Li Song

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Li Song was born on the twelfth day of the first lunar month of 761, the second year of the Shangyuan era, in the Eastern Inner Palace of Chang'an. At the time, his great-great-grandfather Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was still alive as Retired Emperor; his great-grandfather Emperor Suzong, grandfather Emperor Daizong, and father Emperor Dezong were also alive. The Qing scholar Zhao Yi described this as “five emperors under one roof.” Li Song was the eldest son of Emperor Dezong, Li Shi. His mother was Lady Wang, who was later posthumously made Empress Zhaode.

Li Song was generous and benevolent by temperament and enjoyed studying the arts, especially clerical-script calligraphy. He showed great respect to his tutors and would first kneel in greeting whenever he met them. In 779, the fourteenth year of the Dali era, Emperor Daizong died and Dezong succeeded to the throne. In the sixth lunar month, Li Song was promoted from Prince of Xuancheng Commandery to Prince of Xuan, and on the yimao day of the twelfth lunar month he was formally invested as crown prince. In the first lunar month of 780, the first year of Jianzhong, he was again promoted to the title Prince of Xuan.

Years as Crown Prince

During the Jingyuan mutiny of 783, the fourth year of Jianzhong, Emperor Dezong fled to Fengtian (present-day Qian County, Shaanxi). Li Song accompanied and protected him. When the rebel general Zhu Ci led troops to besiege Fengtian, Li Song went to the front among the imperial guards, climbed the city wall with bow and arrows, encouraged the soldiers, and personally took part in the defense. The experience gave him military experience and also deepened his relationship with his father.

In the eighth lunar month of 787, the third year of Zhenyuan, Princess Gao was convicted in a witchcraft case. The crown princess, Lady Xiao, was Princess Gao's daughter. Emperor Dezong consequently became suspicious of Li Song and repeatedly considered deposing him as crown prince. Only the forceful remonstrance of Chancellor Li Mi preserved Li Song's position. Thereafter, Li Song acted even more cautiously. On one occasion, while attending a banquet with Emperor Dezong at Yuzao Palace, colorful pleasure boats were set out for water entertainment and palace women rowed and sang in response to one another. When Dezong, in high spirits, asked Li Song what he thought of the scene, Li Song answered with the line “delight in pleasure without excess” from the Book of Songs, both pleasing his father and subtly admonishing him.

When Pei Yanling, Wei Qumou, and other favored courtiers held influence, officials at court and in the provinces feared that they would become chancellors. Li Song would observe Emperor Dezong's mood and, at appropriate moments, explain in person why they were unfit for the chancellorship. In the end, neither man became chancellor. When officials such as Lu Zhi were persecuted and excluded, the crown prince also argued calmly on their behalf. Han Yu later wrote that Li Song “remained crown prince for twenty years, and all under Heaven quietly benefited from him.”

Accession While Ill and the Yongzhen Reform

In the first lunar month of 805, the twenty-first year of Zhenyuan, Emperor Dezong became gravely ill. The princes all attended him at his sickbed, but Li Song, himself bedridden after a stroke, was unable to visit in person. Dezong missed the crown prince, wept in sorrow, and his condition worsened. On the twenty-third day of the first lunar month, the guisi day, Dezong died in Huining Hall at the age of sixty-four.

Three days after Dezong's death, on the bingshen day, the twenty-sixth day of the first lunar month, Li Song forced himself to rise despite his illness. Supported by palace attendants and dressed in mourning garments, he went to Taiji Hall and completed the enthronement ceremony. He could not speak and had difficulty moving, but completion of the accession quickly steadied public morale amid the uncertainty caused by Dezong's death and the crown prince's critical illness. In the second lunar month, he received civil and military officials at the Zichen Gate and fulfilled the ceremonial duties of an emperor at court.

