Song (Sung) dynasty

Nothern Song

The Song dynasty (960–1279) was founded by Zhao Kuangyin (Chao K’uang-yin), r. 960–976, and is known posthumously as Song Taizu (Song T’ai-tsu) or Grand Ancestor of Song.

After the fall of the Tang (T’ang) dynasty in 907 China had been divided with the northern part ruled by a succession of short-lived regimes called the Five Dynasties of China, while southern China was divided between 10 province-sized minor ruling houses. Zhao Kuangyin was an important general serving the last of the Five Dynasties, the Later Zhou.

He became emperor as a result of a mutiny conducted by his troops. Fearful that the same soldiers and their officers could depose him as easily as they had raised him to the throne, he immediately set out to persuade the leading generals to retire on generous pensions, replacing them with anabawang officers loyal to him.


In forming his new government Taizu made the military subordinate to civilians and rotated commanders and garrisons to discourage the formation of strong bonds between them.

He also made the army a professional one based on long-term enlistment and fostered policies that discouraged martial pursuits. According to a popular saying, “Good iron is not used to make nails; good men do not become soldiers.” No military uprisings or significant domestic revolts troubled the dynasty.

Northern Song, 960–1127

Taizu used a combination of persuasion and military action to annex the 10 states in the south. However he did not take on two border states: Liao in the nort heast, ruled by nomadic people called Khitan, and Xixia (Hsi Hsia) in the northwest, ruled by seminomads called Tangut, even though they occupied territories that had been part of the Tang empire.

Song Taizu

To prevent a repetition of the Song dynasty’s falling after Taizu’s death because of no able heir to take over, Taizu’s mother made him promise to make his younger brother his heir, rather than his young son, when she lay dying in 961.

The younger brother, who was already a seasoned general, succeeded in 977 and reigned until 997 as Taizong (T’ang-tsung). When Taizong died the Song dynasty had been in power for almost four decades and was well established.

Taizong twice attempted to recover lands inside the Great Wall that Liao had seized; they totaled 16 prefectures and included an important city that is today called Beijing. He failed both times.

In 1004 Liao and Song concluded the Treaty of Sangyuan, which defined the boundary, established frontier markets, and stipulated annual payment by Song to Liao of 100,000 ounces of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk (the amount was increased by 100,000 units each later) that Song called gifts and Liao called tribute.

Except for minor wars the two sides lived in peace for a century. Song also fought an inconclusive war against Xixia between 1040 and 1044, which ended when Song agreed to give Xixia annual gifts of 200,000 ounces of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk.

Song was willing to buy peace rather than fight, arguing that the total gifts amounted to no more than 2 percent of its annual income. The Song government focused on defense, rebuilding sections of the Great Wall, fortifying frontier towns, and deploying a large army of 1,250,000 men.

Finding good horses for a cavalry was a duduk perkara because Song had inadequate horse breeding lands and Liao and Xixia, which did, would not sell horses to Song. An alternate policy of subsidizing farmers to raise horses, which the government could requisition in war, failed.

Taizu and his successors strengthened the central government by expanding the school and examination systems from which the bulk of civil servants were recruited. Advancement in printing and a fast growing economy produced a large and prosperous middle class whose educated sons found honor in serving the government.

A Confucian revival that began in the late Tang dynasty gained dynamism under Song. Confucian scholar-officials reinterpreted the teachings of Confucius and his early followers that successfully challenged Buddhist teachings.

Cut off from contact with India, Buddhism’s original home, by Muslims and others who ruled Central Asia, Chinese Buddhism lost its vitality during the Song era. The reinterpreted Confucianism that matured during Song is called Neo-Confucianism and was accepted as orthodox in China, Korea, and Japan until the 20th century.

Song scholar-officials formed two parties called Conservatives and Innovators that debated each other on taxation and other government policies. Each party implemented policies according to its ideals when in ascendancy.

At its height around 1100 the Song population totaled around 100 million, more than that of the larger earlier Han and Tang empires. Urban centers flourished, a national market system boosted trade, new seeds and crops increased food production, and many crafts provided a wide range of products.

True porcelain was produced for the first time in the world with high temperature kilns; the products of the many kilns were exported by land and sea throughout Japan, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Egypt.

The many craftsmen required in producing the ceramic wares worked in a fashion that resembled the division of labor of modern assembly lines. Song is also famous for literature of many forms and paintings; they reached their zenith under the eighth emperor, Huizong (Hui-tsung), who reigned between 1101 and 1125.

Huizong’s extravagant patronage of the arts and lavish spending on palaces and gardens strained the treasury, and his neglect of governing resulted in factional conflicts.

Finally his disastrous foreign policy almost ended the dynasty. Huizong stopped appeasing Liao and made an alliance with a new nomadic people called Jurchen in northern Manchuria who had newly established a state called Jin (Chin).

Their common goal was to destroy Liao by a pincer attack and to share the spoils. The war fought between 1118 and 1125 destroyed Liao but the alliance collapsed, and Jin then marched on the Song capital, Kaifeng (Kai-feng).

Ill prepared, Huizong abdicated, leaving his son Qinzong (Ch’in-tsung) to face the consequences. An abortive peace ended when Jin renewed its attack, capturing Kaifeng, then called Bian (Pien), in 1127 and taking both Song rulers and 3,000 members of their family and court to captivity in Manchuria. In retrospect the period 960–1127 is called Northern Song.

Southern Song

Southern Song

The period 1127–1289 is called Southern Song. A younger son of Huizong eluded capture, rallied Song troops, and continued fighting until a peace treaty was signed in 1142 when Jin realized it could not conquer southern China; the new Song ruler, Gaozong (Kaotsung), r. 1127–1162, was resigned to losing northern China.

