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'Emperor Liezu of Southern Tang' (南唐烈祖) (d. 943), also known as 'Xianzhu of Southern Tang' (南唐前主, literally "the former lord of Southern Tang"), personal name 'Li Bian' (李昪), earlier also known as 'Xu Zhigao' (徐之誥), was the founder of the Southern Tang kingdom, one of the most successful of the Ten Kingdoms of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907-960).

Contents

Rise to Power

Reign

Legacy

Reference

Rise to Power

Li Bian was the adoptive son of Yang Xingmi, the founder of the Wu Kingdom, but later was adopted by the general Xu Wen and had his name changed to Xu Zhigao. He was able to usurp power in the Wu state from Yang’s successors in 937. He declared himself to be the legitimate successor to the Tang Dynasty, which had fallen in 907. This is the justification he used for adopting the imperial surname of Li.

Reign

Xianzhu’s reign was short, only six years. However, he was successful in solidifying the state, preparing it for aggressive expansion that his successor, Zhongzhu, would engage in. He established the capital at Nanjing, the same location as the predecessor state, the Kingdom of Wu. He also began a pattern of Nanjing becoming one of the three main centers of art and culture in southern China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period

Legacy

While the kingdom Xianzhu founded did not succeed in reuniting the Chinese realm, however, it played an important part in the consolidation of politics with the absorption of Min and Chu. It also became one of the leading centers of learning, along with Chengdu of the Later Shu and Hangzhou of Wuyue.

Reference

Imperial China (900-1800), Mote, F.W., , , Harvard University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-674-01212-7