Hu Xueyan and Hu Shi are two well-known figures in Chinese history, the former being a well-known red-topped merchant in modern China who helped Zuo Zongtang recover Xinjiang. The latter was a famous scholar of the Republic of China period.
However, the identities of Hu Xueyan and Hu Shi are very special, and some historians believe that Hu Xueyan and Hu Shi are descendants of the Tang Dynasty royal family.
This statement is quite controversial: the Tang Dynasty royal family surname Li, such as the founding father Li Yuan, the emperor of ancient China who was the best at using soldiers, Li Shimin, the hero of the generation who pioneered the great cause of "Heavenly Khan", Li Zhi, who opened up the largest territory of the Tang Dynasty, and Li Longji, who opened up the Kaiyuan prosperous world, and Hu Xueyan and Hu Shi surnamed Hu. From the perspective of surnames, Hu Shi and Hu Xueyan are not the same surname as Li Yuan, Li Shimin, and Li Longji, so how can they be descendants of the Tang Emperor? Is this statement true or false, and is there any basis for it?
Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (8 September 685 – 3 May 762)
Hu Xueyan and Hu Shi are the origins of the theory that they are descendants of the Li Tang royal family
Legend has it that in 888 AD, the Tang Empire was in decline, and Tang Qizong, who liked to play polo, died of illness, and his younger brother Tang Zhaozong Li Ye ascended the throne and became the 20th emperor of the Tang Empire.
When Li Ye was young, he was intelligent and studious, especially Confucianism. After ascending the throne, he made great efforts to rule, hoping to save the crumbling Tang Empire from the situation of dividing the feudal towns and the eunuchs' monopoly of power. As soon as Li Ye ascended the throne, he used a ruse to drive out the eunuch Yang Fugong and kill the eunuch Li Shunjie to consolidate imperial power. After severely damaging the eunuch forces, Li Ye recruited troops and formed a 100,000-strong forbidden army to wage war against the forces of Fanzhen throughout the country.
Due to various complicated reasons, Li Ye's war of cutting the domain was defeated, and he continued to become a large warlord, and the later Liang Taizu Zhu Wen kidnapped Li Ye and moved the capital to Luoyang. Li Ye knew that this time he went to Luoyang to be more fierce, and in order to preserve the bloodline of Li Tang's royal family, Li Ye handed over the little prince born to Empress He to Hu Sangong, a native of Huizhou.
Above_ Hu Changyi, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty Hu clan, the character Hongyuan, the number Meixuan
Hu Sangong risked his life to bring Li Ye's crown prince back to Wuyuan County, and thus preserved the lineage of Li Tang's royal family. Li Ye and most of his sons were killed by Zhu Wen. In 907, the Tang Emperor Li Zhu was forced to give way to Zhu Wen, and the Once Powerful Tang Empire, which had created a brilliant civilization, disappeared into the long river of history.
The Tang Dynasty became a thing of the past, and Hu Sangong's life continued. In order to hide his eyes and ears, Hu Sangong changed the little prince's surname to Hu and named him Changyi. Hu Changyi was gifted and intelligent, and during the later Tang Dynasty Emperor Zhuangzong, he was admitted to the Ming Jing Sect, and later generations called him "Ming Jing Gong".
After Hu Changyi grew up, Hu Sangong told Hu Changyi his identity as a descendant of the Li Tang royal family, and took out the treasures and imperial clothes that he had brought out of the palace, but Hu Changyi had no intention of entering the career and opened a college in the township to teach students. For more than 1,000 years, Hu Changyi's descendants took root in Anhui, and his descendants Hu Xueyan became a famous red-top merchant in the Qing Dynasty, and Hu Shi became a scholar in the Republic of China period and a leader of the new cultural movement.
Above_ Hu Shi (modern Chinese thinker, writer, philosopher)
Hu Shi and Hu Xueyan are descendants of Li Tang, is there any basis for this claim?
Whether Hu Shi and Hu Xueyan are descendants of the Li Tang royal family, the key point is: Are Hu Changyi a descendant of the Li Tang royal family? Both pro and cons can be said for reason:
Scholars who agree with this view believe that although the Zhengshi (Old Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang) records that Hu Changyi was a descendant of Li Tang, local historical sources record that Hu Changyi was a descendant of Li Tang:
Evidence 1: Chronicles of the Xin'an Clan
The "Chronicle of the Great Clan of Xin'an" was compiled by Chen Dingyu of the Yuan Dynasty, which recorded the history of various large families in Huizhou, and the Hu clan occupied a considerable amount of space. When referring to the Hu clan of Wuyuan County, the "Chronicle of the Great Family of Xin'an" points out:
Kao Chuan: Thirty miles north of Yi, which first came out of the Longxi Li Tang Sect Room. After that, Zhu Wen usurped the throne, the kings moved, and the Changyi fled to Wuyuan, so he took the Water Hu clan to live, so he took his surname.
Above_ Huizhou Fuzhi Jiajing Edition [Copy]
Evidence 2: The Chronicle of Huizhou Fu during the Ming Dynasty
The "Huizhou Fuzhi" records: Hu Changyi, Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty, Zhu Wen constructed the disaster, and the prince was transferred. When The Wuyuan people Hu Sangong, eunuchs traveled to Chang'an, hid in order to return, and then took the surname of Hu. After the Ming Jing Deng, Tang Tongguang Yi Unitary Jinshidi, Yi Bushi, lived in seclusion in Kaochuan, and was known as Ming Jingweng. He once constructed a thought, chiseled a pool of love, and wrote two chapters of poetry to see the meaning. A bridge was also built in Zhu Yuan, known as the 'Prince Bridge'. His descendants passed on the classics to their families, and the townspeople called the Ming Jing Hu clan.
