Recommended listening: Gan Bolin - Masterpieces on the Erhu
Story
They said that Li Deming had many mothers. The one who gave birth to him was Lady Yeli, a woman from a prominent Tangut family. She was a concubine of the powerful Tangut ruler Li Jiqian. Dissatisfied with only the territories the fallen Tang Dynasty had given his family in centuries past, Li Jiqian was in the midst of an ambitious campaign to assert his kingdom's independence from the nascent Song Dynasty and to expand into a true empire. Lady Yeli had married him when he was still living in the shadow of his brother Jipeng, the contested ruler of the Tanguts. She gave birth to his first son, Li Deming, in 981. When Li Jiqian refused to accept Jipeng's surrender to the Song and started a breakway faction among the Tangut, a new future was set into motion for their son. Over the next few decades, Li Jiqian embarked on many military campaigns against the Song and built a following for himself as the new leader of the Tangut. This meant that his and Lady Yeli's son was destined to inherit not a simple subjugated region of a foreign dynasty, but a kingdom of his own.
After leaving their homelands near Tibet in the 7th century, the Tangut had established themselves as an important group in the region of the Ordos Desert. Although they had been key allies to the Han Chinese Tang Dynasty at various points over the centuries, the collapse of the Tang in the 10th century gave them an opportunity to carve themselves a more autonomous place in the politics of the region. Like the Khitan people who formed the neighbouring Liao Empire, they were pastoralists. Women in their culture were comfortable in the outdoors riding horses and were generally more adventurous than their Han sisters to the south. Although Confucianism, with its strict hierarchy of gender roles, had an influence on the Tangut, women were generally afforded more power in their society than Confucius would have preferred, if the string of female regents in the 11th century is any indication. Although Lady Yeli never ruled as regent for her son, she would have been well-educated and no doubt had an influence on him.
But Lady Yeli was not the only one woman Li Jiqian married. In 989, seeking to strengthen his position against the Song, he made a marriage alliance with the Liao Dynasty. At the time, the Liao were ruled by the powerful Empress Dowager Chengtian, a formidable woman who dominated her empire's military and diplomacy as regent for her son. When Li Jiqian came asking for the hand of a royal princess, Emperor Shengzong was only fourteen, so it's likely his mother ran the negotiations on his behalf. The Khitan prince Yv Ivxiang had a daughter. She was styled the "Yicheng Princess" after the territory her father administered and was offered in marriage to Li Jiqian. Khitan women tended to be older than their husbands, so it's possible she was older than Li Jiqian. They were educated in Chinese classics and knew their way around horses, so she would have likely fit in well at the Tangut court in spite of speaking a completely unrelated language as her native tongue. For her dowry, the Khitan provided Li Jiqian with three thousand horses. In return, Li Jiqian paid tribute to the Liao every year after their marriage until his death. Their marriage was a win-win: the Liao needed allies in their invasion of Song territory, and the Tangut needed help recovering some of its lost territories. Both had a common enemy, the Song Dynasty, and so the marriage between Li Jiqian and the Yicheng Princess cemented their alliance.
There is one more wife of Li Jiqian about whom information survives. His official queen was Lady Wang, a woman from a powerful Tangut clan which would provide future empresses. Lady Wang was also designated Li Deming's "mother", a title which was the source of some gossip at the Song Dynasty court. The Song Emperor, of course, also had many concubines, but for the Tangut, being the son of a concubine was no barrier to political success. All that mattered was that he was the first-born. Whether he truly saw all of his father's other wives as mothers is hard to say, but we know that Lady Wang in particular had a profound influence on him, and on the future direction of the dynasty as it developed into the Western Xia Empire.
Lady Wang was a Buddhist. At the time, Buddhism had been spreading among the Tangut but had not yet been officially adopted by the ruling family. The Khitan had already converted, so the Yicheng Princess would have brought her faith with her when she came to live at the Tangut court. But Lady Wang's devotion may have still been something of a novelty among her own people. When Lady Wang died in the year 1007, Li Deming made a petition to the Song Emperor Zhenzong. In honour of his late "mother", he requested offerings to be given at the temples on Mount Wutai. One of the Four Sacred Mountains of Chinese Buddhism, this mountain was home to several temples that had fallen into disrepair.
