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The rebellion of Zhang Yuxian 張遇賢 (942–943)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2014

Johannes L. Kurz*
Affiliation:
Universiti Brunei Darussalam

Abstract

This paper is about a rebellion in southern China in the first half of the tenth century and its depiction in historical sources from the tenth to the seventeenth centuries. At the core of this study is Zhang Yuxian, the rebel leader, and his allegiance to a spirit. The latter suggested moving from Guangdong, the territory of the Southern Han empire (917–971), and the original area of the rebellion, to Jiangxi, the territory of the Southern Tang empire (937–976). The approach of the paper is twofold: first, it examines the historical setting and context; and second, through a close reading of some of the major features of the sources, such as the labelling of Zhang as a yaozei, the adoption of red clothes by the rebels, and so forth, the essay makes evident the close relationship and dependency between successive historical texts.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS, University of London 2014 

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References

1 See for instance Zhongguo lishi dacidian: Sui Tang Wudai shi juan 中國歷史大辭典:隋唐五代史卷 (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 1995), 430–31Google Scholar; Yanshen, Song 宋衍申 (ed.), Liang Wudai shi cidian 兩五代史辭典 (Jinan: Shandong jiaoyu chubanshe, 1998), 412Google Scholar; Guofu, Zeng 曾囯富, “Wudai ‘daozei’ jianlun” 五代盜賊簡論, Zhanjiang shifan xueyuan xuebao 30/1, 2009, 103–8Google Scholar. Interestingly, Huang Weihu 黃偉虎 does not apply the term nongmin qiyi to characterize the rebellion though he refers to the rebels as a rebel army (qiyi jun 起義軍). See Zhongguo dabaike quanshu: Zhongguo lishi er 中國大百科全書:中國歷史 II (Beijing: Zhongguo dabaike quanshu chubanshe, 1992), 719Google Scholar. Du Wenyu 杜文玉 deals with the rebellion in detail, but still retains the politically correct vocabulary in characterizing it. See Wenyu, Du, Nan Tang shilüe 南唐史略 (Xi'an: Shaanxi renmin jiaoyu chubanshe, 2001), 104–8Google Scholar.

2 Twitchett, Denis and Smith, Paul Jakov (eds), The Cambridge History of China Volume 5, Part One: The Sung Dynasty and Its Precursors, 907–1279 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. This work provides only a basic, limited treatment of popular rebellions of the Song dynasty. Given its scope, dealing principally with political history at the top level this is understandable, but regrettable.

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4 Xu jisheng ji 徐騎省集 (Sibu congkan), 7.6a–8a. The text is also contained in Gao, Dong 董誥 et al. (comp.), Quan Tangwen 全唐文 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 879.7b–9a (9191–2)Google Scholar. Xu Xuan, a native of Yangzhou, with the accession of the second Southern Tang ruler, had been appointed drafter to the imperial secretariat. Xu not only served the Southern Tang but also rose to prominence in the court of the second Song emperor Taizong. Xu's submission and consequent service to the Song earned him the epithet of a turncoat in late twentieth-century China. See for instance Jun, Zhou 周軍, “Xu Xuan qi ren yu Song chu ‘erchen’” 徐鉉其人與宋初貳臣, Lishi yanjiu 4, 1989, 120–32Google Scholar. For a more recent and balanced treatment of Xu see Zhuandao, Jin 金傳道, “Xu Xuan sanci bianguan kao” 徐鉉三次貶官考, in Chongqing youdian daxue xuebao 19.3, 2007, 99103Google Scholar.

5 Interest in Southern Tang history has grown in mainland China since the 1980s. In 1985 Zhu Zhongyu 朱仲玉 produced a historical novel on the Southern Tang entitled Nan Tang yanyi 南唐演義 (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 1985)Google Scholar. In addition to Du Wenyu's work we have Shuang, Ren 任爽, Nan Tang shi 南唐史 (Changchun: Dongbei shifan daxue chubanshe, 1995)Google Scholar, Jingfeng, Zou 鄒勁風, Nan Tang guo shi南唐國史 (Nanjing: Nanjing daxue chubanshe, 2000)Google Scholar, and Jingfeng, Zou 鄒勁風, Nan Tang wenhua 南唐文化 (Nanjing: Nanjing chubanshe, 2005)Google Scholar.

