Emperor Ruizong of Tang

Wu Zetian's youngest son, put on the throne when she deposed his brother and kept there as a signature. He was never allowed to attend court. In 690 he was made to yield the dynasty to his own mother; restored in 710 by the coup his son led, he abdicated again two years later — the only Tang emperor to give the throne away voluntarily.

Between the two reigns he survived by being unambitious in a court where ambition was fatal. His second reign was spent between his son Li Longji and his sister Princess Taiping, whose factions were preparing to destroy each other; he abdicated in 712 and left them to it.

In 693 his consort Empress Liu and Consort Dou — Li Longji's mother — went to the empress dowager's palace to pay the New Year respects and never came out. They were killed on Wu Zetian's order and their bodies were never found; when his son became emperor, the empty tombs built for them were the best that could be done. Xiang Li paints the two of them together.