Sima Zhong (259-8 January 307) was Emperor of Jin from 16 May 290 to 3 February 301 (succeeding Sima Yan and preceding Sima Lun) and from 1 June 301 to 8 January 307 (succeeding Sima Lun and preceding Sima Chi). Due to his suffering from a mental disability, Sima Zhong was dominated by several regents who competed for power in the War of the Eight Princes, and he died in 307 AD at the age of 47, poisoned by the regent Sima Yue.
Biography[]
Sima Zhong in 291 AD
Sima Zhong was born in 259, the son of Sima Yan and Yang Yan. His father founded Jin in 265 AD, making his six-year-old developmentally-disabled son his crown prince. Sima Zhong learned how to write and speak, but was unable to make logical decisions on his own.
His father was pressured by his advisors to choose one of his other sons as heir, but he decided to test his son by communicating with him via letters. Sima Zhong's wife Jia Nanfeng impersonated Sima Zhong when replying to her father-in-law's letters, reassuring him and ensuring that Sima Zhong remained the heir apparent. Jia Nanfen was known to be a murderous and jealous consort, jealously having several of Sima Zhong's concubines put to death when she discovered that they were pregnant.
When Sima Yan died in 290 AD, Empress Dowager Yang Zhi's father Yang Jun became regent for Sima Zhong, but Jia Nanfeng conspired with Sima Wei to overthrow Yang Jun and massacre his clan. Over the next decade, Sima Zhong was a puppet of various princes and factions during the War of the Eight Princes. In 307 AD, he was poisoned by the regent Sima Yue, who proceeded to place Sima Chi on the throne in his stead.