Historiography and Narratives of the Later Tang (923-936) and Later Jin (936-947) Dynasties in Tenth- to Eleventh- Century Sources
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Historiography and Narratives of the Later Tang (923-936) and Later Jin (936-947) Dynasties in Tenth- to Eleventh- century Sources Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophie an der Ludwig‐Maximilians‐Universität München vorgelegt von Maddalena Barenghi Aus Mailand 2014 Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Hans van Ess Zweitgutachter: Prof. Tiziana Lippiello Datum der mündlichen Prüfung: 31.03.2014 ABSTRACT Historiography and Narratives of the Later Tang (923-36) and Later Jin (936-47) Dynasties in Tenth- to Eleventh-century Sources Maddalena Barenghi This thesis deals with historical narratives of two of the Northern regimes of the tenth-century Five Dynasties period. By focusing on the history writing project commissioned by the Later Tang (923-936) court, it first aims at questioning how early-tenth-century contemporaries narrated some of the major events as they unfolded after the fall of the Tang (618-907). Second, it shows how both late- tenth-century historiographical agencies and eleventh-century historians perceived and enhanced these historical narratives. Through an analysis of selected cases the thesis attempts to show how, using the same source material, later historians enhanced early-tenth-century narratives in order to tell different stories. The five cases examined offer fertile ground for inquiry into how the different sources dealt with narratives on the rise and fall of the Shatuo Later Tang and Later Jin (936- 947). It will be argued that divergent narrative details are employed both to depict in different ways the characters involved and to establish hierarchies among the historical agents. Table of Contents List of Rulers ............................................................................................................ ii Aknowledgements ................................................................................................... iv Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................ 1 Notes on the Sources ............................................................................................ 9 Chapter 2: Chronicling the Tenth Century ............................................................. 45 2.1. The biannian Genre and Medieval Chronicles ........................................... 48 2.2. Building the Chronology: The Linian tu and the Mulu ............................... 55 2.3. Building the Annals ..................................................................................... 62 Chapter 3: Narratives on the Later Tang ................................................................ 80 3.1. Representations of the „Pact of Yunzhou‟ between the Prince of Jin and Abaoji ................................................................................................................. 82 3.2. The Tang Legacy: Different Portrayals of the Enthronement of Li Cunxu .......................................................................................................................... 104 3.3. The „Events of Weizhou‟ and the Exile of Li Conghou ............................ 118 Chapter 4: Shifting Perspectives on the Rise of the Later Jin .............................. 134 4.1. Eminent Ancestry and Prophecies about the Uprising .............................. 136 4.2. The Uprising of Shi Jingtang in the Early Song Sources .......................... 146 Chapter 5: Sang Weihan and the Later Jin ........................................................... 172 5.1. Life and Early Career at the Court of Later Jin ......................................... 173 5.2. Sang Weihan and Defense Policies ......................................................... 181 Concluding remarks ............................................................................................. 196 Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 203 List of Rulers Tang 唐 (618-907) Zhaozong 昭宗, r. 889-904 Zhaoxuan 昭宣, r. 905-906 Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms 五代十國 (907-979): Five Dynasties (907-959) Ten Kingdoms (902-979) Later Liang 後梁 (907-923) Wu 吳 (902-937) Zhu Wen 朱溫 (Taizu 太祖, r. 907-912) Wu-Yue 吳越 (907-978) Zhu Youzhen 朱友貞 (r. 912-922) Former Shu 前蜀 (907-925) Min 閩 (909-945) Later Tang 後唐 (923-936) Southern Han 南漢 (917- Li Cunxu 李存勖 (Zhuangzong 莊宗, r. 923-926) 971) Li Siming 李嗣源 (Mingzong 明宗, r. 926-934) Jingnan 荊南 (924-963) Li Conghou 李從厚 (Mindi 閔帝, r. 934) Chu 楚 (927-951) Li Congke 李從珂 (r. 934-936) Later Shu 後蜀 (934-965) Southern Tang 南唐 (937- Later Jin 後晉 (936-947) 979) Shi Jingtang 石敬瑭 (Gaozu 高祖, r. 936-942) Northern Han 北漢 (951- Shi Chonggui 石重貴 (r. 924-946) 979) Later Han 後漢 (947-950) Liu Zhiyuan 劉知遠 (Gaozu 高祖, r. 947-948) Liu Chengyou 劉承祐 (Yindi 隱帝, r. 