Emperor Wuzong

Emperor Wuzong (武宗, 814–846) ruled the Tang dynasty from 840 to 846 under the single era name Huichang (會昌). Born Li Chan, he changed his personal name to Li Yan (李炎) shortly before his death.

He is remembered above all for the Huichang persecution, the most severe suppression of Buddhism in Chinese history, which in 845 closed thousands of monasteries and returned hundreds of thousands of monks and nuns to lay life. With his chancellor Li Deyu he also dealt firmly with the collapse of the Uyghur empire on the northern border and with a rebellious provincial governor, Liu Zhen.

Early Life of Emperor Wuzong

Li Chan was born in 814, a son of Emperor Muzong by Consort Wei. After Muzong came to the throne he created several of his sons princes, and in 821 Li Chan became Prince of Ying.

Little is recorded of him during the reigns of his father and his elder brothers Jingzong and Wenzong, although during Wenzong's Kaicheng era he received the honorary title Kaifu Yitong Sansi.

An Unexpected Succession

When Emperor Wenzong fell gravely ill early in 840, the heir he had chosen was his nephew Li Chengmei, a son of Jingzong. The powerful eunuchs Qiu Shiliang and Yu Hongzhi opposed Li Chengmei and issued an edict in the dying emperor's name making Li Chan heir instead. When Wenzong died, Li Chan took the throne as Emperor Wuzong, and Li Chengmei was put to death soon afterwards.

Reign of Emperor Wuzong

Although he owed his throne to eunuchs, Wuzong governed largely through Li Deyu, the most able chancellor of the late Tang, and the eunuch commander Qiu Shiliang lost influence and retired in 843. The reign was short but decisive.

The Huichang Persecution

By the 9th century the Buddhist church in China owned vast estates, and its monasteries and clergy were exempt from tax and labour service. To a court short of revenue this was a serious drain. Wuzong was also a committed Daoist who trusted the Daoist priest Zhao Guizhen, and he saw Buddhism as a foreign religion harmful to Chinese society.

The campaign began with orders to expel from the monasteries monks and nuns who had broken the rules or practised sorcery, and to make those who kept private wealth return to lay life and pay tax. The measures grew harsher each year and reached their height in 845, when most monasteries were closed and their property confiscated.

According to the imperial edict of 845, some 4,600 monasteries and around 40,000 smaller shrines were destroyed, 260,500 monks and nuns were returned to lay life, and the monasteries' lands and slaves were taken by the state. Only a handful of temples were allowed to remain in each capital and in major cities.

The persecution also struck the other foreign religions of Tang China: Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism and the Church of the East (Nestorian Christianity). The Japanese Tendai monk Ennin, who was in China at the time and was forced to leave in 845, recorded these events in his travel diary, one of the most valuable eyewitness accounts of the period.

A Note for Collectors

The persecution left a mark that collectors can still hold in the hand. Bronze Buddhist images and temple bells were melted down, and the metal was used to cast new Kaiyuan Tongbao coins. Many of these Huichang issues carry a single character on the reverse naming the place where they were cast, which distinguishes them from the earlier coins of the same name. The destruction of so many temples is also one reason why Tang Buddhist sculpture and temple furnishings survive in such small numbers.

The Northern Border

In 840 the Uyghur empire on the Mongolian steppe was overthrown by the Kyrgyz, and large bands of Uyghur refugees moved south to the Tang frontier. The court strengthened its border defences and sent reinforcements to a region that had been left short of troops for decades.

Early in 843 a Tang force under the general Shi Xiong attacked the camp of the Uyghur khan and routed it, recovering Princess Taihe, a Tang princess who had been married to a Uyghur khan. The site became known as Shahu Shan, the "mountain where the barbarians were killed". After this defeat the Uyghurs ceased to be a threat to the Tang.

The Rebellion of Liu Zhen

In 843 Liu Zhen tried to inherit the governorship of Zhaoyi circuit, in the south-east of modern Shanxi, from his uncle without imperial approval. On Li Deyu's advice Wuzong refused, and imperial armies crushed the rebellion in 844. Li Deyu was rewarded with the title Duke of Wei.

Death of Emperor Wuzong

In his last years Wuzong took elixirs prepared by Daoist alchemists in the hope of gaining immortality. The histories say that they made him irritable and unpredictable, and by the end of 845 he was seriously ill.

Early in 846 he changed his personal name from Li Chan (李瀍) to Li Yan (李炎), a remedy drawn from the theory of the five phases. The Tang was held to rule by the virtue of earth. The character Chan contains the element water, which earth overcomes, and this was thought to be harming the emperor. Yan is written with the character for fire twice, and fire gives rise to earth.

The change of name did not help, and Wuzong died in the spring of 846. His sons were young, and the eunuchs chose his uncle Li Chen, who reigned as Emperor Xuanzong. The new emperor dismissed Li Deyu, had Zhao Guizhen executed and allowed Buddhist monasteries to be restored, although the church never recovered its former wealth.

Ceramics of the Reign

Wuzong's reign falls in a high period for the Yue kilns of northern Zhejiang. Their finest ware, known by the late Tang as mise, 'secret colour', had a smooth pale green glaze. The kilns made tea bowls, ewers and vessels such as the zhadou shown here, a wide-mouthed form usually described as a spittoon. In the north the Xing kilns supplied fine white porcelain, while in Hunan the Changsha kilns made painted stonewares in great quantity for markets overseas.

Chinese ceramics of the 9th century, Yue ware among them, have been excavated at Samarra, the Abbasid capital on the Tigris from 836 to 892, which shows how far the trade reached.