Yang Liangyao ( zh, 楊良瑤) was a

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...

official known only from his tomb

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

, discovered in 1984. He had a long and distinguished career at the Tang court, and led a number of embassies, most notably to the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

in 785.

Life

Yang Liangyao is not attested in any surviving history or other written source, apart from a

that was discovered in 1984 at Xiaohuyang village in the Yunyang District of

Jingyang County Jingyang County () is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xianyang, in the central part of Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Offici ...

Shaanxi Province Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ningx ...

. The stele is now located in the Jingyang County Museum. The inscription records his origin and career. His great-grandfather had been a Tang general who had assisted Emperor Xuanzong () overthrow the tutelage of Empress Wei. Yang Liangyao himself entered court service as a eunuch in the first years of Suzong's reign (756/757). In 765/766 he was promoted after helping suppress a revolt to supervisor of some of the female sections of the palace, and again to the position of Assistant in the Palace Gates Service in 771. He then served as commissioner to Annan, followed in 774 by a mission to

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

. There he was captured by the rebel Geshu Huang, and remained in captivity until the rebellion was defeated in 777. Yang was promoted Director of the Palace Gates Service as a reward for his steadfastness during his captivity. Following the rebellion of general

Zhu Ci Zhu Ci (; 742–784) was a Chinese military general, monarch, and rebel during the Tang dynasty. He initially served as military governor (''Jiedushi'') of Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing), but later became a general ...

in 782 and the capture of Chang'an by the rebels, in 784 Yang was sent in embassy to the

Tibetan Empire The Tibetan Empire (, ; ) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of imperial expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. The empire further expanded under the 38 ...

to seek military support, in exchange for ceding the provinces of Anxi and

Beiting The Beiting Protectorate-General, initially the Beiting Protectorate, was a Protectorate (imperial China), Chinese protectorate established by the Tang dynasty in 702 to control the Beiting region north of Gaochang in contemporary Xinjiang ...

. The mission was successful, and Yang returned to China along with the Tibetan troops. The Tibetan intervention was crucial in saving the Tang regime and defeat Zhu Ci. As a reward, he was named Executive Assistant of the Palace Domestic Service, and the rank of Grand Master for Closing Court. In the next year, he led an embassy to the

via sea from

, and was back at

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...

in mid-788, when he was honoured as Grand Master of the Palace, and given the rank of

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

of Hongnong District, with 300 households attached to his service as an

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much o ...

. His mission to the Abbasids was most likely related to the imminent conflict with the Tibetans in the aftermath of the defeat of Zhu Ci, when the Tang court refused to honour itsword and cede the two provinces to the Tibetans. The Tang strategy, as articulated a couple of years later by chancellor

Li Bi Li Bi or Li Mi (; 722 – April 1, 789), courtesy name Changyuan (), formally the Marquess of Ye County (), was a Chinese political strategy, political and military strategist, military strategist during the Tang dynasty. Li was a trusted advisor ...

, was one of allying with the Tibetans' neighbours—the Abbasids, the

Uyghur Khaganate The Uyghur Khaganate (also Uyghur Empire or Uighur Khaganate, self defined as Toquz-Oghuz country; otk, 𐱃𐰆𐰴𐰕:𐰆𐰍𐰕:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, Toquz Oγuz budun, Tang-era names, with modern Hanyu Pinyin: or ) was a Turkic empire that e ...

, Indian powers, and

Nanzhao Nanzhao (, also spelled Nanchao, ) was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuries. It was centered on present-day Yunnan in China. History Origins Nanzha ...

—and attacking Tibet from all sides. In 796, he was further promoted to Superior Master of the Palace. Three years later, he was appointed to suppress the revolt of Wu Shaocheng in Huaixi, which he did successfully through a judicious mixture of infiltrating spies among the rebels to learn their intentions, and offering them pardon and recruitment into the Imperial army. In his later life, he converted to

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

and made donations of land and money to Buddhist monasteries, commissioned copies of scripture, and founded Buddhist temples. His last acts at court were in 805, when he was tasked with inspecting the Three Troops of the Right. He died in 806 at Chang'an, at the age of 71.

References

Sources

* * {{cite book , last = Xinjiang , first = R. , chapter = New Evidence on the History of Sino'arabic Relations: A Study of Yang Liangyao's Embassy to the Abbasid Caliphate , editor-first = Victor H. , editor-last = Mair , editor-first2 = Liam , editor-last2 = Kelley , title = Imperial China and Its Southern Neighbours , year = 2015 , pages = 239–267, publisher = ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute 736 births 806 deaths 8th-century Chinese people 9th-century Chinese people Ambassadors to the Abbasid Caliphate Tang dynasty Buddhists Tang dynasty diplomats Tang dynasty eunuchs Tang dynasty politicians from Shaanxi Tang–Tibet relations

Life

See also

References

Sources