Emperor Wuzong of Tang
Emperor Wuzong of Tang, né Li Chan changed to Li Yan just before his death, was an emperor of the Tang Dynasty of China, reigning from 840 to 846. Emperor Wuzong is known in modern times for the religious persecution that occurred during his reign. In addition, he was known for his successful reactions against incursions by remnants of the Huigu Khanate and the rebellion by Liu Zhen, as well as his deep trust in the chancellor Li Deyu. Li Chan was born in 814, as the ninth son of Li Heng at least, Crown Prince under Li Chan's grandfather Emperor Xianzong, he was born at the Eastern Palace. His mother was Consort Wei. After Li Heng became Emperor Muzong in 820, he made many of his brothers and sons princes in 821, Li Chan was made the Prince of Ying. Little is known about Li Chan's activities during the reigns of Emperor Muzong or Li Chan's older brothers Emperor Jingzong and Emperor Wenzong, other than that during the middle of Emperor Wenzong's Kaicheng era, Emperor Wenzong bestowed the honorary title of Kaifu Yitong Sansi on him, as well as the title of honorary minister of civil service affairs.
It was said that Li Chan was silent and decisive, not showing his emotions easily. It was said that Emperor Wenzong treated him and another brother, Li Rong the Prince of An, better than other princes. Emperor Wenzong created his son Li Yong crown prince, but after Li Yong died in 838, he was unsure whom to make his successor. Emperor Wenzong's favorite concubine Consort Yang recommended Li Rong, but when Emperor Wenzong consulted the chancellors, Li Jue opposed this proposal. Emperor Wenzong thus, in 839, created Emperor Jingzong's youngest son Li Chengmei the Prince of Chen crown prince; when Emperor Wenzong became ill early in 840, he had his trusted eunuchs Liu Hongyi and Xue Jileng summon the chancellors Yang Sifu and Li Jue to the palace, intending to entrust Li Chengmei to them. However, the powerful eunuchs Qiu Shiliang and Yu Hongzhi, who were not consulted in the decision, opposed Li Chengmei, despite Li Jue's objection, forged an edict in Emperor Wenzong's name deposing Li Chengmei by claiming that Li Chengmei was too young, creating Li Chan crown prince instead.
Subsequently, Qiu and Yu had soldiers escort Li Chan from his mansion to the palace and, after Emperor Wenzong died, persuaded Li Chan to order Consort Yang, Li Chengmei, Li Rong all to commit suicide. After a short mourning period, Li Chan took the throne. Buddhism had flourished into a major religious force in China during the Tang period, its monasteries enjoyed tax-exempt status; because they didn't contribute taxes, Emperor Wuzong believed Buddhism to be a drain on the state's economy. Coupled with his devotion to Taoism as well and his deep trust in the Taoist monk Zhao Guizhen, he set out to act against Buddhism, initiating an imperial edict in 842 weeding out sorcerers and convicts from the ranks of the Buddhist monks and nuns, returning them to lay life. Monks and nuns were to turn their wealth over to the government unless they returned to lay life and paid taxes. During this first phase, Confucian arguments for the reform of Buddhist institutions and the protection of society from Buddhist influence and practices were predominant.
The religious persecution reached its height in the year 845 CE confiscating the Buddhist temple properties, destroying 4,600 Buddhist temples and 40,000 shrines, removing 260,500 monks and nuns from the monasteries. Emperor Wuzong's reasons for doing so were not purely economic. A zealous Taoist, Wuzong considered Buddhism a foreign religion, harmful to Chinese society. One notable victim of the persecution was the Japanese Tendai monk Ennin. Among its purposes were to raise war funds and to cleanse China of foreign influences; as such, the persecution was directed not only towards Buddhism but towards other foreign religions, such as Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity, Manichaeism. Only the native Chinese ideologies of Confucianism and Taoism survived the upheaval unaffected, he all but destroyed Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism in China, his persecution of the growing Nestorian Christian churches sent Chinese Christianity into a decline from which it never recovered. At the same time, Wuzong went far to promote Taoist worship in China through religious regulations and the construction of the Temple for Viewing Immortals in the Imperial court.
