Xiāo Zǐliáng 蕭子良
Zì Yúnyīng 雲英. Prince of Jìnglíng 竟陵 (enfeoffed 482), posthumously Prince Wénxuān 文宣王. Second son of Qí Wǔdì 齊武帝 (Xiāo Zé 蕭賾) and younger brother of 蕭長懋 (Crown Prince Wénhuì). Native of Lánlíng 蘭陵. The principal lay-Buddhist patron of the Yǒngmíng-era 永明 (483–493) southern court: his “Western Residence” (Xī dì 西邸) at the foot of Mt. Jī lóng 雞籠山 in Jiànkāng 建康 hosted the so-called Bā yǒu 八友 (“Eight Friends”) — including the Wénxīn diāolóng 文心雕龍 author Liú Xié 劉勰, the Yùtái xīnyǒng 玉臺新詠 forerunner Wáng Róng 王融, 沈約 Shěn Yuē, and 范雲 Fàn Yún — and supported large-scale Buddhist sūtra copying, the compilation of the Sānbǎo jì 三寶記, and the so-called Xī-dì discussions on the relation of xíng 形 (body) and shén 神 (spirit) that figure prominently in the Hóng míng jí 弘明集. Participant in his elder brother’s Yǒngmíng Xiàojīng seminars (see KR1f0015). Made several unsuccessful bids for the succession after Wénhuì’s death in 493; died in 494, ten months later. Biography: Nán Qí shū 南齊書 40; Nán shǐ 南史 44.