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Heavenly King
Heavenly King or Tian Wang (), also translated as Heavenly Prince, is a Chinese language, Chinese title for various religious deities and divine leaders throughout history, as well as an alternate form of the term ''Son of Heaven'', referring to the Emperor of China, emperor. The Chinese term for Heavenly King consists of two Chinese characters: 天 (''tiān''), meaning Tian, "heaven" or "sky", and 王 (''wáng''), which could mean either "king" or "prince" depending on the context. The term was most notably used in its most recent sense as the title of the kings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but is also used in religious (particularly Buddhism, Buddhist) contexts as well. Historical uses Spring and Autumn period In the Spring and Autumn period, the term ''Heavenly King'' was used to at least some extent to refer to the kings of the various Chinese states of the time. On the second page of the first text of the Spring and Autumn Annals, the term ''Heavenly King'' is used i ...
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Nanjing Presidential Palace 2010
Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yangtze River Delta, Nanjing has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having served as the capital of various Chinese dynasties, kingdoms and republican governments dating from the 3rd century to 1949, and has thus long been a major center of culture, education, research, politics, economy, transport networks and tourism, being the home to one of the world's largest inland ports. The city is also one of the fifteen sub-provincial cities in the People's Republic of China's administrative structure, enjoying jurisdictional and economic autonomy only slightly less than that of a province. It has also been awarded the title of 2008 Habitat Scroll of Honor of China, Special UN Habitat Scroll of Honor Award and National Civilized C ...
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Shi Hu
Shi Hu (; 295 – 26 May 349), courtesy name Jilong (季龍), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Wu of Later Zhao (後趙武帝), was an emperor of the Jie-led Chinese Later Zhao dynasty. He was the founding emperor Shi Le (Emperor Ming)'s distant nephew and adopted brother, who took power in a coup after Shi Le's death from Shi Le's heir Shi Hong. Due to Tang dynasty naming taboo, he is referred to as Shi Jilong (石季龍) in the ''Book of Jin''. Shi Hu was a talented general who rarely lost battles, and Shi Le relied on him heavily in his conquest of northern and central China. However, he was also exceedingly cruel in his military campaigns. After he became the ruler of Later Zhao under the title of "heavenly king" ('' Tian Wang''), he ruled the empire with a heavy hand, imposing heavy tax and labor burdens and spending much of his effort on constructing palaces and collecting concubines. When two of his crown princes crossed him on separate occasions, h ...
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Lü Shao
Lü Shao (; died 400), courtesy name Yongye (永業), also known by his posthumous name as the Prince Yin of Later Liang (後涼隱王), was briefly the second ruler of the Di-led Later Liang dynasty of China, ruling as its Heavenly King. He was a son of the founding emperor Lü Guang (Emperor Yiwu), but not his oldest son. Rather, he was considered Lü Guang's rightful heir because he was born of Lü Guang's wife. (His mother is therefore likely Princess Shi, although he could also be born of an even earlier wife.) His birth year is unknown, but he referred to himself as not yet 19 when he took the throne briefly in 400. During Lü Guang's reign When Lü Guang founded Later Liang in 386 (after he had taken over Liang Province (涼州, modern central and western Gansu after a return for a military campaign in central Asia on Former Qin's behalf), Lü Shao and Lü Guang's wife Lady Shi were not with him—they had remained in the Former Qin capital Chang'an during Lü Guang's ...
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Lü Guang
Lü Guang (; 337–400), courtesy name Shiming (世明), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Yiwu of Later Liang (後涼懿武帝), was the founding emperor of the Di-led Chinese Later Liang dynasty (although during most of his reign, he used the title "Heavenly King"). He was initially a Former Qin general, but in light of Former Qin's collapse starting in 384, he decided to found his own state, initially including nearly all of modern Gansu. As his reign continued, however, his domain dwindled after Southern Liang and Northern Liang declared independence. His death in 400 left Later Liang in an unstable state, and it would be no more by 403. Early life and career as Former Qin general Lü Guang was ethnically Di (although he claimed ancestry from an ethnically Han man named Lü Wenhe () who fled from Pei County (in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu, the same county that Han dynasty emperors' ancestors came) from a disaster and who settled in Di lands). He was born in 337, ...
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Later Liang (Sixteen Kingdoms)
The Later Liang (; 386–403) was a dynastic state of China and one of the Sixteen Kingdoms in Chinese history. It was founded by the Lü family of the Di ethnicity and given the prefix of "Later" in historiography to distinguish it with the Former Liang dynasty before them and the three Liang states ( Southern, Northern and Western) that emerged during their collapse. All rulers of the Later Liang proclaimed themselves "Heavenly King" ('' Tian Wang''). The state's founder, Lü Guang initially took on lesser titles before declaring himself Heavenly King of Liang in 396, and so the state was only known as "Liang" (涼) from 396 to 403. The Later Liang at its peak controlled the Hexi Corridor in Gansu with Guzang (姑臧, in modern Wuwei, Gansu) as their capital. After the Southern Liang and Northern Liang broke away in 397, their territory was gradually reduced to their capital region in central Gansu. History Background Lü Guang was a Di military general under ...
