In the feudal society of ancient China, the imperial power was naturally a unique existence, above everyone, but when this position appeared, the emperor was not the highest status person, and he had to pay tribute to him, which is what we want to say next.
In Confucianism, the ancients attached great importance to filial piety, which is called "ruling the world with filial piety." The emperor must convince people with reason, and naturally lead by example. Even if they are emperors, Lao Tzu is still one head higher than his son, and the earliest concept of the Emperor Taishang can be traced back to Qin Shi Huang, who officially claimed the title of Emperor in 221 BC, and honored his father Zhuang Xiang Wang, who had already died long ago, as Emperor Taishang.
And the first living Emperor Taishang in history was Liu Taigong, the father of Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, according to the rules, Liu Bang, as the son of Liu Taigong, should ask him for peace every day, but the ministers around Gaozu believed that "there is no two days in the sky", taigong could not accept the emperor's worship, in order to fulfill filial piety, while maintaining the dignity of the son of heaven, so in 201 BC Liu Bang named Liu Taigong as the emperor of Taishang, so the reason for paying homage to him was very good.
However, there are not many Emperor Taishang in history, after all, no one is willing to take the initiative to give up power, most of them are coerced, or forcibly pushed to the position of Emperor Taishang, such as taking advantage of the chaos in the world, Li Yuan entered Chang'an, kidnapped Yang You, the grandson of Emperor Li, as emperor, and then established Emperor Sui in Jiangnan as Emperor Taishang, this matter Emperor Sui is likely not to know, Tang Taizong Li Shimin killed his brother to force his father Li Yuan to abdicate, and then honored him as Emperor Taishang, and the 82-year-old empress Wu Zetian also lost the throne after the Shenlong coup. Emperor Zhongzong of Tang and his courtiers honored her as the "Emperor Zetian Dasheng", which was actually the title of Emperor Taishang.
Emperor Taishang is generally the title given to the elders by the younger generations, the most bizarre Emperor Taishang, is the Jin Hui Emperor in the Western Jin Dynasty, he is a famous Emperor in history, faint can not be governed, uncle Sima Lun in the capital usurped the throne after the self-reliance, The Jin Hui Emperor was named emperor by his uncle, the uncle to his nephew emperor, this is still the first time in history, but in the same year Sima Lun was defeated, and the Jin Hui Emperor was restored.
Of course, Emperor Taishang also has peaceful examples, mainly the Song Dynasty, Song Huizong took the initiative to abdicate to Song Qinzong, and Song Gaozong took the initiative to abdicate to Song Xiaozong, Song Huizong and Song Qinzong were more miserable, and in their later years they were captured by Jin Soldiers, but Emperor Gaozong and Song Xiaozong Zhao Xuan had a very close relationship between the two, and Zhao Xuan was also very filial and became a good story.
The Emperor Taishang had no real power in his hands, not to mention those who were coerced into the Zen throne, and in order to prevent his "resurgence", they had to be strictly guarded, such as Ming Yingzong, who was released by Wa Lai. However, there was one person who was an exception, and this person was the Qianlong Emperor, who had appointed himself as the "Ten Perfect Old Men".
In his later years, Qianlong also hoped that he could be installed with the good name of Yao Shun, and he also sat as an emperor for a long time, so he decided to take the throne, in 1795, Qianlong announced the crown prince, so that the fifteenth son of the emperor Yongyan would return to power next year, and in 1796, Yongyan officially inherited the unification, that is, Jiaqing. Qianlong declared himself Emperor Taishang.
However, Jiaqing's position as emperor was very stubborn, and after Qianlong abdicated, he actually still lived in the Yangxin Hall to control the government, and on the nineteenth day of the first month of the first year of Jiaqing (1796), the Emperor Taishang summoned the envoys of the subordinate countries in the Yuanmingyuan and told them: "Although the government is returned to the emperor, I will still handle the major affairs." "When Jiaqing was four years old and the Qianlong Emperor died, Jiaqing was unhappy in his heart, and the first thing he did was to arrest and imprison the chief military minister he Yan, who had been appointed by his father, who had long been unfavorable, and only then could he be regarded as a good export of evil qi.