Post by Candylover on Dec 8, 2006 8:38:33 GMT -5
For DJY fans' information, I present you with some excerpts about Sui and Tang dynasties from a history book. Hope it will be helpful to you as a historical background behind the drama DJY. Asterisks[/li][li][/b] denote my two-cents.
East Asia at the Center, 2000, Columbia University Press
Amazon.com link: tinyurl.com/yeugsv
Author: Warren I. Cohen is Dustinguished Universoty Professor of History at University of Maryland Baltimore County(UMBC) and Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Shadows Over Tang Splendour
The early years of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) were certainly among the most glorious in Chinese history and probably were also the years in which China had the greatest influence on the rest of East Asia. (p. 62)
But the historian looking back to those years see shadows on China's periphery and potent dangers at the heart of the Chinese polity. China's extensive frontier regions were rarely secure. In the territory China claimed for itself remained peoples resistant to Chinese rule. Beyond its presumed borders were always restless people with ambitions of their own. The Turkic peoples to the north and west continued to pose a potential threat. Koguryo to the northeast was a formidable foe, at least as aggressive as the Chinese themselves. To the West, the Tibetian empire arose to challenge Chinese hegemony. Further west, Arab forces were marching into Central Asia, posing a new threat to China's pretensions there. And at home a huge standing army, its commanders perceiving that their interests were not identical to those of the court, ultimately constituted the gravest threat of all. (p. 62)
The Sui
First came the unification of China under the Sui dynasty.[/li][li][/b] Yang Jian, or Sui Wendi, as he was later known, gained control of the North in 581 and conquered the South in a struggle that lasted from 587 to 589. China was once again a unified empire with power resting in the hands of sinicized Tuoba military arisocrats, many of mixed blood, many at least as comfortable speaking a Turkic language as they were conversing in Chinese. (pp. 62-63)
[/li][li][/b] The Era of Six Dynasties(317-589) preceded the Sui Dynasty.
As a northerner, Wendi was most troubled by threats to Chinese security posed by the steppe nomads, the "Turks" beyond the Great Wall. He was determined to occupy all of Manchuria and much of northern Korea - an extension of Chinese imperialism justified by the need to create ever larger buffers between China and its potential enemies. In 598, allied with Silla in southern Korea, he sent his troops against Turks and Koguryo, who were supported by Paekche - and he failed. In a series of battles that Koreans celebrate as one of their greatest acts of resistance to Chinese aggression, Wendi's forces were thrown back. For some long time, the power balance in Northeast Asia - Koguryo, Paekche, and the nomads of Manchuria versus China and Silla - tilted against China. (p.63)
Wendi's son and successor, Yangdi, inherited his father's taste for empire-building and his obsession with destroying Koguryo, which proved to be his undoing. He ascended to the throne in 604 and by 609 was devoting his attention almost exclusively to foreign affairs, to the displeasure of many of the Confucian scholars who attempted to advise him. (p. 64)
The key to China's security in the seventh century was continued division among the Turks, and Yangdi proved no less adept than his father in exploiting the fissures. In 605, when the Kithan - a people whose territory in Manchuria bordered with that of Koguryo, China, and the Eastern Turks - raided China, Yangdi persuaded the Turks to send 20,000 horse-men under the command of a Chinese general to retaliate. Efforts to use the Turks against Koguryo, on the other hand, were unsuccessful and the Chinese lived in constant fear of a Koguryo alliance with the Turks, each a credible threat by itself. But Pei Zhu managed to keep the Eastern Turks in the tributary system and to keep them pacified for a decade. (pp. 64-65)
Tibetian origins are still unclear, but it is readily apparent that in the seventh century Tibet emerged as a prominent challenger to China's pretensions in the West. At stake was nothing less than control of Central Asia and the caravan routes to the Middle East. During Yangdi's reign, the Tibetians were consolidating their power, testing their power against lesser rivals. Contacts with the Chinese were correct and unthreatening, allowing Yangdi to concentrate on his personal bete nour, Koguryo.
