Princess Tongchang was the beloved daughter of Emperor Yizong of the Tang Dynasty, but she fell gravely ill at a young age. Imperial physicians Han Zongshao and Kang Zhongyin did everything in their power to treat her, yet despite their best efforts and the finest medicines, they could not save her, and the princess ultimately passed away.
Emperor Yizong of Tang, grieving his princess's early death, blamed the physicians and imprisoned Han Zongzhao, Kang Zhongyin, and over 300 of their clan members on charges of "ineffective medicine," overcrowding the prison.
Grand Academician of the Jixian Hall, Chancellor and Vice Minister of Justice Liu Zhan was deeply troubled by the injustice suffered by the imperial physician. He urged the remonstrance officials to submit a memorial advising the emperor, but they all feigned deafness and muteness, fearing to anger the sovereign. So Liu Zhan himself wrote a memorial, admonishing the emperor:
The Tang Dynasty official Liu Zongyuan once argued, "A person's lifespan is predetermined by fate, and whether they are wise or foolish makes no difference. Yan Hui died young, not because his virtue could extend his years. Princess Tongchang suffered a prolonged illness, and when medicine failed to save her, she passed away. Your Majesty, in your deep affection and overwhelming grief, harshly punished the imperial physicians. Han Zongzhao and his colleagues exhausted every effort in their treatment, hoping the illness would melt away like snow and the medicine would work miracles. Yet Your Majesty's thunderous anger imprisoned over 300 people, young and old, shocking the entire court and the public. Everyone says this calamity has fallen from the sky, punishing the innocent. I beg Your Majesty to show benevolence and virtue, and release all the imprisoned prisoners."
When Emperor Yizong of the Tang Dynasty read the memorial, he flew into a rage, immediately dismissed the chancellor from his post, and demoted him again and again, all the way to prefect of Kangzhou. Many officials close to Liu Zhan were implicated and banished from the capital; the capital magistrate Wen Zhang was so distressed that he took poison and died.
Later, the idiom "Disaster Falls from Heaven" came to describe calamities that strike with sudden, unexpected force.
Source: *Old Book of Tang*, "Biography of Liu Zhan"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "祸从天降" came to describe calamities that strike with sudden, unexpected force.