10 replies to this topic

[Jiang Ziya]

Hi,

I was wondering if someone can provide me with information on Gao Changgong(高長恭). He was a very competent general of Northern Qi, but was eventually poisoned by Gao Wei.

Thanks

[fireball]

Hi,

I was wondering if someone can provide me with information on Gao Changgong(高長恭). He was a very competent general of Northern Qi, but was eventually poisoned by Gao Wei.

Thanks

Ah ha! I was thinking of him just yesterday. You must have ESP or same brain wave as me!

Anyway, the following is the quote from wikipedia.org:

http://zh.wikipedia..../wiki/高長�

"高長恭，又名高孝瓘，北齊大將，世稱蘭陵王。是高歡之孫，高澄之第四子。傳說中相貌柔美，為了在戰場上能夠威嚇敵人，故戴面具上陣。 "

"Gan Changgong, also named Gao Xiaoguan, He was a prince and a general in Northern Qi dynasty, and he was called the prince of "Lan Ling". He was the grandson of Gao Huan, and the 4th son of Gao Cheng. In the legend, he was femininely beautiful. In order to scare his enemies on the battle fields, he wore a mask when he fought in battles."


Also, "日本的雅樂的曲目有《陵王》、《陵王入陣曲》。"

Also, "The No theater of Japan still have the programs of <Prince of Ling> and <The Song/Dance of Prince of Ling Entering the Battlefield>."

About Gao Huan 高歡, the following is the quote from wikipedia.org:

http://zh.wikipedia....org/wiki/高歡
"高歡是北齊高祖神武皇帝, 為鮮卑化的漢人."

"Gao Huan was the Gao Zu Shen Wu Emperor of the Northern Qi dynasty, and he was a Han Chinese who behaved like a XianBei. "

Gao Huan was also the father of the founding emperor or Northern Qi dynasty, Gao Yang 高洋. Gao Huan was the prime minister of Eastern Wei, and his status in court was like Cao Cao in the court of Han; i.e. he was the power behind the throne. His eldest son, Gao Cheng, inherited that position, but Gao Cheng was killed by a slave. Then, Gao Huan's 2nd son, Gao Yang (the brother with the same mother as Gao Cheng) inherited GAo Cheng's position and took over the throne of Eastern Wei and became the founding emperor of the Northern Qi dynasty.

Gao Cheng, Gao Ganggong's father, raped Gao Yang's wife when Gao Cheng was in power. After Gao Cheng was dead, Gao Yang raped Gao Cheng's wife Princess Feng2 Yi4 馮翊公主 (the sister to the last emperor in Eatern Wei dynasty) in revenge. I am not sure whether she was Gao Changgong's mother or not.

In http://baike.baidu.com/view/48253.htm, it mentioned Gao Cheng had 6 sons, and Gao Chenggong was his 4th son. The other 5 sons' mothers were all recorded in the proper historical records, except for Gao Chenggong --- "兰陵王长恭不得母氏姓” There was no last name for Prince Lan-Ling's mother. Baidu said that there was probably some hidden reasons. It was probably true. The Gao's families were known for rape and incest, so .......you never know.

However, in this horrible family, Gao Chenggong had pretty good personality. The emperor gave him 20 concubines, and he only accepted one. He accepted one concubine because he didn't want to offend the emperor. Otherwise, he didn't want any.

His famous battle was the rescue of city of Luo Yang 洛阳. He led 500 cavalries went through the surrounding Northern Zhou's army to the outside of Lo Yang. The soldiers in Luo Yang couldn't recognize him, so he took off his helmet (not the mask - mask was supposed to be the legend part) to show the soldiers his face. Then, the soldiers knew that was him, and dropped several hundred archers from the top of the city gate to help him. Soon, the army of Northern Zhou was defeated. In order to celebrate his victory, the warriors came up with the dance and song of the <Prince Lan-Ling Entering the Battle Field>, and they wore masks to dance.

The history recorded that he was tenderly handsome and had beautiful voice. When he was a general, he paid attentions to details. Whenever he got something good, he shared them with his soldiers. Basically, he was a wonderful general.

However, he was known to love money and took a lot of bribery. One of his assistant asked him whether his reason for taking the bribery was to avoid being suspected by the emperor. He said, "Yes." The assistant suggested that the better way was to retire and stay away from the politics. However, he was still very young at the time -- about 20ish. He didn't retire, but he did pretend he was sick and stayed home a lot.