By the time that Emperor Wuzong took the throne, his mother Consort Wei had died, he posthumously honored her as an empress dowager. Knowing that Yang Sifu and Li Jue had not supported him as Emperor Wenzong's successor, he had them removed from their offices, he instead installed Li Deyu, former chancellor under Wenzong, as a chancellor and put most of the responsibilities of governance in his hands. One of the first things
Emperor Wenzong of Tang
Emperor Wenzong of Tang, personal name Li Ang, né Li Han, was an emperor of the Tang dynasty of China. He reigned from 827 to 840. Emperor Wenzong was younger brother of Emperor Jingzong. A rare occurrence in Chinese history, Emperor Wenzong, along with his elder brother Emperor Jingzong and younger brother Emperor Wuzong, reigned in succession. Li Han was born during the reign of his grandfather Emperor Xianzong, his father, Li You was the Prince of Sui under Emperor Xianzong, but while Li You was considered, under Confucian principles of succession, to be the proper heir to the throne, because his mother Consort Guo, was Emperor Xianzong's wife and crown princess while Emperor Xianzong was crown prince, Li You was not created crown prince for some time. Only after Li Ning's death in 811 was Li You, whose name was changed to Li Heng, created crown prince in 812. Li Han was Li You's second son, being born four months after his older brother Li Zhan, his mother was Li You's concubine Consort Xiao.
In 820, Emperor Xianzong died, Li Heng took the throne. In 821, Emperor Muzong created a large number of his brothers and sons imperial princes, Li Han was created the Prince of Jiāng. In 824, Emperor Muzong was succeeded by Li Zhan. Around the new year 827, Emperor Jingzong was assassinated by a group of imperial guards and eunuchs, led by the eunuch Liu Keming. Liu tried to have Emperor Muzong's younger brother Li Wu the Prince of Jiàng made emperor, but soon, a group of powerful eunuchs—the directors of palace communications Wang Shoucheng and Yang Chenghe and commanders of the Shence Armies Wei Congjian and Liang Shouqian counteracted against the conspirators, launching forces to slaughter them. Li Wu was killed in this event. Wang and the other eunuchs subsequently had Li Han named the new emperor by orders issued in the name of his grandmother Consort Guo, his name was changed to Li Ang. It was said that at the start of Emperor Wenzong's reign, he, having observed the wastefulness that his father Emperor Muzong and brother Emperor Jingzong displayed in their reigns, sought to conserve, govern diligently, meet with the officials frequently.
The people thought. However, it was said that Emperor Wenzong, while humble and willing to open to suggestions, was indecisive changing his mind after agreeing to the chancellors' suggestions. At one point, the chancellor Wei Chuhou objected and offered to resign, but Emperor Wenzong did not accept his resignation. Meanwhile, Emperor Wenzong honored his mother Consort Xiao as an empress dowager, continued to honor his grandmother Grand Empress Dowager Guo and Emperor Jingzong's mother Empress Dowager Wang as well, so there were three empresses dowager in the palace, it was said that he served them with filial piety, always offering the best of the tributes to them first. One of the major moves that Emperor Wenzong had to make, dealt with war—as, at the end of Emperor Jingzong's reign, after the death of Li Quanlüe the military governor of Henghai Circuit, Li Quanlüe's son Li Tongjie seized control of the circuit without imperial sanction, hoping to succeed his father; the imperial government took no action, after Emperor Wenzong took the throne, Li Tongjie sent his secretary Cui Congzhang and brothers Li Tongzhi and Li Tongsun to the capital Chang'an to pay homage to Emperor Wenzong, hoping that Emperor Wenzong would approve of his succession.
In response, Emperor Wenzong commissioned Li Tongjie as the military governor of Yanhai Circuit and transferred a former military governor of Henghai, Wu Chongyin, to Henghai. Li Tongjie decided to resist militarily, he was supported by the warlord Wang Tingcou, the military governor of neighboring Chengde Circuit. Emperor Wenzong mobilized a number of circuits around Henghai to attack it, but could not achieve success. Not until 829 was Li Tongjie defeated by the imperial general Li You. In the aftermath of Li Tongjie's defeat, one of the other warlords of the region, Shi Xiancheng the military governor of Weibo Circuit, fearing that he would be the imperial forces' next target, offered to surrender his circuit to imperial control. Emperor Wenzong transferred Shi to Hezhong Circuit and commissioned the imperial general Li Ting to succeed him. Before Shi could depart Weibo, the Weibo soldiers mutinied, killed him, supported the officer He Jintao as their leader in resisting Li Ting. Subsequently, He Jintao defeated Li Ting, the imperial government, with its treasury drained by the Henghai campaign, decided not to wage another war, Emperor Wenzong allowed He Jintao to become the military governor of Weibo.
