Sima Yu

Sima Yu (司馬遹) (278 – 27 April 300), courtesy name Xizu (熙祖), posthumous name Crown Prince Minhuai (愍懷太子), was a crown prince of the Chinese Western Jin dynasty. Sima Yu's father Sima Zhong was developmentally disabled, and before he, then crown prince, was to marry his wife Jia Nanfeng, Zhong's father Emperor Wu gave him one of his own concubines, Consort Xie Jiu, so that Consort Xie could teach him how to have sexual relations. While Crown Princess Jia bore the crown prince four daughters, Sima Yu was his only son. When Sima Yu was four years old, there was a fire in the palace, and Emperor Wu walked up a tower to observe it. Sima Yu pulled him aside and said, "At night, when something unusual like this happens, we should take precautions. The light of the fire should not shine on the emperor." Emperor Wu was surprised by this perceptive observation by a child, and praised the young prince as very much like his own grandfather Sima Yi. This was part of the reason why Emperor Wu let Crown Prince Zhong remain his heir. On 22 December 289, he created Prince Yu the Prince of Guangling. After Emperor Wu died in May 290, Crown Prince Zhong ascended the throne as Emperor Hui, and Prince Yu was created crown prince at the age of 12. As Crown Prince Yu grew in age, however, he lost some of the good reputation that he had as a child, as he disliked studying and spent much time on building projects and games. Empress Jia, who had constantly been jealous of Crown Prince Yu and Consort Xie, did not discourage this behavior, but in fact encouraged it to further damage Crown Prince Yu's reputation. When Crown Prince Yu's staff would try to correct his ways, he would not listen to them. He also would not listen to them with regard to their advice to maintain strong relations with Empress Jia's family members. Empress Jia's mother Guo Huai had constantly advised Empress Jia to treat Crown Prince Yu well, as her own son, and she advocated marrying a daughter of Empress Jia's sister Jia Wu to Crown Prince Yu. However, Empress Jia and Jia Wu opposed this, and instead married a daughter of the official Wang Yan to Crown Prince Yu.