The last emperor of Northern Qi heard the "Song of Prince Lan-Ling Entering the Battle Field", and he told Gao Chenggong not to get deep into the enemy formation in battle because it was too dangerous. Gao Chenggong said, "Because it was our family business, I let myself go." When the emperor heard that, he got nervous and sent over a cup of poisoned wine later to order Gao Chenggong to kill himself. Gao Chenggong was probably in his early 30's. It was 573 A.D. Four years after he was dead, Northern Qi was destroyed by the family of Yuwen. All Gao's family members were killed.

When I first found out Prince Lan-Ling 蘭陵王 was born into the worst family ever in the history of China, I was very surprised. From what I know about this family, almost all of them were monsters and beasts who could not even stay away from their own female relatives. After studied his life, I felt he was doubly good for he did not learn from his grandfather, father, and uncles. I felt sad that such a good man had to die so young and so meaninglessly. I wished he had die in battle instead of being killed by his emperor.

Edited by fireball, 03 November 2007 - 10:06 AM.

[Yun]

Good work, fireball!

Some points:

"Gao Huan was the Gao Zu Shen Wu Emperor of the Northern Qi dynasty, and he was a Han Chinese who behaved like a XianBei. "

This line from Chinese Wikipedia is standard in most history books, but is misleading for two reasons.
1) Gao Huan was only given the temple name Gaozu and the imperial title Emperor Shenwu after he died and after Gao Yang founded the Northern Qi dynasty. During his lifetime his highest rank was only Prince of Qi under the Eastern Wei emperor, although the emperor was really under his power.
2) The claim that Gao Huan was a 'Han' who adopted Xianbi customs comes from his biography in Beishi 《北史》, but a number of scholars have questioned its credibility. It is very possible that Gao Huan was himself born to Xianbi parents, but later falsely claimed to be descended from the prestigious Bohai Gao clan 渤海高氏 for political reasons.

Gao Cheng, Gao Ganggong's father, raped Gao Yang's wife when Gao Cheng was in power.

The records only state that Gao Yang's wife suffered some sexual harassment from Gao Cheng. However, she did eventually get raped by Gao Yang's younger brother Gao Zhan 高湛 after Gao Zhan became emperor.

Gao Changgong seems to be more famous among the Japanese than in China, because of his role in the Noh theatre, and perhaps also because the Japanese seem to traditionally have a liking for tragic heroes with pretty feminine looks. But probably the Noh performance of 蘭陵王 originally came from China (maybe in the Tang period) but has died out there.

[snowybeagle]

I had found the mask rationale rather tenuous.

Given he was a skilled fighter and commander, how his foes responded to his looks wouldn't have mattered.

If a scary mask was a useful tool when one is also trying to score a psychological point, wouldn't other generals have used them too in similar battles?

[fireball]

I had found the mask rationale rather tenuous.

Given he was a skilled fighter and commander, how his foes responded to his looks wouldn't have mattered.

If a scary mask was a useful tool when one is also trying to score a psychological point, wouldn't other generals have used them too in similar battles?

Some legend said that he used a mask because he was very young when he first went to battle field, and he didn't look like a credible general who could lead armies into battle. Whether that legend was true or not, I don't know. The others said that there was no mask, but a helmet that covered most of his face and the mask was just a story made up by story tellers.

Btw, the story about the famous Song dynasty general Di Qing also had a mask with the same reason; i.e. Di Qing was too pretty to scare his enemies, so he wore a mask. I wonder that was the left over Prince Lan-Ling legend influenced the story tellers of Di Qing's legend? I think Di Qing didn't wear a mask either in the reality, but someone else who read the actual history record would have to confirm that. I just read Di Qing stories for fun.

[esse]

It is very possible that Gao Huan was himself born to Xianbi parents, but later falsely claimed to be descended from the prestigious Bohai Gao clan 渤海高氏 for political reasons.

Political or for "social prestige"? I think it was both. It was a common practice to somehow, someway link your linage to some Han-era official or prominent clan after mounting the throne -- hence the clumsy attempt of Hou Jing to fabricate his genealogy, Gao Qi's link to Bohai Gao, Yang Sui's link to Hongnong Yang, Tang Li's link to Lungxi Li.

The common root of the ruling clans of Northern Zhou was Wuchuan garrison of Northern Wei. The common root of Gao Huan and Hou Jing was Huaishuo garrison.

These garrisons, amongst others, were on the edge of Wei's northern frontier, staffed mostly of Xianbeis. Hans who served in these garrisons were mostly either prisoners or exiles. These garrisons took antagonistic, even outright rebellious stand when the central government adopted Han culture, custom, surnames, e.t.c... and forced those on them. There was also an economic element that the people that had to endured harsh frontier life resent the leisure "soft" Han life style of those that held command over them from distant Luoyang.

