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 Quickly he established a twelve points accord with the people and repealed the harsh and unpopular laws of the Sui Dynasty (約法十二條，悉除隋苛禁).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).

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.

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.

Nanxiong (南雄) county lies in the northeast part of Guangdong province. It has 24 towns and a population of 440,000. Historically, Nanxiong connected Guangdong and Jiangxi which made it the key junction between northern and southern China. It was a marketplace and the central point in the exchange of goods and cultures between Central China and the outpost Guangdong.

As with all ancient towns, there are many places of historic interest. We, however, are primarily interested in Zhuji Lane (珠璣巷). It lies in the Meiguan ancient post road (梅關古驛道), nine kilometers from the northern part of Nanxiong county.

Zhuji Lane was first called Jingzong Lane (敬宗巷). The change came about during the Tang Dynasty (唐朝). According to folklore, seven generations of the Zhang Chang (張昌) family lived together in Jingzong Lane. The Imperial court in 825AD bestowed upon them a1 pearl lace for this filial obedience. The following year, the emperor died and his official clan temple title (宗廟諡) was Jingzong. In ancient China it was a common or rather imperative practice to avoid using the same characters as the names and titles of the emperors. Thus Jingzong Lane was changed to Zhuji Lane for this purpose and also to commemorate the honour received by the Zhang Chang family. Zhuji Lane is 1,500 meters long and 4 meters wide. It is paved with cobble stone. There are village houses and memorial temples on each side of the road. Shops are connected with each other, winding straight but orderly, uneven and protruding but naturally. Along this lane in addition to ancient buildings and ruins are bridges, pond and river.

Because of its geographic location, Zhuji Lane became very prosperous during the Tang and Song dynasties. It was a true melting pot where north met south and people with different surnames became neighbours. At the end of the Song Dynasty (宋朝), Zhuji Lane residents migrated southward to the Pearl (Zhujiang) River delta ( 珠江三角洲) to avoid the invading Mongolian army. It was an exodus because a total of 134 surnames and thousands of people were involved. They helped to spread the more advanced Central Plain culture and production techniques to the then still relatively uninhabited southern frontier. The city of Guangzhou has a Zhuji Road (珠璣路) which is supposingly named to commemorate many of the city residents’ place of origin.

1 Source: History Subordinate to Nanxiong county