6 Zou Jingfeng 鄒勁風 provides an outline of the policies used by Yang Xingmi to secure his kingdom. See Jingfeng, Zou, “Yang Xingmi shulüe” 楊行密述略, Anhui shixue 1, 1996, 30–2Google Scholar.

7 For more information on Qianzhou see Shi, Yue 樂史, Taiping huanyuji 太平寰宇記 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2007), 108.2172–93Google Scholar, and Xiangshi, Wang 王象之, Yudi jisheng 輿地紀勝 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2003), 91.2919–39Google Scholar.

8 See Juzheng, Xue 薛居正 et al. (comp.), Jiu Wudai shi 舊五代史 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975), 134.1784–89Google Scholar, on the Southern Tang, and 135.1809–10 on the Southern Han.

9 See Guy, R. Kent, The Emperor's Four Treasuries: Scholars and the State in the Late Ch'ien-lung Era (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987), 118CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Moreover, Gu Liren 顧力仁 has studied how the compilers of the Yongle dadian made use of books otherwise lost. See Liren, Gu, Yongle dadian jiqi yishu yanjiu 永樂大典及其佚書研究 (Taibei: Wenshizhe chubanshe, 1985)Google Scholar.

10 These are the Jiangbiao zhi 江表志 and Nan Tang jinshi 南唐近事 by Zheng Wenbao, and the Jiangnan yuzai 江南餘載 attributed to him, as well as the Jiangnan bielu 江南別錄 by Chen Pengnian. On these and other texts dealing with the history of the Southern Tang, see Kurz, Johannes L., “Sources for the History of the Southern Tang”, in Journal of Sung Yuan Studies 24 (1994): 217235Google Scholar.

11 The Jishen lu 稽神錄 and the Jiang Huai yirenlu 江淮異人錄, respectively.

12 See Chen Xiaoying 陳曉瑩, “Jiangnan lu: xiantian buzude ‘qiangu xinshu’” 江南錄: 先天不足的‘千古信書’, Shixue jikan 2, 2014, 51–7.

13 Liang Tingnan, Nan Han shu 南漢書, 13.6496, in Xuancong, Fu 傅璿琮, Meirong, Xu 徐梅榮, and Jijun, Xu 徐吉軍 (eds), Wudai shishu huibian 五代史書彙編 (Hangzhou: Hangzhou chubanshe, 2004), vol. 10Google Scholar. See also Miles, Steven B., “Rewriting the Southern Han (917–971): the production of local culture in nineteenth-century Guangzhou”, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 62/1, 2002, 66CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Kurz, “Survey”, 220.

14 Zhang Youchen 張友臣 provides a description of the work and discusses its disappearance. See his “Shiguo jinian cunwang lüe kao” 十國紀年存亡略考, Qi Lu xuekan 5, 1987, 83–5Google Scholar. On Liu Shu, his writings, and his collaboration with Sima Guang on the Zizhi tongjian, see Ying, Lin 林英, “Liu Shu jiqi shixue gailun” 劉恕及其史學概論, Wenshi zazhi 2, 2003, 54–6Google Scholar, and Guoyi, Wu 鄔國義, “Liu Shu yu gushi yanjiu” 劉恕與古史研究, Shehui kexue 7, 2005, 94–10Google Scholar; see moreover Kuan Io, Wong (Huang Kunyao 黃坤堯), “San Liu jia ji yu Bei Song de renwen jingshen” 三劉家集與北宋的人文精神, Journal of Chinese Studies 52, 2011, 170–3Google Scholar. The preface to the Shiguo jinian (“Shiguo jinian xu” 序) composed by Sima Guang survives and is found in Quan Song wen 全宋文 (Chengdu: Ba-Shu shushe, 1992), vol. 28, 459Google Scholar.

