Emperor Shun of Liu Song ((劉)宋順帝) (8 August 469 – 23 June 479), personal name Liu Zhun (劉準), courtesy name Zhongmou (仲謀), childhood name Zhiguan (智觀), was the last emperor of the Liu Song dynasty of China. He became emperor in August 477 after his violent older brother Emperor Houfei was assassinated by his attendant at the instigation of the general Xiao Daocheng, but in his brief reign he was effectively Xiao's puppet. In 479, Xiao forced him to yield the throne to Xiao, ending Liu Song and starting Southern Qi. Later that year, the former Emperor Shun was killed by guards who were supposed to protect him, and the Liu clan was soon slaughtered as well. Background Liu Zhun was born in August 469. Ostensibly, his parents were Emperor Ming and Emperor Ming's concubine Consort Chen Farong—but history does not provide a conclusive account of his actual parentage. Historical accounts, written during the succeeding Southern Qi Dynasty, indicate that Emperor Ming was impotent, and that although he had 12 sons, those were the results of his having seized his brothers' pregnant concubines and kept the children if they bore males, or his having had his concubines have sexual relations with others. (However, the fact that Emperor Ming's wife Empress Wang Zhenfeng had two daughters, although no sons, may argue against such allegations, because it appeared rather unlikely that Emperor Ming would do this over female children—indeed, the allegations stated that he would only do this if his brothers' concubines bore males—or that the morally upright Empress Wang would engage in sexual relations with others, thus suggesting that the allegations were made to delegitimize Emperor Ming's sons Emperor Houfei and Liu Zhun vis-à-vis Southern Qi.) Those accounts allege that his biological father was Emperor Ming's brother Liu Xiufan () the Prince of Guiyang, and his biological mother was a concubine of Liu Xiufan. In any case, whether he was born of Consort Chen or not, she raised him. In 471, he was created the Prince of Ancheng. After Emperor Ming's death in 472, Liu Zhun's older brother Liu Yu the Crown Prince became emperor (as Emperor Houfei). Liu Zhun himself was made the governor of the important capital region, Yang Province (揚州, modern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu), but actual governance was carried out by his staff members. In 474, after Liu Xiufan rebelled and sieged the capital Jiankang, the official