The mountain also lay in a territory that the Tangut were determined to reclaim from the Song. The mountain's bodhisattva was strongly associated with state protection. In asking her stepson to make these offerings on her death, Lady Wang therefore conspired with her son and husband to assert their claim to one of the most sacred sites in China as an expression of their independence and equality with the Song state. The Song were well aware of the meaning of this gesture. They accepted Deming's request but forbade him from entering Song territory himself. Instead, a nun from the Tangut's rival Ughyur people was sent to make the offerings on his behalf. This was the first state expression of Buddhism in a dynasty where Buddhism would soon become paramount. By the time that Deming's son Yuanhao declared himself the head of the Western Xia Empire in 1038, Buddhism had become intimately intertwined with the Tangut approach to statehood. The Tangut would go on to commission beautiful works of Buddhist art for centuries to come.
In her death, Lady Wang helped to shape the future of an entire empire. In life, she and the Yicheng Princess may well have bonded over their shared faith. Perhaps someone from an established Buddhist family like the Yicheng Princess had a strong influence on Lady Wang in the development of her religious outlook. And as happens so often in history, the faith of queens was formative for the sons they raised. But it's possible that not all of Li Jiqian's wives were so well-versed in Buddhism as these two. After all, when Lady Yeli died in 1010, Li Deming made no special petitions at Buddhist temples for her even though she was his birth mother. In this illustration, we find the three women standing together in prayer. Their kingdom as yet had no Buddhist temples of its own, so they performed their devotions in the open air. While the other two are deep in prayer, Lady Yeli peeks at Lady Wang to make sure she's doing it right. Learning a new religion is hard work, especially when trying to look good in front of someone as educated as the Yicheng Princess. Perhaps Buddhism won't really catch on around here, she thinks to herself - but for now, she might as well at least give it a try.
After leaving their homelands near Tibet in the 7th century, the Tangut had established themselves as an important group in the region of the Ordos Desert. Although they had been key allies to the Han Chinese Tang Dynasty at various points over the centuries, the collapse of the Tang in the 10th century gave them an opportunity to carve themselves a more autonomous place in the politics of the region. Like the Khitan people who formed the neighbouring Liao Empire, they were pastoralists. Women in their culture were comfortable in the outdoors riding horses and were generally more adventurous than their Han sisters to the south. Although Confucianism, with its strict hierarchy of gender roles, had an influence on the Tangut, women were generally afforded more power in their society than Confucius would have preferred, if the string of female regents in the 11th century is any indication. Although Lady Yeli never ruled as regent for her son, she would have been well-educated and no doubt had an influence on him.
But Lady Yeli was not the only one woman Li Jiqian married. In 989, seeking to strengthen his position against the Song, he made a marriage alliance with the Liao Dynasty. At the time, the Liao were ruled by the powerful Empress Dowager Chengtian, a formidable woman who dominated her empire's military and diplomacy as regent for her son. When Li Jiqian came asking for the hand of a royal princess, Emperor Shengzong was only fourteen, so it's likely his mother ran the negotiations on his behalf. The Khitan prince Yv Ivxiang had a daughter. She was styled the "Yicheng Princess" after the territory her father administered and was offered in marriage to Li Jiqian. Khitan women tended to be older than their husbands, so it's possible she was older than Li Jiqian. They were educated in Chinese classics and knew their way around horses, so she would have likely fit in well at the Tangut court in spite of speaking a completely unrelated language as her native tongue. For her dowry, the Khitan provided Li Jiqian with three thousand horses. In return, Li Jiqian paid tribute to the Liao every year after their marriage until his death. Their marriage was a win-win: the Liao needed allies in their invasion of Song territory, and the Tangut needed help recovering some of its lost territories. Both had a common enemy, the Song Dynasty, and so the marriage between Li Jiqian and the Yicheng Princess cemented their alliance.
There is one more wife of Li Jiqian about whom information survives. His official queen was Lady Wang, a woman from a powerful Tangut clan which would provide future empresses. Lady Wang was also designated Li Deming's "mother", a title which was the source of some gossip at the Song Dynasty court. The Song Emperor, of course, also had many concubines, but for the Tangut, being the son of a concubine was no barrier to political success. All that mattered was that he was the first-born. Whether he truly saw all of his father's other wives as mothers is hard to say, but we know that Lady Wang in particular had a profound influence on him, and on the future direction of the dynasty as it developed into the Western Xia Empire.
Lady Wang was a Buddhist. At the time, Buddhism had been spreading among the Tangut but had not yet been officially adopted by the ruling family. The Khitan had already converted, so the Yicheng Princess would have brought her faith with her when she came to live at the Tangut court. But Lady Wang's devotion may have still been something of a novelty among her own people. When Lady Wang died in the year 1007, Li Deming made a petition to the Song Emperor Zhenzong. In honour of his late "mother", he requested offerings to be given at the temples on Mount Wutai. One of the Four Sacred Mountains of Chinese Buddhism, this mountain was home to several temples that had fallen into disrepair.