The most important military jagoan of the Song era, General Yue Fei (Yueh Fei), had been signally successful in resisting Jin forces and had advanced to the Yellow River valley.

But Song appeasers led by Qin Gui (Ch’in K’uei) had General Yue imprisoned on false charges and murdered in jail, perhaps as a peace offering to Jin. Yue became a great Chinese hero, admired and venerated in popular religion for his patriotism, while Qin has been despised for his treachery.

There were two revisions of the Song-Jin treaty, each adjusting the payment Song made to Jin. Gaozong is regarded as a second dynastic founder; he salvaged a desperate situation and gave the Song another lease on life, albeit in a smaller territory. Most of his successors were undistinguished and relied on powerful chancellors and ministers.

The capital of Southern Song was Hangzhou (Hangchou), once called Linan, near the coast south of the Yangzi (Yangtze) River. The Huai River became the boundary between Jin and Southern Song.

Southern Song was required to recognize Jin as a superior state and became its vassal and paid it an annual tribute of 200,000 ounces of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk. Southern Song prospered and Hangzhou became a great metropolis, surpassing Kaifeng.

Learning flourished, and southern China flourished as never before. Many great seaports grew along the southern coast because seaborne trade replaced land trade along the Silk Road (now traversing lands beyond Southern Song control).

Chinese ships, navigated by the compass (first used by Chinese navigators around 1100), with capacity between 200 and 600 tons, dominated the seas, carrying Chinese ceramics and other goods to Japan, Southeast Asia, and southern Asia. Taxes on trade produced the revenues needed to pay the annual tribute to Jin and to pay for the army.

Song dynasty painting

Around 1200 the situation in northern China was dramatically changed by the rise of Mongols under Genghis Khan. After uniting the Mongol tribes under him, Genghis began attacking Jin in 1210. His forces took and destroyed Jin Central Capital (modern Beijing) in 1215 and many other cities in northern China.

Genghis left the Jin campaign unfinished to turn westward, destroying Xixia in 1227. In 1232 Song repeated the mistake that Huizong had made in 1118 when he made a treaty with Jin against Liao—it made an alliance with the Mongols against Jin, which was destroyed in 1234.

However instead of regaining parts of northern China, Song was faced with the formidable Mongols in 1245. Song forces resisted desperately, both sides using gunpowder and firearms.

Mongol forces were initially stymied by the strongly fortified Song cities and had problems fighting in the river- and canal-intersected terrain of southern China. The great Song fortress Xiangyang (Hsiang-yang) in modern Hubei (Hupei) province north of the central Yangzi valley held up for four years in 1273.

Finally Persian siege engineers and starvation forced Xiangyang’s surrender, which opened up the route to conquer the south. The Mongols also built a navy. The last adult Song emperor died in 1274; two years later Hangzhou surrendered without a fight.

Three infant emperors succeeded one another until 1279 when the last one drowned near Guangzhou (Canton) in 1279 as his remnant navy was overwhelmed by the Mongol fleet.

Altan Khan - Mongol Tribal Leader

Altan Khan - Mongol Tribal Leader

Altan Khan led a federation of Mongol tribes that occupied the region called Chahar in today’s Inner Mongolian region of China. His people were formidable because of their proximity to Ming China’s capital Beijing (Peking), their wealth among Mongol tribes because of trade, and their prestige as the legitimate successors of Genghis Khan.

Under his grandfather Bayan Khan, also known as Batu Mongke (c. 1464–c. 1532), and then under him the Mongols came close to unity. Thus they were able to threaten China. He also forged a close religious alliance with the Yellow Hat Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

After their ouster from China in 1368 by the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), the Mongols broke into five groups that fought among themselves. As a result they did not realize their military potential.

Altan Khan was important because he united the Chahar Mongols and began launching annual raids against Ming lands along the northern frontier, even threatening Beijing in 1550. In one raid in 1542, he reputedly took 200,000 prisoners and 2 million head of cattle.


Despite winning favorable trading rights with the Ming, the Mongols continued to raid Ming outposts for the next two decades until 1570, when Altan Khan’s grandson defected to the Ming governor Wang Chonggu (Wang Chung-ku) at Datong (Tatung). A new Ming emperor was ready to reverse the hostile relations between China and the Chahar Mongols.

Thus he treated the Mongol defector as a guest, assured Altan Khan of the young man’s safety, and began negotiations that culminated in a settlement in 1571. It provided for the establishing of many trading points along the Great Wall of China and a Chinese title for Altan Khan as the Prince Shunyi (which means “compliant and righteous prince”).

Altan Khan also played an important role in the religion of the Mongols. Tibetan Buddhism had won increasing numbers of converts among Mongols since Kubilai Khan’s acceptance of that faith in the late 13th century.

In 1577, the head of the Yellow Hat Sect in Tibet visited Mongolia. Altan Khan used the occasion to declare Tibetan Buddhism the official religion of all Mongols and conferred on that cleric the title Dalai Lama, which means “lama of infinite wisdom” in Mongol.

The title was conferred retroactively on that lama’s two predecessors and is carried by his successors to the present. In return, the Dalai Lama conferred on Altan Khan the title king of religion. Thus began the close relationship between the Mongols and the Yellow Hat Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

In 1589 Altan Khan’s great grandson was proclaimed the reincarnation of the third Dalai Lama, becoming his successor as the fourth Dalai Lama. He was the only non-Tibetan to hold that title. The Mongol-Tibetan axis that resulted has persisted to the present and plays an important role in the politics of Inner Asia.

