Tang Dynasty, Yi Ding Town Study

The Yiding prefecture was located in Hebei district which is the key area for prefecture research of Tang Dynasty. And lots of achievements have been made, mainly the professional research on the Youzhou, Chengde, and Weibo prefecture. Also we can have a clear understanding on these three prefecture' inner affairs and external relations. The Yiding prefecture which is the important stronghold to contain the three prefectures of Hebei situated in the hinterland of the Hebei district. The gain and loss of theYiding prefecture have a strategic role on Tang'controlling to the Hebei district. Also due to its special geographical location, though small territory under its jurisdiction, still it has a very important research value. As the historical records about the Yiding prefecture are fragmented, and especially regarding the later period of the Yiding, many are just records by jiedushi, not special biography, it is very difficult to gather information. My essay refers to the "old tang" and some other ancient literatures and also learns from the existing research achievements to elaborate my own opinions. It can be divided into five parts.The first part focuses on the special location of the Yiding prefecture, and its important role under the prefecture situation of the Tang Dynasty. It also simply discourses the significance of the main content of my essay. The content generally includes the overview of the Yiding prefecture, the relationship between the Yiding prefecture and the Tang government, the characteristic of jiedushi'continuous existence and Wang Chucun'allegiance to the Tang. At the end of this part, some academic achievements on the prefecture research and some related academic papers also were present.The second part generally states the historical origin and followed system of the Yiding prefecture. The rebellion of An Lushan and Shi Siming has a significant impact on the Yiding and Dingzhou:the drastic reduction of population and the great change of custom. The latter one made the foundation for the long existence of the Yiding prefecture. At last, my essay reveals the Yiding prefecture'dependence on the Tang government by the change of his management area.The third part demonstrates the relationship between the Yiding prefecture and the Tang government from four respects, among which, the first section expounds the three features of the relationship between the Yiding prefecture and the Tang government: firstly, when the three prefectures of Hesu armed rebellions, the Yiding prefecture supported the Tang government; secondly, the Yiding prefecture helped the Tang government to fight positively against the rebellion; thirdly, the Yiding prefecture complied with most of the edicts from Tang government. Even though some interest of its own had been damaged, these decrees can also be implemented. The second section indicates the Yiding prefecture itself had a very strong military force. The third one describes that the Yiding prefecture need the Tang's help in economy and just the economic assistance that deepened the prefecture's political dependence on the Tang government. The fourth introduces the tribute from the Yiding prefecture to the Tang government.The fourth part proved the external pressure's decisive role on the continuous existence of jiedushi by the different characteristics of jiedushi'continuous existence in the three periods. Soldiers was the foundation of the prefectures, just because of the basic role of the soldiers, so the external pressure can play a decisive role on the jiedushi'continuous existence. By analyzing the difference of the external pressure in the three periods and the followed change of characteristics for jiedushi' continuous existence, we can illustrate that the Tang government, Youzhou prefecture, Chengde prefecture and inner factor of Yiding prefecture all can not separately determine the continuous existence of jiedushi, but the combination of the three forces and even the external pressure play a more extraordinary role. Besides, the impact of the Hesu tradition and revolt of the arrogant soldiers also is simply discussed in this part.The fifth part studies Wang Chucun' allegiance to the royal Tang. It seemed that Wang Chucun was very loyal to the Tang Government, when he revolted against the King Qin in the Huangchao uprising; when he took the lead, actively fought in the battle of recovering Changan. But after the Huangchao uprising, the relationship between Wang Chucun and Li Keyong was very close. Wang relied on the strength of Li against Youzhou and Chengde prefecture, and also never earnestly implemented the edicts of Tang, even openly defiance, just followed the lead of Li. Lastly, by the discussion of the above two sections, the reason for Wang's allegiance to the royal Tang can be concluded.Due to my limitation of the academic knowledge and my lack of the related information, though there are some similarities between Yiding, Henghai and Zelu prefecture, they don't been discussed in my essay, and still need further study.