The Political Geography Of Jiannan West Jiedushi Within Tang Dynasty

Jian’nan West played an important role in both central and frontier affairs ofTang Dynasty, whose political situation was related to the stability and chaos of theempire. This article intends to study the Jian’nan West on the perspectives of politicalgeography. There are three topics will be discussed:A) The transformation of provincial administrative divisionsThough the three-level districts system (including Fangzhen, Zhou, Xian) in lateTang has been an agreement among historians, it is still necessary to study the realstatus of Dudufu and Zhou in early Tang and how Jian’nan West transformed fromDudufu to Fangzhen. The historical data shows that the status of Dudufu in Tang isconfused. Yizhou Dudufu, the predecessor of Jiannan West Fangzhen, which hadsupervised the military affairs of several Zhou in Gaozu and Taizong’s reign, wasdifferent from others. Although its authority had declined in subsequent periods, sincethe early period of Xuanzong’ reign, Yizhou Dudufu had been responsible for theprosecution of all Jian’nan, then it gradually acquired the military power, executivepower and financial power, at last becoming a new districts.B) The interactions between the central government and provincialgovernorsshipsThere are a great many of researches focused on the central-provincial relationsfrom8thto10thcentury. Jiannan West had the characters of most kinds of Fanzhen,which mainly undertook the frontier defense, tax revenue and internal security for the central government respectively. In the process of which the central-provincialrelations transformed, Jiannan West had experienced the typical patterns of Fangzhen,such as the rebellion, resistance, obedience and autonomy. This study indicates thatthe strategy, dividing the territory of Fangzhen, by which the central government triedto weaken Jiannan West, was not as valid as it had been expected, on the contrary, itlead to the conflicts between Jiannan West and other Fanzhen and even serious localcrisis. Since Xianzong reign, when the central government had reformed its strategyby appointed civil officials instead of military governors, the central authority inJiannan West had enhanced. However, the Huangchao Rebellion in Xizong reignundermined the balance between the central government and Fangzhen. With thedecline of central authority, Jiannan West became an independent kingdom.C) Frontier affairsJiannan West had played a critical role in the relationships among Tang, Tibetand Nanzhao. Tang’s success and failure in the frontier affairs of Jiannan West wereup to the Jiedushi, such as Wei Gao, Li Shiwang and Gaopian. The facts suggest thatthe frontier security was protected by flexible foreign policies and powerful armies inTang Dynasty.