ChinaKnowledge.de -
An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History and Literature

Xiao Cong 蕭琮

Jun 13, 2025 © Ulrich Theobald

Xiao Cong 蕭琮 (558-607), courtesy name Wenwen 溫文, was an was an emperor (r. 585-587) of the Later Liang dynasty 後梁 (555-587), which ruled over small dominion after the downfall of the main Liang dynasty 梁 (502-557). He was a son of Emperor Ming 梁明帝 (r. 562-585) and was originally invested as Prince of Dongyang 東陽王.

Being raised in military skills, his first political project was a military campaign against the Chen dynasty 陳(557-589), which failed. The Liang dominion then fell under the suzerainty of the Sui dynasty 隋 (581-619) in the north. The Sui appointed a regional commander-in-chief (zongguan 總管) to observe the Liang dominion.

In 587, Emperor Wen 隋文帝 (r. 581-604) of the Sui dynasty decided to abolish the Later Liang, and invited Xiao Cong to the Sui capital Chang'an 長安 (today's Xi'an 西安, Shaanxi) for his abdication. Xiao Cong was given the honorific title of Pillar of State (zhuguo 柱國) and was invested as Duke of Ju 莒國公. Emperor Yang 隋煬帝 (r. 604-618) promoted him to Duke of Liang 梁公, making him nominally Director of the Imperial Secretariat (neishi ling 內史令). Xiao Cong was posthumously awarded the honorific title of Left Grand Master for Splendid Happiness (zuo guanglu dafu 左光祿大夫).

Sources:
Chen Quanli 陳全力, and Hou Xinyi 侯欣一, eds. 1988. Diwang cidian 帝王辭典, 103. Xi'an: Shaanxi renmin jiaoyu chubanshe.
Xiong Tiejin 熊鐵基, and Yang Youli 楊有禮, eds. 1994. Zhongguo diwang zaixiang cidian 中國帝王宰相辭典, 222. Wuhan: Hubei jiaoyu chubanshe.