Lee Yun was born into royalty, one with a silver spoon in his mouth. Both his father and grandfather held high ranks in the royal court. In addition, his mother was the sister of the Emperor’s wife, Dugu Shi (隋文帝獨孤皇后). Thus at the age of seven he inherited his father’s title of Tang Guogong (唐國公). As a young man, he became one of Sui Yangdi’s (隋煬帝), the emperor, body guards. Yes, he was trusted.

In 617 (大業十三年) he was appointed Governor of Tai Yuen (太原留守). It was there and at the urging of his son, Lee Simin, he joined the general suprise against the Sui Dynasty (隋朝). With Tai Yuen (太原) as his base, his army moved swiftly. In October of the same year they laid siege to the Sui capital, Ch’ang-an (長安), and captured it a month later.

At this point Lee Yun proved he wasn’t exactly a bumbling fool. Quickly he established a twelve points accord with the people and repealed the harsh and unpopular laws of the Sui Dynasty (約法十二條，悉除隋苛禁). Feeling the time wasn’t right yet, he crowned the 13-year old Yang Yu (代王楊栯) as emperor and honoured the reigning emperor, Sui Yangdi (隋煬帝) who at the time was vacationing in Southern China (江都), as the Supreme Emperor (太上皇).

As expected the new emperor appointed Lee Yun as prime minister (大丞相) and supreme commander of the army (大都督). The emperor also bestowed upon Lee Yun the title of Tang Huang (唐王). Lee Yun in turn appointed his faithful followers to key posts within the new government.

In March of the following year, 618 (大業十四年) Sui Yangdi was killed. However, words didn’t arrived at Changon till a month later. In May Lee Yun disposed the puppet Sui emperor and ascended the dragon throne himself. From his family title Tang Guogong and the more recent Tang Huang, it was decided the new regime shall be known as Tang. The capital remained at Ch’ang-an (長安).

The various uprises against the Sui Dynasty remained active despite the ending of the dynasty. According to the numerous popular novels on this particular time period there were 36 rebel forces in the country. Each had its own territory. Some of them were bigger, better equipped and more powerful than Lee Yun. More than one of them had proclaimed and crowned themselves emperors. The quest was far from over.

Lee Yun bestowed the title Qin Huang (秦王) on his second son, Lee Simin and appointed him minister of defence (尚書令). Lee Simin then began the task of conquering and/or pacifying the various rebels. In a four year campaign, 618 – 622 (武德元年 – 四年), Lee Simin and his followers defeated the Tang Dynasty’s major rivals and laid the foundation for the unification of China.

In naming the heir to the throne, Lee Yun made a fatal blunder. He went along with tradition and named his eldest son, Lee Jiancheng (李建成), as crowned prince despite the fact that Lee Simin was more capable of the two. Plus it was Lee Simin and his followers who were the driving force in establishing the Dynasty. Lee Jiancheng realized the superior capability of his younger sibling. He tried his best to discredit him and his followers. To this end he formed an alliance with Lee Yuanji (李元吉), his third brother.

Over the next five years, a struggle for power took place involved the three siblings, their followers and two of Lee Yun’s most favorite concubines who sided with the crowned prince. Poison and false accusations were employed on a regular basis. Many times Lee Simin escaped death by the skin of his teeth. While this was going on, Lee Yun kept his head in the sand either because he didn’t know what to do or he truly was clueless of the deadly contest.

Lee Shimin was always on the receiving end until one day in June 627AD. Lee Shimin was informed that Lee Jiancheng and Lee Yuanji planned to ambush him during his daily morning visit to the palace. Faced with a life and death situation, Lee Simin and his followers decided to strike first. Thus in the morning hours of June 4, 627 (武德九年) a showdown took place just outside the palace gate, Xuan Wumen (玄武門). The combined force of Lee Jiancheng and Lee Yuanji was no match against Lee Simin’s force led by battle-hardened generals. Lee Jiancheng and Lee Yuanji were killed in the ensuing battle. This is known as Xuan Wumen Zhibian (玄武門之變). Subsequently Lee Yun decided to abdicate the throne and lived out his life as the honourary Supreme Emperor (太上皇).