It is a little difficult to imagine how these Hans (and very cultural Hans with impeccable linage to boost) could rise to leadership positions over these restless Xianbeis who despised the Hans. Not impossible, but very difficult.

Edited by esse, 05 April 2008 - 11:12 PM.

[Yun]

Political or for "social prestige"? I think it was both. It was a common practice to somehow, someway link your linage to some Han-era official or prominent clan after mounting the throne

I say political in this case, because according to the Beiqi Shu, Gao Huan was already addressing those senior members of the Bohai Gao clan who allied with him (i.e. Gao Qian and Gao Aocao) as 'uncle' at the beginning of his rebellion against Erzhu Rong. At this time he was still a long way from the throne and probably did not even contemplate the possibility that his sons would one day be emperors. So it's likely he fabricated his descent from the Bohai Gao clan to cement his alliance with that clan's militia.

These garrisons took antagonistic, even outright rebellious stand when the central government adopted Han culture, custom, surnames, e.t.c... and forced those on them.

This interpretation is often seen in 20th-century accounts of the Six Garrisons mutiny (I believe Chen Yinke was the first or one of the first to make it), but I disagree with it. Firstly, there is no evidence that the reforms initiated by Tuoba Hong in the 490s were ever implemented in the garrisons; some of them, such as the reform of clothing, were probably not even applied outside Luoyang. For example, the surnames of the majority of garrison troops we know of from the records remained unchanged, and they clearly continued to use the Xianbi language as their primary medium of spoken communication. Secondly, there is no sign from any of the mutinies that opposition to 'Han' culture was an issue. Erzhu Rong and Fei Mu, who were responsible for the massacre of the aristocracy and court officials at Heyin, were identified by Chen Yinke and others as 'anti-sinification' (fan hanhua) people, but again there is nothing in their biographies that suggests their decision to conduct the massacre was for anything but pragmatic political reasons.

There was also an economic element that the people that had to endured harsh frontier life resent the leisure "soft" Han life style of those that held command over them from distant Luoyang.

This makes more sense than the cultural explanation - indeed, in the 1980s, Tang Changru supported the economic disparity explanation (which was moreover more Marxist) against the cultural clash/reaction explanation still favoured by Wan Shengnan and some others. The garrison troops were increasingly poor and starving during the 510s, and also exposed to more Rouran raids after the Northern Wei court chose to restore the exiled Rouran kaghan to power rather than exploit divisions among the Rouran to destroy their kaghanate once and for all. It seems from the first mutiny against the garrison commander Yu Jing that the troops did resent the arrogance, incompetence, and fancy clothes of generals posted from Luoyang, especially since these generals were effective against the Rouran. It may also be true that aristocrats like Yu Jing could barely speak the Xianbi language anymore, from the statement in Sui Shu that the Luoyang court had to start Xianbi language classes (using textbooks with Xianbi words transliterated into 'Han' characters!) for young aristocrats.

There may also be an ethnic rebellion factor involved, but not of 'Xianbi' against 'Han'. Many of the mutiny leaders were actually of Chi'le (Tiele) or Xiongnu ethnicity, and these peoples had a history of being oppressed and mistreated by the Northern Wei state. The rebellions in the Guanzhong area were also led by Qiang and Di tribes, and again these tribes had revolted against Northern Wei rule on many earlier occasions.

[esse]

This interpretation is often seen in 20th-century accounts of the Six Garrisons mutiny (I believe Chen Yinke was the first or one of the first to make it), but I disagree with it. Firstly, there is no evidence that the reforms initiated by Tuoba Hong in the 490s were ever implemented in the garrisons; some of them, such as the reform of clothing, were probably not even applied outside Luoyang. For example, the surnames of the majority of garrison troops we know of fromthe records remained unchanged, and they clearly continued to use the Xianbi language as their primary medium of spoken communication.

I don't dispute that many retained their Xianbei name or Xianbei language continued to be used. Luoyang was not so omnipotent that they could thoroughly exact the reforms on the very armies whose might they depended on to carry out the reforms knowing forced changes bring resentment.

Secondly, there is no sign from any of the mutinies that opposition to 'Han' culture was an issue. Erzhu Rong and Fei Mu, who were responsible for the massacre of the aristocracy and court officials at Heyin, were identified by Chen Yinke and others as 'anti-sinification' (fan hanhua) people, but again there is nothing in their biographies that suggests their decision to conduct the massacre was for anything but pragmatic political reasons.

