Mr. Ren Shuang (1953-2012) was a diligent cultivator in the field of Tang and Song Dynasty history in mainland China, and his research on the history of Tang and Song rituals, the history of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and the history of the Southern Tang Dynasty has always been the object of study by academic colleagues. Hu Yaofei's article "From the History of the Southern Tang Dynasty to the History of the Tang and Song Dynasties: The Research and Teaching of Mr. Ren Shuang's "Tang and Song Dynasty Continuity" published in September 2023 systematically reviews Mr. Ren Shuang's teaching and research work.
Mr. Ren Shuang has studied the history of the Southern Tang Dynasty the most vigorously in the history of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and has published a monograph: "History of the Southern Tang Dynasty", and published seven papers: "The Temptation of Party Struggle in the Southern Tang Dynasty", "The Development of the Wu and Tang Dynasties", "The Economy and Culture of Jiangxi in the Southern Tang Dynasty", "The Regional Characteristics of the Internal Contradictions of the Ruling Group in the Tang and Song Dynasties", "The Separation of the Five Dynasties and the Military Diplomacy of the Southern Tang Dynasty", "The Historical Status of the Five Dynasties and the Southern Tang Dynasty" and "The Economic and Cultural Separation of the Five Dynasties and the Southern Tang Dynasty" by Mr. Ren's mentor Wu Feng as the first author. In addition to these treatises that specifically deal with the Southern Tang Dynasty, some other treatises also involve part of the history of the Southern Tang Dynasty, which is not listed.
The above treatises, from the perspective of time, the earliest is the article "The Temptation of the Southern Tang Dynasty Party Struggle" in 1985, and then until the publication of the article "The Separation of the Five Dynasties and the Economy and Culture of the Southern Tang Dynasty" in 1995, it took ten years to sharpen the sword, and finally merged into a book, that is, the book "History of the Southern Tang Dynasty". However, the book "History of the Southern Tang Dynasty" is not a simple compilation of relevant papers, but has its own rigorous style, which can be reflected through the table of contents:
The first part of "The Rise of the Southern Tang Dynasty" includes chapters 1 to 6 "Wu and Tang Chan Dynasty", "Political Reform and Achievements of Liezu Li Yu", "Economic Measures of Liezu Li Yu and Its Achievements", "Cultural Policies of Liezu Li Yu and Their Achievements", "Military and Diplomatic Strategies of Liezu Li Yu and Its Impact on the Current Situation", and ""Dare to Respect the Front and Be Unsatisfied""; The Deterioration of the Economic Situation in the Period of Yuanzong Li Jing", "The Decline of the Southern Tang Dynasty", "The Fall of the Flowers and the Uncertain Wind", and the second part "The Fall of the Southern Tang Dynasty", including chapters 13 to 16, "The Merry Monarch", "Measures to Deal with the Crisis in the Period of the Later Lord Li Yu", "The Fall of the Southern Tang Dynasty", and "Xiaolou Last Night and the East Wind".