Significantly the so-called conquest changed Mongols from ferocious warriors to pious lamas and laymen, effectively ending their dreams of future conquest. Altan Khan’s early raids struck fear to the Chinese over the revival of Mongol militarism, but his conversion and that of his followers to Tibetan Buddhism ended that threat.

Zheng Chenggong (Cheng Ch’eng-Kung)

Zheng Chenggong

Zheng Chenggong (or Koxinga) led the longest and most sustained opposition to the Qing (Ch’ing) conquest of China, first from the southern Chinese coast, later from Taiwan after he expelled the Dutch from their forts on the island. His sons held on to Taiwan against Qing forces until 1683.

The Ming dynasty (1368–1644), long in decline, collapsed in 1644, when the last emperor and his family killed themselves rather than suffer capture by the rebel forces of Li Zicheng (Li Tzu-ch’eng).

General Wu Sangui (Wu San-kuei), the Ming general guarding the eastern terminus of the Great Wall of China, then asked the Manchus in the northeast to help him to oust the rebels. As Wu pursued the rebels, the Manchu leader, Prince Dorgon, installed his nephew on the vacant throne as Emperor Shunzi (Shun-chih) of the Qing dynasty.


While northern China was quickly pacified, Ming loyalists resisted tenaciously in the Yangzi (Yangtze) River valley and throughout southern China. Several Ming princes were elevated to be emperors or “caretaker rulers” to rally loyalists against the alien rule. The kala up to 1662 is called the Southern Ming when the last Ming pretender was killed.

An important supporter of the first Southern Ming emperor was Zheng Zhilong (Cheng Chihlung), who controlled a powerful mercantile empire and large fleet that operated along the southern coast of China and Japan.

One of his sons by a Japanese mother so impressed the Ming prince of Tang (T’ang) who became the Longwu (Lung-wu) emperor that in 1646 he conferred on him the imperial surname Zhu (Chu) and also gave him the name Chenggong which means “successful.”

He came to be known as Lord of the imperial surname, from which the Dutch derivation Koxinga comes. In China he was called Zheng Chenggong. Zheng Zhilong defected to the Manchus in 1646, but his son remained faithful to his pledge to defend the Ming.

With his base in Amoy and the nearby island of Jinmen (Quemoy), Zheng gained control of Fujian (Fukien) province. He also expanded his trading empire to raise revenue for his cause. In 1658, his fleet of 1,000 ships and 130,000 soldiers raided the coast of Zhejiang (Chekiang) province.

It sailed up the Yangzi River in 1659 to attack Nanjing (Nanking), the southern capital of the Ming dynasty, hoping that the action would rally Ming loyalists to rise up in rebellion. It did not happen and facing Qing counterattack he withdrew across the sea to Taiwan.

There he forced the Dutch East India Company (Indonesia/Batavia) to surrender its Fort Zeelandia in southern Taiwan, ending its presence on the island. Zheng died in 1662 (his father and some relatives who had surrendered to the Qing were executed in 1661 for failing to persuade him to surrender), but his son Zheng Ching continued to resist.

To deprive the Zheng forces from obtaining supplies from the mainland coast the Qing had to adopt draconian measures, forcing inhabitants in Fujian to relocate at least 20 miles inland and forbidding ships to take off from southern coastal ports. In 1683, Taiwan was conquered by the Qing and made a part of Fujian Province. With the fall of Taiwan the Qing dynasty completed the conquest of China.

Zheng Chenggong, or Koxinga, is honored in Chinese and Japanese folklore as a brave commander. He is also respected as a Ming loyalist.

Dorgon

Prince Dorgon

Dorgon was regent for his nephew between 1644 and 1650. He seized the opportunity offered by Ming general Wu Sangui (Wu San-kuei) to lead the Manchu forces inside the Great Wall and together to defeat the rebels who had seized Beijing (Peking) that ended the Ming dynasty.

After defeating the rebels Dorgon placed his six-year-old nephew on the vacant throne. With this act, the Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty was transformed from a frontier state to a national dynasty of all China.

When Manchu leader Abahai died in 1643, the Manchu clan leaders assembled to elect a new ruler among his sons. Dorgon, Abahai’s younger brother and the most able among the princes, successfully maneuvered to have five-year-old Fulin (Fulin) elected ruler, rather than an older son, so that he could be regent.

An able statesman and warrior, Dorgon continued to consolidate central power and strengthened the bureaucratic style government established by his brother. As the weakening Ming dynasty was threatened by internal revolts Abahai prepared to invade north China.


In April 1644, a rebel army led by Li Zucheng (Li Tsu-ch’eng) advanced on the capital city Beijing (Peking), taking the city before General Wu Sangui and his troops stationed at Shanhaiguan (Shanhaikuan) at the eastern terminus of the Great Wall of China could arrive to defend the city.

General Wu then invited the Manchus to assist him against the rebels, an invitation that Dorgon was delighted to accept. Prince Dorgon and Wu ousted the rebels and entered the city with their joint forces on June 6, 1644.

While Wu and some Manchu units chased down the rebels, Dorgon remained in Beijing, buried the last Ming emperor and empress (who had committed suicide) with honor, declared that the Manchus had come to restore order, and placed his young nephew on the vacant throne as Emperor Shunzi (Shun-chih).

He thus established a new national dynasty, the Qing (Ch’ing), that would last until 1911. He also confirmed most Ming officials in their positions, including the Jesuits who headed the Board of Astronomy; reduced taxes; and forbade Manchu imperial clansmen from interfering in administration.

