Li Bian

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Historical sources give differing accounts of Li Bian's origins. The New History of the Five Dynasties, in its hereditary house of Southern Tang, states that his family was originally of humble status, that his father Li Rong disappeared amid the disorder at the end of Tang, and that Li Bian was orphaned young and wandered around Hao and Si prefectures. According to this account, his father disappeared during the wars of the late Tang. At age six, Li Bian was taken by his uncle Li Qiu to Hao Prefecture, present-day Fengyang in Anhui. His mother, Lady Liu, died soon afterward, leaving him without support, and he drifted around Kaiyuan Temple in Hao Prefecture.

Another account appears in the Preparatory History of Wuyue. It says Li Bian was originally surnamed Pan and came from Anji County in Hu Prefecture. His father, a garrison commander at Anji, was captured by the Huainan general Li Shenfu and made a household servant; Xu Wen later saw Li Bian in Li Shenfu's household, was struck by his appearance, and asked to adopt him. Because this account came from historians of Wuyue, a rival state of Southern Tang, its reliability is uncertain, but it reflects the broader uncertainty surrounding Li Bian's origins.

In 895, the second year of Qianning, Emperor Taizu of Wu, Yang Xingmi, attacked Hao Prefecture and came into possession of Li Bian. Impressed by the child's unusual appearance, Yang adopted him. Yang's biological sons, however, could not accept this low-born adopted child, so Yang entrusted Li Bian to his general Xu Wen to raise. Xu Wen renamed him Xu Zhigao.

Xu Zhigao was intelligent and treated Xu Wen as his own father. Xu Wen's wife, Lady Li, showed him particular care because she and Xu Zhigao shared the surname Li. On one occasion Xu Zhigao accompanied Xu Wen on an outing. Xu Wen, in a bad mood, beat and drove him away, yet when Xu Wen returned home Xu Zhigao was waiting at the gate and bowed in greeting. Asked why, Xu Zhigao replied that a son could not abandon his parents and that when a father was angry, returning to one's mother was only natural for a son. Xu Wen thereafter became even fonder of him.

When grown, Xu Zhigao was said to stand seven chi tall, with a broad forehead and prominent nose, and to have a voice like a great bell. He enjoyed reading and was skilled at riding and archery. Yang Xingmi often praised him, saying that Zhigao was outstanding and that none of the generals' sons could compare with him.

Early Career in Sheng Prefecture

In 909, the third year of Kaiping under Later Liang, Xu Wen nominally held the inspectorship of Sheng Prefecture, present-day Nanjing in Jiangsu. He appointed Xu Zhigao defense commissioner of Sheng Prefecture concurrently deputy commander of tower ships, sending him there to manage warships. In 910, Xu Zhigao became deputy commissioner of Sheng Prefecture and was placed in charge of prefectural affairs.

In 912, the second year of Qianhua, Xu Zhigao followed Chai Zaiyong in an attack on Li Yu at Xuan Prefecture, present-day Xuancheng in Anhui. For his merit he was promoted to Inspector of Sheng Prefecture. The Jiang-Huai region had only recently been pacified, and many local officials were military men who concentrated on extracting wealth from the population to support warfare. Xu Zhigao differed from them: he was diligent and frugal, valued scholars, and governed leniently, thereby earning popular approval. The New History of the Five Dynasties records that while local officials generally focused on levies for military defense, Li Bian alone loved learning, treated Confucian scholars with respect, practiced diligence and thrift, and governed with benevolence, so that the people gradually praised him.

In 914, the fourth year of Qianhua, he received the acting title Minister over the Masses. In 915, the first year of Zhenming, Xu Wen moved his command to Run Prefecture, present-day Zhenjiang in Jiangsu, exercising authority over Sheng, Run, Chang, Xuan, She, and Chi prefectures. Xu Wen's eldest son Xu Zhixun remained at Guangling, present-day Yangzhou in Jiangsu, to assist in court government.

