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Essence of China
B5
April 3 - 9, 2014
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HISTORICAL FIGURES
Li Jing, a most distinguished Tang Dynasty general
JANE KU/EPOCH TIMES
BY DAVID WU
EPOCH TIMES STAFF
Li Jing (李靖) (571–649), one of
the most distinguished generals in the Tang Dynasty, was
instrumental in defeating the
eastern Turks and consolidating Tang Dynasty control in the
eastern regions.
Even as a child, Li Jing wanted
to serve a great emperor and
accomplish heroic feats. He
later followed Prince Li Shimin
(who eventually became
Emperor Tai Zong of Tang) and
fought numerous battles with
him against rebels before the
Tang Dynasty was established.
Securing Tang rule
to the east
When the eastern Turks became
a greater threat to the Tang
Dynasty, Li Jing was appointed
commander-in-chief with five
generals to lead 100,000 troops
to fight with this enemy.
On one occasion, when
informed the Turks were suffering amid a heavy snowstorm, Li Jing decided to launch
a surprise attack with 3000
mounted troops. The Turkic
khan was stupefied by the sudden appearance of Li Jing and
his army and fled in panic.
Before the Turk leader could
regroup, Li Jing managed to
recruit one of the Turk generals. This new alliance forced the
invading khan to retreat even
further to a more remote area.
While planning an invasion for
the following year, as a smokescreen, the khan sent envoys to
negotiate terms of surrender to
the Tang Dynasty.
Perceiving the Turk’s scheme,
Li Jing devised a way to play
the khan’s trick against him.
He advised the emperor to
accept the khan’s request for a
truce, but led his elite troops to
launch another surprise attack
on the Turks. The plan worked
perfectly and they defeated and
captured most of the Turkish
forces.
The khan fled, but was later
captured, and the Turkish
nobles all surrendered. For his
great achievement in reducing
the eastern Turks to a vassal
state, Li Jing was made a duke
and given many riches.
In addition to his military
achievements, Li Jing is also
remembered for keeping a low
profi le in the court. Very rarely
did he plead for himself, even
when he was falsely accused; he
simply carried out his duty in
silence. Emperor Tai Zong came
to appreciate Li Jing’s manner
and gave him great trust and
authority.
Li Jing was not only an
extraordinary military general and a careful official, but
also a great strategist who contributed essays about military
strategies and philosophies to
the greater body of Chinese
martial works.
A protective deity
Tang General Li Jing’s reputation for protecting China and
its interests also made him the
inspiration of Chinese myths
and legends.
Because of his renowned
achievements, Chinese people
eventually saw him as a god-like
figure in charge of protecting
China. He is believed to be the
archetype of a few mythical
figures in traditional Chinese
culture.
During the Tang Dynasty,
Buddhism was very popular. At that time, the Buddhist
worship of the Four Heavenly
Kings, who were the fighters
of evil and the deified guardians of Buddhist law, was widely
spread in China. Each heavenly
king is in charge of one cardinal
direction and leads his supernatural legions to fight threatening demons.
People believed that these
Four Heavenly Kings were also
helping China defeat its enemies, so they built shrines for
them all over the country. One
of the Four Heavenly Kings,
who is in charge of the northern cardinal direction of the
world, appears to be based on
Li Jing and shares the same
name. The deity is better known
in Chinese culture as “Li Jing,
the heavenly king holding a
pagoda”.
During the Ming Dynasty
hundreds of years later, when
the masterpiece Chinese
mythic novel Journey to the
West was written, one of the
deities in the novel was called
Li Jing. In this story, Li Jing, usually pictured with a pagoda in
his hand, is a heavenly king
who serves the heavenly Jade
Emperor and leads an army
of god-warriors to protect the
Heavens.
In another famous mythical
novel, Investiture of the Gods,
which was also written during
the Ming Dynasty, there is mention of a deity named Li Jing
who was fi rst a Shang Dynasty
general and then a god-warrior
who had three sons that fought
with him against evil.