The defeat of Li and other rebels and immediate reforms won over many northern Chinese although it took several decades to end Ming loyalist movements in southern China. However one of Dorgon’s orders, that all Han Chinese men wear their hair in a queue as Manchu men did, greatly irritated Chinese sensibilities.

Dorgon was a forceful direktur but his arrogance and autocratic style alienated many. He gave himself increasingly exalted titles, such as “Imperial Father Regent,” but was frustrated that he could not become emperor.

A showdown between Dorgon and his nephew never occurred because he died in 1650 during a hunting trip. Shunzi then took over personal control but continued the successful policies of his uncle. Thus while Nurhaci and Abahai prepared the way for the rise of the Manchus, it was Dorgon who seized the opportunity to realize it.

Abahai Khan - Manchu Military

Abahai Khan - Manchu Military

Abahai (also named Hung Taiji) was the eighth son of Nurhaci, a Jurchen tribal chieftain who founded the Manchu state in what is today northeastern China. Elected by the Hosoi Beile, or council of clan princes and nobles, in 1623 to be his father’s successor, Abahai built upon his father’s foundations for a Manchu state during the last years of China’s Ming dynasty. In 1644, his son was proclaimed emperor of the Qing (Ch’ing) dynasty, assuming leadership of China as the Ming dynasty collapsed.

The Jurchen tribal people who lived in Manchuria, a frontier region of the Chinese Ming Empire, did not recognize the right of firstborn sons to succeed their fathers. Because of this, all the ruler’s sons were eligible to succeed him in an election by their fellow tribal leaders.

Abahai was elected and continued his father’s unfinished work. He expanded the powerful Banner Army that consisted of Manchu, Mongol, and Han Chinese units and used it to consolidate control of the Liaoyang area in southern Manchuria.

Next he used his military forces to subjugate Korea, forcing its government to transfer its vassal relationship from the Ming dynasty to him. Abahai then conquered the Amur region of northern Manchuria and the Mongols of eastern Mongolia. His next move was to set up a civil administration in the capital city of Shenyang in 1631.


The six ministries and other institutions he implemented were copied from the Ming government, and he staffed them with many Han Chinese administrators. In 1635, he gave his people a new name, Manchu (from Jurchen), and changed his dynastic name from Hou Jin (Hou Chin, adopted by Nurhaci, which means “Later Jin,” after the Jin dynasty that ruled northern China 1115–1234).

By this act, he disssociated his dynasty with the Jin, who had conquered northern China after much bloodshed. Instead he adopted the dynastic name Qing (or Ch’ing, which means “pure”), and he assumed the title emperor rather than khan, which had been his father’s title, because of its nomadic associations.

In 1640, Abahai attacked Jinzhou (Chinchow) at the southern tip of Manchuria, defeating a Ming force. This victory brought the Manchus to the key eastern pass of the Great Wall, Shanhaiguan (Shanhaikuan, or Mountain and Sea Pass). However, this formidable fortress was defended by a strong Ming army, and Abahai was not ready to challenge it. He died in 1643 before he could do so.

Abahai continued his father, Nurhaci’s, work of building up Manchu power, and he transformed the Manchus from a frontier tribal vassal of the Ming Empire to become its rival. Under his rule, a collaborative relationship developed among the Manchus, the Mongols, and the Han, or ethnic, Chinese.

The adoption of the Chinese model of a bureaucratic administration and its inclusion of Han Chinese would characterize the Qing Dynasty and account for its success in conquering and ruling China.

Nanjing (Nanking)

Nanjing (Nanking)

Nanjing means “southern capital” in Chinese. The city that is currently named Nanjing has had several names through history, and several other cities in China have also had that name. It is located on the southern bank of the Yangzi (Yangtze) River in a rich agricultural plain, close to the sea.

When China split three ways after the fall of the Han dynasty in 220 c.e., one of the states called Wu that controlled the Yangzi valley and the southern coast set up its capital at Nanjing; Wu was destroyed in 280.

Chaotic conditions in China led to successive invasions by nomads called the Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu) and Toba (T’o-pa), who destroyed the two capitals of the Han dynasty, Luoyang (Loyang) in 311 and Chang’an (Ch’ang-an) in 316.


For the next two and half centuries China was divided, the Xiongnu and other nomadic tribes ruling the north, while Chinese refugees from the north set up dynasties in the south. This masa is known as the masa of Division of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, during which Nanjing was capital of the southern dynasties.

As a result Nanjing gained the position as the bastion of Chinese rule, while nomadic barbarians ruled the north. In the 10th century, when China was again briefly divided, Nanjing was capital of one of the southern states.

When the Jurchen Jin (Chin) dynasty (a nomadic tribe from Manchuria) defeated the Song (Sung) dynasty and conquered northern China in 1127, the remnant Song court fled south and briefly established its capital in Nanjing. But it was vulnerable to Jin attacks and the Southern Song finally chose to establish its court in Hangzhou (Hangchou), located still farther south.

Linggu Temple

In mid-14th century, as the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1279–1368) was disintegrating, many rebel groups rose up in southern China. The most successful and farsighted rebel leader was Zhu Yuanzhang (Chu Yuanchang), who established his headquarters in Nanjing in 1356. By 1368 the Mongols had been driven back to Mongolia, and China was under the Ming dynasty (Ming means “brilliant”).

Zhu, now called Emperor Hongwu (Hung-wu), which means “Bountiful Warrior,” was concerned that Nanjing had never been the capital of unified China. He briefly considered making Kaifeng (K’aifeng) the Song capital, the capital city again, but he settled on Nanjing.

