Emperor Wenzong of Tang (唐文宗)

Overview

Emperor Wenzong of Tang was a Tang emperor who reigned from 826 to 840.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Posthumous name	Primal Sage Illustrious and Offering Filial Emperor	文宗元聖昭獻孝皇帝

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 834 大和八年
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 44, passages 185-186
AD 832 大和六年
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 241
AD 829 太和三年
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 180, passages 30, 32
AD 831 太和五年
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 180, passages 34, 62
AD 827 to AD 835 太和初
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 175, passage 212
AD 827 to AD 840 太和年間
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 185, passage 45

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AD 827 to AD 829 文宗…斬同捷
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 213, passages 186, 197, 201, 205
AD 827 to AD 835 文宗
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 161, passage 189
AD 826 to AD 840 文宗
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 22, passages 107, 109; New Book of Tang 70, passage 138
AD 828 文宗
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 185, passage 45
AD 826 to AD 840 文宗嘗召監倉御史崔虞
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 52, passage 232
AD 827 to AD 840 文宗在位
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 181, passage 43
AD 827 to AD 835 文宗大和
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 147
AD 835 文宗大和九年
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 52, passage 229
AD 827 to AD 840 文宗時
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 184, passage 148
AD 827 to AD 835 文宗朝
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 53, passage 117
AD 826 to AD 840 文宗朝
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passages 242-243
AD 827 to AD 840 文宗朝
Dated from the passage context · Old History of the Five Dynasties 54, passage 7
AD 827 文宗立
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 175, passage 199
AD 827 文宗立
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 213, passage 186
c. AD 836 開成初
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 172, passage 100

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Parent of Princess Zhenyuan (真源長公主)
princess 公主
Strongly inferred · New Book of Tang 172, passage 162
Parent of Princess Linzhen (臨真公主)
princess 公主
Strongly inferred · New Book of Tang 172, passage 162
Parent of Princess Shou'an (壽安公主)
daughter 女
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 54, passage 7

Kinship Role sons · Count 2
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 70, passage 138

Key source chapters

Career and standing

AD 827 文宗立
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 213, passage 186

Places and affiliations

Tang 唐
Relation Ruled
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 52, passage 229
Tang 唐
Relation Served
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 181, passage 43
Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Ruled
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 180, passage 62; New Book of Tang 44, passage 186; New Book of Tang 56, passages 147, 241
Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Ruled
Dated from the passage context · New Book of Tang 53, passage 117

Works and attributed material

Later Edicts to the Dahe Administrative Rules 大和格後敕
Relation Commissioner
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 147
Edict · Author
Strongly inferred · New Book of Tang 213, passages 189, 200, 206
Marriage policy speech · Speaker · Direct quotation
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 172, passage 162
Speech · Speaker · With Niu Sengru (牛僧孺) · Direct quotation
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 180, passages 63, 65, 75
Speech · Speaker · With Cui Yu (崔虞)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 52, passage 233
Speech · Speaker · Direct quotation
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 22, passage 109

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Speech · Speaker
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 44, passages 186, 189

Events and relationships

Appointed Yang Zhicheng acting posts
Political · Appointer · With Yang Zhicheng (楊志誠)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 180, passages 76-77
Assigned remnant cash as ever normal and charity granary capital
Administrative · Ruler
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 52, passage 229
Commuted Shangguan Xing to beating and exile
AD 832 大和六年 · Judicial · Ruler · With Shangguan Xing (上官興)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 241
Consulted on Youzhou mutiny
AD 831 太和五年 · Political · Ruler · With Niu Sengru (牛僧孺)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 180, passages 62-63
Created army provisions commissioner
Political · Actor
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 213, passage 197
Ordered department edict culling and review
AD 827 to AD 835 文宗大和 · Legal reform · Commissioner
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 147

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Questioned Cui Yu on Great Granary stores and ordered inspections
Administrative · Ruler
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 52, passages 232, 234
Received
Political · Ruler · With Shi Xiaozhang (史孝章)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 181, passage 43
Rejected calendrical taboos as a reason to block a useful canal project
Administrative · Ruler
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 53, passage 117
Rewarded Li Zaiyi
Political · Ruler · With Li Zaiyi (李載義)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 180, passages 30, 35
Set exam topics
Examination · Issuer
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 44, passage 186
Unable to restrain eunuchs
Political · Ruler
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passages 242-243
Relation Favored · Person Lu Qun (路群)
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 184, passage 148

