An Shi Rebellion

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The An Shi Rebellion (Simplified Chinese: 安史之乱; Traditional Chinese: 安史之亂; pinyin: Ān Shǐ Zhī Luàn) occurred in China, during the Tang Dynasty, from 756 to 763. It is also known as the Tianbao Rebellion (天寶之亂), because An Lushan started it in the 14th year of the namesake era. The alternative term An Lushan Rebellion neglected the participation of Shi Siming, a subordinate of An Lushan and later leader of the rebellion after murdering An Lushan's son An Qingxu.

An Lushan was a general of non-Han Chinese ancestry. He was appointed by the emperor Tang Xuanzhong to be commander (節度使) of three garrisons in the north, Pinglu, Fanyang and Hedong, in effect giving An Lushan control over the entire area north of the lower reaches of the Yellow River. With such power and land in his control (the total military power of An Lushan in those three garrisons alone was about 164,000 strong), An Lushan planned a revolt, taking advantage of the decadent Tang bureaucracy and the absence of strong troops around the palace to achieve his aims. He avoided suspicion by pleasing the Emperor in as many ways as possible, even calling himself the adopted son of Xuanzhong's favorite concubine, Yang Guifei. In this way, he was protected from criticism, even when the Chief Minister, Yang Guozhong, demanded his dismissal.

In 755, An Lushan revolted under the pretense of punishing Yang Guozhong. His army surged down from Fanyang in modern Hebei province, moving rapidly along the Grand Canal and capturing the city of Luoyang within the year. There, An Lushan declared himself the Emperor of the Great Yan dynasty (大燕皇帝). He was blocked from the imperial capital at Chang'an by loyal troops placed in impregnable defensive positions in the intervening mountain passes. However, Yang Guozhong, with grossly inept military judgement, ordered the troops in the passes to attack An's army on open ground. They were demolished, and the road to the capital lay open. Seeing that Changan was now under imminent threat, Xuanzong fled to Sichuan. On the way at Mawei Inn in Shaanxi, Xuanzong's bodyguard troops demanded the death of the much-hated Yang Guozhong, and his cousin, Lady Yang. With the army on the verge of mutiny, the Emperor had no choice but to agree, ordering the execution of Yang Guozhong and the suicide of Lady Yang. Meanwhile, the crown prince, Suzong, the eventual emperor, fled in the other direction to Lingzhou (today called Lingwu, in modern-day Ningxia province). After reaching Sichuan, Xuanzong abdicated in favour of his son.

Suzong, (3rd or 4th) son of Xuanzong, was then proclaimed emperor, although another group of local officials and Confucian literati proclaimed another prince at Jinling (modern-day Nanjing). One of Suzong's first acts as emperor was to appoint the generals Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi to deal with the rebellion. The generals, after much discussion, decided to borrow troops from an offshoot of the Turkish Tujue Tribe, the Huihe tribe (ancestors of the modern-day Uighurs) to suppress the rebellion. In this way the Imperial forces recaptured Changan and Luoyang.

Meanwhile the imperial forces were helped by internal dissent in the newly-formed dynasty. An Lushan was killed by his son, An Qingxu not long after his ascent to the throne. (An's virulent paranoia posed too much of a threat to his entourage.) His son was then killed by the subordinate Shi Siming, a companion of An Lushan during the rebellion; he recaptured the city of Luoyang soon after. However Shi Siming was then killed by his own son, Si Chaoyi. By this time, it was clear that the new kingdom would not last long, and generals and soldiers alike started to defect to the Tang army. Finally after Luoyang was taken by the Tang forces for the second time, Si Chaoyi committed suicide in 763, thus ending the 8 year long rebellion.

The rebellion spanned the reigns of three emperors, starting during the reign of Xuanzong and ending during the reign of Daizong. The toll of dead and missing caused by the rebellion according to various sources, including suppression and famine, is estimated at 36 million, which was 2/3 of the total taxroll population. Numerically, this was the highest death toll for any event for nearly 1200 years, until World War II surpassed it with over 62 million deaths. The Tang Dynasty's desire for peace after this turbulent period also resulted in the pardoning of many rebels. Indeed, some were even given their own garrisons to command. This effectively ended rule by the central government, with the emperor becoming only a puppet of sorts, set to do the strongest garrison's bidding. In addition, by borrowing troops from neighbouring tribes, the Tang Dynasty greatly lowered its prestige in the eyes of the barbarians, who eventually began raiding Tang settlements again. (So far had Tang power collapsed during the rebellion that Changan was briefly occupied by the Tibetan army in 764.)

Thus, the Anshi Rebellion is regarded by most Chinese historians to be the turning point in the Tang Dynasty's fortunes. For the next 144 years the Tang ceased to exist in all but name, a far cry from the glory days under Taizong and Xuanzong.

[edit] External links and references

• Tang (618 - 907) " The An Lushan Rebellion had its roots in the behavior of one of the great emperors of Chinese history, Xuanzong. Until he fell in love with a young concubine named Yang Guifei, he had been a great ruler, and had brought the Tang to its height of prosperity and grandeur. But he became so infatuated with Yang that the administration of the government soon fell into decay, which was made no better by the way that Yang took advantage of her power to stuff high administrative positions with her corrupt cronies. She also took under her wing a general named An Lushan, who quickly accumulated power."

• chinaknowledge.de "From the first years of the reign period Tianbao 天寶 "Heavenly jewels" (741-757) on Li Linfu 李林甫 served as chancellor. After Li Linfu's death in 752, his opponent Yang Guozhong 楊國忠 became counsellor-in-chief and dominated the court until the rebellion of An Lushan. An Lushan himself, half of Turkish origin, had been installed as military commissioner of Pinglu 平盧, Fanyang 范陽 (around modern Beijing) and Hebei 河北, three regions in the northeast, where he was responsible of the military and civil administration of one of the most important economic zones in Tang China."

[edit] References

• E. G. Pulleyblank, The Background of the Rebellion of An Lu-Shan, London: Oxford University Press (1955)
• E. G. Pulleyblank, "The An Lu-Shan Rebellion and the Origins of Chronic Militarism in Late T'ang China", in Perry & Smith, Essays on T'ang Society, Leiden: E. J. Brill (1976)
• Denis Twitchett (ed.), The Cambridge History of China, Volume 3, Sui and T'ang China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1979)