China’s Southern Tang Dynasty, 937–976 The Southern Tang was one of China’s minor dynasties and one of the great states in China in the tenth century. Although often regarded as one of several states preceding the much better known Song dynasty (960–1279), the Southern Tang dynasty was in fact the key state in this period, preserving cultural values and artefacts from the former great Tang dynasty (618–907) that were to form the basis of Song rule and thereby presenting the Song with a direct link to the Tang and its traditions. Drawing mainly on primary Chinese sources, this is the first book in English to provide a comprehensive overview of the Southern Tang and full coverage of the military, cultural and political history of the period. It focuses on a successful, albeit short-lived, attempt to set up an independent regional state in the modern provinces of Jiangxi and Jiangsu and establishes the Southern Tang dynasty in its own right. It follows the rise of the Southern Tang state to become the predominant claimant of the Tang heritage and the expansionist policies of the second ruler, culminating in the occupation and annexation of two of the Southern Tang’s neighbours, Min (Fujian) and Chu (Hunan). Finally, the narrative describes the decline of the dynasty under its last ruler, the famous poet Li Yu, and its ultimate surrender to the Song dynasty. Johannes L. Kurz is Senior Lecturer in the History Department at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. He is the author of Das Kompilationsprojekt Song Taizongs (reg. 976–996) (2003). Asian States and Empires Edited by Peter Lorge, Vanderbilt University The importance of Asia will continue to grow in the twenty-first century, but remarkably little is available in English on the history of the polities that constitute this critical area. Most current work on Asia is hindered by the extremely limited state of knowledge of the Asian past in general, and the history of Asian states and empires in particular. Asian States and Empires is a book series that will provide detailed accounts of the history of states and empires across Asia from earliest times until the present. It aims to explain and describe the formation, maintenance and collapse of Asian states and empires, and the means by which this was accomplished, making available the history of more than half the world’s population at a level of detail comparable to the history of Western polities. In so doing, it will demonstrate that Asian peoples and civilizations had their own histories apart from the West, and provide the basis for understanding contemporary Asia in terms of its actual histories, rather than broad generalizations informed by Western categories of knowledge. 1. The Third Chinese Revolutionary Civil War, 1945–49 An analysis of communist strategy and leadership Christopher R. Lew 2. China's Southern Tang Dynasty, 937–976 Johannes L. Kurz 3. War, Culture and Society in Early Modern South Asia, 1740–1849 Kaushik Roy China’s Southern Tang Dynasty, 937–976 Johannes L. Kurz First published 2011 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2011 Johannes L. Kurz Typeset in Times New Roman by Florence Production Ltd, Stoodleigh, Devon Printed and bound in Great Britain by The MPG Books Group All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Kurz, Johannes L. China's Southern Tang dynasty, 937–976/Johannes L. Kurz. – 1st ed. p. cm. – (Asian states and empires) Includes bibliographical references. 1. China – History – Southern Tang kingdom, 937–975. I. Title. DS749.7.K87 2011 951Ј.018 – dc22 2010039196 ISBN 978–0–415–45496–4 (hbk) ISBN 978–0–203–82861–8 (ebk) Contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction ix List of dynasties xi Map of the Southern Tang state and its neighbours xiii List of abbreviations xv 1 The state of Wu 1 2 The founding of the Southern Tang and the reign of Li Bian 23 3 The reign of Li Jing 41 4 The reign of Li Yu and the decline of the Southern Tang 91 5 Epilogue 115 Notes 119 Bibliography 129 Index 133 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Peter Lorge, who asked me in early 2007 if I would be willing to contribute a volume on Southern Tang history to the present series. I am grateful to friends and colleagues who provided many texts that otherwise I would have found hard to retrieve while working and living in Brunei. Among these are Matthias Kaun, Head of the excellent East Asian collection at the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz in Berlin, Anne Labitzky-Wagner, librarian at the Institute of Chinese Studies in Heidelberg, and Birgit Mayr. Hugh R. Clark kindly sent me his draft chapter on the history of the Ten States, many years before it was finally published in the Cambridge History of China. My appreciation goes to all the scholars whose work I have drawn upon in writing this history of the Southern Tang. Their names are listed in the notes and the bibliography. Dawn Clare was so kind as to read through the first draft and eliminate the most obvious English language and style flaws. Special thanks go to my wife Doris who, over the past twenty years, has supported my interest in the Southern Tang and has read through various versions of the present book. Any remaining errors and, unless otherwise stated, all translations are my own. Johannes L. Kurz Bandar Seri Begawan, January 2011 Introduction Pre-modern Chinese history is characterized by a succession of dynasties, starting with the Qin in 221 BC and ending with the Qing in 1911. During this period, the Chinese Empire was fragmented twice, from 420 to 589 and again from 907 to 960. The last period is called the Period of the Five Dynasties and Ten States. This designation is the result of historiographical conventions that were established by the first Song emperor, Taizu (r. 960–976), in the early Northern Song period (960–1126). Official historians of the Song accordingly had to treat only the Five Dynasties, that is, the states in the northern half of China, as legitimate predecessors of the Song, for Taizu had served the last of these himself, whereas they had to categorize those states that were located in their majority to the south of the Yangzi River as illegitimate. The present book deals with one of the most powerful and influential among the southern states, the Southern Tang (936–976). The importance of the Southern Tang within the framework of tenth-century Chinese history has long been underestimated because of the historiographical conventions of the Song. Where the northern dynasties focused on the military, the Southern Tang, especially under the first ruler, Li Bian (r. 936–943), undertook to build a civil bureaucracy, thus benefitting the peaceful development of the state. The Southern Tang Empire actively adopted the heritage of the Tang dynasty and similarly pursued a policy of cultural restoration. This policy created a pool of talented scholars versed in the literary traditions, a rich palace collection, including books produced during the Tang dynasty, as well as renowned paintings and calligraphic masterpieces. The imperial aspirations of the Southern Tang during the rule of the second emperor, Li Jing (r. 943–961), quickly dissolved under the pressure, first, from the Later Zhou (951–959) and then the Song, and the Southern Tang hence survived as a dependent kingdom only. Considering the fact that the Song dynasty employed a number of Southern Tang officials in one of the most impressive projects aimed at the restoration of the cultural heritage, and used the Southern Tang art and book collection x Introduction as a foundation for its own palace collections, we may regard the Southern Tang as the true facilitator between the Tang and the Song dynasties. The impact of the Southern Tang on the early Song dynasty may explain why there is a larger number of historical works surviving on this state than on any of the other dynasties and states of the period in question. For better readability of the text, I have tried to limit the sources for the depiction of the history of the Southern Tang and have relied mainly on two chronological histories of the Chinese Empire. For the period from the founding of the state of Wu (905) to the penultimate year of the reign of the second Southern Tang emperor (959), I have drawn on the Comprehensive mirror for aid in government (Zizhi tongjian) by Sima Guang (1019–1086); for the period of the reign of the last Southern Tang ruler, from 960 to 976, I have used Li Tao’s (1115–1184) Long draft of the continuation of the Zizhi tongjian (Xu Zizhi tongjian changbian). These two major sources were, where necessary, supplemented with information taken from original primary sources that are listed in the bibliography. Chinese historical works tend to relate events in a detailed and factual manner. I have followed the original works along this line, but, where it seemed appropriate, I have quoted speech in order to liven up the text.