A great city wall 25 miles long was completed that incorporated sections of earlier walls, extended to the shores of the Yangzi River. It averaged 40 feet high and was 25 feet wide at the top, built on foundations of huge slabs of stones that could withstand gunpowder barrages.

Zhonghua gate

The walls were faced with large fired bricks and filled with rubble. There were 13 gates with immense multiple portcullis gate enclosures, topped by gate towers. Construction of palaces and government buildings continued to the end of Emperor Hongwu’s reign in 1398.

Civil war erupted when Hongwu’s grandson and successor was challenged by his uncle the prince of Yan (Yen), whose army took Nanjing in 1402. The prince of Yan became Emperor Yongle (Yung-lo), and because his power base was in the north and Nanjing held bad memories for him, he had the ruined Yuan capital Dadu (T’a-tu) rebuilt; it became capital of the Ming dynasty, called Beijing (Peking). Nanjing remained the second capital, but no Ming emperor resided there again.

An Lushan (An Lu-Shan) Rebellion

An Lushan (An Lu-Shan) Rebellion

The An Lushan Rebellion (755–763 c.e.) occurred at the midpoint of the Tang (T’ang) dynasty, 618–909, and marked a significant turning point in the fortunes of the regime. The rebellion marked the Tang’s irreversible decline after one and half centuries of good governance, economic prosperity, and military success. An Lushan’s (703–757) beginnings were humble.

He was half Sogdian and half Turk, of the Khitan tribe, and was born beyond the Great Wall of China in present-day Manchuria. At an early age he was sold to a Chinese officer of the northern garrison and rose to the rank of general and commander of a region on the northeastern frontier of the Tang empire. By the mid-eighth century c.e. most of the frontier garrisons were under foreign (non–Han Chinese) generals.

An was introduced to the court of the aging Emperor Xuanzong (Hsuan-tsung, also known as Minghuang, or “Brilliant Emperor”) and rapidly ingratiated himself to his young favorite concubine, the Lady Yang (known by her title Yang Guifei, or Kuei-fei; Guifei means “Exalted Consort”) who adopted him as her son. Gross and fat, An became a frequenter at court events, entertaining the emperor and his harem with his clowning and uncouth behavior.


He was rewarded with the title of prince and given command of the empire’s best troops. Protected by Lady Yang and her brother who was chief minister of the empire, reports of General An’s treacherous intentions were not only unheeded by the emperor but the men who reported them were punished.

In 755 c.e. General An rose in rebellion. At the head of 150,000 troops, among them tribal units (he commanded a total of 200,000 troops), he marched from his base near modern Beijing toward the heartland of the empire. His success was immediate. The eastern capital, Luoyang (Loyang), fell.

With the main capital Chang’an (Ch’ang-an), poorly defended by unseasoned troops, Xuanzong and his court beat a hasty retreat, heading for refuge in the southwestern province of Sichuan (Szechwan). En route the dispirited troops escorting the emperor mutinied. They blamed Lady Yang and her brother the chief minister for their plight, killed him, and forced the emperor to hand Yang over to them and strangled her.

These humiliations led to the abdication of Xuanzong and the ascension of his son and crown prince as Emperor Suzong (Su-tsung). The doting, aged emperor’s love for his favorite, his neglect of his duties and indulgence in a sybaritic life with Lady Yang, the disastrous consequences of their love, their flight, and her tragic death have inspired many poems by famous Tang poets and were the subject of many paintings.

An Lushan’s troops entered Chang’an unopposed, and he proclaimed himself emperor, but his rebellion made little progress after that. He soon became blind and was murdered by his son in 757 c.e. The son, too, was murdered by one of his generals, and soon the rebellion degenerated into chaotic civil war as some of his early supporters defected and other rebels bands rose as opportunities offered.

The new emperor rallied loyal troops who outnumbered the rebels, but were scattered in different garrisons. He also obtained help from former vassals and allies, most notably from a Turkic tribe called the Uighurs and others in Central Asia, and even some Arab troops sent by the Islamic caliph.

Some of the help came at a high price, for example the Uighur khan who twice helped to recapture Luoyang was repaid by permission for his men to rampage through and loot the city, including the palaces and Buddhist temples, and which cost thousands of lives.

Peace was finally restored in 766; however, the empire would never recover its previous prestige and prosperity. The following are some important results of the rebellion:

1. Growing importance of the army and military leaders. The army expanded to over 750,000 men. The military would remain a significant force, and regional commanders would become powerful and able to resist central control.
2. Restructuring of provincial administrations that became semiautonomous through the remainder of the dynasty. This is especially significant in the decreasing amounts of revenue that local authorities would turn over to the central government, further curtailing its authority.
3. Ending the land registration and distribution system in effect since the beginning of the dynasty that had ensured economic equity for the cultivators, maintained local infrastructure projects, and provided men for military service.
4. Accelerating the large-scale shift of population from war ravaged areas in the Yellow River valley in northern China to southern provinces in the Huai and Yangzi (Yangtze) valleys whose productivity became crucial to the economy of the empire.
5. Grievous loss of territory in the border regions because troops were withdrawn to defend the core of the empire. Central Asia was lost to Chinese control, as were Gansu (Kansu) and Ningxia (Ninghsia) Provinces. Both crucial links to the western regions. were lost to the rising Tibetan state.

Nothing about the An Lushan rebellion was inevitable. However, it caused enormous disruption to the Tang Empire and acted as a powerful catalyst for the changes that characterized the Chinese world. Although the dynasty survived until 909 c.e. it never regained the prestige and power it had enjoyed before the rebellion.