After ascending the throne, Li Song changed the era name to Yongzhen. He appointed his former Eastern Palace associate Wang Shuwen as a Hanlin Academician and Wang Pi as Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary. With the support of Chancellor Wei Zhiyi and Han Tai, Han Ye, Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi, Chen Jian, Ling Zhun, Cheng Yi, and others, they carried out the reforms known as the Yongzhen Reform. The measures included abolishing additional local tribute, halting miscellaneous taxes on tea, bamboo, lacquer, timber, and other goods, and remitting arrears in rents and taxes owed by commoners; abolishing the palace-market system and the “Five Bureaus youths,” which oppressed merchants and townspeople; releasing nine hundred palace women and female performers from the Music Bureau and inner court to return home; and prohibiting the requisitioning of servant women as wet nurses for the palace. At the same time, Li Song attempted to recover control of the Shence Army from the eunuchs. He appointed the veteran general Fan Xichao as military commissioner of the expeditionary forces of the western capital-area garrisons of the Left and Right Shence Armies, with Han Tai as marching army marshal. Eunuchs led by Ju Wenzhen resisted, however, and the troops in the garrisons refused to obey the transfer orders. The attempt to recover military authority therefore failed.

Forced Abdication and Final Years

In the eighth lunar month of 805, the first year of Yongzhen, under pressure from Ju Wenzhen and other eunuchs, Li Song—whose illness was steadily worsening and who could no longer conduct government—was forced to issue an edict abdicating in favor of Crown Prince Li Chun. He styled himself “Retired Emperor” and moved to Xingqing Palace. This became known as the Yongzhen Abdication. Wang Shuwen was subsequently demoted and ordered to take his own life; Wang Pi was demoted and died in exile; and Wei Zhiyi, Han Tai, Han Ye, Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi, Chen Jian, Ling Zhun, and Cheng Yi were demoted to posts as military aides in distant prefectures. They became known as the “Two Wangs and Eight Sima.”

In the first lunar month of 806, the first year of Yuanhe, Emperor Xianzong led the officials in bestowing on Li Song the honorific title “Retired Emperor Who Responds to Heaven and Enjoys Sacred Longevity.” On the nineteenth day of the same month, Li Song died in the Xianning Hall of Xingqing Palace at the age of forty-six. The court gave him the posthumous title Zhìdé Dàshèng Dà'ān Xiào Emperor and the temple name Shunzong. In 849, the third year of the Dazhong era, Emperor Xuanzong enlarged his posthumous title to Zhìdé Hóngdào Dàshèng Dà'ān Xiào Emperor. He was buried in the seventh lunar month at Fengling, on Mount Jinweng northeast of present-day Fuping County, Shaanxi.

The official account states that Shunzong died of illness. Unofficial histories, however, claimed that he was murdered by eunuchs, and the Tang tale Xin Gongping Ascends to Immortality has been interpreted as alluding to this claim.

Li Song was born on the twelfth day of the first month of 761 in the palace east of Chang'an, the eldest son of Emperor Dezong, his mother being the empress Zhaode, née Wang. In the sixth month of 779 he was advanced from prince of Xuancheng commandery to prince of Xuan, and in the twelfth month of that year, soon after Dezong's accession, he was formally made heir apparent. Of a generous and kindly nature, fond of acquiring skills and especially good at clerical script, he showed his masters the greatest respect, bowing to them at every meeting.

As heir apparent he fled with Dezong to Fengtian before the rebels, keeping bow and arrows in his hands and guarding his father's side throughout. In the eighth month of 787 the princess of Gao was convicted of sorcery, and as the consort of the heir was her daughter, Dezong grew suspicious of Li Song and several times came near to deposing him; only the chancellor Li Bi's repeated remonstrance preserved him. He was more cautious afterward: at a banquet at the Yuzhao palace, when boats were set on the water and the palace women sang as they rowed and the emperor, much pleased, asked him what he thought of the scene, Li Song answered with the line from the Odes about taking pleasure without excess, pleasing his father while hinting a remonstrance. When favourites such as Pei Yanling and Wei Qumou were in power and the court feared they would be made chancellors, Li Song would watch the emperor's face and speak in season against them, and the two never became chancellors.

In the first month of 805 Dezong fell gravely ill, and while the princes attended his sickbed Li Song, struck by paralysis, could not come; the emperor, longing for him, wept and grew worse. On the guisi day of the first month Dezong died in the Huining hall. On the third day after, Li Song, supported by attendants, put on mourning and went to the Taiji hall to complete his enthronement. Though he could not speak and could hardly move, the completion of the ceremony steadied the minds of a court shaken by the emperor's death and the heir's illness. In the second month he received the civil and military officials at the Zichen gate and began to conduct business, appointing officers and beginning reforms.

