Reading the Reign of Tang Taizong (R

ONE Reading the Reign of Tang Taizong (r. 626–49) In this first chapter, I provide an interpretative overview of Tang Tai- zong’s reign. To date, there has been a small industry of biographical studies in Chinese, Japanese, and English, all of which stand as testimony to Taizong’s enduring reputation and historical importance.1 Most of these studies cover approximately the same ground, looking at Taizong’s life through the lens of major historical events and his many achievements. While I touch on Taizong’s important accomplishments and noteworthy deeds, my focus will lie mainly in the historiographic representation of Taizong’s reign and the reception of his reign in later periods. Taizong did not have a naïve view of history and indeed could be seen as the main force behind the state co-optation of historiography that would come to define historical writing after the Tang. To understand Taizong, there- fore, one must first understand the construction of his image in the historical sources, some of which Taizong may have directly influenced. ————— 1. These include the following: Siu, L’Oeuvre de T’ang T’ai-tsong; Fitzgerald, Son of Heaven; Tanigawa, Tō no Taisō; Wechsler, “T’ai-tsung (Reign 626–49) the Consolidator”; Zhao Keyao and Xu Daoxun, Tang Taizong zhuan; Yuan Yingguang and Wang Jieyun, Tang Taizong zhuan; Hu Rulei, Li Shimin zhuan; Zheng Yingde, Tang Taizong benzhuan; and Zheng Xuemeng, et al., Li Shimin pingzhuan. 14 Reading the Reign of Tang Taizong Li Shimin’s Early Years The man who would one day be known as Taizong was born Li Shimin in the Qingshan Palace 慶善宮 at Wugong 武功 (located in present-day Shaanxi province).2 Li Shimin was the second son of Li Yuan 李淵 (566–635), who was a high-ranking Sui dynasty general and enfeoffed as the Duke of Tang 唐國公. This title was hereditary and was first be- stowed posthumously upon Shimin’s great-grandfather, Li Hu 李虎 (fl. sixth century).3 According to the Tang histories, the genealogy of the Li clan could be traced back to the third century figure Li Gao 李暠, who founded the minor state of Western Liang 西涼 (400–421) and ruled as King Wuzhao 武昭王 (r. 400–417).4 If true, this would mean that the Tang ruling family had its origins in a family whose lineage could be traced back to Li Guang 李廣 (d. 129 bc), a famous Han dynasty general who was himself the descendant of a general who served during the early years of the Han.5 However, the work of the modern historian Chen Yinque (or Yinke) 陳寅恪 has shown that Li Hu and the imperial Tang house were proba- bly not descendants of the prominent northern Li clans, but, in all likeli- hood, were descended from Sino-Turkish ancestors who had adopted or were granted the Li surname in more recent times.6 Whatever the case may have been, by the time of Li Yuan, the Li clan was well-connected and prestigious enough to have married into some of the leading northern families of the Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties.7 ————— 2. I have based my account primarily on the three major historical sources for the Tang: the imperial annals of his reign in Jiu Tang shu, 2.21–3.64; and Xin Tang shu, 2.23–49; as well as the chronicle account in Sima Guang 司馬光 (1019–86), comp., Zizhi tongjian, 192.6030–199.6270. 3. See Linghu Defen 令狐德棻 (583–661), comp., Zhou shu, 16.272. Li Hu was one of the Northern Zhou’s “Eight Pillars of State” 八國柱, which refers to the eight leading gener- als who carried out the founding of that dynasty. 4. For Li Gao’s biography, see Jin shu, 57.2257–67. 5. For Li Guang’s biography, see Sima Tan 司馬談 (d. ca. 110 bc) and Sima Qian 司馬遷 (ca. 145 bc–ca. 86 bc), comps., Shi ji, 2nd ed., 109.2867–78. 6. See Chen Yinque, “Tongzhi jieji zhi shizu ji qi shengjiang,” in Tangdai zhengzhishi shu- lungao, pp. 1–49. 7. See Wechsler, “Founding of the T’ang Dynasty,” p. 151. .

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