In 917, the third year of Zhenming, Xu Wen saw the prosperity of Sheng Prefecture and moved the headquarters of Zhenhai Army there. Xu Zhigao was reassigned as acting Grand Protector and Training Commissioner of Run Prefecture. Xu Zhigao requested a post in Xuan Prefecture, but Xu Wen refused, leaving him displeased. His adviser Song Qiqiu secretly told him that the third young master, Xu Zhixun, was arrogant and likely to fail soon, while Run Prefecture lay only across the Yangtze from Guangling, presenting an opportunity granted by Heaven. Xu Zhigao understood the point and gladly took up the Run Prefecture post.

Taking Control of Guangling

In 918, the fourth year of Zhenming, the general Zhu Jin killed Xu Zhixun at Guangling. When Xu Zhigao learned of it at Run Prefecture, he immediately led prefectural troops across the Yangtze, entered Guangling before his rivals, and restored order. Xu Wen then made him deputy marching commissioner of Huainan and deputy commander of all internal and external cavalry and infantry. Xu Zhigao resided at Guangling and administered government. Xu Wen remained at Jinling and retained overall authority from afar, but ordinary affairs were largely decided by Xu Zhigao.

Once in power, Xu Zhigao reversed Xu Zhixun's arrogant style. He made punishments more lenient, extended favors and trust, served King Yang Longyan of Wu respectfully, and treated scholar-officials with humility. He built Yanbin Pavilion to receive men of talent from all quarters. Song Qiqiu, Luo Zhixiang, Wang Lingmou, and others became important advisers. He employed displaced scholars who entered his territory and frequently sent people into the countryside to learn of popular hardships, providing assistance when families lacked means for weddings or funerals. Public support gradually shifted toward Xu Zhigao.

In 919, the first year of Wuyi, Yang Longyan took the title King of Wu. Xu Wen became Grand Councilor, while Xu Zhigao was appointed Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, Assistant Grand Councilor, and concurrently administrator of internal and external military affairs. In 921, the first year of Shunyi, Xu Zhigao became Participant in Determining Government Matters and nominal Observer of Jiang Prefecture, present-day Jiujiang in Jiangxi, and soon afterward Military Commissioner of Fenghua Army.

Seizure of Power and Enfeoffment

In 927, the seventh year of Shunyi, Xu Wen, acting on the advice of his Adjutant Xu Jie, sent his second son Xu Zhixun to Guangling with the intention of having him replace Xu Zhigao at the center of government. Xu Zhigao was frightened by the news and petitioned to be sent to Jiangxi. Xu Wen died soon afterward. Xu Zhixun succeeded him as Military Commissioner at Jinling and deputy commander-in-chief of the circuits and repeatedly competed with Xu Zhigao for power. Xu Zhigao tricked Xu Zhixun into entering court, detained him, reassigned him as Left Army Commander, according to another account Right Army Commander, and stripped him of military authority. Xu Zhigao thereby gained complete control of Yang Wu.

In the eleventh month of the same year, King Yang Pu of Wu proclaimed himself emperor and adopted the Qianzhen era name. Xu Zhigao was appointed Defender-in-chief, Secretariat Director, and commander-in-chief of internal and external military affairs. He was enfeoffed Duke of Xunyang and later Duke of Yuzhang.

In 932, the third year of Dahe, Xu Zhigao became Military Commissioner of Zhenhai and Ningguo armies and established his headquarters at Jinling. Following the precedent of Xu Wen, he left his son Xu Jingtong, later Li Jing, at Guangling as Minister over the Masses, Participant in Determining Government Matters, and administrator of left and right internal and external military affairs. In 933 he was enfeoffed Prince of Donghai Commandery.

In 935, the first year of Tianzuo, Yang Wu conferred on Xu Zhigao the titles Shangfu, Grand Preceptor, Grand Councilor, Grand Marshal of All Armies, and Prince of Qi, granting him a Qi domain of ten prefectures including Sheng and Run. Xu Zhigao declined the titles Shangfu and Grand Councilor. In the following year he opened a grand marshal's headquarters and appointed a staff. By this time, Min, Southern Han, and other states had sent envoys urging him to proclaim himself emperor.

