Research Of The Ethnic Relationship In The Late Tang Dynasty Individual Collected Works

This paper mainly focuses on the collections of Du Mu,Li Shangyin and Guan Xiu as the research object,taking into account the literature of other literati in the late Tang Dynasty,researching the part that involves ethnic relations,combining literary documents with historical records to explore the development and changes of ethnic relations in the late Tang Dynasty.Many of Du Mu’s poems and essays in Fan Chuan Anthology reflect the situation of the northwestern frontier in the early period of the late Tang Dynasty.At that time,the border trouble of Tubo was the most obvious.The Hehuang area had been invaded by Tubo for a long time.Du Mu expressed his aspirations in poems many times,hoping that the rulers of the current dynasty could be diligent in border affairs and recover the lost territory.In his poems and essays,Du Mu recorded the military actions taken by the Tang court during the reign of Emperor Wuzong and the reign of Emperor Xuanzong in response to the Uygur and Tangut intruders.In his poems and essays,Du Mu also criticized the imperial court of the late Tang Dynasty for its weakness in fighting against foreign intruders.In the disputes with Tubo,Uygur,and Tangut,although the late Tang court won the final victory,Du Mu also expressed his congratulations,but Du Mu revealed in his poems that the Tang Dynasty was always in a passive situation in the ethnic conflicts and pointed out the improper behavior of the court in dealing with ethnic relations in the late Tang Dynasty.Although border wars occurred frequently in the late Tang Dynasty,cultural exchanges between ethnic groups were not blocked.There are still several poems in Fan Chuan Anthology,which reflect the fact that the Tang Dynasty lived in peace with other ethnic groups at that time.Li Shangyin’s poems and articles are collected in Li Shangyin’s Poems and Fan Nan Anthology respectively.Because Li Shangyin had worked in the frontier area for many times,he had a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the frontier situation in the late Tang Dynasty,which was fully reflected in his poems and articles.Li Shangyin mentioned the border trouble of the Tubo for many times in his poems,which revealed the Tubo’s greed even though it occupied the area of hehuang,and pointed out the abominable behavior of the Tubo court keeping the emissaries of the Tang dynasty.In addition,Li Shangyin also noticed that the southwestern border was also being invaded by Tubo forces and threatened by Nanzhao Kingdom and other ethnic groups in Southwest China.Li Shangyin’s poems and essays reflect the border trouble in northern frontier more comprehensively,involving the wars between the court of the late Tang Dynasty,the Uygur,the Tangut and the Xiesh.He pointed out that the political decadence in the late Tang Dynasty and the mistakes made by the ruling class in dealing with ethnic relations revealed the complexity of the causes of ethnic conflicts.Although Li Shangyin focused his attention on ethnic conflicts in the late Tang Dynasty,there are still many poems reflecting the historical phenomenon of ethnic integration and cultural integration at that time.Guan Xiu has a collection of poems Zen Moon Collection,in which a large number of poems reflect the border situation in the late Tang Dynasty.Guan Xiu had been to the northern fortress,during which he wrote a large number of poems to criticize the current problems,tracing back the historical facts with the present scene,expressing his reflection on the ethnic relations and ethnic policies,and reflecting the actual situation of the northern frontier fortress at that time.In the late Tang Dynasty,disputes between the imperial court and the Tubo,Uygur,Tangut and other ethnic regimes had been largely resolved,and the northwestern frontier was relatively peaceful.However,the frontier pressure was still heavy and the incursions on the frontier were still not relieved.In addition to paying attention to the situation of ethnic relations in the northwest,the poems written by Guan Xiu during his trip to southern frontier at the end of the Tang Dynasty reflect the situation of the southwest frontier.During the reign of Xiantong,the southern barbarian forces led by Nanzhao Kingdom invaded the southwest border area for a long time.After Nanzhao Kingdom was subdued,the South China Sea border area was still invaded by local barbarian forces from time to time.There are many farewell poems written by Guan Xiu for foreign friends in Zen Moon Collection,which reflect the friendly exchanges between the Tang Dynasty and the foreign nations in the east.There are not many parts in Guan Xiu’s Zen Moon Collection that involve specific ethnic events,but the poems and writings of other scholars in the same period,such as Xue Feng,Xue Neng,Gao Pian,mostly record the ethnic wars that took place in the southwest frontier at that time.Looking at the development state of ethnic relations at that time from the works of literati in the late Tang Dynasty can make up for the lack of historical records.It is of great benefit to the correct understanding of the late Tang’s foreign policy and is of great significance to the comprehensive understanding of the development of ethnic relations in the Tang Dynasty.