Dissertation: "The Transformation of Medieval Chinese Elites"
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THE TRANSFORMATION OF MEDIEVAL CHINESE ELITES (850-1000 C.E.) Nicolas Olivier Tackett Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2006 © 2006 Nicolas Olivier Tackett All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT The Transformation of Medieval Chinese Elites (850-1000 C.E.) Nicolas Olivier Tackett Scholars of medieval China agree that between the late Tang (618-907) and the early Song (960-1279), Chinese society underwent a remarkable cultural, social, political, and economic transformation. One of the most dramatic aspects of this “Tang-Song transition” was the upheaval in the composition of Chinese elites, marked by the complete disappearance of the great aristocratic clans that had once surpassed even the emperors in prestige. This dissertation examines the evolution of Chinese elites during the multi-decade political interregnum between Tang and Song—a period that is a virtual black hole in Chinese studies yet holds the key to understanding the changes that revolutionized Chinese society. One thousand tomb epitaphs and a similar number of dynastic history biographies form the basis of a biregional (Hebei vs. Huainan/Jiangnan) prosopographic study that explores the disappearance of the medieval aristocracy; the social and cultural impact of the endemic migration that accompanied the circulation of roving armies; and the relationships between different elite types (civil bureaucrats, military officers, merchants, non-officeholding landowners). The data reveals that successful elite families turned to survival strategies that might involve professional diversification, expansion of social networks, and long-distance migration. The collapse of Tang authority brought about the immediate decline of the political oligarchy that had dominated metropolitan society until the end of the ninth century, and the Turkish-led invasion of north China in 923 led to the mass relocation to the northern capital cities of provincial elites (and, I propose, the concomitant spread of new ideologies). Nevertheless, the prestige of the state survived almost intact: non-officeholding elites were generally restricted to regions away from political power centers; the capital cities of the multiple empires and kingdoms during the period of division continued to attract elites, who often travelled between regimes in search of office; and enduring and widespread claims of great clan descent represented, I hypothesize, a "trickle-down" model of elite circulation whereby descendants of capital officials used their ties to the state to reestablish themselves at the sites of provincial appointments, thereby displacing “native” elites. Table of Contents Acknowledgements iii Abbreviations and Conventions iv Introduction 1 0.1. The Transformation of Medieval Elites 3 0.2. Tomb epitaphs as a historical source 9 FIGURES 18 Chapter 1: Structures and Values of the Elites 25 1.1. Officeholders and their values 27 1.2. Merchants, landowners, and their ideals 33 1.3. Relative economic wealth of elites 41 1.4. Regional distribution of elites 44 1.5. Conclusion 47 FIGURES 50 Chapter 2: The Medieval Aristocracy 60 2.1. Past scholarship 62 2.2. Choronyms, clan lists, and local prestige 65 2.3. Legitimacy of great clan claims 72 2.4. The northeastern and southeastern aristocracies 78 2.5. Survival of genealogies and genealogical knowledge 86 2.6. Aristocratic mentality in the tenth century 89 2.7. Conclusion 93 APPENDIX. Preliminary observations on the impact of 99 Hebei provincial culture on Luoyang metropolitan society FIGURES 101 Chapter 3: Intergenerational Social Mobility and Marriage Ties 109 3.1. Social differentiation of elite types 111 3.2. Upward mobility among civilian bureaucrats 114 3.3. Upward social mobility in the military 122 3.4. Intergenerational elite-type mobility 125 3.5. Exogamous marriages 132 3.6. Youzhou civil-military elites 135 3.7. Conclusion 136 FIGURES 140 i Chapter 4: Elite Migration 145 4.1. Identifying migrants 147 4.2. Elite migration before Huang Chao’s Rebellion 149 4.3. Elite migration after Huang Chao’s Rebellion 155 4.4. The geography of migration 162 4.5. The social and human impact of migration 167 4.6. Conclusion 173 FIGURES 178 Chapter 5: Geography of Power 181 5.1. Migration in groups 183 5.2. Regional overrepresentation at the capital 190 5.3. Capital elites 199 5.4. Conclusion 206 FIGURES 210 Conclusion 212 Bibliography 218 Person Name Index 231 ii Acknowledgements I have incurred many debts. