Reflections | How Chinese princes lived lives of privilege and precariousness

The main title for a Chinese emperor’s son is wang, a word that in pre-imperial times (before 221BC) meant a monarch that ruled over an independent domain. This designation, usually translated as “king”, was also used in imperial China by rulers of breakaway states when the nation was fragmented by civil war. For the most part, however, wang referred to a prince of the blood.

In the first centuries of the imperial period, princes had parcels of land reflected in their conferred titles, such as the Prince of Qi (present-day Shandong province) or the Prince of Jin (present-day Shanxi province), and where they resided in palaces with their immediate family and servants. They were allowed to maintain a full staff, sometimes even an army, and collect taxes from the people in their domains.

This feudal system coexisted awkwardly with regional governments that were headed by civilian officials appointed by the emperor. Gradually, imperial princes were divested of their lands and their titles became ceremonial rather than denoting actual custody of a fiefdom and the power that came with it. Princes usually lived in the capital with some of them playing active roles in politics.

While primogeniture was the default rule of succession, being the firstborn son of the emperor and his principal wife the empress was no guarantee a prince would succeed his father. The rule was often upended by the vagaries of human emotions such as when an emperor favoured a younger son over his eldest; by factional infighting involving powerful individuals at court who hedged their bets on different princes and expected something in return when their horses won; and by the naked ambition of princes who lusted after the pomp and power of the throne.