15 Yu Jiaxi 余嘉錫 has collected a number of sources that provide small pieces of information on Long Gun. See his Siku tiyao bianzheng 四庫提要辨證 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1980), 7.392Google Scholar. Among these is Wang Mingqing 王明清 (1127–after 1214), who addresses Long as the author of a biography of the father of Ouyang Xiu. See Huizhu houlu 揮麈後錄 (Congshu jicheng 叢書集成), 6.500. Wu Zeng 吳曾 (?–after 1170) says that Long hailed from Ji'an 吉安 (in Jiangxi), which Hu Sijing 胡思敬 confirms in his colophon to the text in Yuzhang congshu 豫章叢書 (dating from 1916). See Nenggaizhai man lu 能改齋漫錄 (Congshu jicheng), 5.93. Yu further maintains that Zeng Minxing 曾敏行 (?–1175) referred to Long as a Jinling man. The text of the Duxing zazhi 獨醒雜誌 in Zhibuzuzhai congshu 知不足齋叢書, 7.1b, however, clearly marks Long Gun as a native of Luling 廬陵, a variant designation of Ji'an. It is possible that Long Gun was active as a painter (see You, Dong 董逌, Guangchuan huaba 廣川畫跋 (Congshu jicheng), 6.71–2Google Scholar). Qian Zeng 錢曾 (1629–1700) claims to have had a complete hand-written copy of the Jiangnan yeshi in twenty juan in his possession. See Shugu tang cang shumu 述古堂藏書目 (Yueya tang congshu 粵雅堂叢書), 1.13b–14a. This is rather improbable as that copy was in fact in the library of his great-great-uncle, the famous collector Qian Qianyi 錢謙益 (1582–1664). See Jiangyun lou shumu 絳雲樓書目 (Yueya tang congshu), 1.20. When his library burnt down in 1650, all of its books were destroyed. This means that after 1650 – if we accept that Qian Qianzeng indeed had a complete copy – no further Jiangnan yeshi in twenty juan survived. See also Yongcheng, Yan 燕永成, “Long Gun he tade Jiangnan yeshi” 龍袞和他的江南野史, in Gannan shifan xueyuan xuebao 4, 1994, 77–9Google Scholar, and Yongming, Liu 劉永明, “Long Gun yu Jiangnan yeshi” 龍袞與江南野史, Wenshi 2, 2002, 169–80Google Scholar.

16 Long Gun, Jiangnan yeshi, 2.5159, in Fu Xuancong 傅璿琮, Meirong, Xu 徐梅榮 and Jijun, Xu 徐吉軍 (eds), Wudai shishu huibian 五代史書彙編 (Hangzhou: Hangzhou chubanshe, 2004), vol. 9Google Scholar.

17 See Hervouet, Yves (ed.), A Sung Bibliography (Bibliographie des Sung) (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1978), 115Google Scholar. The state missing from Lu's list of regimes was Jingnan 荊南 (924–963) a description of which was added by his grandson upon re-submission of the work in 1064. The work was consequently renamed Shiguo zhi 十國志. See Kurz, “Survey of the historical sources for the Five Dynasties and Ten States in Song times”, Journal of Song–Yuan Studies 33, 2003, 192–3Google Scholar. See also Yiping, Yue 岳毅平, “Jiuguo zhi congkao” 九國志叢考, Wenxian 2, 1999, 112–20Google Scholar; Wei, Luo 羅威, “Lu Zhen Jiuguo zhi shuping” 路振九國志述評, Changsha shifan zhuanke xuexiao xuebao 71.1, 2007, 72–4Google Scholar; Wei, Luo 羅威, “Jiuguo zhi de banben ji xueshu jiezhi” 九國志的版本及學術介質, Changsha daxue xuebao 21.4, 2007, 158–9Google Scholar; Jing, Zhang 張靜, “Jiuguo zhi shixue yanjiu” 九國志史學研究, Anhui wenxue 3, 2009, 233–4Google Scholar.

18 The five states referred to in the title were Wu, the Southern Tang, the Former and Later Shu (treated as one), the Southern Han, and Min. All of these had been proclaimed empires. See Hervouet, A Sung Bibliography, 114–5; and Kurz, “Survey”, 192.

