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Fall of Dali Kingdom
former kingdom, situated roughly in modern Yunnan province, China, from 937 to 1254
- 1253
- Dali
- East Asia
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former kingdom, situated roughly in modern Yunnan province, China, from 937 to 1254
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
The Dali Kingdom, also known as the Dali State (traditional Chinese: 大理國; simplified Chinese: 大理国; pinyin: Dàlǐ Guó; Bai: Dablit Guaif), was a Bai dynastic state situated in modern Yunnan province, China, from 937 to 1253. In 1253, it was conquered by the Mongols. However, descendants of its ruling house continued to administer the area as tusi chiefs under Yuan dynasty rule until the Ming conquest of Yunnan in 1382. The former capital of the Dali Kingdom remains known as Dali in modern Yunnan Province today.
The Dali Kingdom takes its name from Dali City. Famed for its high quality marble, Dali (dàlǐ 大理) literally means "marble" in Chinese.
Dali marble is famous throughout Asia and among collectors of gemstones all over the world. For a few square inches of Shuimohuashi, a particularly precious type of marble, dealers in Hong Kong or Shanghai can charge up to $20,000. For more than 1,000 years Dali has been known as the town of marble; indeed, the Chinese word dali means “marble.”
— Barbara A. West
Nanzhao was overthrown in 902. Three dynasties ruling successor kingdoms, Great Changhe (903-927), Great Tianxing (927-928), and Great Yining (928-937), followed in quick succession. Duan Siping seized power in 937, establishing himself at Dali. The Duan clan professed to have Han ancestry. Yuan dynasty records said the Duan family came from Wuwei in Gansu:
Yuan records claim that the Dali kingdom’s Duan rulers originally came from Wuwei Commandery in modern-day Gansu Province, but this is not confirmed by Song or Dali sources. A significant change from Nanzhao is apparent in Dali rulers’ naming practices, which generally do not follow the patronymic linkage system. This suggests that the Dali elites presented themselves as more “Chinese” than their Nanzhao counterparts.
— Megan Bryson
Nanzhao's last ruler, Shunhuazhen (r. 897-902), was deposed by the chief minister (buxie), Zheng Maisi. Zheng Maisi was descended from a Tang official named Zheng Hui, who had been captured by Nanzhao in 756 and rose to become Nanzhao's imperial tutor and chief minister. Zheng Maisi changed his name to Zheng Chang and proclaimed a new reign era named Anguo for the Great Changhe Kingdom. Great Changhe portrayed itself as the successor to both the Tang dynasty and Nanzhao. Zhang Maisi's successor, Zheng Renmin (r. 910-927), attacked Former Shu in 914 but suffered a heavy defeat. Renmin sent his grand councillor (buxie), Duan Yizong, to Former Shu, possibly to secure a marriage alliance. In 925, another mission led by the buxie Zheng Zhaochun secured a marriage alliance with Southern Han, whose ruler gave his daughter, the Zengcheng Princess, as wife. After the Later Tang defeated Former Shu and returned thousands of captives to Great Changhe, another marriage alliance mission was sent to Later Tang in 927 which ended unsuccessfully.
In 927, Zheng Renmin was killed by the Dongchuan/Jianchuan jiedushi Yang Ganzhen, a White Mywa noble who aided the chief minister, Zhao Shanzheng, in overthrowing the Zheng family. Zhao was enthroned as the ruler of the Great Tianxing Kingdom, but within a year Yang killed him and declared the Great Yining Kingdom (929-937). In 934, Duan Siping, an official in the Tonghai Area Command, organized a coalition of Nanzhao sympathizers and overthrew the Yang regime.
Dali's relationship with the Song was cordial throughout its entire existence. Dali congratulated the Song dynasty on the conquest of Later Shu in 965 and voluntarily established tribute relations in 982. It was however essentially an independent state. At times the Song even declined offers of tribute on the basis that Dali could be a nuisance. The Song founder Song Taizu declared all land south of the Dadu River to be Dali territory and did not desire to pursue any further claims to avoid the Tang dynasty's disastrous efforts against Nanzhao.
Dali relations with the Song differed markedly from Nanzhao-Tang relations. When the first Song emperor, Taizu, came to power, he declared that, in light of Tang difficulties in the Southwest, he would forfeit the Yue and Sui Commanderies and use the Dadu River as the border with Dali. His successors followed this policy, so contact between the Song and Dali was minimal. Song records show reluctance to engage with Dali directly in any way, even through the standard tributary relationship of vassal (Dali) and lord (Song). Because of Song officials’ wariness, Dali was only allowed to offer tribute at the Song court on three occasions. Their requests to offer tribute were repeatedly rejected on the grounds that they would cause trouble for Song, as Nanzhao had for Tang.
— Megan Bryson
Dali's primary importance to the Song dynasty was its horses, which were highly prized and sought after as military assets, especially after the fall of the Northern Song. They were described by a Song official in the following passage:
These horses possess a shape [that is] quite magnificent. They stand low with a muscular front, very similar to the shape of a chicken. The diaphragm is broad, shoulders thick, waist flat, and back round. They are trained to squat on their rear ends like a dog. They easily climb steep terrain on command and possess both speed and agility in chase. They have been raised on bitter buckwheat, so they require little to maintain. How could a horse like this not be considered a good horse?
During the Southern Song period (1127–1279), refugees from Guangxi were resettled in Dali territory to prevent upland raiding. A stele documents refugees who fled to Dali c. 1141-50. The author of the stele credits Duke Gao Liangcheng of Dali for leading troops to assist refugees. He granted land and enfeoffed those who came from afar.
