Zhou Xiang

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Zhou Xiang was born in 857, the eleventh year of the Tang Dazhong era, and came from Xu Prefecture. The histories do not record his family background. His early appointment as a granary officer on the strength of literary ability suggests that he came from a family with some education. During the Guangqi era he served as Granary Officer of Longzhou, responsible for prefectural storage and financial affairs. After completing his term, he set out to report to court, but blocked roads in Sichuan forced him to stay in Miangu County, around present-day Guangyuan.

Joining Wang Jian's Staff

In 886 Wang Jian became prefect of Lizhou. Zhou Xiang went to see him. Wang had already heard of his reputation, welcomed him warmly, and retained him as a guest adviser. In 887 Emperor Xizong appointed Yang Shouliang, adopted nephew of the powerful eunuch Yang Fugong, Military Commissioner of Shannan West Circuit, to which Lizhou belonged. Yang Shouliang feared Wang Jian's military strength and repeatedly summoned him to the circuit headquarters at Xingyuan. Wang, fearing a trap, did not go and asked Zhou for advice.

Zhou argued that the Tang was approaching collapse and Military Commissioners were devouring one another without the talent to rescue the people. Wang Jian, he said, was brave, strategic, and loved by his soldiers, but Jiameng, the seat of Lizhou, was exposed on all sides. Langzhou was remote and prosperous, while its prefect Yang Maoshi was an ally of Chen Jingxuan and Tian Lingzi and withheld tribute from court. Zhou advised submitting a memorial denouncing him and attacking. Wang followed the plan, recruited eight thousand local tribal leaders and troops, moved down the Jialing River, expelled Yang Maoshi, occupied Langzhou, styled himself defense commissioner, and appointed Zhou Xiang judge. Langzhou became Wang's base, beyond Yang Shouliang's control.

Strategy for the Conquest of Shu

Wang Jian later campaigned against Chen Jingxuan for Western Sichuan but initially made little progress. In the fifth month of 888, believing Chengdu still too strong and the surrounding region too poor to support further operations, Wang considered ending the war. Zhou Xiang and another adviser, Qimu Jian, strongly opposed withdrawal. Zhou argued that Qiongzhou, within Western Sichuan, was wealthy enough to support an army and could serve as a base. Wang also decided to ask the Tang court to appoint a senior official to command the campaign against Chen while Wang served beneath him. Zhou drafted the memorial to Emperor Zhaozong. Wang's ally Gu Yanlang, Military Commissioner of Eastern Sichuan, submitted a similar request. The emperor then appointed Chancellor Wei Zhaodu Military Commissioner of Western Sichuan and commander of the expedition, with Wang Jian as commander-in-chief of the field armies, and created Yongping Army from Qiongzhou and three other prefectures under Wang Jian.

In 891 Wang Jian's siege reduced Chengdu to serious shortages, but the Tang court had just suffered a major defeat in its campaign against Li Keyong and wanted the war ended. Emperor Zhaozong pardoned Chen Jingxuan and ordered Wang and Gu Yanlang back to their circuits. Wang believed the moment favorable for taking Western Sichuan and again consulted Zhou. Zhou argued that imperial authority was weak and constrained by powerful ministers and advised sending Wei Zhaodu back to court while Wang continued the war alone. Wang had Wei's retainer Luo Bao killed on an accusation of stealing military grain, intimidating Wei into surrendering command and returning to Chang'an. Wang continued the siege. Chen Jingxuan and Tian Lingzi surrendered in the eighth month, and the emperor recognized Wang as Military Commissioner of Western Sichuan.

Chancellor of Former Shu

After 891 Zhou Xiang at one time acted as administrator of Qiongzhou and handled the famous case of Huang Chonggu, a woman dressed as a man. Around the Tianyou era he served as administrator of Yuzhou, then as prefect of Jiazhou.

In 907 Zhu Quanzhong forced the Tang emperor Ai to abdicate and founded Later Liang. Wang Jian refused to recognize the new dynasty and proclaimed himself emperor of Shu, later known as Former Shu. Zhou was recalled as mayor of Chengdu and then promoted to Censor-in-Chief. In the twelfth month of 910, Wang appointed him Vice Director of the Secretariat and Participant in Determining Government Matters, making him chancellor. The surviving histories record little further detail about his service under Wang Jian.

Frank Remonstrance under Wang Yan and Later Years

After Wang Jian died in 918, Zhou participated in deliberations over the imperial mausoleum. Wang Yan succeeded to the throne and promoted Zhou to Minister of Education while retaining him as Participant in Determining Government Matters. Wang Yan favored palace eunuchs including Wang Tingshao, Ouyang Huang, Li Zhoulu, Song Guangbao, Song Chengyun, and Tian Luchou, appointing them generals and military commissioners and allowing them to interfere in state affairs. Their arrogance and corruption damaged the government. Zhou remonstrated strongly, but Wang Yan ignored him. Zhou soon requested retirement and was transferred to Left Vice Director.

