[Zuo Zongtang]

How many Emperors with mental illness while in power were there? I can think of one, Sima Zhong (司马衷) known by the temple name Jin Huidi (晋惠帝). He was the second Emperor of the Jin dynasty, son of Sima Yan (司马炎). As a child, he had mental problems, and when he became Emperor, he was unable to rule country. Once, while he was taking a walk outside, he heard toads croaking. Turning to his eunuchs, he asked, "Are these frogs croaking publicly or privately?" The suprised eunuch's response was, "When they are in public, they croak publicly, when they are in private, they croak privately." Another time, Huidi was informed that the people were starving. Not believing the report, he said, "People can starve to death?" After being informed that this was infact true, he responded, "Then why don't they eat meat gruel? It will stop them from being hungry."

[lobster]

His name is Sima Jung 司馬衷, not Sima Ai 司馬哀.

[Zuo Zongtang]

Oops! Sorry about that.

EDIT: Wait a sec, "Jung" doesn't exist. Its Zhong.

[snowybeagle]

I won't call Sima Zhong insane or mentally ill, though the two were perceived as similar in the olden days.

From all descriptions I read, Sima Zhong was closer to being retarded or simple-minded (like Líu Shan 刘禅, heir of Líu Bèi 刘备), and not crazy.

I would term a person as being crazy if he had been sane before.

Insane monarchs would be someone like George III of England.

Can't think of any crazy Chinese monarch at the moment, perhaps some of the smaller or short-lived states during the ages of fragmentation.

But quite a number of empresses and concubines had gone insane though ...

Wait ... Lord Yi of the State of Wei (卫懿公) during the Warring States era was so obsessed with cranes that he appointed them as Qing (卿) or Dai Fu (大夫), though he was not as crazy as the Roman emperor who made his horse a senator.

This post has been edited by General_Zhaoyun: 18 March 2005 - 02:06 AM

[RollingWave]

There were a few during the age of fragmentation that seem to raise doubt on their sanity....

IIRC Gao Yang, founder of Northern Chi, in he's later years drank alot and became rather obessed with torture, even forcing he's young son to kill a prisoner personally (left the kid with some mental problem too)

The 3rd emperor of the Song during this period was also rather loony, killing all he' other relative and the once he didn't kill he had them tortured in very strange matters, such as forcing them to bath in pig feeds.... (of course this particular individual that was thrown in the pig feed acturally became the 4th emperor IIRC)

If legends were true on the last King of the Shang dynasty, then he probably wasn't a very sane individual either, of course reason theory suggest that the Whine of ancient China combined with Bronze cups creates chemical reactions that are often bad to people...

This post has been edited by Yun: 11 March 2005 - 02:39 AM

[TMPikachu]

The senate horse thing though, is that really crazy?
If you had near unlimited power, wouldn't you have a blast making the senate treat a horse as a fellow senator?

That just sounds like a really funny prank/joke. That guy seemed more selfish/indifferent than crazy.

I think alot of these crazy people really aren't crazy as in a mental illness, but in the way they are brought up "Hey, you're the son of heaven, the world's strongest country is at your finger tips, what do you want for breakfast?".

[lobster]

Ah my mandarin sucks...

[Yun]

Age of Frag emperors who probably weren't completely sane: Gao Yang of the Northern Qi, Liu Ziye and Liu Yu (the second last emperor, not the earlier two whose names sounded the same as his, including his own father) of the Liu-Song, Yuwen Yun of the Northern Zhou, Fu Sheng of the Former Qin.

Besides Sima Zhong being retarded, his brother Sima Yan (not the same character as his father's 'Yan') was even more so - he could not even speak and was also deformed. Sima Dezhong, the second last emperor of the Eastern Jin, was also very retarded.

[Moose]

RollingWave, on Mar 10 2005, 08:41 PM, said:

    The 3rd emperor of the Song during this period was also rather loony, killing all he' other relative and the once he didn't kill he had them tortured in very strange matters, such as forcing them to bath in pig feeds.... (of course this particular individual that was thrown in the pig feed acturally became the 4th emperor IIRC)

Who was that guy that became the 4th emperor?

[Zuo Zongtang]

TMPikachu, on Mar 10 2005, 10:42 PM, said:

The senate horse thing though, is that really crazy?
If you had near unlimited power, wouldn't you have a blast making the senate treat a horse as a fellow senator?

That just sounds like a really funny prank/joke. That guy seemed more selfish/indifferent than crazy.

I think alot of these crazy people really aren't crazy as in a mental illness, but in the way they are brought up "Hey, you're the son of heaven, the world's strongest country is at your finger tips, what do you want for breakfast?".

That was Roman wasn't it? Emperor Caligula made his prized war horse a senator. Romans did have many nutjobs as Emperors. Some can say Nero was had problems, and thus, ordered the burning of Rome.

[HaSY]

btw....how you all define the ''insane''?

is it about mentally-ill

crazy

or

one qho has the pleasure for torturing ppl?

[Yun]

Quote

Who was that guy that became the 4th emperor?

This is how it happened: Liu Ziye, the 5th (not 3rd) emperor of the Liu-Song, liked torturing his uncles and giving them nicknames like the Pig King, the Donkey King, the Slaughtered King and so on. Eventually, his own lackeys killed him off because he threatened to kill them too, and they made the Pig King emperor. This Pig King was named Liu Yu (a different 'Yu' from the first Liu-Song emperor, and also a different one from this 6th emperor's son who became another notorious crazy tyrant and was also overthrown). However, it still took a civil war between Liu Ziye's brothers and Liu Yu before the succession of Liu Yu to the throne was confirmed.

[yehzhaofeng]

Would Qin Shi Huang be part of the insane category?

[lobster]

Andrew Yip, on Mar 11 2005, 11:42 PM, said:

Would Qin Shi Huang be part of the insane category?

He's just a workaholic and perfectionist.

[snowybeagle]

TMPikachu, on Mar 11 2005, 10:42 AM, said:

If you had near unlimited power, wouldn't you have a blast making the senate treat a horse as a fellow senator?
That just sounds like a really funny prank/joke. That guy seemed more selfish/indifferent than crazy.
I think alot of these crazy people really aren't crazy as in a mental illness, but in the way they are brought up "Hey, you're the son of heaven, the world's strongest country is at your finger tips, what do you want for breakfast?".

There's more to his craziness, but that's not the point.

Showing others who is boss may be okay, if carried out properly.

But by bringing ridicule to institutions of governing authority, the leader is undermining respect and support for himself, which is a bad idea.

Once people think the senate is a joke, it would spread upwards to not taking the consuls seriously, and then it is only one step away from the imperator (emperor).