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We have very little, if not no, information on his life prior to 166BC (漢文帝十四年). Thanks to the great historian Sema Qian (司馬遷) we have a good account of his life and the fate of his family from that point on.

Sema Qian began by saying Lee Guang was from Xingji, Longxie (隴西成紀). The family had a long and distinguished military history. One of the ancestors was Lee Xin (李信), the Qin general (秦將) best known for capturing Prince Dan (太子丹). The family was known for its excellent archery and horsemanship.

In 166BC (漢文帝十四年) the nomadic Xiongnus (匈奴) invaded China. Lee Guang and his adopted brother, Lee Tsoi (李蔡), took part in the defence effort by joining the army. Because of their exceptional skills in archery and horsemanship, they quickly attained the rank of Zhonglang (中郎) with an annual remuneration of 800 bushels and served as the emperor’s guards. The emperor, Han Wendi (漢文帝), lamented that Lee Guang wasn’t living at the time of Liu Pang (劉邦) because with his abilities he would’ve easily become a feudal lord of an area with ten thousand households (萬戶侯).

By 156BC (景帝初) Lee Guang was responsible for the defence of Longxie. In all Battles he showed exceptional courage and bravery. An example was the campaign against the Wu and Chu (吳、楚) under the command of Zhou Ahfu (周亞夫). He attacked the Wu forces and captured the enemy’s banner. However, his bravery had many feared he would eventually be killed during a scrimmage.

When the Xiongnus invaded Shangjun (上郡) the emperor sent one of his servants with the title Chonggui Ren (中貴人) to serve under Lee Guang. One day the Chonggui Ren with a small group of calvary encountered three Xiongnus and attacked. The Xiongnus fought back, wounded the Chonggui Ren and slaughtered the rest. Chonggui Ren escaped and reported to Lee Guang who concluded the three must be condor hunters, the best of archers.

Lee Guang decided to track them down with a force of one hundred calvary. By now the three had lost their and were on foot. After his troops surrounding them Lee Guang challenged them to an archery duo. He killed two and captured the other whom confirmed they were indeed condor hunters.

Just as they were about to return with their captive, they were approached by a Xiongnu force of several thousand. Upon seeing Lee Guang’s small force they thought they had encountered the Han (漢) army’s decoy or bait for an ambush. With great precaution, they lined up on top of a hill. Upon seeing this display of force struck fear in Lee Guang’s calvary who wanted nothing more than a panic retreat.

But Lee Guang said, “We are far from our base if we retreat the enemy with its superior number would crush us. But if we stay they’ll think we are here to bait them and wouldn’t dare to attack.”

He order his troops forward till they were within the enemy’s range of fire. Then he ordered them to dismount and unsaddle their horses. These action further confirmed the Xiongnus’ suspicion of a trick and refrained from attacking. Later, Lee Guang saw a Xiongnu general on a white horse drifted apart from the rest of his troops. There upon Lee Guang and ten odd soldiers mounted, charges and killed the white horse general with their arrows. At nightfall the Xiongnus now fully convinced of a Hans ambush which would take place under the cover darkness decided to withdraw.

The Xiongnus admired Lee Guang so much that there was a standing order in battle he was to be captured only. Thus later during the reign of Emperor Wu, Lee Guang went on an expedition against the Xiongnus. Being badly outnumbered, he was wounded and captured. His captors placed him in a hammock between two horses. Lee Guang faked unconscious to lower his captors’ guards and to bid his time. After travelling a distance, an opportunity presented itself when a rider on a fast horse came by. Guang leaped onto the horse, pushed the rider off and took his bow. He headed back and rejoined the Han forces. Along the way he killed a number of his pursuers with the stolen bow and arrows. According to the Han Dynasty law Guang was held accountable for the heavy lost and his brief POW status. Capital punishment was the prescribed sentence. Because of his past heroic deeds, Guang was stripped of his ranks and booted out of the royal court instead.

Several years later the Xiongnus started to make forays into China again. The Chinese court finally realized Lee Guang’s value to the defense against these forays and pardoned him. The Xiongnus’s respect for Guang was so great they called him Han’s Flying General (漢之飛將軍) and avoided the area he was stationed.

Legend has it that one evening Lee Guang was out patrolling. From the corner of his eyes he saw movements in the tall grass and a tiger-like form. Guang drew his bow and fired an arrow. All was quiet. In the morning, Guang and his troops returned to investigate. In the tall grass was a large rock pierced by Guang’s arrow.