In his reign he sought to strengthen the central power and reduce the power of the provincial commands and the eunuchs. He made Wang Shuwen a Hanlin academician with great authority, intending through him to weaken the provincial commissioners, and tried to limit the eunuchs' part in government by giving commands to generals who were not eunuchs. In Dezong's later years, to meet the huge military and court expenses, sums had been extorted from the people under many names beyond the regular tribute, commissioners and salt officers paying in monthly or even daily contributions and prefects imitating them; on his accession Li Song abolished the extra contributions while keeping the regular tribute, ended the monopoly levies on tea, bamboo, lacquer and timber, and remitted the arrears of taxes, rents and dues owed by the people. He reduced the palace staff, freeing three hundred women from the Anguo temple and six hundred musicians and dancers of the Yeting and Jiaofang to return to their families, forbade the taking of slave girls as wet nurses, and abolished the palace market and the Five Companies of youths by which the eunuchs had preyed on the people. These measures were praised as good government, though their reach was narrow and their effect limited.

In the eighth month of 805, pressed by the eunuch Ju Wenzhen and others and unable to govern through his illness, Li Song abdicated in favour of the heir Li Chun, Emperor Xianzong, taking the title of retired emperor and moving to the Xingqing palace. In the first month of 806 Xianzong led the ministers in offering him the honorific title; in the same month he died in the Xianning hall of the Xingqing palace at forty-six. He was given the posthumous name Zhide Dasheng Da'an Xiao and the temple name Shunzong, and buried at Fengling in the seventh month. The reforms he supported failed when Wang Shuwen and his fellows were banished one after another, an affair known as the Yongzhen reform or the affair of the two Wangs and eight Simas. Later discussion of his reign dwells on his wish to clear away abuses in a short time, and notes that the conflict between the reformers and the conservatives and the eunuchs' hold on the guards made such reform hard to sustain.

The chief figures of the Yongzhen reform besides Wang Shuwen were Wang Pi, Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi, Han Tai, Han Ye, Chen Jian, Ling Zhun and Cheng Yi, known together to later ages as the two Wangs and eight Simas. The measures included restraining the provincial commands, cutting back the eunuchs, reforming the finances and clearing the administration, but they were carried on for little more than a hundred days and ended as Shunzong's illness worsened and the eunuch Ju Wenzhen and others intervened. Wang Shuwen and his fellows were banished one after another to be marshals of frontier prefectures and most of the measures were undone; when Emperor Xianzong came to the throne he took a different road in weakening the provincial commands. Shunzong reigned less than a year and the decrees of that time were largely the reformers' work, so that later judgment of the Yongzhen reform has been divided: some scholars stress its progressive intent, others hold that it moved too fast and lacked a political base. His relation with his son Xianzong has also become a topic in the court politics of the middle and late Tang.

Shunzong's tomb, Fengling, lies at the Jinweng hill in the modern Fuping, Shaanxi, in form like the other Tang imperial tombs; his posthumous name was enlarged under Emperor Xuanzong's Dazhong era, a later addition not uncommon in the temple arrangements of the late Tang. On his death the histories record that he died of illness in the Xingqing palace, though some scholars have noted his situation after the abdication and have discussed the records of it.

Major Activities

Yongzhen Reform

The Yongzhen Reform carried out after Li Song's accession was an important attempt at political reform in the Tang dynasty after the An Lushan Rebellion. Economically, it abolished the “palace market,” through which eunuchs forcibly acquired merchants' goods at low prices, and ended oppressive practices such as the “Five Bureaus youths.” It also abolished additional local tribute and miscellaneous taxes on tea, bamboo, lacquer, timber, and other goods, and remitted commoners' arrears in rents, taxes, money, and textiles. These measures reduced the burdens on merchants and commoners and improved the lives of Chang'an residents.

Socially, three hundred palace women from Anguo Temple and six hundred female performers from the inner court and Music Bureau were released to return home and reunite with their families. The requisition of servant women as palace wet nurses was prohibited. These measures reduced palace expenditures and protected the interests of palace women, and contemporaries praised them as “good government.”

Militarily, Li Song attempted to recover control of the Shence Army from the eunuchs. He appointed Right General of the Jinwu Guard Fan Xichao as military commissioner of the expeditionary forces of the western capital-area garrisons of the Left and Right Shence Armies, and Han Tai as marching army marshal, intending to gain control over the 150,000 troops of the Shence Army. Ju Wenzhen and other eunuchs firmly resisted, the garrison troops refused the orders, and the plan ultimately failed.

