Emperor Gao of Southern Qi ((南)齊高帝; 427– 11 April 482[2]), personal name Xiao Daocheng (蕭道成), courtesy name Shaobo (紹伯), childhood name Doujiang (鬥將), was the founding emperor of the Southern Qi dynasty of China.

His father Xiao Chengzhi (蕭承之) was a general under Emperor Wen of Song, and for his contributions in campaigns against rival Northern Wei was created the Baron of Jinxing.

Xiao Daocheng first studied the Confucian classics at the imperial university set up by Emperor Wen and headed by the hermit and scholar Lei Cizong (zh:雷次宗) when he was 12, but by age 15 he was serving in the military.

For these contributions, Emperor Ming created him the Marquess of Xiyang and made him the acting governor of South Xu Province (南徐州, modern western central Jiangsu).

By 471, Emperor Ming – who had already carried out a campaign of killing most of his brothers and some high-level officials in fear that they would not be loyal to his son Liu Yu the Crown Prince after his death – became suspicious of Xiao, particularly because there were rumors that Xiao was secretly communicating with Northern Wei.

(In secret, Xiao told his followers that he believed that Liu Song would not last much longer and that he would need their support when opportunity presented itself.)

When Emperor Ming grew gravely ill in 472, on the recommendation of the high-level official Chu Yuan (to whom, along with Yuan Can, Emperor Ming entrusted the care of Crown Prince Yu), who was a friend of Xiao, Xiao became a commanding general of the capital defense force.

At a major military strategy session, although there were a number of high-level officials, powerful associates of the emperor, and senior generals present, no one dared to speak first.

Then Xiao Daocheng proposed the strategy of not sending an army to engage Liu Xiufan but rather defend the strong defensive posts in the outskirts of Jiankang and not actively engage Liu Xiufan, forcing him into a stalemate and causing him to run out of food supplies.

In 477, Emperor Houfei, by now age 14, was growing increasingly impulsive and violent, often wandering outside the palace with his guards and killing all people or animals they encountered.

Xiao became fearful after the incident; he initially discussed with Yuan and Chu the possibilities of deposing the emperor but could not get them to go along with his plan.

In response, the general Shen Youzhi arose with the troops of his Jing Province (荊州, modern central and western Hubei), accusing Xiao of wanting to usurp the throne.

However, Liu Bing panicked during the preparation stage and fled to Yuan's defense post at the fortress of Shitou Cheng several hours before the scheduled time, alarming Xiao and allowing him to further start a counterinsurrection, arresting and killing several generals aligned with Yuan and Liu Bing before they could act.

But as he went past Yingcheng (郢城, in modern Wuhan, Hubei), he was provoked by insults of Liu Shilong (柳世隆), the chief of staff for Liu Zan (劉贊) the Prince of Wuling and governor of Ying Province into stopping and putting the well-fortified Yingcheng under siege.

Shen's remaining army, seeing that Jiangling had fallen, collapsed, and he initially tried to flee, but realizing that his escape route had been cut off he committed suicide.

He also engaged the nobly born official Wang Jian as a key assistant and, with Chu's tacit agreement, started making moves toward the throne, including quietly assassinating Emperor Houfei's brothers.

Emperor Gao did not punish these guards, but rewarded them and further carried out a massacre of Liu Song's imperial clan.

Northern Wei and Southern Qi forces would continue to have minor border battles for another year, until spring 481, but there would be no further major campaigns by either side.