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Abolition in the Midst of Turmoil: The Case of the Tang Emperor Wu Zong (814–846 CE)

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Book cover Bondage and the Environment in the Indian Ocean World

Part of the book series: Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies ((IOWS))

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Abstract

This chapter examines the issue of bondage in China in the ninth century, notably the decision in August 845 by Wu Zong (814–846), who in 840 CE had ascended the imperial throne as the 18th scion of the Tang dynasty (618–907), to grant liberty to 150,000 slaves held by Buddhist monks. Prima facie, this looks like a truly extraordinary act of emancipation. My argument is that it was an extraordinary gift of freedom, but one fraught with ambiguity. This paper examines, first, the environmental, socio-political, and economic context of Wu Zong’s reign, second, the history and significance of slavery, third, the history and import of Buddhism and its growing utilization of slavery, and finally, the reasons for, and impact of, Wu Zong’s attack upon Buddhism.

At the outset I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to Ms. Frances Ren. Ms. Ren was born and raised in Mainland China. She is a graduate of Tyndale Seminary where I was able to retain her as a Research Assistant through a SSHRCC grant. She holds masters degrees in several disciplines, but what made her essential to this project is her knowledge of Classical Chinese, modern Chinese languages, and Chinese history. There were some Chinese documents which I wanted her to see, but in addition to them, she located many others which turned out to be vital primary materials. The importance of her work will become obvious as the paper unfolds.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ka-wai Fan, “Climatic Change and Dynastic Cycles in Chinese History: A Review Essay,” Climate Change 101 (2010): 565–73; Xunming Wang et al., “Climate Desertification , and the Rise and Collapse of China’s Historical Dynasties,” Human Ecology 38 (2010): 157–72; Zhibin Zhang et al., “Periodic Climate Cooling Enhanced Natural Disasters and Wars in China during AD 10–1900,” Proceedings of the Royal Society B 277 (2010): 3745–53; Ge QuanSheng et al., “General Characteristics of Climate Changes during the Past 2000 Years in China ,” Science China Earth Sciences 56 (2013): 321–29.

  2. 2.

    Xunming, “Climate Desertification,” 159; Zhibin, “Periodic Climate Cooling Enhanced Natural Disasters and Wars,” 3745; Ge et al., “General Characteristics of Climate Changes,” 328.

  3. 3.

    Xunming, “Climate Desertification,” 157; Zhibin, “Periodic Climate Cooling Enhanced Natural Disasters and Wars,” 3748.

  4. 4.

    Xunming, “Climate Desertification,” 170.

  5. 5.

    Ge , “General Characteristics of Climate Changes,” 322.

  6. 6.

    Xunming, “Climate Desertification,” 164.

  7. 7.

    See Zhibin , “Periodic Climate Cooling Enhanced Natural Disasters and Wars,” 3747; Jianxin Cui and Hong Chang, “The Possible Climate Impact on the Collapse of an Ancient Urban City in Mu Us Desert, China,” Regional Environmental Change 13 (2013): 358.

  8. 8.

    V. Hansen, “New Work on the Sogdians, the Most Important Traders on the Silk Road, A.D. 500–1000,” T’oung Pao, Second Series 89, no. 1 (2003): 149.

  9. 9.

    Hansen, “New Work on the Sogdians,” 154.

  10. 10.

    M. R. Drompp, “Imperial State Formation in Inner Asia: The Early Tuikic Empires (6th to 9th Centuries),” Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hung 58, no. 1 (2005): 105. Like the Sogdians , they would eventually play an important role in China . In the transition from the Sui dynasty to the Tang in 617/618, they supported first one side and then the other.

  11. 11.

    C. Mackerras, “Uygur-Tang Relations, 744–840,” Central Asian Survey 19 (2000): 223.

  12. 12.

    Mackerras, “Uygur-Tang Relations, 744–840,” 224.

  13. 13.

    H. S. Levy, “Review: The Background of the Rebellion of An Lu-shan by Edwin G. Pulleyblank,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 75, no. 3 (July–September 1955): 188–92; Edwin Pulleyblank, The Background of the Rebellion of An Lu-shan, vol. 4, London Oriental Series (London: Oxford University Press, 1955). Levy agrees with the view of Pulleyblank.

  14. 14.

    Levy, “Review,” 190.

  15. 15.

    Mackerras, “Uygur-Tang Relations, 744–840,” 224.

  16. 16.

    Mackerras, “Uygur-Tang Relations, 744–840,” 224.

  17. 17.