In addition to the introduction, appendices (chronology and bibliography of the Southern Tang Dynasty), and afterword, the main part of the book is narrated according to the reign period of the former lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty (Liezu), the middle lord (Yuanzong), and the later lord, and takes care of the political, economic, military and other aspects of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Combined with the single paper published before, as well as the research on the history of the Southern Tang Dynasty before and during the same period, Mr. Ren Shuang's contributions to the study of the history of the Southern Tang Dynasty are generally concentrated in the following aspects:
(1) Political research in the Southern Tang Dynasty
Mr. Ren Shuang's History of the Southern Tang Dynasty is the first monograph on the history of the Southern Tang Dynasty in China, and there have been no scholars who have conducted special research on the history of the Southern Tang Dynasty before, and only a few single papers have been published. The earliest is the article "A Study of Wu in the Southern Tang Dynasty during the Five Dynasties" by Mr. Bian Xiaoxuan of Nanjing University, which believes that Wu in the Southern Tang Dynasty was a peaceful transfer process and had a profound impact on the economic and cultural development of the Jianghuai region. However, Mr. Bian also highlighted the contradictions between Yang Xingmiyuan's generals and Xu Wen and Xu Zhihe's (Li Yu) adoptive fathers and sons, as well as the contradictions within the Xu family. Mr. Ren's article "Wu Tang Chan Dynasty Fa Wei" emphasizes the separate use of southerners and northerners by Li Yu, the ancestor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, during the Chan Dynasty, that is, there was still a contradiction between the Jianghuai locals and the northern Liuyushi people, and Li Yu combined these two forces well, thus achieving the success of the Chan Dynasty. Mr. Ren's concern for the people of the south and north is also reflected in his research on the party struggle in the Southern Tang Dynasty, that is, in the article "The Temptation of Party Struggle in the Southern Tang Dynasty". In this article, Mr. Ren argues: "In political struggles, political parties are divided on the basis of regional differences, and the main content is the conflict of interests between various regional groups. He also counted a total of 11 indigenous people headed by Song Qiqiu and 14 overseas Chinese people headed by Sun Sheng, and discussed the party struggle of these people in the three stages of the Liezu, Yuanzong, and Later Lords. In this regard, although there are pertinent criticisms from Du Wenyu's "Commentary on the Party Dispute in the Southern Tang Dynasty" that "the division between the two parties is determined by political differences, not geographical antagonisms", there is no doubt that Mr. Ren first considered it from a regional perspective and grasped one of the core elements of party contention.
(2) Economic and cultural research in the Southern Tang Dynasty
Regarding the study of the economic history of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the academic circles before Mr. Ren Shuang generally placed it in the study of the economy of the entire Sui and Tang dynasties, or the entire southern economy, and there were not many separate investigations. The geographical location of the Southern Tang Dynasty is special, the Jiangbei area basically belongs to the defense buffer zone of the Central Plains Dynasty in the north, the western Zhejiang and Xuanshe areas are the political center areas around Jinling, and the Jiangxi area is the economic center of gravity. Therefore, the focus of academic research on the economy of the Southern Tang Dynasty is also in Jiangxi. In the early years, there were Lin Ruihan's "Economy and Culture of the Southern Tang Dynasty" and Han Pan's "A Glimpse of the Economic and Cultural Activities of Jiangxi Province in the Tang Dynasty - Reading Tang Historical Notes". Among them, Mr. Lin's article was published in Taiwan, which is rare for mainland scholars to see. Although Mr. Han's article does not specifically focus on the Southern Tang Dynasty, the economic and cultural development of the late Tang Dynasty in Jiangxi Province is the basis for Mr. Ren's research on the Southern Tang Dynasty. As can be seen from the title of the paper, Mr. Ren published "The Economy and Culture of Jiangxi in the Southern Tang Dynasty", which also focused on both economic and cultural aspects. In terms of time, Mr. Ren did not abandon the investigation of the Yang and Wu periods because the topic was the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Gu Hong of the Southern Tang Dynasty of the Five Dynasties painted "Han Xizai's Night Banquet" (detail)
In addition to the regional economy, it is concerned about the economy and culture of the entire Southern Tang Dynasty. In this regard, Mr. Ren paid more attention to the political situation of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, that is, the article "The Separation of the Five Dynasties and the Economy and Culture of the Southern Tang Dynasty". The division and integration of the five dynasties is a topic that has received more attention in the study of the history of the five dynasties and ten kingdoms, after all, the unification factor implied in the division period is more likely to reflect the popularity of the concept of great unification. However, Mr. Ren's focus in this article is still on the regional perspective that he is good at, that is, to consider the development and status of the economy and culture of the Southern Tang Dynasty from the perspective of changes in economic geography and cultural geography. He believed: "The 39-year history of the Southern Tang regime is only a short moment in the development of China's civilization in the past 6,000 years. However, the Southern Tang Dynasty successfully grasped the opportunity of development in the critical period and key location of historical evolution, and thus played a key role. Although the military confrontation ended with the defeat of the Southern Tang, the economic and cultural competition ended with the victory of the Southern Tang. This can be described as a summary of Mr. Ren's economic and cultural achievements in the Southern Tang Dynasty.
