Emperor Wu of Jin

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Emperor Wu of Jin" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Emperor Wu of Jin 晉武帝
Tang dynasty portrait of Emperor Wu by Yan Liben
Emperor of the Jin Dynasty
Reign	8 February 266[1] – 16 May 290
Successor	Emperor Hui
King of Jin (晉王)
Tenure	7 September[2] 265 – 8 February 266
Predecessor	Sima Zhao
Regent of Cao Wei
Tenure	7 September 265 – 8 February 266
Predecessor	Sima Zhao
Born	236
Died	16 May 290(290-05-16) (aged 53–54)[3]
Consorts	Empress Wuyuan Empress Wudao Empress Dowager Wuhuai
Issue	Emperor Hui Sima Jian Sima Wei Sima Yun Sima Yan Sima Xia Sima Yi Sima Ying Sima Yan Emperor Huai Princess Changshan Princess Pingyang Princess Xinfeng Princess Yangping Princess Wu'an Princess Fanchang Princess Xiangcheng Princess Xingyang Princess Xingyang Princess Yingchuan Princess Guangping Princess Lingshou
Names Family name: Sima (Chinese: 司馬; pinyin: sī mǎ) Given name: Yan (Chinese: 炎; pinyin: yán) Posthumous name Wu (Chinese: 武; pinyin: wǔ), literary meaning: "martial" Temple name Shizu (Chinese: 世祖; pinyin: shì zǔ)
Father	Sima Zhao
Mother	Empress Wenming

Emperor Wu of Jin (traditional Chinese: 晉武帝; simplified Chinese: 晋武帝; pinyin: Jìn Wǔ Dì; Wade–Giles: Chin Wu-Ti; 236 – 16 May 290^[4]), personal name Sima Yan (Chinese: 司馬炎; pinyin: Sīmǎ Yán), courtesy name Anshi (安世), was a grandson of Sima Yi, nephew of Sima Shi and son of Sima Zhao. He became the first emperor of the Jin dynasty after forcing Cao Huan, last emperor of the state of Cao Wei, to abdicate to him. He reigned from 266 to 290, and after conquering the state of Eastern Wu in 280, was the emperor of a reunified China. Emperor Wu was also known for his extravagance and sensuality, especially after the unification of China; legends boasted of his incredible potency among ten thousand concubines.

Emperor Wu was commonly viewed as generous and kind, but also wasteful. His generosity and kindness undermined his rule, as he became overly tolerant of the noble families' (世族 or 士族, a political/bureaucratic landlord class from Eastern Han to Tang dynasty) corruption and wastefulness, which drained the people's resources. Further, when Emperor Wu established the Jin Dynasty, he was concerned about his regime's stability, and, believing that the predecessor state, Cao Wei, had been doomed by its failures to empower the princes of the imperial clan, he greatly empowered his uncles, his cousins, and his sons with authority, including independent military authority. This ironically led to the destabilization of the Western Jin, as the princes engaged in an internecine struggle known as the War of the Eight Princes soon after his death, and then the "Five Barbarians" uprisings that destroyed the Western Jin and forced its successor, Eastern Jin, to relocate to the region south of the Huai River.