Liao Dynasty

Liao Dynasty

The Liao dynasty (916–1125) was founded and ruled by a people called Khitan (Ch’i-tan), originally hunter-gatherers living in southern Manchuria along the Liao River valley, who gradually learned farming and herding. The Khitan were vassals of the Chinese Tang (T’ang) dynasty (618–907) in an unstable relationship.

Because of their location on the frontier of the Chinese empire, they were also involved with other nomadic groups, most notably the Turks. In the ninth century around 50 Khitan tribes coalesced under the dominant Yelu (Yeh-lu) clan, transforming them into a dynastic state.

The Khitan religion was shamanism, many of whose features were retained even after they adopted Buddhism in the ninth century. Scholars still debate over the linguistic affiliation of the Khitan language, which was probably traceable to several sources: Mongolian, Turkic, and Tungustic. Because there was no written Khitan until the 10th century, early records of them were solely from Chinese sources that go back to the fourth century.


A written script was first invented in 920, called the Khitan Greater Script, adapted from Chinese, but was not mutually intelligible and is mostly deciphered. A Khitan Lesser Script adapted from Uighur writing was invented in 924. Texts carved on stone in both scripts exist alongside Chinese texts; therefore some of the words have been deciphered. Written Khitan was not used after the dynasty fell and died out.

Khitan Expansion

The Khitan seized the opportunity offered by a disintegrating Tang dynasty to begin their expansion. In 901 a powerful Khitan chief led an army of his people and began to conquer into northeastern China, seizing 16 prefectures in present Hebei (Hopei) province, including the city that would later be called Beijing.

In 907 the chief of the Yelu tribe named Abaoji (A-po-chi) assumed the title of emperor and proclaimed his state the Great Liao. He created a dual empire, part sedentary and part nomadic. The sedentary part was called “south-facing”; it was bureaucratic, headed by a southern chancellor, and staffed by Han Chinese who had surrendered to him.

It would rule the sedentary Han Chinese people under the Liao, based on a modified and harsher version of Tang laws. The southern chancellery’s task was to collect taxes from the Chinese subjects and to oversee their production of items the Khitan court required. The Tang style examination system was even instituted later, but the Chinese were treated as a subservient caste.

Chinese people were recruited to serve in the infantry that supported the Khitan cavalry and as a labor corps. The Khitan tribal people were to retain their tribal and nomadic traditions under a “north-facing” administration headed by a northern chancellor. They were ruled under their tribal laws. This dual system of government functioned for 200 years.

Abaoji built walled cities throughout his lands. He also built five walled capital cities. The Supreme Capital was in central Manchuria, where the Khitan people originated according to their legend. The Eastern Capital was also built in central Manchuria, where modern Liaoyang is located.

A Central Capital was 100 miles south of the Supreme Capital and its function was to administer a newly conquered tribe; the Western Capital was the old Chinese city Datong (Ta-tung) along the Great Wall of China in modern Shanxi (Shansi) province. The Southern Capital was the renamed Chinese city called Yan (Yen), at modern Beijing. Even though the cities conformed to Chinese concepts of city planning, large areas were left vacant to accommodate the yurts (tents) of the Khitan.

Sinicization of the Khitan

The Liao court moved from capital to capital, reminiscent of their nomadic ways. Despite resistance to Sinicization, the Khitan adopted many Chinese ways and began to enjoy the numerous luxuries their Chinese subjects offered. On the other hand such Khitan customs as the levirate (a man’s right to take his brother’s widows as his wives) and the sacrifice of many human victims when an important man died continued.

Even Abaoji’s powerful chief wife, who was also mother to his heirs, was asked to kill herself to be buried with him. She refused, claiming that her young adult sons still needed her guidance, but cut off one of her hands to be buried with her husband.

Nor did the Khitan fully adopt the Chinese rule of succession by primogeniture (where the eldest son of a ruler’s wife succeeded him on the throne) but continued to select one among the deceased man’s sons by consensus and acclamation, with the result that murderous succession struggles followed each ruler’s death, causing political instability.

Whereas few Chinese learned Khitan, the elite among the Khitan soon became fluent in written Chinese. Chinese was the international diplomatic language among the East Asian states and all treaties and diplomatic correspondence were in Chinese. Even the Northern Chancellery produced few if any documents in Khitan, and there are no drafts in Khitan of Liao correspondence with the Song (Sung).

The educated Khitan had much to gain from learning Chinese because of the abundance of written works produced in that language. When most Khitan became Buddhists in the 10th century, learning Chinese also gave them access to the teachings of Buddhism. In time the Khitan elite came to call those of their own people who strictly adhered to their nomadic traditions as “wild Khitan.”

In the 10th century the Liao state confronted two enemies among its sedentary neighbors. One was Korea, where a long-lasting dynasty was established over the unified peninsula in 918 called the Koryo dynasty. It would last until 1392. Liao invaded Koryo in the 890s and 990s and forced the Koryo kings to become Liao vassals, following the widely accepted Chinese tradition of interstate relations with its neighbors.

Liao and Song (Sung) Relations

Liao’s main neighbor and adversary was the Song (Sung) dynasty in China (960–1279). The initial peaceful relationship between the Song and Liao ended in 979 when Song emperor Taizong (T’ang-tsung) attempted to recover the 16 prefectures in the Beijing area the Liao had earlier conquered. He was beaten back, and later for a second time. In 1004 the two sides finally made a peace treaty, called the Treaty of Sangyuan.