Preparations for an offensive against Koguryo commenced in 610 and in 612 China launched a massive invasion with an army of one million men supported by naval forces that struck simultaneously. Despite initial successes on the battlefield, Yangdi's forces failed to reach the capital of Koguryo, suffered heavy losses, and ultimately were forced to withdraw.[**] Undeterred, Yangdi tried again in 613 only to have his campaign interrupted by rebellion at home. As the war-weary country seethed with unrest, Yangdi attacked in 614 - but on the verge of success was unable to force the king of Koguryo to appear at the Chinese court to pay homage. Plans for still another campaign had to be set aside as civil strife left the emperor no choice but to abandon his vision of conquest and attempt to preserve his dynasty. His armies had more than enough to do to suppressing all over China.
Yangdi's militant imperialism, a recurring theme in Chinese history, usually triggered by indications of Chinese military superiority and dreams of emulating Han Wudi, met with considerable success, but ultimately foundered on his campaigns against Koguryo. Like his father before him and other emperors to follow, he found Korean independence intolerable, a potential threat to Chinese security. His efforts to force Koguryo into submission exhausted his treasury and alienated his own people. In 615 he was further embarrassed by a narrow escape from an eastern Turk force that besieged his summer palace and in 618 he was murdered by a trusted aide. The brief history of the dynasty that had reunited Chian was over. (pp.65-66)
[**] The Koguryo general who defeated the Sui army of one million men in 612 was Uljee Moon-Duck, or whatever the transliteration may be in the subtitles. Maybe you'll remember the scene in one of the early episodes, where General Yang of Anshi castle and DJY's father was praying in front of the portrait of him. He also composed a poem mocking the Sui general who led the army, which was re-used to enrage the Tang emperor 33 years later in the drama.
The Years Of Tang Ascendance
The beneficiary of Sui Yangdi's excesses, as well as Sui success in unifying China and revitalizing its administrative apparatus, was a powerful general, Li Yuan, who had joined the rebellion against his emperor. When the dust of battle had cleared, it was Li, Duke of Tang, who reestablished order and the authority of the central government. And, of course, it was Li who founded the Tang Dynasty and reigned as Tang Gaozu. (p. 66)
Gaozu's son, Taizong[***], ascended to the throne in 627, and was quicky warned against an aggressive foreign policy. Although Chinese society was stable and the place of dynasty seemed secure, officials who recalled the disastrous results of Sui imperialism urged the new emperor to concentrate on domestic affairs. In particular they feared the economic consequences of major military operations. Taizong abided by their instructions for several years, appeasing the Turks, while patiently noting the excellent harvests of and the growing reserves in the treasury. (p. 67)
[***] Taizong is the throne name of the Tang emperor who led an army into Koguryo and was defeated in the early episodes of the drama DJY.
Once again a Chinese emperor dreamt of surpassing the Han empire. Once again China mobilized its forces and sent its mighty armies forth to conquer its neighbours. (p. 68)
In 640 the Chinese received impressive tribute in the form of gold and jewel from Tibet and a few months later the Tibet emperor had a Chinese princess for his bride. Good relations between Tibet and China lasted for the remainder of Taizong's reign. (p. 69)
Only the Chinese failure to conquer Koguryo remained as an irritant to Taizong, as an obsticle to his vision of creating the greatest empire China had ever known. Koguryo had used the years of peace well, building massive fortifications to shore up its defences against another Chinese invasion. Once confident they could fend off the Chinese. Koguryo's leaders attacked Silla, attempting to regain territory Silla had seized while Koguryo was fighting for its survival against the Sui. Silla called for help from China and Taizong, furious at Koguryo arrogance, decided the moment had come for China's revenge. Once again his ministers opposed what they perceived as costly and unnecessary military adventurism. Once again he ignored their warnings, insisting that Koguryo had to be brought to heel before it allied with other forces potentially hostile to China such as Japan or nomadic tribes in Manchuria. he would not risk a Koguryo victory over Silla that might result in a unified Korea, a long-term threat to Chinese security.
The mighty Tang armies failed disastrously in 645 as Koguryo's defences held.[****] Undeterred, Taizong sent another massive force against Koguryo in 647. On this occasion, Tang troops prevailed in a great battle, inflicting heavy casualties on the defenders, but they were unable to deliver the decisive blow. Koguryo still stood. Taizong's ambition had not been realized. As he prepared for still a third expedition against Koguryo, death intervened. His accomplishment in the two decades of his reign were extraordinary: the empire was enormous: but victory over Koguryo had eluded him. (pp. 69-70)
[****] The early episodes of DJY is set in this battle of 645.