    See Jacques Gernet’s comments in his review of Denis C. Twitchett’s Financial Administration under the T’ang Dynasty (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1963) in Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 7 (1964): 325; Drompp, 106.

  18. 18.

    N. Ferguson, “The Next War of the World,” Foreign Affairs 85, no. 5 (2006): 61.

  19. 19.

    Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence has Declined (London: Penguin, 2011), 195, 707, footnote 13; J. D. Durand, “The Population Statistics of China, A.D. 1953,” Population Studies 13, no. 3 (1960): 224. Writing in 1960, John Durand dismissed that figure as incredible, and many continue to agree with him. He said, “Even if such a huge loss were conceivable, it would be naive to suppose that an accurate account of survivors could have been carried out in the midst of the ensuing chaos.” In fact, Durand doubts that any census taken from ca. 760 to the end of the Tang reign in 907 could be viewed as having achieved complete coverage. He was questioning the ability to arrive at an accurate count rather than denying massive loss of life.

  20. 20.

    Mackerras, “Uygur-Tang Relations, 744–840,” 226.

  21. 21.

    Hansen, “New Work on the Sogdians,” 156.

  22. 22.

    Mackerras, “Uygur-Tang Relations, 744–840,” 226.

  23. 23.

    Mark Lewis, China between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties, History of Imperial China, ed. Timothy Brook, vol. 2 (Cambridge, MA, and London: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009), 204–08; Jacques Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society: An Economic History from the Fifth to the Tenth Centuries, trans. Franciscus Verellen (New York: Columbia University Press, 1995), 279; Jiu Tang Shu, [Old Book of Tang], vol. 18, ed. Liu Xu et al. (Shanghai: Zhonghua Book Company, 1963), 605.

  24. 24.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society; Jiu Tang Shu, [Old Book of Tang], vol. 18, p. 606; see also Tang Hui Yao [Institutional History of Tang] , ed. Wang Pu (Taipei: World Book, 1963), vol. 84, p. 1553.

  25. 25.

    Lewis, China between Empires, 211.

  26. 26.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 233–47.

  27. 27.

    R. H. Sharf, Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism: A Reading of the Treasure Store Treatise, vol. 14, Studies in East Asian Buddhism (Honolulu: Kuroda Institute, University of Hawai‘i Press, 2002), 14.

  28. 28.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 253.

  29. 29.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 254.

  30. 30.

    C. Benn, Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty (Westport, Conn: Greenwood, 2002), 28.

  31. 31.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 219.

  32. 32.

    Sharf, Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism, 14, 288, footnote 18. Sharf also cites eight studies among many others that give support to his claim.

  33. 33.

    Lewis, China between Empires, 207.

  34. 34.

    Zhipan, “Fozu Tongji” [“A Chronicle of Buddhas and the Patriarchs”], Dazheng Xinxiu Dazang Jing (Taisho Tripitaka) vol. 49, no. 2035 (Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association), http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/T49/2035_004.htm. Monks’ property was classified as “light” and “heavy,” with the heavy being possessions being of greater value. See He Ziquan , “Fojiao Jinglv Guanyu Sengni Siyou Caichan De Guiding” [“Stipulations Regarding Private Properties of Monks and Nuns in Buddhist Scriptures”] (1982), 158–81, in Wushi Nian Lai Han Tang Fojiao Siyuan Jingji Yanjiu [Studies for the Past Fifty Years on Buddhist Monastery Economy in Han and Tang Dynasties], ed. He Ziquan (Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 1986), 167–70.

  35. 35.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 92.

  36. 36.

    S. A. M. Adshead, T’ang China: The Rise of the East in World History (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), 85.

  37. 37.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 93.

  38. 38.

    He Ziquan , “Zhonggu Shidai Zhi Zhongguo Fojiao Siyuan” [“Buddhist Monasteries in Medieval China”] (1934), 1–54, in Wushi Nian Lai Han Tang Fojiao Siyuan Jingii Yanjiu [Studies for the Past Fifty Years on Buddhist Monastery Economy in Han and Tang Dynasties], ed. He Ziquan (Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 1986), 43.

  39. 39.

    Lewis, China between Empires, 214.

  40. 40.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 95.

  41. 41.

    Benn, Daily Life in Traditional China, 31–32; Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 171–77.

  42. 42.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 153.

  43. 43.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 228.

  44. 44.

    E. G. Pulleyblank, “The Origins and Nature of Chattel Slavery in China,” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 1 (1958): 193.

  45. 45.

    Pulleyblank, “The Origins and Nature of Chattel Slavery in China,” 186.

