Duan Siping (, IPA: ; Bai: Duainb six-pienp), also known by his

temple name Temple names are posthumous titles accorded to monarchs of the Sinosphere for the purpose of ancestor worship. The practice of honoring monarchs with temple names began during the Shang dynasty in China and had since been adopted by other dynas ...

as the Emperor Taizu of Dali, was a Chinese monarch and politician. He was the founding

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (emp ...

of the

Dali Kingdom The Dali Kingdom, also known as the Dali State (; Bai: Dablit Guaif), was a state situated in modern Yunnan province, China from 937 until 1253. In 1253, it was conquered by the Mongols but members of its former ruling dynasty continued to a ...

. The Dali Kingdom would last until the

Mongol conquest The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire (1206- 1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastatio ...

in 1253 led by

Kublai Khan Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of the ...

and its territories would later be ruled by the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fift ...

Biography

The Duan family claimed descent from a

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

family originating in Gansu province, although it is widely accepted that Duan Siping was a member of the Bai ethnic group. The ''Dian zaiji'' () records that Duan's ancestor was from Wuwei and, having assisted the Meng clan in battle, was awarded with political rank. However, "his descendant six generations later, Siping, was born under different omens." Duan was a governor of

Tonghai County Tonghai County () is located in Yuxi Prefecture-level City, Yunnan Province, China. Geography Tonghai County occupies the fertile valley of Qilu Lake, surrounded on all sides by mountains. The county seat is located on the south side of the la ...

. Yang Ganzhen (), ruler of the Dayining kingdom, feared him and attempted to imprison. Duan went into hiding and gathered soldiers and horses to fight. Allegedly, Duan was eating a wild peach, when he noticed two characters written on the fruit's skin: ''qing xi'' 青昔. Duan determined that the first character, ''qing'', referred to the twelfth month, whilst the second, ''xi'', indicated the twenty-first day. He understood this as an omen of when he should attack Great Yining.“思平折之曰：「青乃十二月，昔乃二十一日。今杨氏政乱，吾当以是日举义乎？」”

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* * * {{Authority control 893 births 944 deaths 10th-century Chinese monarchs Dali emperors Founding monarchs Politicians from Yunnan