In 121BC Guang took part in one of Emperor Wu’s campaigns against the Xiongnus. Guang and his four thousand cavalry were assigned to the flank. After foraying into enemy territory they encountered the enemy, a force of forty thousand. In face of such overwhelming odd many of Guang’s troop showed fear. In an effort to settle his troops down Guang ordered one of his sons and a small group to charge the enemy. The troops settled down after seeing this small group not only charged through the enemy line but was able to do a reversal and rejoined them.

In preparation for the pending attack, Guang ordered his troops into a circular formation. In the ensuing attack Guang lost more than half of his troops. They had just about fired all their arrows. Guang’s next order was to cease firing. He used his extra strong long bow to pick off several of the enemy’s generals which stemmed the on slaughter for the day.

The next day the battle started again. However, at this critical moment Han reinforcement arrived. The Xiongnus retreated. Again Guang’s bravery and merits were cancelled by the heavy casualties.

Two years later, 119BC, Emperor Wu embarked on another campaign against the Xiongnus. Guang asked to be included but was refused due to advanced age. Guang persisted and Emperor Wu finally relented. However, the supreme commander, General Wei Qing (衛青), believing Guang was old and his luck bad assigned him to the right flank and attacked from the eastern route (東道) which was much more round about.

Guang’s request for reassignment to the advance striking force was rejected. Reluctantly, Guang set out on the east route. As luck would have it, Guang and his troops lost their way and failed to join up with the rest of the Han army. Guang took full responsibility for the mishap. Rather than allowing himself to be humiliated again by the unfair Han regulation and petty bureaucrats, he drew his sword and committed suicide.

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It is unclear when he left this post. Legend has it that after leaving he decided to travel westward riding an oxen. At this time a purple cloud started to hover over him. Thus this journey is generally referred to as the Purple Cloud from the East (紫氣東來). One day he came to China’s westmost outpost (函谷關). The guardian of this outpost had heard of Lao Tze, his learning and his westward journey. He specially ordered his underlings to keep their eyes open for Lao Tze and when spotted should reported to him immediately. Upon meeting Lao Tze, he accorded Lao Tze the respects of a student to a teacher and asked Lao Tze to leave some of his wisdom in the form of writing behind. At this point Lao Tze wrote a 5,000 word essay titled Tao Te Ching (道德經). After he finished the essay, Lao Tze continued his westward journey and not to be heard from again.

Here is a brief listing of some of the ideas and concepts in the Tao Te Ching:

• Tao (道) is the invisible, intangible, and indescribable force which created the universe.
• Ideas and matters exist in pairs and are relative in that the pairs are always opposite yet depending on the other for its own existence. An example is good and evil. We know good when we encounter it only because we have known or encountered evil.
• Strength of the weak or soft is greater than the forceful or hard because the hard will break while the soft will bend and rebound.
• Advocated a return to the simple life of bygone days when people were self-sufficient and uneducated.
• For government he advocated sparsely populated small states where people have very little contact with each other.
• Most important of all is the concept which can loosely translated as let it be (無為).

The philosophy as outlined in Tao Te Ching (道德經) became popular during the early part of the Han Dynasty (漢朝). It is credited with calming the country and settling the population after the turmoil of the Warring States (戰國), the harsh Qin Dynasty (秦朝) and the ensuing civil war (楚漢相爭). From this base Wu Emperor (漢武帝) was able to launch his successful campaigns of driving the Northern nomads, Xiongnus (匈奴), far into the desert.

Hundreds of years later, the Taoists (道教) while battling Buddhism (佛教) for followers adapted Tao Te Ching as their religion’s dogma. In turn they honoured Lao Tze as the founder of their religion. However, honours didn’t really started to pour in until the Tang Dynasty (唐朝).

