The military governor, architect, alchemist and poet Gao Pian (821–87) was one of the most intriguing characters to shape events in ninth-century China. His trajectory provides a step-by-step record of the late Tang empire's military, fiscal, and administrative unraveling. Utilizing exceptionally rich sources, including documents from Gao Pian's secretariat, inscriptions, narrative, and religious literature, and Gao Pian's own poetry, Franciscus Verellen challenges the official historians' portrait of Gao as an 'insubordinate minister' and Daoist zealot. In an innovative analysis, he argues that the life of this extraordinary general casts much-needed light on ideas of allegiance and disobedience, provincial governance, military affairs, and religious life in the waning years of the Tang.
Casting new light on ideas of allegiance, governance, military affairs and religious life in the waning years of the Tang Dynasty, this major new study views events from the perspective of Gao Pian, one of the most intriguing characters to shape the history of ninth-century China.
