The Rise Of Emerging Literati Class And The Changes Of Hebei Locial Society In Tang Dynasty And Five Dynasties

In Five Dynasties and early Song Dynasty,civil and military officials who came from Hebei Region rose abruptly,and formed a particular phenomenon in the north central government which is called "the preponderance of Hebei" by scholars.This thesis aims to seek after the social roots of "the preponderance of Hebei" and researches on the composition of Hebei local people as well as the changes of social order during the two hundred years which extended from Kaiyuan-tianbao period to Five Dynasties.Furthermore,the course of Hebei emerging literati class’ rising is the key point of this thesis.Because of the set-up of Jimi Prefecture in Youzhou as well as the immigration and settlement of minorities,Huhua of northern Hebei Region Increasingly deepen in Kaiyuan-tianbao period.The minorities gradually integrated into the local community,and changed the composition of the local population.Beyond the context of Huhua,the centralization of Hebei aristocratic families resulted in the change in the structure of Hebei local elites.Local emerging literati in Hebei,such as Gao Shang and Yan Zhuang,stood out conspicuously in this social change and played a key role in An Lushan’s Rebellion and political power construction.After the Rebellion of An Lushan,Hebei entered the era of military governorship.Military governorship system provided political channels and growth space for the local emerging literati in Hebei.The political culture tradition of regionalism,it had led to the tendency that Hebei emerging literati there secured official positions locally.Because of the culture of advocating military force in Hebei,the emerging literati had the personal qualities of being versed in both literary and military capacity.Those literati often served as bureaucrat and generals in their political careers.They could do well in both political careers and local economic interests management,and became indigenous forces which rooted in local society.Meanwhile,as a result of serving as lower staffs and magistrates in their local military governorship,they had outstanding administrative ability.After 1st year of Changqing(821),because of Hebei military governorship’s rebellion again and their independence enhancement,external literati became less important.In this situation,local emerging literati in Hebei broke through the upper and lower bounds and acted as dignitaries in Hebei military governorship,which indicated this class’ rising.At the end of Tang Dynasty and the beginning of Five Dynasties,Hebei became the focus of two military groups led by Li Keyong and Zhu Quanzhong respectively.The Jintang State absorbed local literati in Hebei and put them in important positions in the process of occupying Hebei.With the establishment of the Later Tang Dynasty,local emerging literati in Hebei entered the north central government,and resulted in"the preponderance of Hebei".There is a necessary connection between the formation of "the preponderance of Hebei" and the relatively stable and secure political environment of Hebei in late Tang Dynasty.In this environment,emerging literati’s outstanding administrative ability and qualities of versed in literary and military arts long-term accumulated in Hebei military governorship are the important reasons of their successful political careers.In summary,with the change of political environment,local society in Hebei changed gradually.The force of local emerging literati class expanded continuously,with their positions promoted in military governorship and their service in central government from the local.Maybe emerging literati from Hebei are the pioneers in the process of the social changes and the transformation of the identity of political elites in Tang and Song Dynasties.