Xiao Dong

Who was Xiao Dong?

Xiao Dung, courtesy name Yuanji, sometimes known by his pre-ascension title of Prince of Yuzhang, was briefly an emperor of the Chinese Liang Dynasty. In 551, with the general Hou Jing in control of the imperial government at the capital Jiankang, Hou, wanting to show off his strength, deposed Xiao Dong's granduncle Emperor Jianwen and replaced him with Xiao Dong, the grandson of Emperor Jianwen's older brother Xiao Tong, who was originally the founder Emperor Wu's crown prince.

During his brief reign, Xiao Dong was entirely under Hou's control. Just two and a half months after Xiao Dong became emperor, Hou forced him to yield the throne to Hou, who took the throne as the Emperor of Han. In 552, troops under Wang Sengbian, a general loyal to Xiao Dong's granduncle Xiao Yi retook Jiankang, and the general Zhu Maichen, under Xiao Yi's instructions, threw Xiao Dong and his two brothers into the Yangtze River to drown.