19 According to the majority of historical accounts, Liu Yin was a scion of a family from north China that moved southwards in the late Tang period. See Miles, “Rewriting the Southern Han (917–971)”, 45. Tang Sen 唐森 (“Nan Han Liushi zushu pingyi” 南漢劉氏族屬平議, Jinan xuebao 15.1, 1993, 70–8Google Scholar) discusses the ethnicity in a review of works of which one claims that Liu was the descendant of an Arab trader, while another maintains that Liu was an ethnic Lao 僚. Hugh Clark similarly suspects that Liu Yin belonged to an indigenous ethnic group referred to as man 蠻 or southern barbarian, see Clark, “The Southern Kingdoms between the T'ang and the Sung”, in Twitchett and Smith (eds), The Cambridge History of China Volume 5 Part One, 153Google Scholar; and Scoundrels, rogues, and refugees: the founders of the Ten Kingdoms in the late ninth century”, in Lorge, Peter (ed.), Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press of Hong Kong, 2011), 63Google Scholar.

20 As the personal name of the father of the founder of the Song dynasty was Zhao Hongyin 趙弘殷, the original character 弘 in the names of the Southern Han princes in Song sources were represented with the characters 宏 or 洪. By contrast, the Jiu Wudai shi dropped the first characters completely. I suspect that the use of the character 弘 in the Zizhi tongjian is due to the fact that modern editors used a Qing dynasty copy of a Yuan dynasty block print of the work. See the editorial notes in Guang, Sima 司馬光, Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑑 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1992), 1Google Scholar.

21 Xiu, Ouyang, Xin Wudai shi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1992), 65.813–4Google Scholar.

22 Lu Zhen, Jiuguo zhi, 9.3329, in Xuancong, Fu, Meirong, Xu and Jijun, Xu (eds), Wudai shishu huibian (Hangzhou: Hangzhou chubanshe, 2004), vol. 6Google Scholar.

23 Xunzhou had until 894 consisted of six districts: in that year Liu Yin restructured the prefecture and created Zhenzhou 禎州 out of four of the original districts under the administration of Xunzhou. See Taiping huanyuji, 159.3060. Confusingly, Xunzhou, the former prefectural seat, kept its designation, while the new prefecture of Xunzhou, consisting of the remaining two districts of the Tang prefecture, was established to the east of it. Leixiang 雷鄉 served as the prefectural seat for this new Xunzhou. See Taiping huanyuji, 160.3067. This arrangement was maintained in the Song.

24 Anderson, James, The Rebel Den of Nùng Trí Cao: Loyalty and Identity along the Sino-Vietnamese Frontier (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007), 43Google Scholar.

25 Ouyang Xiu, Xin Wudai shi, 62.779.

26 See “Ouyang gong xingzhuang” 歐陽公行狀 by Wu Chong 吳充 (1021–80), in Ouyang Xiu quanji 歐陽修全集 (Beijing: Zhongguo shudian, 1986), 1335Google Scholar. According to Egan, Ouyang Xiu always referred to himself as a Luling man, even though he was not born and brought up there, and only returned to bury his mother in 1053. See Egan, Ronald, The Literary Works of Ou-yang Hsiu (1007–1072) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 2Google Scholar.

27 See the entry on Nan Tang yan 南唐硯 in Ouyang Xiu quanji, 1047.

28 Xin Wudaishi, 62.769.

29 This district was located about 100 km to the east of the Southern Han capital. See Taiping huanyuji, 159.3069–71; Yudi jisheng, 99.3077–78.

30 Bong Seok Joo provides a detailed study of luohan in a PhD dissertation entitled “The Arhat cult in China from the seventh through thirteenth centuries: narrative, art, space and ritual” (Princeton, 2007).

31 Shih-shan Henry Tsai discusses in detail the takeover of power by Zhu Di and his efforts to redress wrongs, but does not explain why Zhu Di adopted the reign title – see Tsai, Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001), chapters 4 and 5Google Scholar. Kao Yu-kung believes that because the first Ming emperor Taizu, the Yongle emperor's father, was involved with Manichaeism and in Kao's reading Fang La was as well, the adoption of Yongle was not a coincidence. See Yu-kung, Kao, “Source material on the Fang La Rebellion”, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 26, 1966, 212CrossRefGoogle Scholar. There is no indication though that Manichaeism played any role in Zhang's rebellion.

32 Lihe, Zang 臧勵龢 (ed.), Zhongguo gujin diming dacidian 中國古今地名大辭典 (Hong Kong: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1982), 257Google Scholar.