Political Activity

While crown prince, Li Song repeatedly remonstrated with Emperor Dezong against favoring corrupt courtiers. When Pei Yanling and Wei Qumou held influence, officials feared that they would become chancellors. Li Song watched Dezong's mood and chose suitable moments to explain why the two were unfit for that office, and neither ultimately entered the chancellery. When loyal officials such as Lu Zhi and Zhang Pang were excluded and persecuted, the crown prince also argued calmly on their behalf. Han Yu wrote that “whenever he made representations, he never accommodated the eunuchs merely by expression or demeanor.”

Travels and Places of Activity

Li Song spent most of his life in Chang'an. During the Jingyuan mutiny of 783, he fled with Emperor Dezong to Fengtian and personally took part in defending the city. There are few other records of him leaving the capital.

Relations with Contemporaries

During his years as crown prince, Li Song was surrounded by a group of former associates from the Eastern Palace. The most important were Wang Shuwen and Wang Pi. Wang Shuwen entered his service through his skill at the board game weiqi and became one of Li Song's most trusted advisers; Wang Pi served the crown prince through his calligraphy. The two later became central figures in the Yongzhen Reform. Liu Zongyuan, Liu Yuxi, Han Tai, Han Ye, Chen Jian, Ling Zhun, Cheng Yi, and others also entered the reform group through their association with Wang Shuwen. Chancellor Li Mi, who had strongly protected Li Song's position as crown prince, was an important supporter at court. The eunuch Ju Wenzhen, by contrast, was a principal figure in forcing him to abdicate.

His career before and after the throne, and its ending, were as follows: in 787 (third year of Zhenyuan), at twenty-seven, he was implicated in the witchcraft case of the Princess of Gao and nearly deposed, being saved only by the chancellor Li Bi's defence, and in the same year his mother, Empress Zhaode of the Wang clan, died; in the first month of 805 (twenty-first year of Zhenyuan) Emperor Dezong died and he came to the throne ill on the bingshen day, in the second month appointed Wang Shuwen and Wang Pei and launched the Yongzhen reforms, and on the gengzi day of the eighth month abdicated in favour of the crown prince Li Chun, styling himself retired emperor; on the nineteenth day of the first month of 806 (first year of Yuanhe) he died at the Xianning Hall in the Xingqing Palace and was buried at the Feng Mausoleum. His reign lasted less than a year, during which the reforms were pressed through together, and it ended with abdication and the banishment of his associates; Shunzong's own state of health and speech meant that the reforms rested mainly on the group of Hanlin academicians he trusted, a point essential to understanding the politics of Yongzhen.

Personal Relations

• Grandfather: Emperor Daizong of Tang, Li Yu
• Grandmother: Empress Ruizhen, née Shen
• Father: Emperor Dezong of Tang, Li Shi
• Mother: Empress Zhaode, née Wang
• Wife: Empress Zhuangxian, née Wang (mother of Emperor Xianzong, Li Chun)
• Crown Princess: Lady Xiao (killed by Emperor Dezong; posthumous name Hui)
• Sons: Emperor Xianzong of Tang Li Chun; Li Jing, Prince of Tan; Li Wei, Prince of Jun; Li Zong, Prince of Xu; Li Shu, Prince of Ju; Li Chou, Prince of Mi; Li Zong, Prince of Xun; Li Yue, Prince of Shao; Li Jie, Prince of Song; Li Xiang, Prince of Ji; Li Qiu, Prince of Ji; Li Qi, Prince of He; Li Xuan, Prince of Heng; Li Ji, Prince of Qin; Li Xun, Prince of Hui; Li Wan, Prince of Fu; Li Shan, Prince of Zhen; Li Hong, Prince of Fu; Li Gun, Prince of Yue; Li Shen, Prince of Yuan; Li Lun, Prince of Gui; Li Chuo, Prince of Yi; Li Ji, Prince of Qi, and others, twenty-eight sons in total
• Daughters: Princess Hanyang Li Chang; Princess Gongjing of Liang Li Zixu; Princess Dongyang; Princess Xihe; Princess Yun'an; Princess Xiangyang; Princess Guo; Princess Wen'an; Princess Xunyang; Princess Linru; Princess Ping'en; Princess Shaoyang; and others
• Grandsons: Emperor Muzong of Tang Li Heng; Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Li Chen
• Wang Shuwen: former associate of the Eastern Palace and a central figure in the Yongzhen Reform
• Wang Pi: former associate of the Eastern Palace and a central figure in the Yongzhen Reform
• Li Mi: chancellor who strongly defended Li Song's position as crown prince
• Emperor Dezong of Tang, Li Shi: father; alternately trusted and doubted the crown prince during his reign
• Emperor Xianzong of Tang, Li Chun: crown prince who received the abdication
• Ju Wenzhen: eunuch who forced Shunzong to abdicate
• Pei Yanling and Wei Qumou: favored courtiers whose appointment as chancellors Li Song prevented
• Ju Wenzhen and other eunuchs: targets of the Yongzhen Reform's attempt to recover military power; they ultimately succeeded in their counterattack