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor, Robert Hymes, for all of his help and encouragement. During my years as a graduate student, it has also been my honor to attend courses taught by Feng Li, Robert Harrist, Richard Bulliet, Martin Kern, and Sarah Schneewind at Columbia University; Valerie Hansen at Yale University; Zhang Xiqing and Qi Dongfang at Peking University; and Christian Lamouroux at the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales. All of these professors have contributed to my development as a historian. For their help in obtaining access to research material, I would like to extend my gratitude to Li Chaoyuan of the Shanghai Museum; Meng Fanfeng of the Hebei Institute of Archaeology; and the staffs of the Changshu Museum, the Shanghai Library, and the library of the Center for Research on Ancient History at Peking University. Research in China was funded by a Columbia University Travelling Fellowship and a grant from the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program. I would also like to thank Tim Davis, Alex Cook, Karl Metzner, Alexei Ditter, and Sukhee Lee, fellow graduate students with whom I discussed my work. Finally, the completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without the help of Timothy Tackett, who greatly inspired me in the final months of writing, and without the support of my mother Catherine Aubert, of Helen Chenut, and of my wife Gina. iii Abbreviations and Conventions To minimize the number of footnotes, references to biographies and epitaphs of individuals are not included in the main text. Instead, a “Person Name Index” (see page 238) includes proper citations for all relevant biographies and epitaphs. All figures appear at the end of each respective chapter. The following abbreviations have been used when citing sources: JGZ Lu Zhen 路振. Jiuguo zhi 九國志. Wudai shishu huibian ed. Hangzhou: Hangzhou chubanshe, 2004. JNYS Zheng Wenbao 鄭文寳. Jiangnan yu zai 江南餘載. Wudai shishu huibian ed. Hangzhou: Hangzhou chubanshe, 2004. JTS Liu Xu 劉昫 et al. Jiu Tang shu 舊唐書. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1995. JWDS Xue Juzheng 薛居正. Jiu Wudai shi 舊五代史. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1976. LS Toghtō 脫脫 et al. Liao shi 遼史. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1995. NTS Ma Ling 馬令. Nan Tang shu 南唐書. Wudai shishu huibian ed. Hangzhou: Hangzhou chubanshe, 2004. QSW Zeng Zaozhuang 曾棗莊 and Liu Lin 劉琳. Quan Song wen 全宋文. Chengdu: Ba Shu shushe, 1988-1994. QTW Dong Gao 董誥 et al., eds. Quan Tang wen 全唐文. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983. QTWBY Wu Gang 吳鋼, ed. Quan Tang wen buyi 全唐文補遺. Xi'an: San Qin chubanshe, 1994-2000. QTWXB Zhou Shaoliang 周紹良, ed. Quan Tang wen xinbian 全唐文新編. Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe, 2000. SGCQ Wu Renchen 吴任臣. Shiguo chunqiu 十國春秋. Wudai shishu huibian ed. Hangzhou: Hangzhou chubanshe, 2004. SS Toghtō 脫脫 et al. Song shi 宋史. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1995. TMH Zhou Shaoliang 周紹良 and Zhao Chao 趙超, eds. Tangdai muzhi huibian 唐代墓誌彙編. Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1991. TMHX Zhou Shaoliang 周紹良 and Zhao Chao 趙超, eds. Tangdai muzhi huibian xuji 唐代墓誌彙編續集. Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 2001. XCB Li Tao 李燾. Xu zizhi tongjian changbian 續資治通鑑長編. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2004. Xin Hebei (1) Meng Fanfeng 孟繁峰 and Liu Chaoying 劉超英, eds. Xin Zhongguo chutu muzhi: Hebei (1) 新中國出土墓誌: 河北(一). Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2004. Xin Jiangsu (1) Xin Zhongguo chutu muzhi: Jiangsu (1) 新中國出土墓誌: 江蘇(一). Forthcoming. XTS Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修 and Song Qi 宋祁. Xin Tang shu 新唐書. iv Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1995. XWDS Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修. Xin Wudai shi 新五代史. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974. ZZTJ Sima Guang 司馬光. Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑑. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1956. v 1 Introduction Nobody could doubt the eminence of Ms. Lu’s pedigree. A scion of the “northern” branch of the Lu family of Fanyang, she could trace her ancestry back to the Han dynasty, several hundred years earlier. Her great grandfather, grandfather, and father had all served as civil bureaucrats, the most honorable of all professions. And when she was thirteen, her family married her to a man with a no less prominent heritage. Although her husband died when she was still quite young, she maintained her stature in society by arranging good marriages for her children. She must have felt extraordinary pride when, in the year 878, her son-in-law Cui Hang attained the rank of chief minister, becoming overnight one of the most powerful men in China. Three years later, Ms. Lu’s life and her world came to an end.1 There had been stories of an uprising causing havoc in the south, but this threat must have seemed still quite far-removed to the residents of the Western Capital of Chang’an and the Eastern Capital of Luoyang. But when the rebel Huang Chao turned his attention northward and crossed the Yangzi River in the seventh month of the year 880, it took him only four months to capture Luoyang and, before the end of the year, his army marched into Chang’an.2 Then began one of the most infamous massacres in the 1 For transcriptions and additional information regarding the three epitaphs discovered in Ms. Lu’s tomb, see Yanshi Xingyuan Tang mu 偃師杏園唐墓, (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2001), 361-369. 2 Robert M. Somers, “The End of the T'ang,” The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 3, ed. Denis Twitchett, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 736-745.