33 See Ma Ling 馬令, Nan Tang shu 南唐書, 2.5268 and 26.5426, below, in Fu, Xu, and Xu (eds), Wudai shishu huibian, vol. 9Google Scholar.

34 See Zizhi tongjian, 283.9255, below.

35 Bian has biographies in Ma Ling, Nan Tang shu, 11.5340, and Lu You, Nan Tang shu, 5.5504–05, in Fu, Xu, and Xu (eds), Wudai shishu huibian, vol. 9. His biography in Ma Ling's Nan Tang shu is corrupted because part of it has been lost. It incorrectly states that “Zhang Yuxian was made Inspector-in-chief of all garrisoned forces”. The name of Zhang Yuxian needs to be replaced with that of Bian Hao, who received the appointment after the suppression of the rebellion.

36 Jiu Wudai shi, 135.1809.

37 Zizhi tongjian, 283.9249.

38 Xin Wudai shi, 65.814.

39 It is difficult to assess how these chapters reflect the original text because in the Ming only the first five of the total of ten chapters were extant. However, a certain Wu Xiu 吳岫 managed to get hold of the five missing chapters which Fan Qin 范欽 (1506–85) borrowed from him. Fan, after having procured another copy of the work, began editing the whole text, but had to stop because he was afflicted by a disease that damaged his vision. His friend Wang Ning 王凝 continued the work and corrected the text – which had many xylographic errors – and it is this text that survives today. See the colophon by Wu Yifeng 吳翌鳳 (1742–1819) dated 1777, in Wenying, Yuhu qinghua, 115, in Xiangshan yelu, xulu, Yuhu qinghua 湘山野錄, 續錄, 玉壺清話 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1997)Google Scholar.

40 Yuhu qinghua, 10.105–6.

41 Chang, Qing, “Indigenizing deities: the Budai Maitreya and the group of eighteen Luohans in niche no. 68 at Feilaifeng”, Southeast Review of Asian Studies 32, 2010, 33–4Google Scholar. I would like to thank Qing Chang for providing me with a copy of his article.

42 Joo, “Arhat cult”, 121–3.

43 Zizhi tongjian, 283.9239, 9252, 9255.

44 Chaozhou was the easternmost Southern Han prefecture, bordering on the territory of the empire of Min. It consisted of the districts of Haiyang 海陽 and Chaoyang 潮陽. See Taiping huanyuji, 158.3034–37. In the Southern Song, Zhaozhou administered an additional district, Heyang 揭陽. See Yudi jisheng, 100.3103–22. Huizhou was the Song designation for the old prefectural town of Xunzhou in Zhenzhou prefecture. Zhenzhou was renamed Huizhou, but the prefecture retained its four original districts, namely Guishan 歸善, Boluo, Haifeng 海豐 and Heyuan 河源. See Taiping huanyuji, 159.3067–72; Yudi jisheng, 99.3075–102.

45 In Xin Wudaishi, 65.814, he is credited, together with Wan Jingxin 萬景忻, with having saved the two princes. See above.

46 Zizhi tongjian, 283.9240.

47 Chen Daoxiang was killed on imperial orders soon after Liu Cheng had taken to the throne. See Jiuguo zhi, 9.3331–9332.

48 Heyuan district, as part of the Southern Han prefecture of Huizhou, bordered on the Southern Tang district of Nankang in the north.

49 The Zizhi tongjian addresses the military governor as Jia Kuanghao 賈匡浩.

50 Zizhi tongjian, 283.9252.

51 Zizhi tongjian, 283.9237.

52 Zizhi tongjian, 283.9248. On Song's alleged role as leader of the “Five Demons” faction (wugui 五鬼) in the Southern Tang administration, see Kurz, Johannes L., “The invention of a ‘faction’ in Song historical writings on the Southern Tang”, Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 28, 1998, 135Google Scholar; Xingwu, Zhang 張興武, “Nan Tang dangzheng: Tang Song dangzheng shi fazhan de zhongjie” 南唐黨爭:唐宋黨爭史發展的中介, in Zhangzhou shifan xueyuan xuebao 42.1, 2002, 6874Google Scholar; He Jianming 何劍明, “Nan Tang guo dangzheng yu Tang Song zhi jiao de shehui zhuanxing” 南唐國黨爭與唐宋之交的社會轉型, in Suzhou daxue xuebao 6.6, 2005, 95–9.

