s. Negotiations took place, but a direct treaty of alliance is nowhere mentioned. There do not seem to have been any further initiatives in this direction. The reason for this is considered to be an interruption of Islam's expansive phase from the beginning of the 660s.

Domestic politics under Gaozong were significantly influenced by the influential concubine and later empress Wu Zetian. She arrived at the imperial court in 640 as a concubine of low rank, but became Li Zhi's mistress even before he ascended the throne. In 651 she bore him a son. Soon after, she had Empress Wang, who belonged to one of the most influential families in the empire, killed on the pretext that she had murdered her daughter. She then rose to empress herself.

Wu Zetian had most of the ministers deposed and assassinated. Changsun Wuji, one of the emperor's closest advisors, was exiled to Guizhou. She was supported by the gentry in the Henan, Hebei and Yangzi regions. It benefited from the reorganization of the state examination system in the 660s and 670s and rose to the highest state offices through the newly introduced jinshi degree. The transfer of the capital to Luoyang in 657 can also be seen as an attempt to bind the gentry of these areas to Wu Zetian.

Towards the end of Gaozong's reign, there were crop failures. In the late years of Gaozong's reign, Wu Zetian began to secure the succession for one of her sons. In 675, she is said to have assassinated the crown prince, Li Hong. In 679, the new crown prince, Li Xian, was accused of plotting against the emperor and forced to commit suicide. Other sons of Gaozong were sent into exile. Thus, upon Gaozong's death in December 683, Wu Zetian's son was able to take over the government as Emperor Zhongzong.