In late 829, irritated by incursions by Tang's Xichuan Circuit troops, who were forced to resort to raiding Nanzhao's border regions due to the reduction in salaries by Xichuan's military governor, the former chancellor Du Yuanying, made a major attack against Xichuan. The Nanzhao forces advanced all the way to Chengdu capturing it. Nanzhao demanded that Emperor Wenzong take action against Du, Emperor Wenzong exiled him and
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese known as Modern Standard Mandarin, Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin Chinese, or Mandarin, is a standard variety of Chinese, the sole official language of China, the de facto official language of Taiwan and one of the four official languages of Singapore. Its pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, its vocabulary on the Mandarin dialects, its grammar is based on written vernacular Chinese. Like other varieties of Chinese, Standard Chinese is a tonal language with topic-prominent organization and subject–verb–object word order, it has more initial consonants but final consonants and tones than southern varieties. Standard Chinese is an analytic language, though with many compound words. There are two standardised forms of the language, namely Putonghua in Mainland China and Guoyu in Taiwan. Aside from a number of differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, Putonghua is written using simplified Chinese characters, Guoyu is written using traditional Chinese characters.
Many characters are identical between the two systems. In Chinese, the standard variety is known as: 普通话 in the People's Republic of China, as well as Hong Kong and Macau. Standard Chinese is commonly referred to by generic names for "Chinese", notably 中文. In total, there have been known over 20 various names for the language; the term Guoyu had been used by non-Han rulers of China to refer to their languages, but in 1909 the Qing education ministry applied it to Mandarin, a lingua franca based on northern Chinese varieties, proclaiming it as the new "national language". The name Putonghua has a long, albeit unofficial, history, it was used as early as 1906 in writings by Zhu Wenxiong to differentiate a modern, standard Chinese from classical Chinese and other varieties of Chinese. For some linguists of the early 20th century, the Putonghua, or "common tongue/speech", was conceptually different from the Guoyu, or "national language"; the former was a national prestige variety. Based on common understandings of the time, the two were, in fact, different.
Guoyu was understood as formal vernacular Chinese, close to classical Chinese. By contrast, Putonghua was called "the common speech of the modern man", the spoken language adopted as a national lingua franca by conventional usage; the use of the term Putonghua by left-leaning intellectuals such as Qu Qiubai and Lu Xun influenced the People's Republic of China government to adopt that term to describe Mandarin in 1956. Prior to this, the government used both terms interchangeably. In Taiwan, Guoyu continues to be the official term for Standard Chinese; the term Guoyu however, is less used in the PRC, because declaring a Beijing dialect-based standard to be the national language would be deemed unfair to speakers of other varieties and to the ethnic minorities. The term Putonghua, on the contrary, implies nothing more than the notion of a lingua franca. During the government of a pro-Taiwan independence coalition, Taiwan officials promoted a different reading of Guoyu as all of the "national languages", meaning Hokkien and Formosan as well as Standard Chinese.
Huayu, or "language of the Chinese nation" simply meant "Chinese language", was used in overseas communities to contrast Chinese with foreign languages. Over time, the desire to standardise the variety of Chinese spoken in these communities led to the adoption of the name "Huayu" to refer to Mandarin; this name avoids choosing a side between the alternative names of Putonghua and Guoyu, which came to have political significance after their usages diverged along political lines between the PRC and the ROC. It incorporates the notion that Mandarin is not the national or common language of the areas in which overseas Chinese live. Hanyu, or "language of the Han people", is another umbrella term used for Chinese. However, it has confusingly two different meanings: Standard Chinese; this term, as well as Hànzú, is a modern concept. A related concept is Hànzì; the term "Mandarin" is a translation of Guānhuà, which referred to the lingua franca of the late Chinese empire. The Chinese term is obsolete as a name for the standard language, but is used by linguists to refer to the major group of Mandarin dialects spoken natively across most of northern and southwestern China.