53 Zizhi tongjian, 283.9255.

54 Ma's was the second of three works with the same title, the earlier being the no longer extant work of Hu Hui 胡恢, the latter that of Lu You 陸游 (1125–1230). For a study of the three Nan Tang shu see Hengping, Yang 楊恆平, “Sanjia Nan Tang shu zhuanben kao” 三家南唐書傳本考, Guji zhengli yanjiu xuekan 6, 2007, 5761Google Scholar. Recent treatments of Ma's work are Hequn, Zhu 朱荷群, “Lun Ma Ling Nan Tang shu” 論馬令南唐書, Songdai wenhua yanjiu 2, 2009, 139–49Google Scholar, and Gang, Zhang 張剛 and Wanjie, Sun 孫萬潔, “Ma Ling Nan Tang shu shuping” 馬令南唐書述評, Jinri nanguo 121.4, 2009, 135–6Google Scholar.

55 Ma Ling, Nan Tang shu, 2.5268, and 26.5426, respectively.

56 The text in the yaozei category in Ma Ling's Nan Tang shu in Congshu jicheng refers to Xunzhou as Qinzhou 秦州. See Ma Ling, Nan Tang shu (Congshu jicheng), 26.172. This is clearly a xylographic error which has been corrected in the new edition of the text in Fu, Xu, and Xu (eds), Wudai shishu huibian, vol. 9Google Scholar.

57 Eliade, Mircea (ed.), Encyclopedia of Religions (New York: Macmillan, 1993), 403–5Google Scholar.

58 For a characterization of the sixteenth luohan see Watters, Thomas, “The eighteen Lohan of Chinese Buddhist temples”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 4, 1898, 343–4Google Scholar. I would like to thank Charlotte Galloway for referring me to this article, as well as Barend ter Haar for pointing me to Liang Tingyu 梁婷育, “Liu Songnian ‘luohan’ sanchou hua shi yiyi de yanjiu: jian lun qi zongjiao yihan yu tuxiang biaoxian 劉松年 ‘羅漢’三軸畫史意義的研究:兼論其宗教與圖像表現 (A Study on Significance of Lohan by Liu Sung-nien: With Faith and Iconography of the Luohan)” [sic], PhD diss., Nanhua Daxue, 2008.

59 On the sixteen arhat and their connection to Maitreya, see Strong, John S., “The legend of the lion-roarer: a study of the Buddhist arhat Pindola Bharadvaja”, Numen 26.1, 1979, 52Google Scholar; on the function of the arhat see Pratt, James Bissett, The Pilgrimage of Buddhism and a Buddhist Pilgrimage (Ottawa: Laurier Books, 1996), 226–7Google Scholar. An early study of the sixteen arhat is Lévy, Sylvain and Chavannes, Edouard, “Les seize Arhat protecteurs de la loi”, Journal Asiatique 8, 1916, 189304Google Scholar.

60 For a critical appraisal of the work see Zhiwei, Zhu 朱志偉, “Qian lun Lu You Nan Tang shu de jidian quehan” 淺論陸游南唐書幾點缺憾, Heilongjiang shizhi 280.15 (2012):1112Google Scholar.

61 Lu You, Nan Tang shu, 2.5473 and 5.5504 respectively, in Fu, Xu, and Xu (eds), Wudai shishu huibian, vol. 9Google Scholar.

62 In the Shijie shuju-edition of the text, the characters for the market town are given as 刻杉鎮. See Lu You, Nan Tang shu, 5.20, in Lu Fangweng quanji 陸放翁全集 (Beijing: Zhongguo shudian, 1992)Google Scholar.

63 Chen Ting, Tangyu jizhuan, 2.5636 and 13.5723, respectively, in Fu, Xu, and Xu (eds), Wudai shishu huibian, vol. 9Google Scholar.