Although the Li Jing in
Li Jing, one of the most distinguished generals in the Tang Dynasty, was renowned for his military skill and strategy and became the
archetype for an ultimate protector of China.
this novel is related to the
Shang Dynasty, which was
about 2000BC, and what he
usually holds in his hand is an
umbrella instead of a pagoda,
it is believed that the Tang
Dynasty general Li Jing was
the archetype of this mythical
figure as well.
In Chinese literature, the
deified figures based on Li Jing
reflect the profound respect of
the Chinese people for him as
the embodiment of a righteous
heavenly force that protects the
divine land, China.
CHINESE IDIOMS
Extreme joy begets sorrow (樂極生悲)
BY DUOYU ZHONG
EPOCH TIMES STAFF
The Chinese expression “樂極
生悲” (lè jí shēng bēi) literally
means “extreme joy begets sorrow”. It first appeared in the Huaji
biographies of the Shǐjì (史記), or
Records of the Grand Historian, by
Sima Qian (around 135–86BC)[1].
During the Warring States
period (475–221BC), there was a
short period of peace among the
states.
The king of the state of Qi began
to indulge in wine and entertainment night after night. The next
day, he was often too drunk to
take care of state affairs.
All the ministers were quite
worried, but could do very little
to convince the king to rid himself of the attachment to wine.
The other states saw this as
an opportunity to annex the Qi
state. In 349BC, the state of Chu
was the first to attack Qi. The
king of Qi was quite shocked
and immediately sent the diplomat Chunyu Kun to ask for help
from the king of Zhao, a neighbouring state.
ZHICHING CHEN/EPOCH TIMES
Chunyu was an outstanding
politician and diplomat. Although
he was short and unhandsome,
he was highly respected for his
talent and knowledge of the Dao.
He set off for Zhao with many
valuable gifts.
The Zhao king received Chunyu
warmly and treated him as
an honoured guest. Chunyu
discussed the situation of the
states and shared his view on
the advantages of a Zhao alliance
with Qi. He persuaded the king of
Zhao to send 100,000 soldiers to
help the state of Qi.
The news spread very quickly.
Hearing that the Qi would receive
the military support of 100,000
men from Zhao, the king of Chu
ordered his army to withdraw.
Now, the king of Qi was relieved
and very pleased with Chunyu’s
success. In order to show his
appreciation to Chunyu, the king
held a banquet in the palace in his
honour. Ministers and other highranking officials were invited.
During the banquet, the king
asked Chunyu: “How much wine
can you drink before you’re
drunk?”
Chunyu replied: “It depends. I
could become drunk after drinking just 1 litre and I could also get
drunk after drinking 10 litres.”
The king was very puzzled
by this answer and exclaimed:
“Strange! If you can get drunk
after only 1 litre, how can you finish another 9?”
Chunyu then answered: “If I
Chunyu Kun advised the
King of Qi: ‘When you
drink you get so drunk
that you lose your senses.
Once joy reaches its height,
then it is sorrow’s turn.
Extreme joy gives rise to
sorrow. This is a universal
rule.’
drink with your majesty with the
ministers around and the guards
watching, I would be very afraid
that I would be drunk and embarrass myself after only 1 litre of
wine. If I drink with villagers in
a harvest celebration, I would feel
happy and care-free and would
be able to drink 8 litres of wine
before getting drunk.
If your majesty asked me to
enjoy wine alone with you, I
would feel very honoured and,
to show my fortitude, would
not get drunk until after drinking 10 litres of wine. We should,
therefore, listen to our ancestors’ good advice and not overdo,
since too much of anything loses
its value.”
“When you drink you get so
drunk that you lose your senses.
Once joy reaches its height, then
it is sorrow’s turn. Extreme joy
gives rise to sorrow. This is a universal rule.”
Hearing Chunyu’s answer, the
ministers nodded their heads and
the king realised he was receiving
sincere advice. Understanding his
folly, the king had nothing more
to say.
From that moment on, the king
stopped drinking and took better
care of state affairs.
Note:
1. The Records of the Grand
Historian covers more than 2000
years of Chinese history, from
the Yellow Emperor (2600BC)
to the reign of Emperor Wu of
Han (87BC) and was written by
the great Chinese historian Sima
Qian. He is considered the father
of Chinese historiography for his
work.