Duan Su Ying

Biography

Accession and Era Names

Duan Suying was a son of Duan Sushun and a grandson of Duan Sicong. The tables in one account give his reign as 985 to 1009, while another gives 986 to 1009; both say that he ruled for about twenty-four years, and the difference at the start may come from reckoning by accession or by the change of era name, though the sources do not say so explicitly and the text does not supply an explanation as if it were established. He used five era names in all, and the two sources differ over their order and over individual start and end years, so the information card lists the names only and does not calculate the exact span of each.

Buddhism and the Selection of Officials

The main text of one account records that in 1004 (1st year of the Jingde era, Northern Song) Duan Suying "wrote an essay and composed the Chuandeng lu", while another says that he personally wrote the Record of the Transmission of the Lamp. Both sources say that monks who studied Confucian books sat examinations and were called "Confucian monks", and that officials were also chosen from among them. Because the full texts available do not explain the version of the Chuandeng lu, the scope of the writing or the complete rules of the examination system, the entry keeps only the activities the sources describe; it does not identify him as the sole author of any surviving lamp-transmission work, nor expand the practice into a civil-service examination system in force throughout Dali.

Death and Succession

Duan Suying died in 1009 with the posthumous title Zhaoming, and his son Duan Sulian succeeded him. Another account also records that during the Chunhua era Duan Suying received the honorary titles of palace inspector and general of Guide from Emperor Taizong of Song; the other account does not record a specific edict, so these titles are given as a single-source record only, without calculating the exact date of the grant.

Major Activities

Political and institutional context

The cached record places Duan Su Ying within the institutions and conflicts of Ming.

Source-based record

Personal Relations

• Relationships are recorded from the cached source text and should be read together with the related entries listed below.

Historical Assessment

Two other accounts appraise Duan Suying as "considerate of the people" or as presiding over "clean government", but neither lists tax, corvée or legal measures that could be checked item by item. Such statements can therefore only be treated as source appraisals; what can be discussed concretely remains the records concerning Buddhism and the selection of officials and his long reign. The attribution of surviving works must likewise wait for more direct documentary checking.