Assessments and attributes

Assessment failure-of-justice-in-Shangguan-Xing-case · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passage 241
Assessment loved-good-governance-but-too-weak-to-restrain-eunuchs · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · New Book of Tang 56, passages 242, 244

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · Old History of the Five Dynasties 54, passage 7; New Book of Tang 44, passage 186; New Book of Tang 56, passages 147, 241; New Book of Tang 172, passage 100

References in the histories

Search passages

History

25 passages

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 185Volume 181 Biographies 131: Shi Xiancheng, Zi Xiaozhang, He Jintao, Han Yunzhong, Li Yanzhen, Luo Hongxin · 1 passage

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尋請赴闕，文宗慰勞甚厚，憲誠亦因懇乞朝覲。 He soon asked to go to the capital, where Emperor Wenzong received him with generous praise. Xiancheng also earnestly petitioned for permission to come to court.

Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 54Volume 54 Book of Later Tang 30: Biographies 6: Wang Rong, Wang Zhaohui, Wang Chuzhi · 1 passage

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廷湊卒，子元逵尚文宗女壽安公主。 When Tingcou died, his son Yuankui married Princess Shou'an, a daughter of Emperor Wenzong.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 22Volume 22 Treatises 12: Rites and Music 12 · 1 passage

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文宗好雅樂，詔太常卿馮定采開元雅樂制《雲韶法曲》及《霓裳羽衣舞曲》。 Wenzong favored court music and had Feng Ding draw on Kaiyuan elegant pieces to create Cloud Suite Fa Tune and Rainbow Skirt and Feathered Robe dance music.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 44Volume 44 Treatises 39: Selecting and Appointing Officials 1 · 3 passages

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文宗從內出題以試進士，謂侍臣曰：「吾患文格浮薄，昨自出題，所試差勝。」 Emperor Wenzong set the examination topics himself and told his ministers: "I worry that literary standards have grown shallow; the compositions from yesterday's examination, for which I set the topics myself, were somewhat better."

是時，文宗好學嗜古，鄭覃以經術位宰相，深嫉進士浮薄，屢請罷之。 Wenzong loved learning and antiquity; Zheng Tan, a classicist who had risen to chief minister, deeply resented the Jinshi degree's superficiality and repeatedly petitioned to abolish it.

文宗曰：「敦厚浮薄，色色有之，進士科取人二百年矣，不可遽廢。」 Wenzong replied: "Solid worth and superficiality exist in every walk of life. The Jinshi examination has selected officials for two hundred years—it cannot be abolished overnight."

New Book of Tang, Chapter 52Volume 52 Treatises 48: Finance and Economics 2 · 3 passages

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文宗大和九年，以天下回殘錢置常平義倉本錢，歲增市之。 In Wenzong Dahe 9, remnant coin was assigned as ever-normal and charity granary capital, replenished by annual purchases.

文宗嘗召監倉御史崔虞問太倉粟數，對曰：「有粟二百五十萬石。」 Wenzong asked supervising granary censor Cui Yu how much grain the Great Granary held; he answered, "2.5 million shi."

帝曰：「今歲費廣而所畜寡，奈何？」 The emperor said: "Expenses are high and stores low—what can be done?"

New Book of Tang, Chapter 53Volume 53 Treatises 43: Finance and Economics 3 · 1 passage

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宰相李固言以為非時，文宗曰：「苟利於人，陰陽拘忌，非朕所顧也。」 Chancellor Li Guyan said the timing was wrong. Wenzong replied: "If it helps the people, I do not care about yin-yang taboos."

New Book of Tang, Chapter 56Volume 56 Treatises 52: Punishment and Law · 4 passages

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文宗命尚書省郎官各刪本司敕，而丞與侍郎覆視，中書門下參其可否而奏之，為大和格後敕。 Wenzong ordered each section director in the Ministry of State Affairs to cull his department's edicts; assistant directors and vice ministers reviewed them, and the Secretariat and Chancellery judged their fitness before memorializing—the Later Edicts to the Dahe Administrative Rules.

