then-prince da was born to then-crown prince liu zhuang and one of his consorts, consort jia, in 57. as crown prince zhuang's favorite, consort ma – consort jia's aunt (her mother's sister) – had no sons, at crown prince zhuang's instruction, consort ma adopted prince da as her own son. prince da therefore grew up considering consort ma as his mother, and while he clearly knew that consort jia was his birth mother, he never treated her as mother.