Founding the State and Proclaiming Himself Emperor

In 937, the third year of Tianzuo, Xu Zhigao established the Qi state and appointed Song Qiqiu and Xu Jie as Left and Right Grand Councilors. In the tenth month, Yang Pu sent acting Defender-in-chief Yang Lin to transfer the throne to Xu Zhigao. Xu Zhigao ascended the throne as emperor, named the state Great Qi, adopted the Shengyuan era, honored Yang Pu as the abdicated emperor Gaoshang Sixuan Honggu Rang, and posthumously honored Xu Wen as Emperor Taizu Zhongwu. Jinling became the Western Capital and Guangling the Eastern Capital.

In 939, the third year of Shengyuan, the sons of the Xu clan petitioned Xu Zhigao to restore the surname Li. He initially declined out of concern not to forget the favors of the Xu family and submitted the question to court officials for deliberation. When they unanimously supported the change, he restored the surname Li and changed his name to Li Bian. Li Bian claimed to be a fourth-generation descendant of Li Ke, Prince of Jian and son of Emperor Xianzong of Tang. He renamed the state Great Tang, known to later history as Southern Tang. He established temples for Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong of Tang, posthumously honored four generations of his paternal ancestors as emperors, changed Xu Wen's posthumous dynastic status to Yizu, and richly rewarded members of the Xu family.

After becoming emperor, Li Bian attended diligently to government and sought to remove abuses and revise old practices. In foreign affairs he favored ending warfare and preserving the borders; domestically he lightened corvée and taxes, promoted production, and resettled refugees from the Central Plains. He respected capable men and accepted remonstrance, and Southern Tang's economy developed substantially, making it one of the stronger states of the Ten Kingdoms.

Later Years and Death

In his later years Li Bian became devoted to Daoist practices and consumed alchemical elixirs supplied by the practitioner Shi Shouchong. After being poisoned, his temperament reportedly became irritable and violent. In 942, the sixth year of Shengyuan, Wuyue suffered a major fire. Court officials urged Li Bian to attack and destroy Wuyue while it was weakened. He firmly refused, saying his own people needed rest and should not be sent to war, and instead dispatched envoys with gifts to offer condolences.

In the second month of 943, the seventh year of Shengyuan, a sore developed on Li Bian's back and his condition worsened. Before his death he summoned the Prince of Qi, Li Jing, and warned him that Dechang Palace held more than seven million in weapons, military supplies, gold, and silk; that he should preserve the inheritance, maintain good relations with neighboring states, and protect the dynasty; and that his own use of mineral drugs in the hope of prolonging life had instead hastened his death and should serve as a warning. He then bit Li Jing's finger and cautioned him that the north would one day bring trouble and that he should not forget these words. On the twenty-second day of the month, March 30, 943, Li Bian died in Shengyuan Hall aged fifty-six, leaving instructions that Li Jing supervise the government.

In the third month, Li Jing succeeded to the throne as Emperor Yuanzong of Southern Tang. In the eleventh month, Li Bian was buried at Yongling, later renamed Qinling, and received the posthumous name Emperor Guangwen Suwu Xiaogao and the temple name Liezu.

Li Bian was born in the twelfth month of 888, of humble origin, drifting in his childhood about Haozhou and Sizhou. He was first taken as a son by Yang Xingmi, founder of Wu, and then given by him to the general Xu Wen to raise, taking the surname Xu and the name Zhigao. He grew up in Xu Wen's household, capable and shrewd in business, and was much trusted, serving as prefect and military commissioner at Shengzhou, Runzhou and elsewhere, becoming the central figure of the Xu group.

After Xu Wen's death he took the military and political power of Wu into his hands and gradually displaced Xu Wen's sons. In 937 he accepted the abdication of the Wu sovereign Yang Pu and founded the state of Qi; the next year he resumed the Li surname, took the name Bian and changed the dynastic name to Tang, known in history as the Southern Tang. In his reign he attended to letting the people rest, lightening taxes, gathering the displaced and founding schools, laying with his own hands the foundations of the state's strength, on which its power under Li Jing afterward rested.