  46. 46.

    Tang Hui Yao, vol. 86, ed. Wang Pu, p. 1569.

  47. 47.

    Pulleyblank, “The Origins and Nature of Chattel Slavery in China,” 204.

  48. 48.

    Pulleyblank, “The Origins and Nature of Chattel Slavery in China,” 204.

  49. 49.

    Yang Jiping, “Tangdai de Nubi, Buqu Yu Tongpu, Jiaren, Jingren” [“Slaves, Private Retainers, and Servants, Family Persons, Pure Persons”], Zhongguo Shi Yanjiu [Chinese History Studies] 3 (1996): 53–54.

  50. 50.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 126.

  51. 51.

    Pulleyblank, “The Origins and Nature of Chattel Slavery in China,” 212.

  52. 52.

    Pulleyblank, “The Origins and Nature of Chattel Slavery in China,” 219.

  53. 53.

    Yang Jiping, “Tangdai de Nubi, Buqu Yu Tongpu, Jiaren, Jingren,” 53–54.

  54. 54.

    Pulleyblank, “The Origins and Nature of Chattel Slavery in China,” 214.

  55. 55.

    Benn, Daily Life in Traditional China, 40.

  56. 56.

    Pulleyblank, “The Origins and Nature of Chattel Slavery in China ,” 214–15.

  57. 57.

    He Ziquan, “Zhonggu Dazu Siyuan Linghu Yanjiu” [“Studies on the ‘Owned Household Persons’ of the Nobles and Monasteries in Medieval Times”], (1936), 66–99, in Wushi Nian Lai Han Tang Fojiao Siyuan Jingii Yanjiu [Studies for the Past Fifty Years on Buddhist Monastery Economy in Han and Tang Dynasties] (Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press, 1986), 79–80; Yang Jiping, “Tangdai de Nubi, Buqu Yu Tongpu, Jiaren, Jingren,” 3, 57.

  58. 58.

    Kumarajiva, “Foyi Jiaojing Lunshu Jieyao” [“Extracted Commentary of Sutra on the Buddha’s Bequeathed Teaching”], Dazheng Xinxiu Dazang Jing [Taisho Tripitaka] 40, no. 1820, Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association, http://www.cbeta.org/result/normal/T40/1820_001.htm.

  59. 59.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 70. See Daocheng, “Shishi Yaolan” [“Manual of Buddhist Practices”], Dazheng Xinxiu Dazang Jing [Taisho Tripitaka] 54, no. 2127, Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association, http://www.cbeta.org/result/normT54/2127.003.htm

  60. 60.

    He Ziquan, “Fojiao Jinglv Guanyu Sengni Siyou Caichan De Guiding,” 162.

  61. 61.

    He Ziquan, “Fojiao Jinglv Guanyu Sengni Siyou Caichan De Guiding,” 165.

  62. 62.

    Jiang Boquin, “Tang Xizhou Si Jiaren Nubi De Fangliang” [“Release of the Family Persons and Slaves in Xizhou Temple of Tang”], (1982), 202–19, in Wushi Nian Lai Han Tang Fojiao Siyuan Jingji Yanjiu [Studies for the Past Fifty Years on Buddhist Monastery Economy in Han and Tang Dynasties], ed. He Ziquan (Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press 1986), 211.

  63. 63.

    For hired workers see Yang Jiping, “Tangdai de Nubi, Buqu Yu Tongpu, Jiaren, Jingren,” 57.

  64. 64.

    He Ziquan, “Zhonggu Dazu Siyuan Linghu Yanjiu,” 66, 87.

  65. 65.

    Jiu Tang Shu, [Old Book of Tang], Old Book of Tang, vol. 18, p. 606; see also Ennin, Ru Tang Qiu Fa Xunli Xingji Jiaozhu [Ennin’s Diary: The Record of a Pilgrimage to China in Search of the Law], annotated by Ono Katsutoshi (Shijiazhuang: Huashan Literature and Art Publishing House, 1992), 440.

  66. 66.

    See, Jiu Tang Shu,[Old Book of Tang] vol. 18, pp. 585–87, 600; Tang Hui Yao, ed. Wang Pu, vol. 30, p. 563; Ennin, Ru Tang Qiu Fa Xunli Xingji Jiaozhu, 451. Ironically, Wu Zong is thought to have died of alchemical poisoning from a potion that may have come from Zhao Guizhen’s cooking pots. See Jiu Tang Shu, Old Book of Tang, vol. 18, p. 610; T. H. Barrett, Taoism under the Tang: Religion and Empire during the Golden Age of Chinese History (London: Wellsweep, 1996), 87.

