Historical Dictionary of Medieval China

850 Pages·2008·26.4 MB·English

by  Victor Cunrui Xiong

Historical Dictionaries of Ancient Civilizations
and Historical Eras
Series editor: Jon Woronoff
1. Ancient Egypt, Morris L. Bierbrier, 1999.
2. Ancient Mesoamerica, Joel W. Palka, 2000.
3. Pre-Colonial Africa, Robert O. Collins, 2001.
4. Byzantium, John H. Rosser, 2001.
5. Medieval Russia, Lawrence N. Langer, 2001.
6. Napoleonic Era, George F. Nafziger, 2001.
7. Ottoman Empire, Selcuk Aksin Somel, 2003.
8. Mongol World Empire, Paul D. Buell, 2003.
9. Mesopotamia, Gwendolyn Leick, 2003.
10. Ancient and Medieval Nubia, Richard A. Lobban Jr., 2003.
11. The Vikings, Katherine Holman, 2003.
12. The Renaissance, Charles G. Nauert, 2004.
13. Ancient Israel, Niels Peter Lemche, 2004.
14. The Hittites, Charles Burney, 2004.
15. Early North America, Cameron B. Wesson, 2005.
16. The Enlightenment, Harvey Chisick, 2005.
17. Cultural Revolution, Guo Jian, Yongyi Song, and Yuan Zhou,
2006.
18. Ancient Southeast Asia, John N. Miksic, 2007.
19. Medieval China, Victor Cunrui Xiong, 2009.

Historical Dictionary of
Medieval China
Edited by
Victor Cunrui Xiong
Historical Dictionaries of Ancient
Civilizations and Historical Eras, No. 19
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
2009
SCARECROW PRESS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright © 2009 by Victor Cunrui Xiong
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Xiong, Victor Cunrui.
Historical dictionary of medieval China / Victor Cunrui Xiong.
p. cm. — (Historical dictionaries of ancient civilizations and historical
eras ; 19)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-6053-7 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8108-6053-8 (alk. paper)
1. China–History–220-589–Dictionaries. 2. China–History–Sui dynasty,
581-618–Dictionaries. 3. China–History–Tang dynasty, 618-907–Dictionaries. I.
Title.
DS748.17.X58 2008
951’.0103–dc22 2007033603
 ™
paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Contents
Editor’s Foreword (Jon Woronoff) vii
Conventions, Symbols, and Oft-used Chinese Terms ix
Abbreviations xi
Maps xiii
Map 1. Three Kingdoms, ad 262. Based on Tan v. 3:3–4. xiv
Map 2. Western Jin, ad 281. Based on Tan v. 3:33–34. xvi
Map 3. Later Qin, Western Qin, Northern Wei,
and others, ad 409. Based on Tan v. 4:15–16. xviii
Map 4. Liu-Song and Northern Wei, ad 449.
Based on Tan v. 4:17–18. xx
Map 5. Qi and Northern Wei, ad 497. Based on
Tan v. 4:19–20. xxii
Map 6. Liang, Eastern Wei, and Western Wei,
ad 546. Based on Tan v. 4:21–22. xxiii
Map 7. Chen, Northern Qi, and Northern Zhou,
ad 572. Based on Tan v. 4:23–24. xxiv
Map 8. Sui Dynasty, ad 612. Based on Tan v. 5:3–4. xxvi
Map 9. Tang Dynasty (1), ad 741. Based on
Tan v. 5:34–35. xxviii
Map 10. Tang Dynasty (2), ad 820. Based on
Tan v. 5:38–39. xxx
Map 11. Five Dynasties, mid-10th century ad.
Based on Tan v. 5:82–83, 86, 89, 90, 91, 93. xxxii
Index to Maps 1–11 xxxiii

