Duan Suzhen

Biography

Early Years and Accession

Both accounts list Duan Suzhen as a grandson of Duan Sulian and a nephew of Duan Sulong. When Duan Sulian died in 1022 Duan Suzhen was young and his father had already died, so Duan Sulong succeeded. In 1026 (4th year of the Tiansheng era, Northern Song) Duan Sulong abdicated and Duan Suzhen took the throne; in 1027 (1st year of the Zhengzhi era, Dali) he changed the era name to Zhengzhi. The information card of one account uses 1027 as the start of his reign, which is more likely a reckoning from the era change and does not contradict the accession in 1026 given in the same page's main text.

Divergent Accounts of His Death and Abdication

The summary of one account says that Duan Suzhen died in 1039 (2nd year of the Baoyuan era, Northern Song) and was succeeded by his grandson Duan Suxing; the same summary also preserves the version in which he abdicated to become a monk in 1041 (1st year of the Qingli era) and died in 1048. The full text of another account likewise sets out both explanations side by side, noting that the relevant narratives in the Unofficial History of Nanzhao, the Collected Evidence of Yunnan and the Chronological Record of Yunnan do not agree. If Duan Suzhen had already died in 1039 he could not have abdicated in person in 1041, so the two sets of records can only be treated as mutually exclusive variants and cannot be merged into a single timeline. The sources available here contain no primary text sufficient to decide the question.

Lineage, Era Name and Two Accounts of His Death

Duan Suzhen stands ninth in the Dali succession, which runs from Duan Siping through Duan Siying, Duan Siliang, Duan Sicong, Duan Sushun, Duan Suying, Duan Sulian, Duan Sulong, Duan Suzhen and Duan Suxing. He was a grandson of Duan Sulian, a nephew of Duan Sulong and a son of Atong, also written Duan Suzhen in one form, of the Bai people and a native of Dali, with the posthumous title Shengde, and is therefore known in the histories as the Shengde Emperor of Dali. As to his father the sources differ: one account makes him a son of Atong, another says Atong was deposed, and other histories make Atong a son of Duan Sulian or of Duan Sushun who was set aside as unworthy, so that after Duan Sulong took monastic vows it was Atong's son Duan Suzhen who became ruler; the Brief Record of Yunnan makes him a son of Duan Sulian. These variants stand side by side and should not be forced into one account.

He came to the throne in 1026, changed the era name to Zhengzhi in 1027 and ruled to 1041, fifteen years, with Zhengzhi as his only era name. Two mutually exclusive accounts of his end survive: one says that he died in 1039 and was succeeded by his grandson Duan Suxing because his son had died earlier; the other says that he abdicated to become a monk in 1041 and died in the sixth month of 1048, an account found in Ni Lu's Unofficial History of Nanzhao, while Wang Song's Collected Evidence of Yunnan and Ni Tui's Chronological Record of Yunnan wrongly place the death in the sixth month of 1039. The San Yi Suibi records that he was thirty when he abdicated and seventy-nine when he died. If he had already died in 1039 he could not have abdicated in person in 1041, so the two accounts can only stand as alternatives, and the material available does not settle the question.

Major Activities

Political and institutional context

The cached record places Duan Su Zhen within the institutions and conflicts of Dali.

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

The material on Duan Suzhen consists mainly of the transmission of the throne and the divergent accounts of his death year. Modern titles such as "the Zen pioneer of abdication" presuppose the 1041 abdication version, which conflicts with the 1039 death, and no undisputed appraisal can be based on such titles. As for the merits of his own administration, neither encyclopedic account offers enough to develop a judgement.