(3) Research on military diplomacy in the Southern Tang Dynasty
In the study of the history of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the eighties and nineties of the twentieth century, the figure that scholars paid the most attention to was the founding emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Li Yu. Before the publication of Mr. Ren Shuang's "History of the Southern Tang Dynasty", there were Zhuge Ji's "A Brief Description of the Actions of Li Yu, the Ancestor of the Southern Tang Dynasty", Zheng Xuemeng's "On Li Yu", Wang Yongping's "A Brief Discussion on the Southern Tang Dynasty Liezu Li Yu" and other papers, as well as Zhuge Ji's "The Annals of the Southern Tang Dynasty Ancestor Li Yu". After the publication of "History of the Southern Tang Dynasty", there were Liang Li's "Li Yu and the Southern Tang Dynasty", Wei Liangtao's "Commentary on Li Yu, the Ancestor of the Southern Tang Dynasty" and other papers.
These treatises, whether published before or after the publication of the History of the Southern Tang Dynasty, are worthy of comparison. What interests me is that these studies on Li Yu basically focus on his military and diplomatic strategies. Even in the study of Li Jing of Yuanzong of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the study of Li Jing's military diplomacy uses Li Yu as a reference object to illustrate Yuanzong's failure in military diplomacy. Therefore, the evaluation of Li Yu's military foreign policy is generally relatively high in academic circles. Mr. Ren's evaluation of Li Yu is the same, and in his book "History of the Southern Tang Dynasty", he directly summarizes Li Yu's strategy with subheadings such as "containing the Central Plains regime" and "stabilizing the southern states". He also uses the chapter title "The Failure of Military Diplomacy in the Period of Yuanzong Li Jing" to summarize Li Jing's mistakes.
Five Dynasties Southern Tang Dynasty Zhou Wenju Painting "Heavy Screen Chess Diagram"
In addition, Mr. Ren went further than the above-mentioned scholars to grasp the entire military diplomacy of the Southern Tang Dynasty, especially in the context of the division and integration of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, which is reflected in the article "The Separation and Integration of the Five Dynasties and the Military Diplomacy of the Southern Tang Dynasty". In this article, Mr. Ren examines the interaction between the southern regimes, including the Southern Tang Dynasty, and the Northern Central Plains Dynasty, especially the antagonistic relationship between the Southern Tang Dynasty and the Central Plains Dynasty, as well as the cooperation and confrontation between the Southern Tang Dynasty and the Southern Regimes, and the Central Plains Dynasty's use of the Southern Regimes. These assertions also basically laid the foundation for future scholars to further study the military diplomacy of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
(4) The historical status of the Southern Tang Dynasty
Through the study of the politics, economy, culture and military of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Mr. Ren Shuang has a full grasp of the historical status of the Southern Tang Dynasty. For example, regarding the importance of the economy of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Mr. Ren said at the end of the article "The Economy and Culture of Jiangxi in the Southern Tang Dynasty":
The progress of human civilization is a process of mutual influence between various regions. As far as the history of China's feudal society is concerned, its political, economic, and cultural center shifted from the northwest to the Central Plains, and then from the Central Plains to the south. Generally speaking, five generations ago, because the south was relatively backward, it basically accepted the influence of the north, but after five generations, due to the development of the south, this trend was reversed, and the south began to influence the north more. This influence is not only reflected in the fact that the feudal regime is increasingly dependent on the south economically, and in terms of culture and even social customs, it is more and more absorbed from the south, but also in politics, the southerners have increasingly become the main body of the feudal regime, and have transformed the society at that time with their own unique political concepts, and this has had a far-reaching historical impact. This change was the specific content of the southward shift of the political, economic, and cultural center of gravity of China's feudal society during the Tang and Song dynasties, and the change in Jiangxi was an important part of this southward migration process. After the end of the Five Dynasties, Jiangxi began a new historical period, because of its influence to a certain extent, the entire Chinese feudal society also began a new historical period. This is the reason why Jiangxi's economic and cultural development occupied an important historical position during the Southern Tang Dynasty.