i • contents
Dynastic Periods lxxxv
Chronology lxxxvii
Introduction 1
The Dictionary 37
Bibliography 703
Reign Periods 719
About the Author 731
Editor’s Foreword
History everywhere, but most particularly in China, is not just about
the past but also the present. It is impossible to view the terribly long
period of disunity and strife during the medieval era without imagining
how this affected other, later periods of disunity and strife, and also the
thinking of the present regime, and even much of the population, for
whom unity has a special meaning. Starting in the late second century
and ending late in the 10th century, the Middle Kingdom was often a
battlefield for rival rulers. National unity was only achieved briefly
under the Western Jin before the rise of the Sui and Tang empires. In
the mid-eighth century, the Tang collapsed and subsequently sank into
the chaotic period of the Five Dynasties. Yet, despite all this, this period
of eight centuries was crucial in shaping Chinese society, culture, and
religion, and left a deep imprint that has not been erased by more than
half a century of communism.
Events in Medieval China were tumultuous at the time, with numer-
ous leaders—hereditary or self-anointed—springing up in various parts
of the country, emanating from both Han and non-Han peoples, and
creating empires, kingdoms, and lesser domains that expanded and
then contracted, sometimes holding on, other times just collapsing to be
replaced by other leaders and other polities. This means that it is also
extremely confusing for present observers, who would have incred-
ible difficulty in following the events and identifying the leaders and
peoples. So the need for the Historical Dictionary of Medieval China
is fairly obvious, and it certainly does help sort things out. First, the
events are traced in a chronology and then the introduction provides a
more logical overall view. But it is the dictionary section that is most
important—with more than 4,700 entries, including cross references,
on the leaders and dynasties, kingdoms and other units, major cities
and battles, and also key features of the economic, social, cultural, and
iiii
iii • editor’s foreword
religious background. And the maps help one to follow the shifting
frontiers. This book can obviously be no more than a starting point,
albeit a very useful one, and further information can be sought through
the bibliography.
This latest addition to the series of Historical Dictionaries of Ancient
Civilizations and Historical Eras was written by Victor Cunrui Xiong.
Dr. Xiong is a specialist on Medieval China, on which he lectures and
writes. He has published numerous professional articles in leading jour-
nals and also written book chapters on premodern Chinese history as
well as two books on the subject at hand, Sui-Tang Chang’an: A Study
in the Urban History of Medieval China and Emperor Yang of the Sui
Dynasty: His Life, Times, and Legacy. In addition, he was the editor of
the journal Early Medieval China. Without such a background, he could
not possibly have produced such an extensive and thorough guide to
the period, one which may well become indispensable to generations of
students and on occasion even their teachers.
Jon Woronoff
Series Editor
Conventions, Symbols, and
Oft-used Chinese Terms
( ) 1. translation. 2. transliteration of a Chinese
term. 3. reference to citation.
[ ] 1. alternative name. 2. explanatory notes. 3.
dates (see).
__ (underlined). See PLaCE-NaMES.
Chunqiu 春秋 Spring and autumn (722–481 bC).
Dates 1. a date range enclosed in [ ] means at any point
of time in the period indicated: e.g., [618–626].
Cf. 618–626 (during the entire period). 2. a date
that appears before or after “–” indicates the time
when a place-name was adopted or abandoned:
e.g., 581–ca 583, 607– (the name was adopted
in 581, abandoned around 583, and revived in
607).
-di 帝 Emperor (imperial posthumous title). See also
-ZONG 宗.
Ethnic Ethnic origin.
fu 府 1. superior prefecture. 2. prefecture (under Bo-
hai).
-guan 觀 1. Daoist monastery. 2. tower.
juan 卷 A chapter (a main division of a traditional
book).
-jun 軍 Defense command; army; garrison.
-jun 郡 1. region (pre-Eastern Jin). 2. commandery
(post-Western Jin).
Later Liang (Lü) Later Liang 後涼 (386–403).
Later Liang (Xiao) Later Liang 後梁 (555–587).
Later Liang (Zhu) Later Liang 後梁 (907–923).
Nanbeichao 南北朝 Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–589).
ix