East Asia at the Center, 2000, Columbia University Press
Amazon.com link: tinyurl.com/yeugsv
Author: Warren I. Cohen is Dustinguished Universoty Professor of History at University of Maryland Baltimore County(UMBC) and Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Shadows Over Tang Splendour
The early years of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) were certainly among the most glorious in Chinese history and probably were also the years in which China had the greatest influence on the rest of East Asia. (p. 62)
But the historian looking back to those years see shadows on China's periphery and potent dangers at the heart of the Chinese polity. China's extensive frontier regions were rarely secure. In the territory China claimed for itself remained peoples resistant to Chinese rule. Beyond its presumed borders were always restless people with ambitions of their own. The Turkic peoples to the north and west continued to pose a potential threat. Koguryo to the northeast was a formidable foe, at least as aggressive as the Chinese themselves. To the West, the Tibetian empire arose to challenge Chinese hegemony. Further west, Arab forces were marching into Central Asia, posing a new threat to China's pretensions there. And at home a huge standing army, its commanders perceiving that their interests were not identical to those of the court, ultimately constituted the gravest threat of all. (p. 62)
The Sui
First came the unification of China under the Sui dynasty.[/li][li][/b] Yang Jian, or Sui Wendi, as he was later known, gained control of the North in 581 and conquered the South in a struggle that lasted from 587 to 589. China was once again a unified empire with power resting in the hands of sinicized Tuoba military arisocrats, many of mixed blood, many at least as comfortable speaking a Turkic language as they were conversing in Chinese. (pp. 62-63)
[/li][li][/b] The Era of Six Dynasties(317-589) preceded the Sui Dynasty.
As a northerner, Wendi was most troubled by threats to Chinese security posed by the steppe nomads, the "Turks" beyond the Great Wall. He was determined to occupy all of Manchuria and much of northern Korea - an extension of Chinese imperialism justified by the need to create ever larger buffers between China and its potential enemies. In 598, allied with Silla in southern Korea, he sent his troops against Turks and Koguryo, who were supported by Paekche - and he failed. In a series of battles that Koreans celebrate as one of their greatest acts of resistance to Chinese aggression, Wendi's forces were thrown back. For some long time, the power balance in Northeast Asia - Koguryo, Paekche, and the nomads of Manchuria versus China and Silla - tilted against China. (p.63)
Wendi's son and successor, Yangdi, inherited his father's taste for empire-building and his obsession with destroying Koguryo, which proved to be his undoing. He ascended to the throne in 604 and by 609 was devoting his attention almost exclusively to foreign affairs, to the displeasure of many of the Confucian scholars who attempted to advise him. (p. 64)
The key to China's security in the seventh century was continued division among the Turks, and Yangdi proved no less adept than his father in exploiting the fissures. In 605, when the Kithan - a people whose territory in Manchuria bordered with that of Koguryo, China, and the Eastern Turks - raided China, Yangdi persuaded the Turks to send 20,000 horse-men under the command of a Chinese general to retaliate. Efforts to use the Turks against Koguryo, on the other hand, were unsuccessful and the Chinese lived in constant fear of a Koguryo alliance with the Turks, each a credible threat by itself. But Pei Zhu managed to keep the Eastern Turks in the tributary system and to keep them pacified for a decade. (pp. 64-65)
Tibetian origins are still unclear, but it is readily apparent that in the seventh century Tibet emerged as a prominent challenger to China's pretensions in the West. At stake was nothing less than control of Central Asia and the caravan routes to the Middle East. During Yangdi's reign, the Tibetians were consolidating their power, testing their power against lesser rivals. Contacts with the Chinese were correct and unthreatening, allowing Yangdi to concentrate on his personal bete nour, Koguryo.
Preparations for an offensive against Koguryo commenced in 610 and in 612 China launched a massive invasion with an army of one million men supported by naval forces that struck simultaneously. Despite initial successes on the battlefield, Yangdi's forces failed to reach the capital of Koguryo, suffered heavy losses, and ultimately were forced to withdraw.[**] Undeterred, Yangdi tried again in 613 only to have his campaign interrupted by rebellion at home. As the war-weary country seethed with unrest, Yangdi attacked in 614 - but on the verge of success was unable to force the king of Koguryo to appear at the Chinese court to pay homage. Plans for still another campaign had to be set aside as civil strife left the emperor no choice but to abandon his vision of conquest and attempt to preserve his dynasty. His armies had more than enough to do to suppressing all over China.