It fixed their borders to reflect Liao’s control of the 16 prefectures, stipulated the opening of several markets for trade between the two states, and declared the two states equal to each other and their rulers as “brother” sovereigns; both promised not to build fortifications along their border. Significantly the Song agreed to give the Liao annually 100,000 ounces of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk.

Song records called it a “gift” to save face and argued that the cost was cheaper than war. The Liao however called the mandatory one-way gift a “tribute.” A new treaty between the two in 1042 increased the Song mandatory gift by 100,000 units in each category, justified in official Song accounts as “extending gentle kindness to faraway peoples to win the hearts.”

The century-long stability between the Song and Liao after the Treaty of Sangyuan provided stability and prosperity for both states. Until 1031 strong rulers with long reigns also ensured Liao power. Thereafter rulers of lesser ability, some youths, ascended the throne.

The lack of a certain set of rules on succession resulted in power struggles within the ruling Yelu clan and among its allied clans that weakened the monarchy. The Liao state was further weakened by the unresolved strains caused by factions that either supported or opposed Sinicization.

The Liao also had to deal with nomadic tribal groups along its frontier. North of the Khitan homeland there lived a primitive people called the Jurchen, who began their entry into history as the oppressed vassals of the Khitan.

Then appeared a powerful Jurchen chieftain named Wanyen Aguda (Wan-yen A-ku-ta ) (1068–1124), who coalesced his fierce warrior followers in eastern Manchuria and began raiding Liao outposts. In 1114 he defeated a Liao army sent against him. Emboldened he proclaimed himself emperor of the Jin (Chin) dynasty in the following year.

The Jurchen had long sent tributes to the Song, traveling by sea to the Song controlled coast in order to bypass Liao territory. Since both Song and the Jurchen had long held grudges against the Liao, they made a treaty jointly to attack the Liao and destroy it totally, then to share the spoils. Mainly because of the fighting qualities of the Jurchen warriors and with little assistance from the Song, the Liao dynasty ended in 1125.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president from 1933 to 1945. He greatly expanded presidential authority, together with his policies infuriated conservatives who saw them every bit evidence of a deeper conspiracy to increment presidential ability together with undermine the Constitution.

His domestic policy (the “New Deal”) dramatically increased federal regime ability inwards an endeavor to halt the Great Depression, together with his unusual policy sought cooperation amongst Stalin inwards social club to deter together with eventually defeat fascist aggression.

Conservatives constructed numerous conspiracy theories approximately these policies, since they regarded the New Deal every bit despotic together with unconstitutional, together with cooperation amongst Stalin every bit naïve or treasonous. Conspiracy theorizing nearly FDR crested inwards the 1950s, although attacks on the New Deal together with his unusual policy move on fifty-fifty today.


Conspiracy theories were possibly inevitable given FDR’s leadership style: subtle, devious, together with disingenuous, he told unlike people unlike things, together with hated having his discussions documented. The historical tape is thence unclear plenty to permit widely divergent interpretations, including views of FDR every bit the primary manipulator.

FDR was born inwards 1882 together with educated at Groton, Harvard, together with Columbia. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 lifelong Democrat, FDR entered New York State’s senate inwards 1910. Appointed assistant secretarial assistant of the navy nether President Wilson, FDR favored U.S. interest inwards World War I together with the League of Nations. FDR ran for vice-president inwards 1920, when the Republicans won a crushing victory.

Polio permanently paralyzed his legs inwards 1921, simply undaunted, he spent the 1920s involved inwards internationalist causes together with Democratic politics. He became governor of New York inwards 1929, was elected president inwards 1932, together with was so reelected 3 times, together with died inwards Apr 1945.

In the 1930s, leftist conspiracy theorists feared that Wall Street financiers together with industrialists would sponsor a fascist coup. Some observers considered that Wall Street (or the Mafia) was behind the Feb 1933 assault that narrowly missed FDR together with mortally wounded Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, simply most considered the perpetrator, Giuseppe Zangara, a “lone nut.”

Communist journalist John L. Spivak claimed that inwards 1934 Wall Street plotted to supervene upon FDR amongst a fascist dictatorship nether marine full general Smedley Butler. The plot collapsed when Butler betrayed the cabal to Congress—though when forced to testify, the alleged conspirators naturally denied Butler’s accusations. Spivak’s argument that “Jewish finance” was behind the Butler affair—and was financing Hitler—casts considerable dubiety on the credibility of his assertions.

Some leftists held that Wall Street was behind the far-right Father Charles Coughlin, the Liberty League, together with a supposed coup plot past times General Douglas MacArthur. Many Marxists, however, considered Wall Street opposition to FDR a sham. Marxists viewed FDR every bit Wall Street’s lackey, since the New Deal co-opted liberalism, defused revolutionary discontent, together with “saved capitalism” for Wall Street.

Conservatives believed that the New Deal was a socialist conspiracy to “collectivize America” together with tighten federal command of the economy, education, together with the individual. Ever since the 1930s, moderates together with extremists possess got regarded the New Deal every bit the root of pernicious “big government.” Extremists, however, considered that the Soviets together with their traitors within the U.S. regime excessively influenced FDR’s policies.

In their view, FDR was either a naïve dupe (or a willing tool) of communism. The John Birch Society believed FDR was the animate beingness of the “Insiders,” a grouping of financiers who command the USA through front end organizations similar the Federal Reserve together with Council on Foreign Relations. The Insiders wanted to cooperate amongst the Soviet Union to practice a one-world government, together with FDR supposedly aided the Soviets to advance this goal.