64 Renchen, Wu, Shiguo chunqiu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1983), 16.207Google Scholar.

65 Shiguo chunqiu, 22.316.

66 Shiguo chunqiu, 61.880–1, and 61.882.

67 Shiguo chunqiu, 63.901.

68 Shiguo chunqiu, 66.925–6.

69 See Davis, Richard L.' review of Kurz, Southern Tang, in China Review International 18.1, 2011, 83CrossRefGoogle Scholar. One wonders if Davis' statement was based on the fact that the work was one of the first on Five Dynasties and Ten States history published in a modern edition. In the meantime the majority of texts on that period have been published in the Wudai shishu huibian. For a short introduction to texts dealing with Southern Tang history, see Kurz, “Sources”, 217–35. See moreover Jingfeng, Zou 鄒勁風, “Xiancun you guan Nan Tang de wenzi shiji yanjiu” 現存有關南唐的文字史籍研究, Jianghai xuekan 2, 1998, 136–40Google Scholar.

70 Shiguo chunqiu, 7. Chen Jun 陳濬 began writing the Wu lu under the Wu regime. It was completed in 20 juan by Xu Xuan, Gao Yuan 高遠, Qiao Shun 喬舜 and Pan You 潘佑 during the Southern Tang. The Shu shu, sometimes referred to as Qian Shu shu 前蜀書, was the work of the pre-eminent Shu historian Li Hao 李昊 (892–965). When the Song shi was compiled the work comprised only 20 of the original 40 juan. See Kurz, “Survey”, 216–7.

71 Xiaoli, Hu, “Shiguo chunqiu Nan Tang’ zhengyin shumu kao – jian lun Shiguo chunqiu de shiliao jiezhi” 十國春秋南唐徵引書目考 – 兼論十國春秋的史料介質, Tushu qingbao gongzuo 55.19, 2011, 137–41, 147Google Scholar. Both Luo Wei 羅威 and Zhang Meilan 張梅蘭, in contrast to Hu, regard the Shiguo chunqiu as essential when it comes to studying the state of Chu in Hunan or Buddhist biographies respectively. See Wei, Luo, “Shiguo chunqiu de banben yuanliu yu xueshu jiazhi yanjiu” 十國春秋的版本源流與學術價值研究, Tushuguan 5, 2001, 60–1Google Scholar, and Meilan, Zhang, “Shiguo chunqiu chanseng liezhuan jiaodu ji” 十國春秋禪僧列傳交讀記, Guji zhengli yanjiu xuekan 3, 2002, 77–9Google Scholar.

72 Schafer, Edward H., The Empire of Min: A South China Kingdom of the Tenth Century (Tokyo/Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle, 1954), xixiiGoogle Scholar.

73 On Chen Zhan see Hongsen, Chen 陳鴻森, “Chen Zhan shiji bianzheng” 陳鱣事跡辯證, Zhuantong zhongguo yanjiu jikan, 2006, 324–33Google Scholar.

74 Chen Zhan, Xu Tang shu (Congshu jicheng), 6.36 and 49.442–3. Chen left out all passages referring to the spirit and his communications with Zhang Yuxian in Bian Hao's biography.

75 Taiping huanyuji, 159. 3061. See also Schafer, Edward H., The Vermilion Bird: T'ang Images of the South (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1967), 49Google Scholar.

76 Chan Wing-hoi provides a study of the She 畲 who were perceived as ethnically different from the Chinese. The She were residents of eastern Guangdong, southern Jiangxi, and southern Fujian. See Wing-hoi, Chan, “Ethnic labels in a mountainous region: the case of the She ‘bandits’”, in Crossley, Pamela Kyle, Siu, Helen F. and Sutton, Donald F. (eds), Empire at the Margins: Culture, Ethnicity, and Frontier in Early Modern China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 259–60Google Scholar. The sources for the Zhang Yuxian rebellion do not mention any involvement of the She.

77 The Taiping huanyuji gives 12,000 registered families in Xunzhou for the Kaiyuan era (713–741) of the Tang, and 6,115 families for the early Song dynasty. See Taiping huanyuji, 159.3061. The numbers for Qianzhou for the same periods are 37,600 and 67,810, respectively. See Taiping huanyuji, 108.2173. In addition to the taxable households, the Taiping huanyuji lists numbers for non-taxable households (ke 客) for both prefectures for the early Song, namely 2,224 for Xunzhou, and 17,336 for Qianzhou. On non-taxpaying families who worked as tenants, see Kao, “A study of the Fang La rebellion”, 49.