Historical Assessment

Tang and Contemporary Assessments

• Han Yu wrote in the Veritable Record of Shunzong: “When Shunzong was crown prince, he devoted attention to the arts and excelled in clerical script. Emperor Dezong was skilled at poetry; whenever he granted poems to high ministers or regional commanders, he ordered the crown prince to write them out. He was broad and humane in disposition, yet decisive, and treated his tutors with great respect, always bowing first ... He remained crown prince for twenty years, and all under Heaven quietly benefited from him. It was regrettable that he fell ill upon ascending the throne and that those near him manipulated power; yet he was able to hand government to the worthy heir and thereby preserve the dynasty's fortune. How worthy!”
• The historian's comment in the Old Book of Tang, “Annals of Shunzong,” states: “Shunzong remained crown prince for twenty years, and all under Heaven quietly benefited from him. It was regrettable that he fell ill upon ascending the throne and that those near him manipulated power; yet he was able to hand government to the worthy heir and thereby preserve the dynasty's fortune. How worthy!”
• Bao Dongli wrote in Shijian Jieyao Biandu: “As crown prince, Shunzong paid attention to the arts. His many representations brought unseen benefit to the people. After his accession, there was much good government. Unfortunately he was stricken by illness and factional men became rampant. After only eight months he transmitted the throne to the heir. The altars of state were thereby secured, and he may truly be called worthy and wise.”

Song and Yuan Periods

• Fan Zuyu's Tang Mirror assessed that although Shunzong could not personally govern because of illness, his intention in employing Wang Shuwen and others to remove harmful policies was commendable; however, he employed the wrong people, and the reform ultimately failed.
• Sima Guang's Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance took a reserved view of the Yongzhen Reform, arguing that Wang Shuwen and his associates failed because they were “devious, reckless, and eager for advancement.”
• Hu Yin's Dushi Guanjian argued that Shunzong's error lay in ascending the throne while ill and being unable to grasp power personally, allowing eunuchs and military governors to cooperate against the reform.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Wang Fuzhi's Du Tongjian Lun held that the Yongzhen Reform “reversed the harmful policies of Emperor Dezong” and was correct in direction, but that Wang Shuwen and his associates were politically inexperienced and “small vessels easily filled”; combined with Shunzong's severe illness and inability to govern personally, failure was difficult to avoid.
• Zhao Yi's Notes on the Twenty-Two Histories praised Shunzong's performance while crown prince, observing that he “succeeded as the legitimate eldest son, remained crown prince for twenty years, and all under Heaven quietly benefited from him.”

Modern Assessments

• Liu Siyan, in “A Critique of the So-called ‘Yongzhen Reform,’” regarded the Yongzhen Reform as “a struggle for power within the ruling class.” Although some measures had progressive significance, the reform was limited in scope and did not produce deep long-term effects.
• Huang Yongnian's Twelve Lectures on Tang History regarded Shunzong as the only Tang emperor to succeed as the legitimate eldest son. Although his reform failed, Huang viewed it as a precursor to the Yuanhe revival under Emperor Xianzong.
• Cen Zhongmian's History of the Sui and Tang argued that the decisive causes of the failure were Shunzong's serious illness and inability to govern, together with the Wang Shuwen group's lack of military backing. Faced with the combined counterattack of eunuchs and military governors, defeat was already difficult to avoid.