May 7, 2013, Part 6  "Li" Clan

Dr. Oliver Lee’s talk at the May 7 General Meeting

At earlier meetings, I’ve talked about the history of the Lim/Lam/Lum clan, and the Char clan.

Today I’m going to talk about the Li clan, not the whole of its history but only its role during the Tang Dynasty, in which all the emperors were Li, with the exception of one short dynasty set up by one concubine, who was ousted in her old age, and the Tang Dynasty was restored.

First I’ll mention some generalizations or special points about the Tang, and then backtrack and narrate the course of events.

The Tang Dynasty was a glorious dynasty, lasting from 618 until 906, almost 300 years.  Especially in its first half, the Tang Dynasty was economically, culturally, artistically, and technologically way ahead of anything in Europe at the time. Its first four Emperors ruled for a total of over 100 years, from the founder to his son and grandson and great grandson. But, like most other long dynasties, in its first half it was dynamic, creative, efficient, and productive, but in its second half it was going downhill until it was overthrown and replaced by a new dynasty.

The founder, Li Yuan  (李渊),  together with his son Li Shimin (李世民）had managed to overthrow the previous dynasty, the Sui Dynasty, which had lasted only 29 years. But it was very important because it had reunified China after several centuries of disunion, including the time of the famous Three Kingdoms.

Li Yuan’s mother, interestingly, was a Turk from Mongolia (The Turks had their original base in western Mongolia, and in later centuries moved west and further west until they ended up in present-day Turkey). So, Li Yuan was half Turkish, and his son one-quarter Turkish, and his grandson one-eighth Turkish, and so on.

The grandson, as Emperor Gao Zong (高宗), ruled for 34 years. Unfortunately,  his Empress brought into the palace a woman named Wu Zetian (武则天)，who had been  Gao Zong’s father’s concubine. The Empress did this to have Wu Zetian win the Emperor’s affection away from another concubine. Wu Zetian succeeded in this, but in the process won the Emperor’s affection away from the Empress as well, and then had the Empress killed.

Wu Zetian was ambitious and ruthless. In the Emperor’s later years she took total control, changed the dynastic name to Zhou, and exiled or executed members of the imperial family who dared to oppose her. But when she was 80 years old and ill, she was ousted, and the Tang Dynasty was restored.

The next Emperor was Li Longji (李隆基), whose official Imperial name was Xuan Zong  (玄宗). He ruled for an amazing 44 years. Under him the Tang Dynasty reached the pinnacle of its glory.  Among the scholars and artists and poets in his court were China’s most famous poets, Li Bo (李白) and Du Fu (杜甫).  [Li Bo’s second syllable normally is pronounced ”bai”, but not in his case].

But Xuan Zong’s wars against the Turks were costly.  And at home he fell under the influence of the most famous beauty in Chinese history, named Yang Guifei (杨贵妃)。He was infatuated with her, and she made him live a life of luxury and extravagance, while the peasant masses were impoverished.

No wonder a major rebellion broke out in 755, led by An Lushan (安禄山)。 The rebels soon controlled most of the land north of the Yellow River.  Emperor Xuan Zong fled to Sichuan with Yang Guifei. Along the way, imperial troops executed her. The rebel leader was killed by his own son in 757, and the rebellion was crushed.

But the rebellion marked the beginning of the end of the Tang Dynasty. The Li family held the throne for another 150 years, but luxury in the capital and misgovernment in the provinces led to widespread discontent and revolts. One of the rebel leaders was Zhu Wen (朱温)，who soon proclaimed himself Emperor of a new dynasty, the Liang Dynasty. And that was the end of the Tang.

The next major dynasty was Song (960-1179), but between Tang and Song there were five short-lived dynasties, namely Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, Zhou.

And this is a good time for you to learn the names, not of the short-lived dynasties but of the major ones. At the last meeting I had asked you to repeat after me, in Hakka: Tong, Soong, Nian, Min, Ts’in, which together span a big chunk of Chinese history. So would you do that again, please, slowly: Tong, Soong, Nian, Min Ts’in. . . . And again.

Thank you. Now you know how to sum up Chinese historty from 618 to 1911 all in one breath.