On the Southern Tang Imperial Genealogy

2015/05/18 by Johannes L. Kurz · 4 citations
Social Sciences · #Chinese history and philosophy #Japanese History and Culture #China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations

paper · doi:10.7817/jameroriesoci.134.4.601

openalex publication_date 2015/05/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21

Abstract


 
 
 The present essay deals with the fabrication of the imperial genealogy of the Southern Tang state (937–976). A means of linking the Southern Tang founder Li Bian (r. 937–943) to the Tang, it helped establish Southern Tang claims to the Tang heritage. Though no original fabricated genealogy survives, variant forms have been handed down through a number of texts starting in the early Northern Song period. These are discussed in terms of their plausibility, marking the Jiang- nan lu (979) by Xu Xuan (916–991) as the officially accepted description and the Zizhi tongjian (1184) version as the most “believable” of all fake Southern Tang genealogies.
 
 

Cited by

• On the Unification Plans of the Southern Tang Dynasty
• Song Taizong, the 'Record of Jiangnan' ('Jiangnan lu'), and an Alternate Ending to the Tang
• January 7 [wikipedia]
• Southern Tang [wikipedia]

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• China's Southern Tang Dynasty, 937-976
• A Regional Cultural Tradition in Song China: "The Four Treasures of the Study of the Southern Tang" ('Nan Tang wenfang sibao')
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• The Cambridge History of China