949-950) Later Zhou 後周 (951-960) Guo Wei 郭威 (Taizu 太祖, r. 951-954) Guo Rong 郭榮 (Shizong 世宗, r. 954-959) Early Liao 遼 (907-1125): Yelü Abaoji 耶律阿保機 (Taizu 太祖, r. 907-26) Yelü Deguang 耶律德光 (Taizong 太宗, r. 927-47) ii Early Song: Zhao Kuangyin 趙匡胤 (Taizu 太祖, r. 960-976) Zhao Kuangyi 趙匡義 (Taizong 太宗, r. 976-997) Zhao Heng 趙恆 (Zhenzong 真宗, r. 997-1022) Zhao Zhen 趙禎 (Renzong 仁宗, r. 1022-63) Zhao Shu 趙曙 (Yingzong 英宗, r. 1063-67) Zhao Suo 趙瑣 (Shenzong 申宗, r. 1067-85) iii Aknowledgements The research work for and the writing of this doctoral thesis were carried out at the Department of Asian and North African Studies of ca‟ Foscari University (Venice) and at the Institute of Sinology of LMU (Munich), thanks to a co-tutorship program between the two universities. I want to express my thanks both to the two universities and to my doctoral supervisors, Professor Tiziana Lippiello and Professor Hans van Ess, for this invaluable opportunity. The thesis has been revised and finalized with the help of a grant awarded by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (Taiwan) for one year of postdoctoral studies at the Institute of Sinology of LMU. I wish to thank the Foundation for the generous financial support. Munich, 31.03.2017 iv Chapter 1: Introduction The present thesis examines tenth- to eleventh-century historical narratives of the rise and fall of two of the five regimes that ruled over the Central Plain in the first half of the tenth century, the Later Tang 後唐 (923-936) and Later Jin 後晉 (936-947) dynasties. The study investigates how the narratives of major events were shaped and it aims at showing how subsequent generations of historians and compilers reworked these early accounts, and how the narratives were eventually selected and enhanced in the late eleventh-century comprehensive chronicle, Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑑. The interest in the narratives recounting the rise and fall of two of the three Shatuo regimes,1 the Later Tang and Later Jin,2 comes not merely from the ethnic 1 The Chinese sources agree on the undoubted historical link of the Shatuo, which literally means Sandy Slopes, with the Western Turks (Xi Tujue 西突厥) confederacies; nonetheless, no general agreement has been reached among historians as to the exact branch affiliation and original geographical location. Whereas the tenth-century official sources link the Shatuo‟s origins to the Bayegu 拔野古 (Bayirqu) and see the Shatuo already integrated into and part of the Tang system under Taizong 太宗 (r. 626-649), the most accredited hypothesis is the one promoted by eleventh-century historians according to which the Shatuo became part of the Tang provincial system only at the beginning of the ninth century; cf. Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 (1007-1072), Xin Wudai shi 新五代史 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, [1974] 2011; hereafter XWDS) 4:39; Sima Guang 司馬光 (1019-1086), Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑑 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, [1956] 2010; hereafter ZZTJ) 210:6678. The term „Sandy Slopes‟, which later became their ethnonym, was used to refer to the wasteland “which is now to the south of Jinsha 金莎 Mountains and to the east of Pulei 蒲類 sea,” corresponding to the area of modern Barköl Lake in Xinjiang (XWDS 4:39). The peoples living in that area used to be called Shatuo. The tribal confederacies who eventually came to define themselves as Shatuo were linked to the Chong‟al 處月 people, a minor tribal confederacy of the Western Turks (XWDS 4:40). For an identification of the Chong‟al see Christopher Atwood, “The Notion of 1 nature of their ruling clan, but mostly because their power rose from their control over the peripheral Northern region, the reign of Jin 晉 and the provinces of Hedong 河東. 3 With its political center in Jinyang 晉陽, Jin had been under direct control of the late Tang military leader Li Keyong 李克用 (856-908) since 883, the year that is regarded by modern scholars as the factual beginning of the period of division of the so-called Tang-Song transition.4 Although the political center will be relocated to Henan 河南, throughout the first half of the tenth century the Tribe in Medieval China: Ouyang Xiu and the Shatuo Dynastic Myth,” in Miscellanea Asiatica: Festschrift in Honour of François Aubin, Denise Aigle and Isabelle Charleux eds. (Sankt Augustin: Institut Monumenta Serica, 2010), p. 602, n. 27. Atwood also proposes a different solution (see p. 600, n. 21). Although the term Shatuo is found in the sources already in relation to early eighth-century events, it disappears from the historical records for a century, only to resurface at the beginning of the ninth century. After being under Uigur and Tibetan rule, in 808 the Shatuo people came under Tang sovereignity and settled in the Ordos as part of the Chinese militia under the military governor Fan Xichao