Indiscriminate butchering helpless surrendering host was arguably going way beyond pragmatic solution when Erzhu Rong's perceived enemies were Empress Hu and her cronies only. Such bloodthirstiness rooted from deeper hatred than just political motivation. Rong also had especial hatred for Empress Hu -- it wasn't unreasonable to link such hatred to anti-sinicizing because having an Empress wasn't a perceived traditional Xianbei idea.

This makes more sense than the cultural explanation - indeed, in the 1980s, Tang Changru supported the economic disparity explanation (which was moreover more Marxist) against the cultural clash/reaction explanation still favoured by Wan Shengnan and some others. The garrison troops were increasingly poor and starving during the 510s, and also exposed to more Rouran raids after the Northern Wei court chose to restore the exiled Rouran kaghan to power rather than exploit divisions among the Rouran to destroy their kaghanate once and for all. It seems from the first mutiny against the garrison commander Yu Jing that the troops did resent the arrogance, incompetence, and fancy clothes of generals posted from Luoyang, especially since these generals were effective against the Rouran. It may also be true that aristocrats like Yu Jing could barely speak the Xianbi language anymore, from the statement in Sui Shu that the Luoyang court had to start Xianbi language classes (using textbooks with Xianbi words transliterated into 'Han' characters!) for young aristocrats.

There may also be an ethnic rebellion factor involved, but not of 'Xianbi' against 'Han'. Many of the mutiny leaders were actually of Chi'le (Tiele) or Xiongnu ethnicity, and these peoples had a history of being oppressed and mistreated by the Northern Wei state. The rebellions in the Guanzhong area were also led by Qiang and Di tribes, and again these tribes had revolted against Northern Wei rule on many earlier occasions.

I wasn't saying it was only, or exclusively ethnic Xianbei against Han. Let me revise it to a less simplistic stand: The perceived attacks on Xianbei cultural identity was a factor of the rebellions.

[Yun]

Luoyang was not so omnipotent that they could thoroughly exact the reforms on the very armies whose might they depended on to carry out the reforms knowing forced changes bring resentment.

On the contrary, the imperial guards army stationed at Luoyang was to a large degree a new army raised by Tuoba Hong (Xiaowen), which is why the armies on the northern frontier got so marginalized compared to when they were the main defence force of the old capital at Pingcheng.

Such bloodthirstiness rooted from deeper hatred than just political motivation.

Not necessarily. Fei Mu said it quite clearly when he advised Erzhu Rong that because the Erzhu army was relatively small and had entered Luoyang without a fight, the Tuoba aristocracy and the court officials would not respect him unless he showed his might, and that unless they respected him they would turn against him the moment he left Luoyang to return to Shanxi. Another factor was probably the rivalry between the imperial guards generals in Luoyang (including Fei Mu) and the civil officials. In fact, Chen Shuang 陈爽 recently suggested that Fei Mu's warning to Erzhu Rong was essentially implying that if Erzhu did not help the imperial guards generals to get rid of their civil official rivals, the imperial guards would join forces with the court and turn against Erzhu the moment he returned to Shanxi (see 《中国社会科学院历史研究所学刊》2007 no. 4).

Rong also had especial hatred for Empress Hu -- it wasn't unreasonable to link such hatred to anti-sinicizing because having an Empress wasn't a perceived traditional Xianbei idea.

That is not convincing to me. Erzhu Rong had an interest in supporting Emperor Xiaoming against Empress-Dowager Hu because his daughter was a concubine of Emperor Xiaoming and thus stood a chance of becoming empress. Right after Erzhu Rong got rid of Empress-Dowager Hu and the infant she had chosen as Xiaoming's successor, he got his daughter remarried to Yuan Ziyou (Emperor Xiaozhuang) as the new empress. So much for the Xianbi aversion towards empresses! It is true that the early Tuoba aristocracy (i.e. 4th and early 5th centuries) did not like having powerful empresses or empress dowagers because this could endanger the interests of the aristocrats - this is likely the main reason why Tuoba Gui introduced the practice of executing the crown prince's mother. But by the 6th century this was probably not the case. See, for example, how powerful Empress-Dowager Lou was in the Northern Qi. There is no sign that the Xianbi had a problem with her.

By the way, Erzhu Rong was not even ethnically Xianbi. He is described as a Qihu, and was perhaps related to either the Jie or the Xiongnu.

The perceived attacks on Xianbei cultural identity was a factor of the rebellions.