  67. 67.

    He Ziquan, “Zhonggu Shidai Zhi Zhongguo Fojiao Siyuan,” 46. See also Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 15, 17; Wolfram Eberhard, review of Les aspects économiques du bouddhisme dan la société chinoise du Ve au Xe siècle by Jacques Gernet, Pacific Affairs 30 (1957): 272.

  68. 68.

    He Ziquan, “Zhonggu Shidai Zhi Zhongguo Fojiao Siyuan,” 44.

  69. 69.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 14.

  70. 70.

    Zhang Gong, “Tangdai Siyuan Nubi Jieung Lueshuo” [“Brief Survey of the Monastic Slave Class in the Tang Dynasty”], Shehui Kexue Zhanxian [Social Science Front] 3 (1986): 182.

  71. 71.

    Ennin, Ru Tang Qiu Fa Xunli Xingji Jiaozhu, 416. The Uygurs became Manicheans in 763.

  72. 72.

    Zhang, “Tangdai Siyuan Nubi Jieung Lueshuo,” 182.

  73. 73.

    Ennin , Ru Tang Qiu Fa Xunli Xingji Jiaozhu, 409; Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 375, footnote 11.

  74. 74.

    Ennin , Ru Tang Qiu Fa Xunli Xingji Jiaozhu, 458–59.

  75. 75.

    Jiu Tang Shu, Old Book of Tang, vol. 18, p. 606; Pu, Tang Hui Yao, ed. Wang Pu, vol. 84, p. 1553; Zhang, “Tangdai Siyuan Nubi Jieung Lueshuo,” 182; Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 139.

  76. 76.

    Jiu Tang Shu, Old Book of Tang, vol. 18, p. 604. See also Zhang, “Tangdai Siyuan Nubi Jieung Lueshuo,” 182.

  77. 77.

    Jiu Tang Shu, Old Book of Tang, vol. 18, p. 604.

  78. 78.

    Jiu Tang Shu, Old Book of Tang, vol. 18, p. 605.

  79. 79.

    Jiu Tang Shu, Old Book of Tang, vol. 18, p. 605.

  80. 80.

    Jiu Tang Shu, Old Book of Tang, vol. 18, p. 606; see also Pu, Tang Hui Yao, vol. 84, p. 1553.

  81. 81.

    Or “letting things take their own course.”

  82. 82.

    Jiu Tang Shu, Old Book of Tang, vol. 18, p. 606.

  83. 83.

    Ennin , Ru Tang Qiu Fa Xunli Xingji Jiaozhu, 476.

  84. 84.

    Ennin , Ru Tang Qiu Fa Xunli Xingji Jiaozhu, 458. See also Jiang Boquin, “Tang Xizhou Si Jiaren Nubi De Fangliang,” 210.

  85. 85.

    Li Fang, ed., Wen Yuan Ying Hua [Finest Blossoms in the Garden of Literature], vol. 429 (Beijing: Zhongguo Book Company, 1982), 2174.

  86. 86.

    Sima Guang, Zi Zhi Tong Jian [Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government], vol. 248 (Kowloon: Chung Hwa Book Co., 1976), 8015–16; Benn, Daily Life in Traditional China, 16.

  87. 87.

    Fang, Wen Yuan Ying Hua, vol. 429, p. 2174.

  88. 88.

    Du Mu , “Hangzhou Xinzao Nantingzi Ji” [“Record of Newly Built South Pavilion in Hangzhou”], in Quan Tang Wen Xin Bian [Complete Works of Tang New Edition], vol. 753, ed. Zhou Shaoliang (Changchun: Jilin Science Literature Press, 2000), 8861–62.

  89. 89.

    Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society, 139.

  90. 90.

    Zhang, “Tangdai Siyuan Nubi Jieung Lueshuo,” 182.

  91. 91.

    Ennin , Ru Tang Qiu Fa Xunli Xingji Jiaozhu, 501.

  92. 92.

    Jiu Tang Shu, [Old Book of Tang], vol. 18, p. 141.

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  1. Tyndale University College and Seminary, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Ronald Kydd

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  1. Indian Ocean World Centre, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Gwyn Campbell

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Kydd, R. (2018). Abolition in the Midst of Turmoil: The Case of the Tang Emperor Wu Zong (814–846 CE). In: Campbell, G. (eds) Bondage and the Environment in the Indian Ocean World. Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70028-1_2

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