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A
Tang Dynasty gilded iron cast in 633.
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Emperor Taizong’s wax work at the National Museum of China.
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The Huaqing Pool in Xi’an, a Tang Dynasty imperial relic.
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The Tang Dynasty (618-907) is a glorious chapter in Chinese history.
It was when Emperor Taizong (named Li Shimin) (597-649) led China
into a period of unprecedented political and social harmony, as
well as economic and cultural prosperity. Scholar and court official
Fan Zuyu (1041-1098) of the succeeding Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127),
commented on and summarized the successes and failures of each
Tang Dynasty emperor in his book Tang Jian (The Mirror of the
Tang Dynasty). He presented the volume to the Northern Song emperor
in the hope that the lessons it contained would help the emperor
to rule wisely. The successes he cites are mainly those of Li
Shimin (reign title Zhenguan), who engendered what Chinese historians
acknowledge as the “Golden Era of Feudal China” and
“Governance of the Zhenguan Reign.” Tang Jian is similar
to Sun Zi’s Art of War in that it is still relevant and of
value today as a political, military, economic and also managerial
manual for those that intend to be in control of their lives.
Historical Lessons
As mentioned, much of Tang Jian focuses on Li Shimin and his
successful reign. Li began his military career at the age of 16.
He rendered heroic and meritorious military service to his father,
the first Tang Emperor Gaozu, by helping him topple the corrupt
Sui Dynasty and restore the country to order. At the age of 29,
Li succeeded the throne and became the second emperor of the Tang
Dynasty. Upon enthronement, his first official statement was:
“The pacification of the people and the stabilization of
the country are dependent on the ruler.” Li Shimin was a
brave soldier, but felt keenly the pressure on him as ruler of
a newly established dynasty.
Aware of his inexperience, Emperor Taizong looked to previous
rulers for guidance. He particularly contemplated the fate of
the initially powerful and wealthy Sui Dynasty. He and his father
defeated the Sui after it had been in power for just a few decades
under the reign of two emperors. He is recorded as having told
his officials that whenever he thought of the Sui rulers and officials,
and how they neglected their public duties, lost their capacity
for moral governance and caused the people to rebel, he felt unable
to eat, sleep or do anything at will. He is quoted as saying,
“Last night I read about the 80 or so monarchs recorded in
Di Xi Lue (Synopsis of Imperial Genealogy). The majority either
got themselves killed or allowed the country to fall into ruin,
only a few achieved national prosperity and material abundance.
I cannot help but be alarmed at this imbalance of success and
failure.”
When Emperor Taizong asked two high-ranking officials whether
they thought establishing a country or governing it was the more
difficult, his prime minister Fang Xuanling’s response was
the former, while his close consultant Wei Zheng felt the latter
to be true. The emperor commented: “Fang Xuanling fought
side by side with me through numerous dangerous and brutal battles
in the course of establishing the dynasty, so he knows the difficulties
very well. Wei Zheng helps me to govern the country, and is constantly
aware of how wealth and high status lead to self-indulgence and
corruption, in whose wake follow chaos and disaster. Wei understands
exactly the ramifications of governance. Establishing the country
is now past, but it is crucial that we know what governance entails
and that we remain alert to ensure that order and stability are
maintained.”
After lengthy deliberation of this weighty matter, Taizong pinpointed
three fundamental principles on which to act as ruler: The first
was that of using the experience and bitter lessons of previous
rulers as a mirror and guide for his own actions, the second was
selecting and relying on people of virtue and talent to help him
govern the country, and the third was to reject and discard scandal-mongering
men of ill will.
The Right Men
Taizong once remarked to Wei Zheng that a ruler must exercise
extreme care when selecting courtiers. He pointed out that the
appointment of virtuous officials encourages good and moral men
to step forward and offer their service, whereas the selection
of just one self-seeking, immoral person could eventually bring
the whole country to perdition.
Wei Zheng agreed that it is difficult to ascertain whether a
person is truly all they purport to be. His advice was to use
the ancient criteria of the “six virtues” and “six
evils” to distinguish worthy men from bad. The six virtues
desirable in an official are:
1. The ability to foresee crises and disasters and take quick,
preventative action;
2. Devotion to state affairs evidenced by the offering of sound
advice to the sovereign, helping to materialize constructive ideas
and remedying situations caused by bad decisions;
3. Willingness to recommend, rather than envy, people of talent
to the ruler without rancor;
4. Insight and the ability to make sound judgments;
5. Respect for the law and incorruptibility; and
6. Bravery sufficient to remonstrate with the ruler should he
go astray and put his country in danger.
The six evils to beware when appointing officials are:
1. No sense of right and wrong, and the propensity to change
with the wind in order to protect selfish interests;
2. Achieving ambitions by sucking up to and fawning upon the
ruler and superiors;
3. Nursing ill feelings and speaking ill of those perceived as
a threat behind closed doors, while smiling and flattering them
to their face;
4. Covering up mistakes, sowing dissension and stirring up trouble
among colleagues;
5. Abusing power and conspiring to profit from it; and
6. Deceiving superiors and subordinates and duping the public.
Only the most upright officials could comply with the six virtues,
be innocent of the six evils and so truly contribute towards maintaining
imperial order and national stability.
Taizong endorsed this ethic in a remark to his entourage of officials
about Emperor Yangdi of the Sui Dynasty. He observed that Sui
Emperor forfeited his right to rule by heeding the flattery of
corrupt officials and exhausting his subjects’ means to a
livelihood – their physical strength – by forcing them
to build him a palace. Such exploitation gave the people no choice
but to rebel.
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The
ruins of Jiaohe City in Xinjiang’s Turpan, which was
formerly an important garrison on the Old Silk Road.