文宗以興免父囚，近於義，杖流靈州，君子以為失刑。 Wenzong, considering that Xing had freed his imprisoned father—a deed close to righteousness—sentenced him to beating and exile to Lingzhou; men of principle regarded this as a failure of justice.

文宗好治，躬自謹畏，然閹宦肆孽不能制。 Wenzong loved good governance and personally exercised caution and restraint, yet eunuchs ran wild and he could not control them.

至誅殺大臣，夷滅其族，濫及者不可勝數，心知其冤，為之飲恨流涕，而莫能救止。 Eventually ministers were executed and their clans exterminated; those wrongfully implicated were beyond counting. Wenzong knew in his heart they were unjustly condemned and wept bitter tears for them, yet could not save or stop it.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 70Volume 70 Tables 10A: Imperial Clan Lineages 1A · 1 passage

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文宗文宗元聖昭獻孝皇帝二子。 Emperor Wenzong had two sons.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 161Volume 161 Biographies 86: Zhang, Zhao, Li, Zheng, Xu, Wang, Feng, Yu · 1 passage

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文宗將立魯王為太子，慎選師傅，敬休以戶部侍郎兼魯王傅。 When Wenzong was about to establish the Prince of Lu as heir apparent and carefully chose tutors, Jingxiu served as vice minister of revenue concurrently as tutor to the Prince of Lu.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 172Volume 172 Biographies 97: Yu, Wang, Two Du's, Fan · 5 passages

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溫固執，文宗諭而止。 Wei held firm until Wenzong instructed him to stop.

開成初，文宗欲以真源、臨真二公主降士族，謂宰相曰：「民間脩婚姻，不計官品而上閥閱。 Early in Kaicheng, Wenzong meant to marry the Princesses Zhenyuan and Linzhen into great clans and told his chief ministers: "Common folk arranging marriages care nothing for office and everything for pedigree.

帝聞異之，轉太仆、衛尉二少卿，歷左右金吾大將軍。 The emperor, struck by his words, moved him through the vice directorships of the Stud and Guard courts and then the Left and Right commands of the Golden Guard.

久之，復拜司農卿，入謝，帝曰：「卿用法深，信乎？」 Long afterward he was reappointed Director of the National Granaries; at his audience of thanks the emperor asked, "They say you enforce the law harshly—is it true?"

帝許之。 The emperor agreed.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 175Volume 175 Biographies 100: Dou, Liu, Two Zhangs, Yang, Xiong, Bai · 2 passages

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文宗立，韋處厚秉政，詔望因緣險薄，營密職，圖褻幸，讙沸眾議，貶漳州司戶參軍。 Under Wenzong, Wei Chuhou ruled and condemned Wang for scheming toward secret posts and imperial intimacy; the uproar sent him to Zhangzhou as army aide.

諸將嫉耆功，比奏攢詆，文宗不獲已，貶耆循州司戶參軍、亞之南康尉。 Generals jealous of Ji's glory piled accusations; Wenzong, constrained, demoted Ji to Xunzhou army aide and Yazhi to Nan Kang aide.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 184Volume 184 Biographies 109: Ma, Yang, Lu, Lu · 1 passage

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累官中書舍人、翰林學士承旨，文宗優遇之。 He rose to Secretariat Drafter and Chief Hanlin Academician, and Emperor Wenzong treated him with special favor.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 213Volume 213 Biographies 138: Buffer Regions: the Black, Green, and Yellow Seas · 1 passage

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俄而文宗立，同捷以帝新嗣位，必大開貸示四方，乃遣弟同志、同巽入朝，而使其屬崔長奉表請命，有詔拜兗海節度使，以烏重胤代之。 When Wenzong succeeded, Tongjie assumed a new emperor would show leniency; he sent his brothers Tongzhi and Tongxun to court and had Cui Chang petition for confirmation—but the edict named him Yan-Hai governor and sent Wu Chongyin to replace him.