The mountain also lay in a territory that the Tangut were determined to reclaim from the Song. The mountain's bodhisattva was strongly associated with state protection. In asking her stepson to make these offerings on her death, Lady Wang therefore conspired with her son and husband to assert their claim to one of the most sacred sites in China as an expression of their independence and equality with the Song state. The Song were well aware of the meaning of this gesture. They accepted Deming's request but forbade him from entering Song territory himself. Instead, a nun from the Tangut's rival Ughyur people was sent to make the offerings on his behalf. This was the first state expression of Buddhism in a dynasty where Buddhism would soon become paramount. By the time that Deming's son Yuanhao declared himself the head of the Western Xia Empire in 1038, Buddhism had become intimately intertwined with the Tangut approach to statehood. The Tangut would go on to commission beautiful works of Buddhist art for centuries to come.
In her death, Lady Wang helped to shape the future of an entire empire. In life, she and the Yicheng Princess may well have bonded over their shared faith. Perhaps someone from an established Buddhist family like the Yicheng Princess had a strong influence on Lady Wang in the development of her religious outlook. And as happens so often in history, the faith of queens was formative for the sons they raised. But it's possible that not all of Li Jiqian's wives were so well-versed in Buddhism as these two. After all, when Lady Yeli died in 1010, Li Deming made no special petitions at Buddhist temples for her even though she was his birth mother. In this illustration, we find the three women standing together in prayer. Their kingdom as yet had no Buddhist temples of its own, so they performed their devotions in the open air. While the other two are deep in prayer, Lady Yeli peeks at Lady Wang to make sure she's doing it right. Learning a new religion is hard work, especially when trying to look good in front of someone as educated as the Yicheng Princess. Perhaps Buddhism won't really catch on around here, she thinks to herself - but for now, she might as well at least give it a try.
Artist's Comments
I love their outfits! They were so fun to draw! The hardest part about this picture was figuring out what to draw the women doing since there were no temples in the Tangut kingdom yet. But in the end I like this composition since it highlights their styles and personalities with minimal distraction. I'd like to give special thanks to 10thousand_stars for all the help they offered me translating the Chinese primary sources about the women and even looking up ones I hadn't come across yet. The secondary literature does not make it easy to distinguish between these three women, but I think we worked it out in the end. Thank you too to the online friends who are always helping me find articles I can't access! I'd also like to give a special shoutout to my sister Ellie because we had a great time together today in between when I was colouring this picture. And many an evening spent reading about the Tangut was spent with my cats Loki and Poe taking turns on my lap.
The Tangut can be challenging to research because so much was destroyed when the Western Xia Empire was conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century. It was fascinating though learning more about them! There are so many civilizations to learn about in what's currently the People's Republic of China. I hope to return to more of them in future works. For now, I hope you enjoyed learning about the three mothers of Li Deming! ~ May 1, 2021
The Tangut can be challenging to research because so much was destroyed when the Western Xia Empire was conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century. It was fascinating though learning more about them! There are so many civilizations to learn about in what's currently the People's Republic of China. I hope to return to more of them in future works. For now, I hope you enjoyed learning about the three mothers of Li Deming! ~ May 1, 2021
Resources
Want to learn more about the wives of Li Jiqian and other Tangut and Khitan women? Here are some recommended resources.
The Great State of White and High: Buddhism and State Formation in Eleventh-Century Xia by Ruth W. Dunnell
Great book looking at how intertwined Buddhism became with the Western Xia state. Dunnell points out that Li Deming's act of piety on the death of Lady Wang suggests that she was a practicing Buddhist who requested he make offerings at Mt. Wutai on her behalf. It's amazing to look at how important Buddhism became in Western Xia thinking back to that crucial request.
"The Historical Process and Political Value of the Intermarriage for Pacification between Liao and Xia" by Zhouqing Guo
This article situates the marriage of Li Jiqian and the Yicheng Princess within the wider context of diplomatic relations between Liao and Xia. While their marriage had positive results for the alliance, later marriages between Khitan women and Tangut rulers did not end so felicitously due to the men's poor treatment of their wives. This shows us that Li Jiqian and the Yicheng Princess's interpersonal relationship had massive foreign policy ramifications.
Women of the Conquest Dynasties: Gender and Identity in Liao and Jin China by Linda Cooke Johnson
The Yicheng Princess came from the Liao Dynasty, so this book is great for understanding the cultural background she brought with her when she came into the world of the Tangut. The books covers daily life, the differences between Khitan and Han Chinese women who lived under the empire, sexuality and marriage, and the impact of Buddhism on women's lives.