In the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy agitated against an “immense” Communist conspiracy to infiltrate the Roosevelt together with Truman administrations. For decades thereafter, leftists successfully argued that McCarthy was a demagogue who manufactured evidence together with slandered innocents for partisan together with mutual frigidity state of war purposes. They viewed McCarthyism, non Communism, every bit the existent danger to the United States.

In the 1990s, however, declassified National Security Agency intercepts (“Venona”) together with KGB archives proved that hundreds of U.S. traitors nether Soviet command penetrated the Roosevelt administration. These traitors infiltrated the White House, State Department, Treasury Department, together with the Manhattan Project, amid other organizations.

Venona did non prove all of McCarthy’s claims, together with provided no back upward for his wild assertions that Roosevelt was a traitor or abetted communism, simply McCarthy’s many imitation charges obscured the truth together with greatly hindered anticommunism past times allowing existent traitors to portray themselves every bit innocent victims of McCarthyite hysteria. Venona proved that Communist traitors were a existent danger, together with that they transferred of import data together with technology scientific discipline to the Soviets.

The Soviets bought U.S. technology scientific discipline every bit good every bit stealing it. From 1929 to 1941, U.S. assistance dramatically enhanced Soviet industrial evolution together with completely modernized Soviet heavy industry. American technology scientific discipline together with preparation contributed to over two-thirds of the major Soviet industrial enterprises built inwards the 1930s.

Far-right theorists attributed this assistance to Communist infiltration of the U.S. government, to blind Wall Street greed, together with to the Insiders’ long-term programme for a one-world govern- ment. Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 to a greater extent than compelling explanation was the evident necessitate to strengthen the Soviet Union against futurity High German together with Japanese aggression.

This necessitate became peculiarly urgent afterwards Nippon invaded Manchuria inwards 1931 together with Hitler assumed ability inwards 1933. From 1941 to 1945, Soviet arms produced inwards U.S.–modernized factories destroyed Hitler’s Wehrmacht, proving the wisdom of these technology scientific discipline transfers.

U.S. entry into World War II provided fertile footing for conspiracy theory. “Revisionists” argued that “establishment” histories were a whitewash that needed revision. They asserted that afterwards state of war erupted inwards Europe, Roosevelt sought pretexts for U.S. participation.

He subverted neutrality legislation, provided coin together with equipment to Britain, together with fought an undeclared state of war against High German submarines inwards the Atlantic. Revisionists claimed that when Hitler refused to convey the bait, FDR maneuvered Nippon into attacking Pearl Harbor.

In 1947, George Morgenstern wrote the “classic” Pearl Harbor move of revisionist history. Since then, other revisionists similar Stinnett possess got added details to his argument. Revisionists claimed that, inwards 1941, FDR embargoed Japanese fossil oil together with made intolerable diplomatic demands inwards social club to strength Nippon to attack.

FDR knew the Pacific Fleet was vulnerable inwards Pearl Harbor, together with knew—through decoded Japanese transmissions—where together with when Nippon would attack. FDR, the revisionists assert, withheld vital tidings from commanders inwards Honolulu, because an warning at that topographic point would campaign Nippon to cancel the attack.

Sacrificing the “tethered goat” at Pearl Harbor brought the USA into the state of war together with ensured wartime unity. Afterwards, Roosevelt successfully deflected blame for the assault from himself onto the commanders inwards Hawaii.

Revisionists were ignored or reviled inwards the 1940s together with 1950s, since they variety dubiety on the prevailing internationalist unusual policy consensus together with attacked FDR, a liberal icon. In 1962, Roberta Wohlstetter produced a counterargument to revisionism.

She believed that conflicting “signals” together with “noise” confused U.S. tidings analysts earlier Pearl Harbor (“signals” were evidence of Japanese intentions to assault Pearl Harbor, together with “noise” was evidence of Japanese plans to assault elsewhere).

Most historians accepted her thesis that America’s prewar tidings apparatus was also poorly organized to position the correct data together inwards fourth dimension to warn Honolulu. Unfortunately, many commentators focused non on the facts, simply on personally attacking the revisionists, scorning them every bit right-wing paranoid extremists who hated the New Deal.

Interestingly, inwards the 1970s, revisionism gained currency on the Left, afterwards Vietnam together with Watergate increased distrust of the government. Some leftists today convey the Pearl Harbor revisionist declaration because they believe that analogously, President Bush knew the September xi attacks were coming together with allow them happen.

FDR’s wartime diplomacy provided additional conspiracy fodder. Rightists argued that FDR “sold out” China together with Eastern Europe into “Communist enslavement” at the Feb 1945 Yalta Conference. Most rightists attributed this to the pernicious influence of traitors similar Alger Hiss together with Harry Hopkins, although some defendant FDR of deliberate appeasement.

This fixation on Yalta was odd, since FDR genuinely made the crucial decisions on Eastern Europe at the 1943 Teheran Conference. Historian Warren Kimball convincingly showed that FDR’s wartime diplomacy reflected non treason or naïveté, simply a consistent strategy designed to make a peaceful postwar footing order.

FDR died of a cerebral hemorrhage, simply manifestly Stalin suspected assassination. Fletcher Prouty (the old Air Force officeholder together with Pentagon insider who was the model for Mr. X inwards Oliver Stone’s film, JFK) alleged that Stalin told FDR’s son, Elliott Roosevelt, that British tidings poisoned FDR.

Some rightists believed that Stalin poisoned FDR, although right-wing claims that FDR was Stalin’s dupe should Pb to the conclusion that Stalin had no motive to kill FDR.