This passage not only makes a positioning for the economy and culture of Jiangxi in the Southern Tang Dynasty, but also involves a political positioning. During the Northern Song Dynasty, southerners became increasingly active in the political arena, and most of them came from the Jiangxi region. On this basis, Mr. Ren further evaluated the position of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the process of China's historical development in the article "The Separation of the Five Dynasties and the Economic Culture of the Southern Tang Dynasty": "Although the military confrontation ended with the defeat of the Southern Tang Dynasty, the economic and cultural competition ended with the victory of the Southern Tang Dynasty. This victory not only raised the economic, cultural and even political status of the Jianghuai region in the Northern Song Dynasty and the subsequent unified dynasties, but also gave the development of Chinese history after the Song Dynasty a strong southern color, and behind this change was the further integration and cohesion between various regions in the country. In this sense, the Southern Tang Dynasty, as a key link in the southward migration of China's political, economic, and cultural center, not only opened up a broader stage for the development of future generations, but also created more favorable conditions for the unification of future generations. In the article "The Separation of the Five Dynasties and the Historical Status of the Southern Tang Dynasty" co-authored by Mr. Ren and Mr. Wu Feng, there are similar views.
In fact, such an assertion also reflects the common views of other scholars of Southern Tang history on the Southern Tang Dynasty. Du Wenyu's "A Brief History of the Southern Tang Dynasty" quoted the views of Mr. Ren in his article "The Economy and Culture of Jiangxi in the Southern Tang Dynasty" and commented: "This commentary could not more appropriately describe the role and status of the Southern Tang Dynasty in ancient Chinese history. Zou Jinfeng's book "History of the Southern Tang Dynasty", which was written with a doctoral dissertation, is also based on Mr. Ren's research.
Hu Yaofei is an associate professor at the Institute of Tang Civilization and the School of History and Culture, Shaanxi Normal University
※This article is the first part of "From the History of the Southern Tang Dynasty to the History of the Tang and Song Dynasties: The Research and Teaching of Mr. Ren Shuang's "Tang and Song Dynasty Continuity"", which is the author's word manuscript and has been deleted for easy reading. This article was originally published in Social Science Forum, Issue 5, 2023. Thank you Mr. Hu Yaofei for authorizing the release!
Panoramic display of the history of the Southern Tang Dynasty,
Describe in detail the disputes of the five generations and the turmoil of the ten countries
Li Yu's entrepreneurial history, Li Jing's history of defeat, and Li Yu's history of the country's demise
"History of the Southern Tang Dynasty"
Ren Shuang
978-7-101-16472-5
$68.00
Introduction
Five generations of strife, ten kingdoms are in turmoil, when they are divided and united, and when they are in great change. As a powerful regime in the Ten Kingdoms, the Southern Tang Dynasty was passed down for 39 years, once occupied the land of 35 states, crossed the Jianghuai River, and looked down on the Central Plains. During this period, Li Yu, Li Jing, Li Yu, Chai Rong, Zhao Kuangyin, Xu Wen, Song Qiqiu, Cao Bin, Han Xizai, Feng Yansi...... Yang Wu, Southern Tang, Later Jin, Khitan, Later Zhou, Wu Yue, Southern Chu, Fujian, Northern Song Dynasty...... Large and small regimes are attacking each other. This book focuses on the rise and fall of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and presents a panoramic view of the history of the chaotic and colorful era of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
The 39 years of the Southern Tang Dynasty are not very remarkable in the long history, but during the Tang and Song dynasties, the Southern Tang Dynasty played a key role in the important period of great changes in ancient China's social, political, economic, and cultural changes. What the author wants to present and reveal is the hidden original appearance of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the history books, and the key historical role it played in the entire great transformation.
About the Author
Ren Shuang (1953-2012), a native of Ji'an, Jilin Province, was originally from Jimo, Shandong. Ph.D. in History. He has taught at Heilongjiang University, Northeast Normal University, and Liaoning University, and has served as the director of the Professorial Committee of the Department of History of Northeast Normal University, a member of the History Discipline Evaluation Group of the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, and the director of the Institute of Tang and Song History of Liaoning University. His main research areas are the history of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and the history of the Tang and Song dynasties. He is the author of History of the Southern Tang Dynasty (1995), A Study of the Ritual System of the Tang Dynasty (1999), The Imperial Examination System and the Civil Service System: A Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Bureaucratic Politics (2001), and the editor-in-chief of The Examination of the Ten Kingdoms (2004) and The Examination of the Five Dynasties (2007).
(Co-ordinator: Yibei; Editor: Xuan Xuan)