In English, "Mandarin" may refer to the standard language, the dialect group as a whole, or to historic forms such as the late Imperial lingua franca. The name "Modern Standard Mandarin" is sometimes used by linguists who wish to distinguish the current state of the shared language from other northern and historic dialects; the Chinese have different languages in different provinces, to such an extent
Shatuo
The Shatuo were a Turkic tribe that influenced northern Chinese politics from the late ninth century through the tenth century. They are noted for founding three of the five dynasties and one of the kingdoms during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period; the Shato tribes descended from the Chigil tribes, belonging to a group of six Chu tribes collectively known as Yueban. The Yueban state survived to the end of 480s. After the fall of the its state the Yuebans formed four tribes - Chuyue, Chumi and Chuban; these tribes became major players in the Turkic Khaganate and thereafter An 8th-century Tibetan geographer mentioned Chumuhuns in Altai and south of it as the Ibilkur, associated them with Külüg-Külchur. They were the only Chuy tribe that in the middle of the 8th century preserved their independence, in spite of being sandwiched between Karluks and Turgesh, their possessions were on the west side of the Tarbagatai range. The branch of the Chuy tribes that remained in the Western Turkic Kaganate as part of On-Ok union occupied territory east of the lake Barkul, called in Chinese Shato, formed of three sub-tribes.
Shato participated in suppressing many uprisings on behalf of China, for that the Chinese emperors granted their leaders various titles and rewards. After a defeat of Chuy by Tibetans in 808, Chuy Shato branch asked for protection from China, moved into Inner China, it is known that after suppression of Huang-Chao uprising in 875-883, establishing three out of five dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, their number in China fell down to between 50-100,000, which ruled a Chinese population of about 50 million people. Some argue. Others claim they emerged as part of the Üç-Oğuz confederation of Oghuz Turks. A detailed analysis of the term Shato is given by prof. Chjan Si-man, their social and economic life was studied by W. Eberhard. In "Tanghuyao" the Shato tamga is depicted as The Shatuo Turks were assimilated, held onto their power base in Shanxi, they gained in strength through the 910s until in 923, they were able to overcome the Later Liang with Khitan assistance to found The Later Tang Shato nobles established the Later Tang dynasty of China.
During the Mongol period the Shato fell under the Chagatai Khanate, after its demise remained in its remnant in Zhetysu and northern Tian Shan. The Shatuo received tribute from the Tata people from norther of the Ordos in 966, while they were vassals of the Khitan Emperor. In history the Shato, together with the Tian Shan Kirgyz, fell under domination of the Mongol Oirats known as Kalmyks. With the expansion of the Khanate of Kokand, the Tian Shan and Zhetysu Shato were in its protectorate. To the Tang Dynasty, the Shato served a purpose; some claim that they were a part of the Tang dynasty's foreign policy to control and manage other'border' peoples identified as a threat. The Tang Chinese refer to such peoples as Western barbarians; some argue that a divide and conquer policy was applied against those identified as a threat the Tibetans and Turkic tribes in Central Asia. The Tang Chinese continued this long policy and in other epochs this became an institutionalised tradition. Seyanto were a member of the Tele union who, after being assaulted by the Western Türkic Chora-Kagan in 605, seceded from the Western Türkic Kaganate, established their own Kaganate under a leadership of Kibir tribe's Baga-Kagan Yagmurchyn, retaining the control and income from the Turfan segment of the Silk Road.
A head of Seyanto tribe, was installed as a lesser Kagan Yetir. In the 610, when on the Western Türkic Kaganate throne was raised Yakui-Kagan, both rulers renounced their Kagan ranks and rejoined the Western Türkic Kaganate, but when the next Western Türkic Tong-Yabgu-Kagan annexed all seven tribes of the Seyanto-headed Tele confederation, which included Uigurs, Edizes, Tongra and Baisi tribes, the Seyanto leader led in 627 his tribes into the territory of the Eastern Türkic Kaganate, defeated the main force of the Kaganate led by the son of the reigning Kagan El-Kagan, Yukuk-Shad, settled in the valley of r. Tola in the Northern Mongolia. After the victory, Uigur leader Pusa assumed a title kat-elteber and split from the confederation, in 629 the Seyanto Ynan-erkin declared himself a Jenchu Bilge-Kagan of a new Seyanto Kaganate; the Kaganate was recognized by the Tang Empire, as a counterweight against its enemy Eastern Türkic Kaganate. "Raising Ynan on Kagan throne was done under pressure from the Tang court interested in stripping El-kagan of the rights to the supreme power in the huge region, in final dismemberment of the Türkic state, a source of many conflicts on their northern borders."
