Research On The Nationalization Progress Of The Lingnan In The Tang Dynasty

The nationalization(???)of Lingnan in Tang Dynasty embodied the central government's political control and integration over this regional area.This process actually improved the territorial benefits(????)for Lingnan with the development of three conflicts,central vs local,Huaxia(??)vs minority ethnics(??)and Tang government vs neighboring countries.Territorial benefit is the ability that a regime gains resources from a territory.Territorial benefit differs from region to region within in country and regions having higher benefits are core regions,or otherwise become marginal regions.Lingnan(??)had been one of the major marginal regions within the country for a very long period in ancient China,during which,Tang Dynasty was a critical phase for Lingnan to be nationalized.Lingnan's nationalization in Tang Dynasty happened for its specific historic backgrounds,including geography,traffic conditions,boundaries,ethnic structure(????)and the influence left by the nationalization policies from previous dynasties.During Han and Tang Dynasties,there were three main ethnic groups in Lingnan.They were the northern ethnic(??)from northern areas outside Lingnan,the local ethnic(??)who migrated into Lingnan and took permanent residency there and the indigenous minority ethnic.In Han Dynasty,it was a dual political structure governed by both norther ethnic and indigenous minority ethnics while the northern ethnic enjoyed the highest political status.Later the local ethnic rose up starting from the end of Han Dynasty to Song and Qi Dynasties.When it cames into from Liang Dynasty to Sui Dynasty,a powerful minority ethnic,Minority leaders of Liliao(????),took onto the historical stage in Lingnan.Generally speaking,various measures were taken by the central government to cope with those changes in Lingnan in the long history from Han Dynasty to Sui Dynasty.Of all the factors,the most significant impact was left by ethnic structure changes and nationalization policies from previous dynasties.There were two major conflicts faced by the central government of Tang Dynasty at the beginning of its establishment.First was the conflict between central and local government.That is how to guarantee a satisfactory administrative efficiency without having the threat of local separatism.Another conflict was the relationship between Huaxia and minority ethnics.Specifically,it's the relationship with the Minority leaders of Liliao.To resolve the fore-mentioned two conflicts,the central government in Tang Dynasty took a series of nationalization measures.First of all,in terms of local administration system(??????),Tang Dynasty created a four-level administration system,consisting of Shi(?),Fu(?),Prefecture(?),County(?).There was Caifangchuzhishi(?????)in early Tang Dynasty and Lingnan Jiedushi(???)in late Tang Dynasty,having indirect jurisdiction over the whole Lingnandao(???)area.As for Fu,during its early period,Tang Dynasty set up four Dudufu(???)and one Duhufu(???),which later grew into the five Fanzhen(??)in late Tang Dynasty.They had direct jurisdiction over the prefectures and counties under their jurisdiction.To prevent local division,the central government in Tang Dynasty set checks and balances between Shi and Fu,also among the five Fu.The number of prefectures and counties were largely increased in Tang Dynasty as its statutory districts and leaders of Minorities were appointed as officials to integrate them as a part of the overall nationalization progress.Secondly,two official appointment(??)methods,both direct and indirect appointment,were applied in Lingnan area.The direct former included Chishou(??),Beixuan(??)and relegate(??)and the indirecter included appointment by Dudu,and Nanxuan(??)and a method popular in late Tang Dynasty,Shisichaishe(????).Appointment by Dudu was replaced with Nanxuan with a purpose to take back official appointment power from local to central government.However,in late Tang Dynasty,Shisichaishe replaced Nanxuan because the central government had the need to expand the source of local officials in Lingnan to curb the control of minority ethnic leaders over local official posts.Thirdly,Tang government took military measures to address the threat from minority ethnics from inside and Nan-chao from outside.There is one especially noticeable point that a fierce war was fought between Tang Dynasty and Nan-chao(??)in Lingnan after the eighth year of Dazhong(????,854),during which period the conflict with neighboring countries escalated into the major conflict in Lingnan's nationalization for the first time.There was a complete military system in Lingnan during Tang Dynasty.The system was divided into three parts.The first part is a senior command system,overlapping with the two highest administrative levels,Shi and Fu.Second part is the standing army.And the last part is wartime mobilization mechanism.Implementation of all the above-mentioned measures greatly improved the Lingnan's territorial benefits and throughout the Tang Dynasty the benefits were not all the same.At the beginning of Tang Dynasty,registered population across the country was greatly reduced by the war in the late Sui Dynasty but Lingnan had a quite high survival rate in the war,which made it possible for the central government to conscript the registered people in Lingnan into armies on a large scale during the battle to Conquer Goryeo(????).In early Tang Dynasty,registered population in Lingnan didn't have an obvious growth as it did in other parts of the country.And in Tianbao(??,742—755)era,Tang government also sent armies from Lingnan to support its expedition to Yunnan(??),though majority of the soldiers from Lingnan were recruited rather than conscripted.Lingnan's registered population had a large decrease in late Tang Dynasty and therefore no record was found on expedition of armies in this period.However,Lingnan was paying a constant and stable tribute to the central government in copper coins,rice as well as large amount of gold and silver and offered the late Tang government benefits of its tea and salt industries,all of which signified Lingnan's importance in financial area.Same as Lingnan,Fujian(??),Yunnan and Qianzhong(??)were also marginal regions in the sountern part of Tang Dynasty.In addition to geography and transportation conditions,other factors affecting nationalization progress of the four regions also varied.For Lingnan,the main factors were ethnic structure change and nationalization policies from previous dynasties.What propelled Fujian's nationalization was its immigrants.And Yunnan was deeply influenced by its outer regions while Qianzhong was primarily limited by its location.The four regions had gone through different paths in nationalization and produced territorial benefits of each regions own feature.Under the background of large number of immigrants coming in during late Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties,Fujian's territorial benefits experienced a rapid increase.And Yunnan's nationalization was in constant cut off as a result of outer regions'strong impact for a long time.As for Qianzhong,its nationalization was continuously in a sluggish status in Tang Dynasty because its location advantage was not discovered for the time being.Comparatively speaking,Lingnan's nationalization was progressed in a relatively smooth and stable way.