In 1094, the former prime minister Gao Shengtai forced King Duan Zhengming to relinquish the throne to him and renamed the Dali Kingdom to "Dazhong Kingdom". Gao Shengtai ruled briefly until his death in 1096, after which the throne was returned to the Duan family. Duan Zhengming's younger brother, Duan Zhengchun, became the new ruler and restored the kingdom's former name. Despite the restoration of the Dali Kingdom, the Gao clan remained in positions of power at court. Their authority was of such significance that later history texts written in the Yuan dynasty and Ming dynasty alluded to the status of the Dali ruler as a mere puppet figure to the Gao officials. According to the History of Yuan, two Gao brothers named Gao Xiang and Gao He were in charge of all state affairs. The Nanzhao yeshi written after the 15th century stated that after the death of Gao Shengtai, the kings of Dali were rulers in name only. The Gao family was responsible for building temples on several scenic mountains and contributing to the state proselytisation effort. An undated stele at Zixi Mountain in Chuxiong praises a man named Gao Liangcheng for constructing monasteries, for which he was rewarded the title of "Dharma-Protecting Bright Duke" by the Duan monarch.
The Gaos later fought amongst themselves for the position of Minister of State. The Gaos split into two warring branches, the Yucheng branch composed of the descendants of Gao Taiming located in the west, and the Guanyin branch descended from Gao Guanyin located in Shanchan and Baiya in the east. The split occurred during the tenure of Gao Zhisheng (r. 1094-96), the father of Gao Shengtai, who assigned his oldest son Shengtai to reside at Dali while another son Shengxiang was assigned to Shanchan. The post of Minister of State was inherited by the eldest son and was passed down through the Yucheng line from Shengtai to his eldest son Taiming. In 1174, the Guanyin branch deposed the incumbent Yucheng Minister of State and replaced him with a member of their own branch, Gao Zhenming. The two branches fought each other until the mid-1180s.
The Gao of Beisheng claimed descent from Gao Shengtai (高昇泰), who usurped the throne of the Dali kingdom c.1094 for approximately one year. According to the Yuan History, Gao Zhisheng (高智升) sent his grandson, Gao Dahui (高大惠), to administer the area after the fall of the Nanzhao kingdom. The Gao served as the Native Officials of Beisheng sub-prefecture for eleven generations during the Ming dynasty. The Ming appointed the first Gao Ce (高策) in recognition of his meritorious military service in 1389, and the eleventh Gao Shichang (高世昌) inherited the position of Vice Magistrate of rank four in 1630.
— Huang Caiwen
According to a Vietnamese stone inscription, in 1096 a Dali magician was said to have plotted a conspiracy to murder King Lý Nhân Tông. After the death of Nhân Tông in 1127, his adopted son (by concubine) named Zhizhi had escaped to Dali, changed his surname to Zhao, and assumed the title pingwang (peaceful king). When he learned that his older brother, King Lý Thần Tông, had died in 1137, Zhizhi returned to Đại Việt and attacked Lý Anh Tông with 3,000 Dali troops. However, he was defeated and executed.
Duan Zhixing commissioned Zhang Shengwen to create a Buddhist scroll depicting rulers, buddhas, bodhisattvas, and dharma guardians. Zhixing took the title of the "Lizhen Emperor" (利貞皇帝) later on. In 1180, a Dali monk named Miaoguan declared Zhixing's reign as having marked the emergence of a Buddha intent on saving sentient beings through painstaking effort. This may have been a reference by efforts by Zhixing to quell unrest in the state by mobilizing the Gao ministers of state and propagating the worship of Maitreya. The Chongsheng Temple probably served as the center of Zhixing's propagation of state Buddhism. Zhixing sponsored the construction of 16 temples in 1190.
Möngke Khan sent envoys requesting the surrender of Dali. The king of Dali murdered the envoys and when Möngke received word of this, he placed his brother Kublai in charge of invading Dali.
Kublai split his army into three columns. The western column was led by Uriyangkhadai, who was the son of Subutai, and he was instructed to march from Lintao through Kham into Dali. Wang Dezhen led the eastern column through Sichuan. Wang's column rejoined Kublai's middle column at Jianchang in southern Sichuan. Kublai planned to engage Dali's main army at the Jinsha River, leaving Dali vulnerable to Uriyangkhadai's forces to the northwest. After several skirmishes where Dali forces turned back Mongol raids across the Jinsha River, Kublai's army crossed the river during the night and routed the Dali army. In late 1253, the three columns converged on the city of Dali.
The king of Dali, Duan Xingzhi, fled to the town of Shanchan (near modern Kunming) and rallied pro-Dali forces to oppose the Mongol invasion. It took another two years of fighting before the Mongols captured the cities of Dali and Shanchan. However the resistance against the Mongols continued to the east of Shanchan with the assistance of the Yi kingdoms and the Song dynasty.
In 1256, Duan Xingzhi surrendered and presented to Möngke maps of Yunnan. Duan Xingzhi of Dali was enfeoffed as Maharaja (摩诃罗嵯), and the Duan imperial family continued to hold the title of Maharaja in Yunnan as vassals to the Mongols under the supervision of Borjigin imperial princes and Muslim governors. The Duan family reigned in Dali while the governors served in Kunming. After the Ming conquest of Yunnan, the members of the Duan clan were scattered in various distant areas of China by the Hongwu Emperor.
Uriyangkhadai remained in Yunnan to oversee Duan's rule of Dali and to push further east into the Song dynasty. By mid-1256, 20 military brigades had been established throughout Dali and military units had been sent to attack Ziqi. Mongols and Central Asians filled brigade commander positions while members of the local elite staffed the subbrigade battalions. Uriyangkhadai rewarded locals who had supported the Mongol invasion and created a new elite to rival the old pro-Dali elite.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Dali Kingdom”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.