The Huizhou Fuzhi clearly records the origin of Hu Changyi's change of surname from Li to Hu, and the Huizhou Fuzhi is the official historical material of the local government of the Ming Dynasty, which has a high degree of credibility.
Above_ "Xin'an Ming Clan Chronicle" book shadow
Evidence 3: Chronicles of the Xin'an Ming Clan and Huizhou Fuzhi during the Jiajing Period
The "Chronicle of the Xin'an Ming Clan" records that it is thirty miles in the north of Yi. It first came out of the Longxi Li Tang Sect Room. Zhu Wen usurped the throne, the kings moved, and the Changyi fled to Wuyuan to take the Residence of the Hu clan of Kaoshui and followed his surname. (Later Tang) Tongguang Yiyou (925) ascended to the throne with the Ming Dynasty.
The record of Hu Changyi in the Huizhou Fuzhi of the Jiajing period is basically the same as that of the Huizhou Fuzhi of the Ming Xiaozong period.
Evidence 4: The Jixi County Chronicle records that Hu Changyi, the father of Hu Yanzheng, an official in Jixi County, was a child of Li Ye of Tang Zhaozong, who encountered the disaster of Zhu Wen in his infancy, and Li Ye entrusted him to Hu Sangong, who grew up and studied for the Ming Classics after hu Sangong was adopted. It was "Ming Jing Hu" and later called "Li Gai Hu".
Evidence 5: The Siku Quanshu mentions that the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty name Ru Hu Yanmei was Hu Changyi, a descendant of the Li Tang royal family, and changed his surname to Hu around the fifth dynasty.
Li Ye (22 February 867 – 904), also known as Emperor Zhaozong of Tang
The above information proves that the supporters believe that Hu Changyi is a descendant of Li Tang and has the following inferences:
First, although Zhu Wen forced Tang Zhaozong to luoyang, the complete restriction of Tang Zhaozong's personal freedom was after the capital was moved to Luoyang. During the seven months from Chang'an to Luoyang, Tang Zhaozong's personal freedom still existed, and the small yellow gate and the inner garden children around him were loyal to the emperor and the empress, and Tang Zhaozong was fully capable of hiding the infant prince and sending him out.
Second, Zhu Wen killed Tang Zhaozong's princes, killing only the older princes in order of the eldest and youngest, the younger Li Zhu was the Emperor of Tang, and the younger princes, Zhu Wen did not care.
Above_ Geographical map of Chang'an and Luoyang
Third, judging from the fact that Tang Zhaozong gave Wang Jian and Yang Xingmi a secret message on the way from Chang'an to Luoyang, Tang Zhaozong still had the right to order the world, which can explain why at the internal banquet, Tang Zhaozong and the palace people whispered, and Zhu Wen was afraid. Although Zhu Wen wanted to control Tang Zhaozong and learn from Cao Cao to blackmail Tianzi and order the princes, Tang Zhaozong was not Emperor Xian of Han.
Fourth, according to the genealogy of Wuyuan County's Kaochuan Mingjing Hu and Qinghua Changshu Hu, Hu Changyi's adoptive father Hu San was given the title of Guanglu Dafu during the reign of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang, which increased the possibility that Tang Zhaozong would hand over the crown prince to Hu San.
Zhu Wen (9 December 852 – 18 July 912) reigned from the first year of Kaiping (907) to the second year of Qianhua (912).
The opponents also listed the reasons:
First, there is no direct record of the main history, only the local chronicles and other side historical materials have records, and the credibility is not high.
Second, Tang Zhaozong moved east, and the safety of Tang Zhaozong was taken care of by Zhu Wen's cronies, and all the circumstances of Tang Zhaozong's activities were reported to Zhu Wen by Zhu Wen's cronies, and under the supervision of Zhu Wen's cronies, Tang Zhaozong could not entrust his crown prince to others to raise.
Third, since Tang Zhaozong handed over the crown prince to Hu San, why didn't Hu San help Tang Zhaozong escape from zhu Wen's clutches? And then restore Li Tang's old business?
Above_ Hu Xueyan (Famous red-crowned merchant and representative figure of emblem merchants in modern China)
Fourth, the Ming Jing Hu took Hu Changyi's Jinshi branch, the Ming Jingke, and the contributions of Hu Changyi's descendants in science as their clan name, not necessarily "Li GaiHu". The genealogy of Hu Changyi as Hu San's biological son is not uncommon, and the lineage above Hu San is from the same source as the Wuyuan Qinghua Hu clan and the Qimen Guixi Hu clan. Therefore, Hu Changyi is Hu San's parent, not a descendant of Tang Zhaozong.
Summarizing the positive and negative reasons and the records of local chronicles, it is concluded that it is not only possible but also quite likely that Hu Changyi is a descendant of Tang Zhaozong, but due to the lack of historical records, the fact that Hu Changyi is a descendant of Tang Zhaozong is still in a state of doubt. Since Hu Changyi is suspicious of Tang Zhaozong's descendants, Hu Shi, Hu Xueyan and others are also suspicious of being descendants of the Tang Dynasty royal family, and more historical materials and archaeological discoveries are needed to prove it.
author:
Chastity
Correction/Editing:
Lilith
References: Huizhou Fuzhi, Old Book of Tang
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author