Keep in mind that since the latter part of the Han Dynasty, bloodline and ranked clans (門第望族) were of utmost important. At one point clan membership was the only requirement for high ranking positions in government (上品無寒門，下品無望族). Capability and learning played no part whatsoever. Yes, this is a caste system. Its meridian was during the North-south period (南北朝). The two most powerful clans were Wang (王) and Xie (謝). Stories had it that during the early Tang dynasty the emperor had trouble finding a spouse for one his daughters as the royal family was ranked six on list of desired matches. <> Then it is understandable for the royal family of the Tang Dynasty who was very conscientious of its somewhat mixed bloodline to seek direct linkage to a historical Han figure. That figure happened to be Lao Tze. Taoism in turn became the national religion during the Tang Dynasty.

It all started in May 620AD (武德三年) when Ji Shan (吉善) of Jinzhou (晉州) walking along Sheep Horn Mountain (羊角山) met a very dignify-looking old gentleman on a white horse with red mane.

The elderly man said, “Go and inform the Tang Emperor that I am his ancestor. At the end of the year there will be peace and his descendants will be on the throne for a thousand years.”

Lee Yun was amazed by this and decided to build a temple where the alleged meeting took place. This was the first step in solidifying the link between the Tang Emperor and Lao Tze. Later a royal edict officially ranked Taoism ahead of all religions.

A stone statue of Lao Tze at Quanzhou, Fujian, China. Photo credit: Ronald Lee

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Zhao Mengfu (1254 – 1322) born during the latter part of the Song dynasty and died just shy of the half point of the Yuan dynasty. He attained a very high position in the Mongolian court. This was a major aspect that his critics focused on because as the 11th generation descendant of Zhao Kuang Yin (趙匡胤), founder of the Sung dynasty (宋朝) many felt he shouldn’t served the Mongolians who ended the Song dynasty.

Zhao Kuang Yin had four sons and Zhao Mengfu belonged to the branch of Prince Qin (秦王德芳), Zhao Kuang Yin’s fourth and youngest son. The ancestor, Baqut (伯圭), four generations before Zhao Mengfu, was the olderer brother of the Song emperor, Xiao Zhong. It was at this time that his family settled in Huzhou, Zhejiang (浙江湖州).

Zhao Mengfu’s biaozi (表字) is Ziang (子昂). A common practice of the time was for scholars to take up pseudonyms or hao (號). Zhao Mengfu had many. Here are some of better known works:

• Songxue (松雪, “Pine Snow”)
• Oubo (歐波, “Gull Waves”)
• and Shuijing Gongdao Ren (水精宫道人, “Crystal Palace Taoist”)

By all accounts he was multi-talented. We were told that he had a photographic memory. He was poet, painter, callicgrapher, craver, and musician. However, he is best known for his paintings and calligrphy.

He painted a very broad variety of subjects: landscape, people, plants, birds and horses. His style was just as diversed, ranging from detailed (工筆), free form (寫意), full colours (青綠), and ink (水墨).

His wife, Guan Daosheng (管道生 1262-1319), was a poet and accompanished painter. Her specialty was bamboo and plum. Their son, Zhao Yong (趙雍) was also a painter in his own right and an art collector.

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We can even say he was from a family of soldiers. His father, Zhao Hong Yin (趙弘殷), was a brave and outstanding soldier and commander. Due to the turmoil coupled with the rapid rise and fall of the warlords Zhao Hong Yin served under the following dynasties:

1. Later Tang (後唐)
2. Later Han (後漢)
3. Later Zhou (後周).

Zhao Kuang Yin was Zhao Hong Yin’s second son who initially joined the army of Guo Wei (郭威). In 951AD Gui Wei captured Kaifeng (開封) and established the Zhou dynasty (951-960) with Kaifeng as the capital. This was known as the Later Zhou dynasty. Guo Wei became Zhou Gao Zu (周高祖). He reigned from 951-954.

By this time Zhao Kuang Yin had risen to the rank of general. His title was Ding Guo Jie Du Shi (定國節度使). In addition both he and his father were appointed commanders of the royal guards (殿前都指揮使).

The Later Zhou dynasty was beset with one misfortune after another. The first two emperors were extremely capable but both suffered untimely deaths. Upon Huo Wei’s death Zhou Xie Zhong Chai Rong (周世宗柴榮), who was Guo Wei’s adopted son, succeeded him. It was during Chai Rong’s reign (954-959) that the unification of China was initiated. His army was so strong that he not only defeated other war lords but was in the process of reclaiming part of northern China that was lost to the nomadic empire, Liao (遼國), when he suddenly took ill. Upon Chai Rong’s death his seven year old son, Chai Zhong Xu (柴宗訓) ascended to the throne. He is known as Zhou Gong Di (周恭帝).