Tangut art in the State Hermitage Museum
This Russian museums hosts a large amount of Tangut art, mainly taken from the site of Khara-Khoto. You can browse these images to see the incredible Buddhist paintings and other artwork from Western Xia. Some of these works served as models for the clothing of women in this illustration, such as this painting which inspired my depiction of Lady Yeli, and this necklace. You can read more about the art of donors in the Khara-Khoto paintings in this article by Kira Samosyuk.
"The Wedding Ceremony for an Imperial Liao Princess: Wall Paintings from a Liao Dynasty Tomb in Jilin" by Linda Cooke Johnson
A fabulous mural from a tomb in Jilin province depicts the wedding procession of an imperial Liao princess. It's thought to be the marriage of the daughter of Emperor Shengzong in the early 11th century. (She was therefore the granddaughter of Empress Chengtian who would have no doubt attended the wedding!) Although this was a marriage between a Liao imperial princess and a fellow Liao nobleman, it may have much in common with the marriage between the Yicheng princess and Li Jiqian several decades earlier. The tomb's art style shows strong influences from Tang dynasty precedents as opposed to more recent Song dynasty developments.
"The Name of the Tangut Empire" by Ksenia Borisovna Kepping
In this article, Kepping explores possible Tantric gender symbolism underlying key concepts in Tangut state ideology. She argues that the empress embodied the female principle, tied to the sun and the Yellow River, and that the emperor, tied to the moon and the Helan Mountains, embodied the male. Harmony between the two was necessary for upholding the ideological cohesion of the Tangut state. While these principles are expressed most explicitly in Western Xia later than 1000, they may well have already been in place, developing under the influence of Tantric Buddhism as it spread throughout the royal family.
The Great State of White and High: Buddhism and State Formation in Eleventh-Century Xia by Ruth W. Dunnell
Great book looking at how intertwined Buddhism became with the Western Xia state. Dunnell points out that Li Deming's act of piety on the death of Lady Wang suggests that she was a practicing Buddhist who requested he make offerings at Mt. Wutai on her behalf. It's amazing to look at how important Buddhism became in Western Xia thinking back to that crucial request.
"The Historical Process and Political Value of the Intermarriage for Pacification between Liao and Xia" by Zhouqing Guo
This article situates the marriage of Li Jiqian and the Yicheng Princess within the wider context of diplomatic relations between Liao and Xia. While their marriage had positive results for the alliance, later marriages between Khitan women and Tangut rulers did not end so felicitously due to the men's poor treatment of their wives. This shows us that Li Jiqian and the Yicheng Princess's interpersonal relationship had massive foreign policy ramifications.
Women of the Conquest Dynasties: Gender and Identity in Liao and Jin China by Linda Cooke Johnson
The Yicheng Princess came from the Liao Dynasty, so this book is great for understanding the cultural background she brought with her when she came into the world of the Tangut. The books covers daily life, the differences between Khitan and Han Chinese women who lived under the empire, sexuality and marriage, and the impact of Buddhism on women's lives.
Tangut art in the State Hermitage Museum
This Russian museums hosts a large amount of Tangut art, mainly taken from the site of Khara-Khoto. You can browse these images to see the incredible Buddhist paintings and other artwork from Western Xia. Some of these works served as models for the clothing of women in this illustration, such as this painting which inspired my depiction of Lady Yeli, and this necklace. You can read more about the art of donors in the Khara-Khoto paintings in this article by Kira Samosyuk.
"The Wedding Ceremony for an Imperial Liao Princess: Wall Paintings from a Liao Dynasty Tomb in Jilin" by Linda Cooke Johnson
A fabulous mural from a tomb in Jilin province depicts the wedding procession of an imperial Liao princess. It's thought to be the marriage of the daughter of Emperor Shengzong in the early 11th century. (She was therefore the granddaughter of Empress Chengtian who would have no doubt attended the wedding!) Although this was a marriage between a Liao imperial princess and a fellow Liao nobleman, it may have much in common with the marriage between the Yicheng princess and Li Jiqian several decades earlier. The tomb's art style shows strong influences from Tang dynasty precedents as opposed to more recent Song dynasty developments.
"The Name of the Tangut Empire" by Ksenia Borisovna Kepping
In this article, Kepping explores possible Tantric gender symbolism underlying key concepts in Tangut state ideology. She argues that the empress embodied the female principle, tied to the sun and the Yellow River, and that the emperor, tied to the moon and the Helan Mountains, embodied the male. Harmony between the two was necessary for upholding the ideological cohesion of the Tangut state. While these principles are expressed most explicitly in Western Xia later than 1000, they may well have already been in place, developing under the influence of Tantric Buddhism as it spread throughout the royal family.