Seyanto provided military service by assisting the Tang Empire against the Tatars in the 630s. The Seyanto built a vast state spanning from the Altai Mountains to the Gobi desert. In a few years, mindful of a new powerful state on their northern border, the Tang empire switched their allegiance to independent Uigurs, who defeated Seyanto in 641, when under Jenchu Bilge-Kagan they threatened to attack other Chinese-aligned tribes. Five years the short-lived empire was all but destroyed by a Tang-Uigur alliance; the remnants of the Seyanto fled west to the Semirechye area. At the beginning of the 8th century, the Shato were subject t
Naming taboo
A naming taboo is a cultural taboo against speaking or writing the given names of exalted persons in China and within the Chinese cultural sphere. It was enforced by several laws throughout Imperial China, but its cultural and religious origins predate the Qin dynasty. Not respecting the appropriate naming taboos was considered a sign of lacking education and respect, brought shame both to the offender and the offended person; the naming taboo of the state discouraged the use of the emperor's given name and those of his ancestors. For example, during the Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang's given name Zheng was avoided, the first month of the year "Zhèng Yuè" was rewritten into "Zhēng Yuè" and furthermore renamed as "Duan Yue"; the strength of this taboo was reinforced by law. In 1777, Wang Xihou in his dictionary criticized the Kangxi dictionary and wrote the Qianlong Emperor's name without leaving out any stroke as required; this disrespect resulted in his and his family's executions and confiscation of their property.
This type of naming taboo is no longer observed in modern China. The naming taboo of the clan discouraged the use of the names of one's own ancestors. Ancestor names going back to seven generations were avoided. In diplomatic documents and letters between clans, each clan's naming taboos were observed; the naming taboo of the holinesses discouraged the use of the names of respected people. For example, writing Confucius' name was taboo during the Jin Dynasty. There were three ways to avoid using a taboo character: Changing the character to another one a synonym or which sounded similar to the character being avoided. For example, the Xuanwu Gate of the Forbidden City was renamed as "Shenwu" in order to avoid using a character from the Kangxi Emperor's name, Xuanye. Leaving the character as a blank. Omitting a stroke in the character the final stroke. Throughout Chinese history, there were emperors whose names contained common characters who would try to alleviate the burden of the populace in practicing name avoidance.
For example, Emperor Xuan of Han, whose given name Bingyi contained two common characters, changed his name to Xun, a far less common character, with the stated purpose of making it easier for his people to avoid using his name. Emperor Taizong of Tang, whose given name Shimin contained two common characters, ordered that name avoidance only required the avoidance of the characters Shi and Min in direct succession and that it did not require the avoidance of those characters in isolation. However, his son Emperor Gaozong of Tang made this edict of Emperor Taizong ineffective after his death by requiring the complete avoidance of the characters Shi and Min, necessitating the chancellor Li Shiji to change his name to Li Ji. In dynasties, princes were given names that contained uncommon characters to make it easier for the public to avoid them, should they become emperor in life; the custom of naming taboo had a built-in contradiction: without knowing what the emperors' names were one could hardly be expected to avoid them, so somehow the emperors' names had to be informally transmitted to the populace to allow them to learn them in order to avoid them.
In one famous incident in 435, during the Northern Wei Dynasty, Goguryeo ambassadors made a formal request that the imperial government issue them a document containing the emperors' names so that they could avoid offending the emperor while submitting their king's petition. Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei issued them such a document. However, the mechanism of how the regular populace would be able to learn the emperors' names remained unclear throughout Chinese history; this taboo is important to keep in mind when studying ancient historical texts from the cultural sphere, as historical characters and/or locations may be renamed if they happen to share a name with the emperor in power when the text was written. Thus, the study of naming taboos can help date an ancient text. Japan was influenced by the naming taboo. In modern Japan, it concerns only the Emperor of Japan, whom people only refer as Tennō Heika or Kinjō Heika. Ancient Japanese people had so much respect for this custom that historians forgot the actual names of many historical figures or sometimes the correct pronunciation, as many Han characters have multiple pronunciations.
For example, the son of Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobukatsu, is called Oda Nobuo. In Vietnam, the family name Hoàng was changed to Huỳnh in the South due to the naming taboo of Lord Nguyễn Hoàng's name; the family name "Vũ" is known as "Võ" in the South. Imperial examination in Chinese mythology, example Names of God in Judaism, similar taboo Taboo against naming the dead, similar taboo in many cultures 陳垣 ，《史諱舉例》 - the pioneering work in the field, written during the early 20th century, numerous editions
Yangzhou
Yangzhou, postal romanization Yangchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, Zhenjiang across the river to the south, its population was 4,414,681 at the 2010 census and its urban area is home to 2,146,980 inhabitants, including three urban districts in the agglomeration. Yangzhou was one of the wealthiest cities in China, known at various periods for its great merchant families, poets and scholars, its name refers to its former position as the capital of the ancient Yangzhou prefecture in imperial China. Yangzhou was one of the first cities to benefit from one of the earliest world bank loans in China, used to construct Yangzhou thermal power station in 1994; the prefecture-level city of Yangzhou administers six county-level divisions, including three districts, two county-level cities and one county.