Yangdi's militant imperialism, a recurring theme in Chinese history, usually triggered by indications of Chinese military superiority and dreams of emulating Han Wudi, met with considerable success, but ultimately foundered on his campaigns against Koguryo. Like his father before him and other emperors to follow, he found Korean independence intolerable, a potential threat to Chinese security. His efforts to force Koguryo into submission exhausted his treasury and alienated his own people. In 615 he was further embarrassed by a narrow escape from an eastern Turk force that besieged his summer palace and in 618 he was murdered by a trusted aide. The brief history of the dynasty that had reunited Chian was over. (pp.65-66)
[**] The Koguryo general who defeated the Sui army of one million men in 612 was Uljee Moon-Duck, or whatever the transliteration may be in the subtitles. Maybe you'll remember the scene in one of the early episodes, where General Yang of Anshi castle and DJY's father was praying in front of the portrait of him. He also composed a poem mocking the Sui general who led the army, which was re-used to enrage the Tang emperor 33 years later in the drama.
The Years Of Tang Ascendance
The beneficiary of Sui Yangdi's excesses, as well as Sui success in unifying China and revitalizing its administrative apparatus, was a powerful general, Li Yuan, who had joined the rebellion against his emperor. When the dust of battle had cleared, it was Li, Duke of Tang, who reestablished order and the authority of the central government. And, of course, it was Li who founded the Tang Dynasty and reigned as Tang Gaozu. (p. 66)
Gaozu's son, Taizong[***], ascended to the throne in 627, and was quicky warned against an aggressive foreign policy. Although Chinese society was stable and the place of dynasty seemed secure, officials who recalled the disastrous results of Sui imperialism urged the new emperor to concentrate on domestic affairs. In particular they feared the economic consequences of major military operations. Taizong abided by their instructions for several years, appeasing the Turks, while patiently noting the excellent harvests of and the growing reserves in the treasury. (p. 67)
[***] Taizong is the throne name of the Tang emperor who led an army into Koguryo and was defeated in the early episodes of the drama DJY.
Once again a Chinese emperor dreamt of surpassing the Han empire. Once again China mobilized its forces and sent its mighty armies forth to conquer its neighbours. (p. 68)
In 640 the Chinese received impressive tribute in the form of gold and jewel from Tibet and a few months later the Tibet emperor had a Chinese princess for his bride. Good relations between Tibet and China lasted for the remainder of Taizong's reign. (p. 69)
Only the Chinese failure to conquer Koguryo remained as an irritant to Taizong, as an obsticle to his vision of creating the greatest empire China had ever known. Koguryo had used the years of peace well, building massive fortifications to shore up its defences against another Chinese invasion. Once confident they could fend off the Chinese. Koguryo's leaders attacked Silla, attempting to regain territory Silla had seized while Koguryo was fighting for its survival against the Sui. Silla called for help from China and Taizong, furious at Koguryo arrogance, decided the moment had come for China's revenge. Once again his ministers opposed what they perceived as costly and unnecessary military adventurism. Once again he ignored their warnings, insisting that Koguryo had to be brought to heel before it allied with other forces potentially hostile to China such as Japan or nomadic tribes in Manchuria. he would not risk a Koguryo victory over Silla that might result in a unified Korea, a long-term threat to Chinese security.
The mighty Tang armies failed disastrously in 645 as Koguryo's defences held.[****] Undeterred, Taizong sent another massive force against Koguryo in 647. On this occasion, Tang troops prevailed in a great battle, inflicting heavy casualties on the defenders, but they were unable to deliver the decisive blow. Koguryo still stood. Taizong's ambition had not been realized. As he prepared for still a third expedition against Koguryo, death intervened. His accomplishment in the two decades of his reign were extraordinary: the empire was enormous: but victory over Koguryo had eluded him. (pp. 69-70)
[****] The early episodes of DJY is set in this battle of 645.