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A
Tang dance choreographed according to historical documents.
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Reject the Untrustworthy
Emperor Taizong is also recorded as having said, “If the
channel of outspokenness is blocked, there will be fewer honest
people; if the channel of flattery is opened, there will be a
deluge of untrustworthy characters.” In the eighth month
of the tenth year of his reign, the emperor made the statement:
“I support outspokenness when it benefits the country. Recently
many of the reports received by the imperial court have contained
slanderous accusations. If they continue in this vein, those penning
such defamatory missives will be charged and punished for the
crime of slander.” His intention in so doing was to discourage
fawning and backbiting, according to The Mirror of the Tang Dynasty.
Emperor Taizong believed that a ruler should maintain a sober
mind, encourage uprightness and stamp out evil doings. He was
all too aware that a ruler is subject to flattery from all manner
of people, some of them brave, some eloquent, some silver-tongued,
and some just cunning. All try to win the ruler’s favor and
climb the official ladder. Unless a ruler surrounds himself with
trustworthy courtiers he could be seduced into endangering his
country.
Ancients warned that sycophants were dangerous and despicable.
Emperor Taizong insisted that they were dangerous only if a ruler
fell prey to them, and deplorable and despicable only at the point
when the ruler denounced and exposed them.
Lessons from Collective Wisdom
Taizong loved archery and had more than a dozen bows that he
considered of top quality, but a bow maker told him that none
had been made from top quality materials. This brought home to
Taizong that no matter how he excelled at archery, he would never
know as much as this artisan about bows. It also made him realize
how many things in the world he did not, yet needed to, understand.
In order to have ample counsel and several sources of knowledge,
the emperor ensured that officials above the fifth rank living
in the capital took turns to be on duty in the imperial court.
In the third year of the Zhenguan Reign, Taizong denounced officials
in the Secretariat and Chancellery, both central decision-making
departments, for not voicing disagreement with imperial decrees.
He pointed out that anyone could wield a rubber stamp, and that
as decision-makers they should discuss and make suggestions as
to the validity and feasibility of imperial decrees before their
official issuance.
In order to avoid harm caused by wrongly worded decrees and blind
obedience, Taizong ordered that any level of administration receiving
a decree which did not apply to it should report it directly to
the imperial court, and gave authority to postpone implementation
of such decrees. He also stipulated that decrees should take effect
only after the Chancellery had signed them. Taizong was thus the
only emperor in Chinese history ever to have issued a decree restricting
his personal power. Consequently, “Few decrees issued during
the Zhenguan Reign had bad consequences,” according to historical
records.
A Smooth Channel of Opinions
In the second year of the Zhenguan Reign, Taizong asked Wei Zheng,
“What enlightens a ruler and what blinds him?” Wei answered,
“Listening to all opinions makes a ruler wise, but restricting
himself to biased, partial opinions makes him blind.”
To encourage his courtiers to speak their minds, Taizong would
reward upright officials who were unafraid of voicing opinions
that opposed those of the emperor. One example occurred during
the fourth year of his reign. Taizong ordered his troops to refurbish
the Sui palace in Luoyang so that he could stay there when traveling.
One official named Zhang Xuansu objected, reminding Taizong that
when he first captured Luoyang he had ordered all luxurious Sui
palaces to be destroyed as a declaration of his frugality policy.
Zhang asked his emperor why at that time he had so despised the
Sui ruler’s sumptuousness, yet now, when the Tang economy
was still less strong than what that of the Sui Dynasty had been,
he wanted to undertake the massive task of restoring one of its
palaces. Zhang Xuansu was quick to point out that making his troops
labor when they needed to recover their strength after an extended
period of warfare would be acting no differently from Sui Emperor
Yangdi. The emperor would, therefore, but putting his country
in danger. Instead of expressing annoyance at Zhang’s harsh
words, Taizong acknowledged the inappropriateness of palace refurbishments
and presented Zhang 200 bolts of silk as a reward for his astuteness
and candor.
Taizong was at pains to stress that no matter whether he liked
or disliked an opinion, he would not think ill of the person expressing
it. Those that provided good opinions he regarded as his teachers
and friends.
Personal Charisma
Li Shimin was different from other emperors in that he regarded
himself as an ordinary human being rather than the “son of
heaven.” He respected Wei Zheng, who was 17 years his senior,
as his teacher and friend. On one occasion when Wei Zheng had
taken a business trip outside the capital he heard that the emperor
was going on a leisure trip to Zhongnan Mountain. Upon his return
to the capital, he was surprised to see that the emperor had not
left. When he asked why, Taizong replied that on reconsidering
the plan it had occurred to him that Wei Zheng might criticize
him for dereliction of duty, so he cancelled his arrangements.
Taizong loved hunting, but Wei Zheng frequently advised him not
to waste too much time on it. On one occasion Taizong was sporting
with his falcon when he saw Wei Zheng approaching. He hid the
falcon under his robes and patiently listened to Wei detailing
matters at hand at court. When Wei finally finished and left,
Taizong found that the falcon had smothered to death.
Certain Tang Dynasty poets lauded Taizong’s humanism and
his identifying himself with the common people. Bai Juyi mentions
several such cases in his poem, Seven Virtues Dance. For example,
Taizong sent 3,000 court ladies home so that they could marry
and live a normal life, as it seemed to him inhumane to keep them
locked inside the palace. Another case occurred during a famine
in the second year of the Zhenguan Reign so severe that many families
sold their children. Taizong used imperial treasury funds to buy
the children and return them to their parents. Such stories have
been recorded in official documents as well as in the oral story
telling tradition. In the 1,500 years since Li Shimin reigned
he has been firmly established as a hero and model emperor.
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