Lǐ Xián 李賢
Zì Míngyǔn 明允; posthumous title Zhānghuái tàizǐ 章懷太子 (Crown Prince Zhānghuái), conferred under his great-nephew Tang Zhōngzōng. Second son of Tang Gāozōng 唐高宗 and Wǔ Zétiān 武則天 (his mother). Born 29 January 654 at Zhāolíng 昭陵; died (forced suicide) 684 at Bāzhōu 巴州.
Designated Crown Prince in 675 after the death of his elder brother Lǐ Hóng 李弘. During his five-year tenure as Crown Prince (675–680) he commissioned a team of Hànlín scholars — including Zhāng Dà’ān 張大安, Liú Nàyán 劉訥言, and others — to compile a comprehensive commentary on the Hòu Hànshū (KR2a0009). This commentary, presented in Yífèng 1 (676), follows the model of Yán Shīgǔ’s commentary on the Hànshū (KR2a0007) and is the standard premodern reading apparatus for the Eastern-Hàn history.
In 680 he was deposed by his mother on charges of moral improbity (the Tóng tiào yáng 同調陽 case) and exiled to Bāzhōu (modern Bāzhōu in Sìchuān). In 684, after the suppression of the Lǐ Jìngyè 李敬業 rebellion, Wǔ Zétiān had him forced to suicide. He was 31. Posthumously rehabilitated under Tang Zhōngzōng (his younger brother) in 705.
His tomb at Qiánlíng 乾陵 (Shǎnxī) was excavated in 1971 and is famous for its murals — among the largest surviving Tang princely tomb decorations. His biographies are in Jiù Tángshū 86 and Xīn Tángshū 81 (KR2a0026, KR2a0027).
Lǐ Xián 李賢 (1408–1466), zì Yuándé 原德, posthumous title Wéndá 文達. Native of Dèngzhōu 鄧州 (Hénán; the ancient name gǔráng 古穰 = Dèng). Xuāndé guǐchǒu (1433) jìnshì; rose to Shàobǎo, Huágàidiàn dàxuéshì. The great architect of the Tiānshùn (1457–1464) restoration — Yīngzōng’s most trusted Senior Grand Secretary after the Duómén zhī biàn (1457) coup that returned Yīngzōng to the throne. Sìkù tíyào: since the Sān Yáng, none has matched his closeness to the ruler. Negative record: suppressed Yè Shèng 葉盛, ousted Yuè Zhèng 岳正 (KR4e0109), failed to save Luó Lún 羅倫 (KR4e0124). Míng shǐ j. 176. Surviving works are KR4e0104 Gǔráng jí (30 juǎn, edited by his son-in-law Chéng Mǐnzhèng 程敏政 (程敏政)); the Tiānshùn rìlù 天順日錄 sub-collection is one of the rare Míng cabinet-minister first-person diaries. CBDB id 29603 (1408–1466).