An Lushan

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An Lushan (ca. 703? - 757) was a military leader of Sogdian-Turkic or Iranian-Turkish origin during the Tang Dynasty in China. He rose to prominence by defending the north eastern border from the Khitan during the Tang Dynasty between 744 and 755. Later, he precipitated the catastrophic An Shi Rebellion, which lasted from 755 to 763.

Background

An Lushan is in fact the Sinicized version of the name An Rokhan. The first part is the family name, and the second part is the personal name. An Lushan's real father was surnamed Kang, the prefix An belonged to his stepfather, both were probably from the Sogdian Kingdom of Kang (康国) and An (安国) situated around Samarkand and Bukhara. The An are not to be confused with earlier Anxi, which had been established as a prefecture by the Chinese in 661. Rokhan in the Sogdian language means "light" (related to the female name Roxana, borne by the Bactrian lady who married Alexander the Great).

An Rokhan was part of a large population of expatriate Turks and Sogdians living in the frontier trade colonies of northwestern China. His stepfather was a Bukharan sartapo (merchant) employed by the Turkic Khanate to administer their domains. At this time, many Sogdians were working as diplomats and administrators for the Turks. His mother was a full-blooded Turkic shaman, no doubt coerced into a political marriage. An was working as a sartapo in the market when he was accused of sheep theft and sentenced to death. He escaped from the city and joined the Tang army as a mercenary.

Service in Tang armies

By distinguishing himself in the border wars of the northwestern frontier, particularly the Khitan invasion of 751-752, An rose through the ranks to become the military governor of Fanyang (now Hebei and Liaoning) as jiedushi of Manchuria. He then was described as enormously fat, and became a favorite of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and his beloved concubine, the lady Yang Guifei. Through Yang's influence, he was appointed a duke and eventually was made governor of three major frontier provinces in the northeast (instead of one province by governor usualy), which provided him a sizable army, but slowly moved away from Yang Guifei's influence to became oppose to the growing Yang clan. Also, he had good relations with Li Linfu, the high chancellor, who gave him many responsibilities and troops to counter-balance the Yang clan, which was gaining greater and greater influence at court.

Rebellion

But when the latter died, An Lushan came into conflict with Li's replacement, Yang Guozhong, of the Yang clan. Eventually, stung by repeated accusations of plotting treachery, An launched the An Lushan Rebellion in 755. That year marked the watershed of Tang power. An led an army of about 150,000 soldiers from Beijing and captured the eastern capital city of Luoyang in the fall of that year. Gross military incompetence by Chief Minister Yang Guozhong (Lady Yang's second cousin and An's accuser) then permitted the capture of the main Tang capital of Chang'an in 756, and An proclaimed himself emperor. However, in 757, he was murdered by his own son, after showing signs of extreme paranoia to those around him. It has been suggested that this was a symptom of acute diabetes, due to his obesity. Although his rebellion was eventually crushed, it forced the Tang to became overdependent on the goodwill of provincial governors and military commanders, thus irretrievably eroding the Tang's central authority.

Notes

References

Mu, Weisheng (2000). The Critical Biography of Guo Ziyi. ISBN 7-80628-406-0.
Xu, Daoxun et al (1993). The Biography of Tang Xuanzong. Beijing: People's Press. ISBN 7-01-001210-5.
Xue, Zongzheng (1992). A History of Turks. Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Press. ISBN 7-5004-0432-8.
Yu, Taishan (2nd Edition 2003). A Comprehensive History of Western Regions. Zhengzhou: Zhongzhou Guji Press. ISBN 7-5348-1266-6.
Yang, Zhijiu, "An Lushan". Encyclopedia of China (Chinese History Edition), 1st ed.
Benn, Charles. 2002. China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517665-0.
Ebrey, Walthall, Palais (2006). East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-618-13384-4.
Lin, Tianwei, " An Lushan". Chinese Encyclopedia (Biography Edition), 1st ed.
Zhong, Han. Ah Lushan Dengzahu De Neiya Wenhua Beijing" ("The Cultural Background on An Lushan, etc in Inner Asia——With the Discussion on the Inner Asia-ized of Sute or Sogdian"). Journal of Chinese Historical Studies. 2005.1. ISSN 1002-7963.
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)

An Lushan

Background

Service in Tang armies

Rebellion

Notes

References

See also