In the sixth month of 920, Wang Yan appointed Zhou Military Commissioner of Yongping and pacification commissioner of Yunnan, sending him out of the capital while letting him retain the honorary chancellorial title Participant in Determining Government Matters. He died of illness not long afterward, aged sixty-six.

Major Activities

Strategic Planning

Zhou Xiang was one of Wang Jian's most important advisers during his rise. In 887 he proposed taking Langzhou as a base, enabling Wang to escape Yang Shouliang's control. In 888 he urged continuation of the war, proposed using prosperous Qiongzhou as a base, and drafted the memorial that led the Tang court to authorize action against Chen Jingxuan. In 891 he urged Wang to send Wei Zhaodu back to court and assume sole control of the campaign, helping bring about Chen Jingxuan's final surrender and Wang's possession of Western Sichuan.

Political Contribution

After Former Shu was founded, Zhou served as mayor of Chengdu, Censor-in-Chief, Vice Director of the Secretariat, Participant in Determining Government Matters, and chancellor. He participated in shaping the new regime's institutions and later became Minister of Education under Wang Yan. When Wang Yan favored eunuchs and court government deteriorated, Zhou remonstrated directly, fulfilling his duty even though his advice was rejected.

The Huang Chonggu Case

Around 891, while acting as administrator of Qiongzhou, Zhou received Huang Chonggu of Linqiong, who had been arrested on suspicion of arson while dressed as a man. Zhou jailed Huang, but a poem submitted from prison led him to grant an interview. Huang claimed the status of a tribute scholar and answered questions with unusual intelligence. Zhou ordered Huang released and later recommended Huang as acting registrar. Huang was skilled at music, board games, calligraphy, and painting, and was respected by clerks for clearing the office's backlog. Impressed, Zhou later wished to marry a daughter to Huang. Huang declined in a written piece and poem revealing that she was a woman. After questioning her, Zhou learned that she was the orphaned daughter of the late Prefect Huang and lived with an elderly woman. Zhou praised her chastity; Huang asked to return to Linqiong, and her later fate is unknown.

Literary Exchange

One poem by Zhou survives, “Sent to Master Chanyue” (Ji Chanyue Dashi). Its eight lines may be rendered:

Yesterday my dusty wanderings reached many homes;

Among them I especially remember the place near the newly issued edict.

Water fields spread like a mat, their painted scene shifting with the hour;

On the golden ground, discourse on emptiness exhausts every grain of sand.

Beside the bamboo I would add stones from Xipu;

Planting pines, I would grind tea from the Wei River.

At times I take up Master Xiu's scroll;

Leaning on a pillar, I chant idly as the sunset falls.

Daoist master Du Guangting also composed several ritual texts on Zhou's behalf: Two Fasting Prayers for Vice Director Zhou Xiang Assisting the Shangyuan Rite, Prayer for Vice Director Zhou Xiang to Recite Scriptures and Hold a Jiao Offering for His Mother, and Prayer for Vice Director Zhou Xiang's Natal-Fate Jiao Offering. These texts indicate close contacts between Zhou and Daoist religious circles.

Personal Relations

• Wang Jian: Zhou's ruler and patron; Zhou joined his staff early, advised the seizure of Langzhou and Western Sichuan, and later became chancellor of Former Shu
• Wang Yan: Wang Jian's son and later ruler of Former Shu; Zhou became Minister of Education but retired after remonstrating against the ruler's reliance on eunuchs
• Qimu Jian: adviser in Wang Jian's staff who joined Zhou in advocating the conquest of Western Sichuan
• Gu Yanlang: Military Commissioner of Eastern Sichuan and Wang Jian's ally
• Wei Zhaodu: Tang chancellor and commander of the Western Sichuan expedition, whom Zhou advised Wang Jian to send back to court
• Du Guangting: prominent late Tang and Five Dynasties Daoist who composed ritual texts on Zhou's behalf
• Master Chanyue: recipient of a poem by Zhou
• Huang Chonggu: woman who dressed as a man; Zhou judged her case, admired her ability, and at one point sought to marry a daughter to her

Historical Assessment

Five Dynasties and Early Song

The Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms praises Zhou for advising in the command tent, conducting himself with dignity, speaking frankly without concealment, and ultimately holding the state's chief political responsibility, calling him a true “minister of the state.”

Song and Yuan Periods

The Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance repeatedly records Zhou's advice during Wang Jian's conquest of Shu. Although Sima Guang offers no separate judgment, the narrative presents his strategic counsel as one of the key elements in Wang Jian's success.

Ming and Qing Periods

Qing historian Wu Renchen gave Zhou a biography in the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms, praised his role in planning within Wang Jian's staff, and treated him as one of Former Shu's most important ministers.

Modern Period

Modern scholars generally regard Zhou as an important strategist-politician of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, emphasizing his decisive role in Wang Jian's rise and the founding of Former Shu as well as the unusual combination of strategic vision and political integrity in a period of disorder.