On New Year’s day, word came from the northern front that the Later Han (後漢) army with the backing of the Liao army was on the move and poised to attack. Zhao Kuang Yin was given the responsibility of defending the country against this pending invasion. General Zhao and his army left Kaifeng and moved towards the northern front. The first night after leaving the capital, the army arrived and camped at Chen Qiao Yi (陳橋驛).

Many soldiers didn’t want to leave home because it was the middle of winter and more importantly, it was two days after the new year. Feelings of dissatisfaction were running high. During the night some blamed that the young emperor for sending them away from the warmth of home and family during this festival time. Furthermore it was suggested that a coup would ensure a quick trip home.

The next morning, as soon as Zhao Kuang Yin stepped out of his tent the soldiers waiting outside immediately draped a yellow robe over him. All knelt and hailed him as their new emperor. At this point Zhao Kuang Yin had no choice but to return to Kaifeng where the young Zhou Gong Di was forced abdicated.

With any government succession is always a problem, more so with absolute power. With the Sung dynasty it was a bit more complex. Zhao Kung Yi’s mother, Queen To, had decreed or rather a death bed wish that the throne should pass from brother to brother rather than follow the more common practice of father to son.

Tai Zu’s younger brother, Zhao Guang Yi succeeded him as the second emperor of the Sung dynasty. The events on the eve of his succession, however, remained one of the unsolved mysteries in Chinese history. The generally accepted course of event is as follows. Sung Tai Zu wasn’t feeling well. At midnight he asked to see Zhao Guang Yi. During the visit all servants were kept at a distance. From the distance they can only made out the shadows under the light. Hearing the conversation was beyond question. They saw the shadow of Zhao Guang Yi repeatedly getting up from his seat and sitting down. Finally they heard the sound of an ax stricking the ground. In the morning Guang Yi emerged to announce Tai Zu’s death. Tai Zu was only 50 years old with no known illness. Later in the day, he ascended the throne. Historians called this “the shadows by the candle and the sound of the ax” incident (燭影斧聲).

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He was born in the steppe of Central Asia to a Chinese family whose ancestors migrated there from China to escape the turmoil there when Lee Yun (李淵) and his sons were busy establishing the Tang Dynasty (唐朝). In 705 the family returned to China and settled in Szechuen (四川).

In 725, twenty-five year old Li Bai left Szechuen in search of opportunities to secure a high position in the royal court and be part of the governing elite. The most common route was to take the royal exam (科舉). However, all participants in the royal exam must give information on their previous three generations. The fact that Li Bai never did participated in the examination combined with his place of birth had many later day scholars speculating he might be the descendent of one of Lee Yun’s sons who lost the famous bloody struggle for the dragon throne (玄武門之變). Information on his ancestors might revealed this linkage and subjected him and his family to prosecution if not outright execution.

Li Bai chose another route. He spent years travelling in China, befriended many renown scholars and generally made a name for himself. In 743 he was appointed to be a member of Yu-lin (翰林供奉). However, Yu-lin was far from the seat of power. It was nothing more than the emperor’s personal poets society. Needless to say he was disappointed. Couple this with his tendency to offend those in power, his days in Ch’ang-an (長安) were numbered. He finally left in 746 and resumed his travel.

During the An-Si Rebellion (安史之亂), he saw what he considered as an opportunity to realize his goal of ascending the seat of power. Thus in 755 he joined the force led by the emperor’s 16th son, Prince Lin (永王璘). However, one of Lin’s brother Hun (李亨) had already ascended the throne. In the ensuing battles, Lin was defeated, captured and executed. Because of the association Li Bai was to be executed as well but for the great efforts of Kwok Tze-yi (郭子儀) who is credited with restoring the Tang Dynasty by leading the battle against the An-SI rebels. Instead he was exiled to Yelon (夜郎), present day Guizhou (貴州桐梓縣). While enroute, the old emperor (唐明皇) died and he was pardoned.

In 762 Li Bai died. Some said he died of illness due to his excess drinking over the year. While another said he was drown when in a drunken state he tried to scoop the moon out of the river.

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