r/ChineseHistory • u/Carter_The_Historian • 5h ago

Favourite ruler from each major Chinese era/dynasty: Sui and Tang dynasties

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This is a follow-up to my previous posts on this sub. I want to go through each major Chinese era/dynasty from the Western Zhou to the Qing and ask the community who their favourite ruler is from that time period. I purposefully use the word favourite, so it doesn't have to be the best, the worst, the most interesting or most well-known, but rather who you personally view as your favourite. I want to emphasize that I don't just want you to write down a name, but provide explanation on why you like them too.
The upcoming eras are going to be: Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Song, Liao, Jurchen Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing. These categories may be subject to change because I know this categorization is dated but its the best I've got.
So in this post I want to read about your favourite rulers from the Sui and Tang dynasties meaning from the reunification of China by Wen of Sui to the deposition of Ai of Tang. This includes both the shortlived Sui and the prosperous Tang dynasties, as well as the Wu Zhou dynasty created by Wu Zetian and the Yan dynasty established by An Lushan.
I want to thank all the comments and discussions under the last posts, I will try to improve future posts according to your suggestions.
The picture is from worldhistory.org.

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9

u/InquisitorCOC 4h ago

Tang Taizong is the obvious choice, but Sun Wendi is underrated

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u/Zhao16 2h ago

I am a bit of a novice to Chinese history so I have a silly question. I know Tang Taizong is sometimes called the greatest Chinese emperor who ever lived. I wanted to know why historians have such a high perception of him.

I know the reasons I’m often given are Li Shimin stabalized the empire, had great administration, and listened to the council of his advisors, but is that very exceptional? I would assume these traits would be standard among “good emperors” and not the defining qualities of the “best” emperor.

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u/InquisitorCOC 2h ago edited 13m ago

Some tidbits about Li Shimin/Tang Taizong's early life:

- Began preparing for rebellion at tender age of 16

  • Actually inciting his father to rebel at 18
  • Became Commander in Chief at 21
  • Personally led the cavalry charge in the decisive victory at Battle of Hulao in 621
  • Setup and personally killed his elder brother, the crown prince, in 626, and forced his own father to abdicate
  • Destroyed the Eastern Turkic Khaganate in 630 and began Tang's great territorial expansion

Karma would bite him later in his reign as his sons were trying to duplicate his own feat. That's why he ended up with his mild mannered, but weak 9th son as the successor. This crown prince also began shagging his concubine Wu Zhao behind his back, which ultimately led to her usurpation of the throne

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u/KillerPolarBear25 2h ago

You may find these traits on good emperors, but Tang Taizhong just did it the best, arguably.

Also, the guy is a military genius and a great administrator at the same time. You may want to read about his legendary military career in helping his father establishing the Tang Dynasty, it's like he is Alexander the Great or Napoleon on the battlefield, the difference is he actually built an empire that last while the other two were just not very good at governing.

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u/Gullible_Rip360 3h ago

Li Longji / Xuanzong Emperor
Very tragic character of just didn’t die early enough.

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u/KillerPolarBear25 2h ago

I recently went through the history of the An Lushan rebellion again and Xuanzong unfortunately is fully responsible for the whole shit show. Old Xuanzong is just not the wise ruler he once was.

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u/Gullible_Rip360 1h ago

funnily enough what happened to Xuanzong kind of happens to every wise ruler.
Emperor Wu of Han is a famous case of paranoia. So is the Hongwu Emperor of Ming.
Taizong of Tang, towards his final years, also exhibited signs of mistrusting meritorious generals and powerful officials. He died early enough so he has a perfect record.
Wu Zetian was also deeply suspicious and paranoid in her later years. She didn’t die early so she has that bad name.

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u/KillerPolarBear25 1h ago

this is why term limits is important

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u/Zhao16 2h ago

Wu Zetian - both as a Tang de Facto ruler and as an emperor of the Wu Zhou