But again, the problem here is that one will not find any textual evidence to support this. Cultural identity probably mattered much, much less than food and security did to the garrison troops, if it even mattered at all. And it is unlikely they were much aware of what changes to cultural identity were taking place in Luoyang. Information did not travel so easily in ancient times. Perhaps Gao Huan was an exception to the rule, since he seems to have worked as a postman for his garrison for a while, traveling regularly to Luoyang. You may point to the riot by the imperial guards that Gao Huan supposedly witnessed in Luoyang in 519. But there is no indication that the specific grievances of the imperial guards (i.e. being disallowed from being appointed to high civil posts) were shared by the ordinary soldiers in the garrisons, or that these grievances had anything to do with culture at all. Indeed, if the Xianbi culture that traditionally favoured military careers over civil ones was so important to the imperial guards, then why should they want to riot over not being able to rise from military posts into civil ones?

[esse]

On the contrary, the imperial guards army stationed at Luoyang was to a large degree a new army raised by Tuoba Hong (Xiaowen), which is why the armies on the northern frontier got so marginalized compared to when they were the main defence force of the old capital at Pingcheng.



Not necessarily. Fei Mu said it quite clearly when he advised Erzhu Rong that because the Erzhu army was relatively small and had entered Luoyang without a fight, the Tuoba aristocracy and the court officials would not respect him unless he showed his might, and that unless they respected him they would turn against him the moment he left Luoyang to return to Shanxi. Another factor was probably the rivalry between the imperial guards generals in Luoyang (including Fei Mu) and the civil officials. In fact, Chen Shuang 陈爽 recently suggested that Fei Mu's warning to Erzhu Rong was essentially implying that if Erzhu did not help the imperial guards generals to get rid of their civil official rivals, the imperial guards would join forces with the court and turn against Erzhu the moment he returned to Shanxi (see 《中国社会科学院历史研究所学刊》2007 no. 4).



That is not convincing to me. Erzhu Rong had an interest in supporting Emperor Xiaoming against Empress-Dowager Hu because his daughter was a concubine of Emperor Xiaoming and thus stood a chance of becoming empress. Right after Erzhu Rong got rid of Empress-Dowager Hu and the infant she had chosen as Xiaoming's successor, he got his daughter remarried to Yuan Ziyou (Emperor Xiaozhuang) as the new empress. So much for the Xianbi aversion towards empresses! It is true that the early Tuoba aristocracy (i.e. 4th and early 5th centuries) did not like having powerful empresses or empress dowagers because this could endanger the interests of the aristocrats - this is likely the main reason why Tuoba Gui introduced the practice of executing the crown prince's mother. But by the 6th century this was probably not the case. See, for example, how powerful Empress-Dowager Lou was in the Northern Qi. There is no sign that the Xianbi had a problem with her.

By the way, Erzhu Rong was not even ethnically Xianbi. He is described as a Qihu, and was perhaps related to either the Jie or the Xiongnu.



But again, the problem here is that one will not find any textual evidence to support this. Cultural identity probably mattered much, much less than food and security did to the garrison troops, if it even mattered at all. And it is unlikely they were much aware of what changes to cultural identity were taking place in Luoyang. Information did not travel so easily in ancient times. Perhaps Gao Huan was an exception to the rule, since he seems to have worked as a postman for his garrison for a while, traveling regularly to Luoyang. You may point to the riot by the imperial guards that Gao Huan supposedly witnessed in Luoyang in 519. But there is no indication that the specific grievances of the imperial guards (i.e. being disallowed from being appointed to high civil posts) were shared by the ordinary soldiers in the garrisons, or that these grievances had anything to do with culture at all. Indeed, if the Xianbi culture that traditionally favoured military careers over civil ones was so important to the imperial guards, then why should they want to riot over not being able to rise from military posts into civil ones?

You raised some good points. Some I don't agree. But I guess they belong to a different topic.

[LionDancer]

Some legend said that he used a mask because he was very young when he first went to battle field, and he didn't look like a credible general who could lead armies into battle. Whether that legend was true or not, I don't know. The others said that there was no mask, but a helmet that covered most of his face and the mask was just a story made up by story tellers.

Btw, the story about the famous Song dynasty general Di Qing also had a mask with the same reason; i.e. Di Qing was too pretty to scare his enemies, so he wore a mask. I wonder that was the left over Prince Lan-Ling legend influenced the story tellers of Di Qing's legend? I think Di Qing didn't wear a mask either in the reality, but someone else who read the actual history record would have to confirm that. I just read Di Qing stories for fun.

Are you familiar with the story or Di Qing Skillfully Capturing the Pearl Banner? Can you tell me the story? It is suppose to involve Princess Shuang Yang.