| Taishang Huang | |||||||||
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 The honorific was first bestowed byQin Shi Huang (depicted) to his deceased fatherKing Zhuangxiang of Qin.[1] | |||||||||
| Chinese | 太上皇 | ||||||||
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| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||
| Chinese | 太上皇帝 | ||||||||
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InChinese history, aTaishang Huang orTaishang Huangdi is anhonorific and institution of a retiredemperor.[2] The former emperor had, at least in name, abdicated in favor of someone else. Although no longer the reigning sovereign, there are instances where the retired emperor became apower behind the throne, often exerting more power than the reigning emperor.
The titleTaishang Huangdi was first used whenQin Shi Huangdi bestowed it upon his deceased father,King Zhuangxiang.[1]
Emperor Gaozu of Han bestowed the titleTaishang Huangdi on his then-living fatherLiu Taigong.[3] He bestowed it onto his father to expressfilial piety.[3] Furthermore, it was intended to preserve thesocial hierarchy between father and son, as the former was a commoner and the latter was a dynastic founder.[3]
In 301, during theWar of the Eight Princes,Sima Lun became the emperor by forcing his puppetEmperor Hui of Jin to become theTaishang Huang.[3] The title had strictly served as an honorific before, but it had become a tool of political infighting over the course of this incident.[1]
Another significant occurrence of development was in 399, whenLü Guang of Later Liang abdicated.[4] Lü Guang was old and had become mortally ill, but he wished to secure the transition of imperial power tohis designated heir, the eldest son from his main consort, in the presence ofanother son who was older and posed a threat to the legitimate succession.[4] Even though Lü Guang failed in his efforts, this incident was the earliest example where imperial retirement served as a method to secure succession.[4]
During theNorthern and Southern dynasties, this institution was employed by non-Han regimes in the north as a strategy to cast away from the tradition of the horizontal succession in favor of the Han tradition of a male primogenitor pattern of succession.[5] In contrast, due to their Han heritage, the southern regimes had no need to make use and never employed the institution as a means to stabilize successions.[5]
In 617,Li Yuan (later Emperor Gaozu of Tang) bestowed the titleTaishang Huang uponEmperor Yang of Sui in absentia.[3] Here, Li Yuan used the honorific as a legitimating cover for his seizure of power, in which the newly-installedYang You served as his puppet emperor.[6] In 626 during theXuanwu Gate Incident, PrinceLi Shimin of Tang led his armed men in a coup for the throne.[3][7] During the course of the coup, he succeeded in killing his rival brothers, Crown PrinceLi Jiancheng and PrinceLi Yuanji.[7] Within three days, Emperor Gaozu created Li Shimin as his heir.[7] On the ninth day of the eighth month, Emperor Gaozu abdicated in favor for his son Li Shimin (who became Emperor Taizong).[7] He remained asTaishang Huang until his death in 635.[3][7]
In modern Chinese history after 1949,Deng Xiaoping has been calledTaishang Huang in a pejorative context, because he wielded much of his power without assuming the titles normally taken on by China's paramount leader and wielded influence over leaders who were a generation below him while he belonged to the generation of leaders fromMao Zedong's era.[8] The term has also been applied to otherCommunist Party senior officials without formal titles who were seen as meddling in the affairs of their successors, such asChen Yun[9] andJiang Zemin.[10]
Instances of Chinese rulers who were granted the titleTaishang Huang and/orTaishang Huangdi: