Duan Suxing

Biography

Accession and Questions about the Lineage

Duan Suxing came to the throne in 1041 (1st year of the Qingli era, Northern Song). The relations given in one account and in another both make him a grandson of Duan Suzhen whose father had died earlier, but the main text of a further account cites Fang Guoyu's doubt: if Duan Suzhen was young at his accession and reigned only briefly, whether he could already have a grandson to succeed is open to question. Another account also cites the Brief Record of Yunnan in proposing an arrangement of the generations different from that of "grandson of Duan Suzhen". The entry preserves the main values of both sources but does not write the disputed generation as a conclusion free of variants.

Reign and Loss of the Throne

Both sources record that in 1042 (1st year of the Shengming era, Dali) he changed the era name to Shengming and later to Tianming. The main text of one account and another record that Duan Suxing was fond of pleasure and built palaces; a further account also describes in detail pastimes such as grass-fighting, flower planting, maidservants and marriage anecdotes. These details come mainly from later miscellaneous writings and lack other verifiable material, so they are limited to later narratives and not established item by item as historical fact. In 1044 (4th year of the Qingli era, Northern Song) Duan Suxing was deposed and Duan Silian succeeded him. This change of regime is recorded by both sources.

Major Activities

Political and institutional context

The cached record places Duan Su Xing within the institutions and conflicts of Chinese history.

Source-based record

The circumstances of his accession and loss of the throne were as follows: he succeeded Duan Suzhen in 1041 (first year of the Qingli era, Northern Song); both sources record that in 1042 (first year of the Shengming era, Dali) he changed the era name to Shengming and later to Tianming; in 1044 (fourth year of the Qingli era) he was deposed and Duan Silian was raised in his place. As to why he lost the throne, the sources all include the explanation of pleasure-seeking and building projects, and one account describes in detail pastimes such as grass-fighting, flower planting, maidservants and marriage anecdotes; these details come mainly from later miscellaneous writings and lack other verifiable material, so they are limited to later narratives. His lineage is itself disputed in scholarship, and his age at accession and at marriage should not be calculated from it.

His three years on the throne saw the era names Shengming and Tianming, and after his deposition the Dali throne passed to the line of Duan Silian. The discussion of his lineage, whether he was a grandson of Duan Suzhen, and the moralising explanations of his deposition are both later constructions, and as evidence they stand on a different level from the three facts given in the main texts of the two sources, his accession, change of era name and deposition, which should be the basis for judging his rule.

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 both include the explanation that Duan Suxing lost the throne because of his pleasures and building projects. This is a moralising attribution of the deposition by later compilers, and the more certain main line is that he lost the throne in 1044. The lineage itself is disputed in scholarship, and his age at accession and at marriage should not be calculated from it.