Accordingly, they are further divided into 98 township-level divisions, including 87 towns and townships, 11 subdistricts. Guangling, the first settlement in the Yangzhou area, was founded in the Autumn period. After the defeat of Yue by King Fuchai of Wu, a garrison city was built 12 m above the water level on the north bank of the Yangtze c. 485 BC. This city in the shape of a three by three li square was named Hancheng; the newly built Han canal formed a moat around east sides of the city. The purpose of Hancheng was to protect Suzhou from naval invasion from Qi. In 590, the city began to be called Yangzhou, the traditional name of what was the entire southeastern part of China then. Under Emperor Yang of Sui, Yangzhou was the southern capital of China, it was called Jiangdu upon the completion of the Grand Canal until the fall of the Sui dynasty. By the mid 610s, a combination of fruitless attempts to conquer the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo, together with natural disasters and provincial unrest, ensured many people Emperor Yang had lost the legitimacy of his monarchy.
As revolts spread across China in 616, the Emperor abandoned the North and meanwhile withdrew to Jiangdu, where he remained until his assassination in 618. The city has remained a leading economic and cultural center and major port of foreign trade and external exchange since the Tang dynasty. Many Arab and Persian merchants lived in the city in the 7th century, but they were massacred in the thousands in 760 during the An Lushan Rebellion by Tian Shengong's rebel insurgents during the Yangzhou massacre. During the Tang dynasty, many merchants from Silla lived in Yangzhou; the city, still known as Guangling, was made the capital of Wu during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Yangzhou was the temporary seat of the Song dynasty government between 1128 and 1129, when most of North China had been conquered by the Jurchens during the Jin–Song Wars; the Song had retreated south to the city from their original capital in Kaifeng after it was captured by the Jurchen in the Jingkang Incident of 1127.
From Yangzhou, the Song moved to Hangzhou in 1129 establishing it as the capital of the Southern Song. In 1280, Yangzhou was the site of a massive gunpowder explosion when the bomb store of the Weiyang arsenal accidentally caught fire; this blast killed over a hundred guards, hurled debris from buildings into the air that landed ten li away from the site of the explosion, could be felt 100 li away as tiles on roofs shook. Marco Polo claimed to have served the Yuan dynasty in Yangzhou under Kubilai Khan in the period around 1282–1287. Although some versions of Polo's memoirs imply that he was the governor of Yangzhou, it is more that he was an official in the salt industry, if indeed he was employed there at all. Chinese texts offer no supporting evidence for his claim; the discovery of the 1342 tomb of Katarina Vilioni, member of an Italian trading family in Yangzhou, however, suggest the existence of a thriving Italian community in the city in the 14th century. There were Arabic inscriptions from the 13th and 14th centuries, indicating the presence of a Muslim community.
During the Ming dynasty until the 19th century Yangzhou acted as a major trade exchange center for salt and silk. The Ming were responsible for building the city as it now stands and surrounding it with 9 km of walls. After the fall of Beijing and northern China to the Manchus in 1644, Yangzhou remained under the control of the short-lived Southern Ming based in Nanjing. Qing forces led by Prince Dodo reached Yangzhou in the spring of 1645, despite the heroic efforts of its chief defender, Shi Kefa, the city fell on May 20, 1645, after a brief siege; the ten-day Yangzhou massacre followed, in which, as it was traditionally alleged, 800,000 people died. Shi Kefa himself was killed by the Manchus when he refused to switch his allegiance to the Qing regime; the city's rapid recovery from these events and its great prosperity through the early and middle years of the Qing dynasty were due to its role as administrative center of the Lianghuai sector of the government salt monopoly. As early as 1655, the Dutch envoy Johan Nieuhof described the city commented on the city's salt trade as follows: This Trade alone has so much enrich'd the Inhabitants of this Town, that they have re-built their City since the last destruction by the Tartars, erecting it in as great spl