He died in 943 at fifty-six with the temple name Liezu and the posthumous name Guangwen Suwu Xiaogao. His son Li Jing succeeded. In the history of the Southern Tang his reign is generally taken as the beginning of its prosperity, his policy of guarding the borders and settling the people providing the conditions for its comparative quiet amid the disorders of the Five Dynasties.

Major Activities

Political Activities

Li Bian's political career as Xu Zhigao became prominent during his tenure as Inspector of Sheng Prefecture. There he encouraged farming and sericulture, repaired the city walls, and built up government stores, contrasting with many military officials in the Jiang-Huai region who primarily extracted wealth from the population.

After taking control of Guangling in 918, Xu Zhigao relaxed punishments, extended favors and trust, reformed abuses, postponed collection of tax arrears, and cultivated popular support. He built Yanbin Pavilion to recruit talented men from across the realm and employed Song Qiqiu, Luo Zhixiang, Wang Lingmou, and others as advisers, helping stabilize Yang Wu.

After becoming emperor, Li Bian aimed to preserve the old territory of Wu rather than expand it. The minister Feng Yansi, who enjoyed discussing military affairs, once mocked him as a “country old man.” Li Bian nevertheless maintained his policy of preserving the borders and protecting the people, allowing Southern Tang's population to recover. When Wuyue suffered a major fire in 942, ministers urged an invasion, but Li Bian refused, saying in substance, “How could one profit from another's disaster?” He sent an envoy with generous gifts. When flooding in Wuyue drove people to seek food in Southern Tang territory, Li Bian also sent officials to provide relief.

Economic Measures

During his reign Li Bian pursued light taxes and corvée and resettled refugees from the Central Plains displaced by warfare, promoting substantial economic growth in Southern Tang. He valued agriculture and sericulture and built up government reserves. His reported final instruction to Li Jing that Dechang Palace stored more than seven million in weapons, military supplies, gold, and silk was presented as evidence of the state's accumulated resources.

Culture and Education

Li Bian was fond of literary arts from youth and gave substantial attention to culture and education after taking power. He collected books and pictorial materials from many regions and stored more than three thousand juan in the Jianye library he had established while governing Sheng Prefecture, laying a foundation for Southern Tang's later reputation as a center of texts and scholarship.

His support for education was also widely noted. He established a National University on the banks of the Qinhuai River and founded higher and elementary schools, training scholars for the National University and the Four Gates. At White Deer Grotto below the Five Old Men Peaks of Mount Lu, he established an academy called the Lushan Guoxue, assigned land for the support of students, and appointed Li Shandao to oversee teaching. The poets Jiang Wei, Wu Qiao, Liu Dong, and others were said to have studied there.

Travels and Places of Activity

Li Bian's life was centered in the Jiang-Huai region. In his youth he wandered around Hao and Si prefectures; later, after following Xu Wen in war, he successively held posts in Sheng Prefecture, Run Prefecture, Guangling, and Jinling. After becoming emperor he made Jinling, present-day Nanjing, his capital and Guangling the Eastern Capital. His known sphere of activity remained largely within the former territory of Yang Wu.

Relations with Contemporaries

Li Bian's relationship with Song Qiqiu was especially close. Song was an important adviser to Xu Zhigao, secretly urging him to accept reassignment to Run Prefecture and wait for an opportunity; he later assisted in tax reform and the cultivation of popular support. After Southern Tang was founded, Song Qiqiu served as Left Grand Councilor.

Li Bian's relations with Xu Wen's sons were more complicated. His adoptive father Xu Wen both raised him and later attempted to replace him with a biological son. After Xu Wen died, Li Bian maneuvered to strip Xu Zhixun of military authority. On another occasion, according to the source, he served Xu Zhixun wine from a golden bell at a banquet, possibly intending harm, before the entertainer Shen Jiangao intervened and defused the situation.