78 Kao, “A study of the Fang La rebellion”, 36; Robinson, David M., Empire's Twilight: Northeast Asia under the Mongols (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), 76–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

79 Zhongguo lishi dacidian: Sui Tang Wudai shi juan, 431.

80 Du Wenyu, Nan Tang shilüe, 108.

81 Zhou Jiasheng, “Nan Han guo yanjiu” 南漢國研究 (PhD diss., Shaanxi shifan daxue 陝西師範大學, 2008), 25–6. Chen Xin 陳欣 also deals with the rebellion, but does not explain the provenance of Zhang's title (See “Nan Han guo shi” 南漢國史 (PhD diss., Jinan daxue 暨南大學, 2009), 118–9).

82 See Hymes, Robert, Way and Byway: Taoism, Local Religion, and Models of Divinity in Sung and Modern China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 201–2Google Scholar.

83 Boltz, Judith Magee, “Not by the seal of office alone: new weapons in battles with the supernatural”, in Ebrey, Patricia Buckley and Gregory, Peter N. (eds), Religion and Society in T'ang and Sung China (Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1993), 244–5Google Scholar.

84 Ma Ling, Nan Tang shu, 26.173. Ma refers to the anecdote contained in Jiankang shilu 建康實錄 by Xu Song 許嵩 (fl. mid-eighth century).

85 Shou, Chen 陳壽, Sanguo zhi 三國志 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1982), 47.1148–9Google Scholar. The story as found in Sanguo zhi is also contained in Li Fang 李昉 et al. (comps), Taiping guangji 太平廣記 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1995), 293.2332–3Google Scholar.

86 See Seiwert, Hubert Michael, Popular Religious Movements and Heterodox Sects in Chinese History (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 152–3Google Scholar.

87 Kao, “A study of the Fang La rebellion”, 18.

88 Hsiu, Ou-yang, Historical Records of the Five Dynasties, trans. Davis, Richard L. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), 491Google Scholar.

89 ter Haar, Barend J., The White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History (Leiden: Brill, 1992), 188Google Scholar.

90 The pronunciation of the first character is given in the commentary to his biography.

91 Ma Ling, Nan Tang shu 26.5427.

92 Lu You, Nan Tang shu, 14.5577.

93 The biography of Chen Qi in Shiguo chunqiu is composed in its entirety of elements taken from both Nan Tang shu. See Shiguo chunqiu, 23.327–8.

94 Sprinkling of pig's blood on alleged sorcerers was used to neutralize their magic powers. This is attested in a story set at the end of the Zhenguan era of the Tang dynasty contained in Taiping guangji 73.475.

95 Ter Haar, White Lotus Teachings, 44–55.

96 According to Xin Wudai shi, 3.27, this occurred in the seventh month of the sixth year of the Zhenming era.

97 In the tenth month of the sixth year of the Zhenming era. See Jiu Wudai shi, 10.144.

98 Zeng, “Wudai ‘daozei’ jianlun”, 106.

99 Du, Nan Tang shilüe, 105.

100 A large number of texts perished in the fire that gutted the imperial palace in 1015. Though efforts were made to reconstitute the holdings of the Institute for the Veneration of Literature (Chongwen yuan 崇文院) and the Imperial Archive (bige 祕閣) one must assume that original documents were lost forever. See Cheng Ju 程俱, Lintai gushi canben 麟台故事殘本, 2.266, in Lintai gushi jiaozheng 麟台故事校證 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2000)Google Scholar.

101 On the rediscovery of the history of Guangdong by local scholars in the nineteenth century, in addition to Miles, “Rewriting the Southern Han (917–971)”, 39–75, see Jinxian, Zhang 張金銑, “Nan Han shiliao shiji shuping” 南漢史料史籍述評, Anhui daxue xuebao 5.27, 2003, 23–6Google Scholar. Zhang explains that the Nan Han chunqiu is extant in a blockprinted edition dating to 1827. The text in 13 juan consists of excerpts from the Shiguo chunqiu. The works by Wu Lanxiu and Liang Tingnan are accessible through Fu, Xu and Xu (eds), Wudai shishu huibian, vol. 10Google Scholar.

102 Scott, James C., The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009)Google ScholarPubMed. I would like to thank the reviewers of an early version of this paper for directing me to this study and a number of others that have proven useful.