Li Shunxian

Li Shunxian
Zhaoyi of Former Shu
Bornc. 900
Zi Prefecture [zh], Tang dynasty
Died926(926-00-00) (aged 25–26)
Yizhou, Later Tang
SpouseWang Yan
ReligionPossibly Zoroastrian or
East Syriac Christian
OccupationPoet, painter
RelativesLi Xun [zh] (brother)
Li Xuan [zh] (brother)

Li Shunxian (Chinese: 李舜弦; c. 900, Zi Prefecture [zh], Sichuan – 926, Sichuan) was a Former Shu poet of Persian origin celebrated for her beauty and poetic talent.[1][2] She was a concubine of Wang Yan, the second and last emperor of Former Shu. She was famous for being a Persian descent with a remarkable talent for writing poetry in Chinese.[3][4][5]

Life

It is unknown whether she spoke Persian. It is also unknown whether her parents were immigrants to the Tang dynasty or were born there. Her family had adopted the Chinese surname Li. In 880, they fled the Huang Chao rebellion into Sichuan, then the western frontier of imperial China. This migration was also along with many other Chinese including Emperor Xizong. After the collapse of the Tang dynasty in 907, they rose to prominence in the court of the Former Shu Kingdom which ruled over the Sichuan region.

She had an older brother Li Xun, who was also a poet and pharmacist at the court and wrote a Chinese book on drugs.[6] They were born in Zi Prefecture [zh] (modern-day Santai County, Sichuan).[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] The family's Persian ethnicity is mentioned in historical texts.[19][20][21]

As a concubine in the imperial court, Shunxian held the rank as Zhaoyi which was just below the title of Empress (consort).[22] Her husband Wang Yan was born in 899, became emperor in 919 at 20 years old, and reigned until 924. Wang Yan was known for his indulgence in women and wine. It is speculated that Shunxian was around the same age as Wang. It was here in the harem that she began writing her well-known poetry.

The Ten-Thousand Quatrains of the Tang collected by Hong Mai contains three poems by Shunxian. In medieval China, she is the only non-Chinese woman who composed literature in Chinese.[23] Both she and her brother were known for their poetry, and Shunxian's poems are still preserved and read today.[24][25][26][27][28]

In 926, Shunxian, Wang Yan, and his other concubines were all brutally massacred by Emperor Li Zhuangzong of Later Tang.

Religious background

See also: East Syriac Church in Sichuan and Zoroastrianism in Sichuan

It is believed that Li Shunxian's family was Zoroastrian because of one line in her poem mentioning a "golden bullet for a catapult" which Veshparkar, an Iranian god was known to deploy.[29] However, other scholars such as Lo Hsiang-lin reason that they were more likely East Syriac Christians (a.k.a. "Nestorians") because in the Tang dynasty the Nestorians were known for their medicine, as her brother Li Xun [zh] was known for being an accomplished physician. Lo's idea was also supported by Chen Ming and Zhang Xushan.[29][30] A third possibility is that following the Islamization of Persia, Shunxian's family was Muslim. Nonetheless there is no direct evidence for any of these.

See also

References

  1. ^ Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 6, Biology and Biological Technology, Part 1, Botany. Vol. 6 of Biology & Biological Technolog (reprint ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 276. ISBN 0521087317.
  2. ^ Islam, Md Nazmul (2022-12-09). Power of Bonding and Non-Western Soft Power Strategy in Iran: Comparing China and India's Engagement. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-031-19867-0.
  3. ^ University of Hawaii at Manoa. Center for Chinese Studies (2007). China Review International, Volume 14. University of Hawaiʻi, Center for Chinese Studies and University of Hawaii Press. p. 219. While in the first years of the Former Shu many of the literati in Chengdu were aristocratic Émigrés who had fled from the upheavals in the Yellow River Valley (such as Wei Zhuang ## (836–910]), within a decade or two (if we can judge from the poets of the Huajian ji) there were both commoners (such as Yan Xuan soliń) and foreigners (such as Li Xun ##!, a poet from a Persian family that had moved to Shu before the fall of the Tang; Li's sister was one of Wang Yan's consorts and a ...
  4. ^ Larsen, Jeanne, ed. (2005). Willow, wine, mirror, moon: women's poems from Tang China. Lannan translations selection series. BOA Editions. p. 137. ISBN 1929918747. Wang's capital was a haven for literati and artists in that difficult era. When his son Yan ascended to the throne, both women were promoted to ranks suiting the mothers of princes and wielded considerable power. They — and Wang Yan — were killed after Shu's conquest by a short-lived dynasty called the Later Tang. Li Xunxian (d. 926?), daughter of a Persian immigrant, had a reputation as a poet. She became a consort of Wang Yan, dissolute monarch of the state known as ...
  5. ^ National Translation Center (USA) (1995). Delos. p. 91. He joined the Li Bamboo-Hat Poetry Society in 1970, and later served as the editor of the magazine. Since the eighties, his creative works and critical essays show strong social, political, and cultural concerns. Li Xunxian (d. 926?), was the daughter of a Persian immigrant to the Sichuan basin in the Tang empire's southwest. Her elder brother, Li Xun, was also reputedly a fine poet. Li became a consort of Wang Yan, dissolute monarch of the short-lived "Former Shu" dynasty.
  6. ^ [[At times like these I only fear lest your passion has worn thin.6 Though the court poets in Chengdu wrote primarily of the pleasures of the flesh, the reputation given them by later historians, claiming that they indulged only in pleasure and debauchery, is perhaps not completely warranted. Several members of the Shu court compiled impressive works of serious scholarship, especially in the field of pharmacology. Li Xun, a poet and scholar of Persian ancestry who served in Wang Yan's ...|Faurot, Jeannette L.]] (1992). Ancient Chengdu. Chinese Materials Center Publications. p. 101. ISBN 0896446794.
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  24. ^ 李, 舜弦. 蜀宮應制. 濃樹禁花開後庭，飲筵中散酒微醒。 濛濛雨草瑤階溼，鐘曉愁吟獨倚屏。
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