Personal Relations

• Father: Li Rong, posthumously honored as Emperor Xiaode of Qingzong.
• Mother: Lady Liu.
• Adoptive father: Xu Wen, leading official of Yang Wu, posthumously honored as Emperor Yizu Zhongwu.
• Adoptive mother: Lady Li, wife of Xu Wen.
• Paternal uncle: Li Qiu.
• First wife: Lady Wang, posthumously titled Consort Shun.
• Later wife: Song Fujin, Empress Yuanjing.
• Sons: Li Jingtong, later Li Jing, Emperor Yuanzong of Southern Tang; Li Jingqian, posthumously Prince Ding of Chu; Li Jingsui, Prince of Jin and later posthumously Crown Younger Brother Wencheng; Li Jingda, Prince Zhaoxiao of Qi and later posthumously Crown Younger Brother Xiaozhao; Li Jingti, Prince Zhaoshun of Jiang.
• Daughters: Princess Fengcheng; Princess Shengtang; Princess Taihe, married Yan Xu; Princess Yongxing, married Yang Lian; Princess Jianchang; Princess Yushan; Princess Xingguo, married Ma Renyu.
• Xu Wen: adoptive father and leading official of Yang Wu.
• Yang Xingmi: Emperor Taizu of Wu; first adopted Li Bian and later transferred him to Xu Wen.
• Song Qiqiu: important adviser and later Left Grand Councilor of Southern Tang.
• Luo Zhixiang and Wang Lingmou: advisers.
• Yang Longyan: King of Yang Wu, under whom Xu Zhigao served.
• Yang Pu: last emperor of Yang Wu, who abdicated in favor of Li Bian.
• Li Jing: Emperor Yuanzong of Southern Tang, Li Bian's eldest son and successor.
• Xu Zhixun: Xu Wen's eldest son, arrogant and domineering, killed by Zhu Jin.
• Xu Zhixun: Xu Wen's second son, competed with Li Bian for power and was stripped of military authority.
• Zhu Jin: Yang Wu general who killed Xu Zhixun and then committed suicide.
• Feng Yansi: Southern Tang minister who mocked Li Bian as a “country old man.”

Historical Assessment

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period / Contemporaries

• Yang Xingmi praised him: “Zhigao is outstanding; none of the generals' sons can compare with him.” (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance, Tang annals, juan 76)
• Feng Yansi mocked Li Bian as a “country old man” who could not accomplish great affairs. (New History of the Five Dynasties, hereditary house of Southern Tang)
• Qian Yuanguan of Wuyue and Shen Taowen were recorded as ridiculing Li Bian's claim of descent from the Tang imperial house.

Song and Yuan Periods

• The New History of the Five Dynasties described Li Bian as being of humble origin but praised his love of learning, respect for Confucian scholars, diligence, thrift, and benevolent administration in the early pacification of the Jiang-Huai region.
• The Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance states that after Li Bian took power he relaxed punishments and extended favors and trust, with the people of Wu gradually turning toward him.
• Sima Guang's textual investigations attached to the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance preserved four different accounts of Li Bian's origins and treated his claim to Tang imperial descent with reservation.
• Lu You's History of Southern Tang gave a genealogy in which Li Ke fathered Li Chao, Li Chao fathered Li Rong, and Li Rong fathered Li Bian, although this account has often been considered an attached or constructed tradition.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Wu Renchen, author of the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms, praised Li Bian as diligent, frugal, fond of learning, and benevolent in government, and credited his light taxes and corvée with making Southern Tang a strong state.
• Ming and Qing historians often noted his policy of preserving the borders and protecting the people, regarding the respite it gave the people of Wu positively even while criticizing his lack of expansionist ambitions.

Modern Period

• Modern historians generally credit Li Bian's measures to develop production and education with laying important foundations for Southern Tang's later cultural strength among the Ten Kingdoms.
• His establishment of a school at White Deer Grotto on Mount Lu has been viewed as an early precursor to later Chinese academy education.
• Some scholars have noted the contrast between Li Bian's diligent earlier rule and his death from elixir consumption in later life, treating it as part of the broader pursuit of longevity among rulers of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.