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Zhai Zhao
Zhai Zhao (; died 393) was the second and last monarch of the Dingling-led Chinese Zhai Wei dynasty. During his reign, he used the monarchical title of Heavenly King. Zhai Zhao's father Zhai Liao had, after rebelling against Eastern Jin dynasty in 386, held a swath of territory near the Yellow River in modern Henan. In 387, he sent Zhao Zhao to attack Jin's Chenliu (陳留, roughly modern Kaifeng, Henan) and Yinchuan (潁川, roughly modern Xuchang, Henan) commanderies, but Jin general Zhu Xu (朱序) repelled his attack. Later that year, under pressure from Later Yan's emperor Murong Chui, Zhai Liao briefly submitted to Later Yan, but in winter 387 again rebelled. In 388, he tried to reconcile with Later Yan, but after Murong Chui turned down his overture, declared an independent Wei state. In 390, the Jin general Liu Laozhi (劉牢之) attacked Zhai Zhao, who was then defending the city of Juancheng (鄄城, in modern Puyang, Henan), forcing Zhai Zhao to abandon Juancheng an ...
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Zhai Liao
Zhai Liao (; died 391) was a leader of the western Dingling horde and the founder of the Dingling-led Zhai Wei dynasty of China. During his reign, he used the monarchical title of Heavenly King. Early career Zhai Liao, a royal family member of the West Ding Ling, followed the horde migrate from Kazakhstan into China, his cousin Zhai Bin (翟斌), khan of the horde, who wage war against Former Qin's emperor Fu Jiān in 383, supported Later Yan's founding emperor Murong Chui when Murong Chui rebelled against Former Qin as well and established Later Yan. However, in 384, as Murong Chui sieged the important city Yecheng, which was defended by Fu Jiān's son Fu Pi, Zhai Bin, seeing that Murong Chui was unable to capture the city quickly, began to consider other options. When, in particular, he requested a prime ministerial title from Murong Chui and was refused, Zhai Bin prepared to ally with Fu Pi instead, but his plan was discovered, and he was ambushed, along with his brothers ...
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Zhai Wei
Wei (), known in historiography as Zhai Wei (), was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Dingling people that existed from 388 to 392, during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Its founder Zhai Liao had previously been vacillating between being a vassal of the Later Yan, Western Yan, and Eastern Jin dynasties, and in 388, after his last overture to reconcile with Later Yan's emperor Murong Chui was rejected, he founded his own dynasty, over the territory of modern central and eastern Henan. In 392, Zhai Wei, then under Zhai Liao's son Zhai Zhao, was destroyed by Later Yan forces. Because of its relatively small size and short lifespan, Zhai Wei is not included by historians among the Sixteen Kingdoms. The rulers of Zhai Wei used the title "Heavenly King" ('' Tian Wang''). History Background The Zhai clan were Dingling people who once resided in Kangju in the Western Regions for generations before migrating into China. Their first recorded leader was ...
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Fu Jian (337–385)
Fu Jian (; 337 –16 October 385), courtesy name Yonggu () or Wenyu (), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Xuanzhao of Former Qin (), was the third monarch of the Di-led Chinese Former Qin dynasty, ruling as Heavenly King. Under his reign, the Former Qin unified Northern China by conquering the Former Yan, Chouchi, Former Liang, and Dai, as well as the Eastern Jin's Yi Province (modern Sichuan and Chongqing), until he was repelled at the Battle of Fei River in 383. Following this defeat, the Former Qin state disintegrated and Fu was assassinated in 385 by Yao Chang, his former subordinate who then founded the Later Qin dynasty. He was considered by traditional histories to be a virtuous and just ruler, who, ironically, by sparing too many of his enemies after defeating them, led to his own downfall. Early life Fu Jian was born in 337, when the family name was still Pu (), to Fu Xiong () and his wife Lady Gou. His grandfather Pu Hong () was a Di chieftain ...
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Former Qin
Qin, known as the Former Qin and Fu Qin (苻秦) in historiography, was a Dynasties of China, dynastic state of China ruled by the Fu (Pu) clan of the Di (Five Barbarians), Di peoples during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. Founded in the wake of the Later Zhao, Later Zhao dynasty's collapse in 351, it completed the unification of northern China in 376 during the reign of Fu Jian (337–385), Fu Jiān (Emperor Xuanzhao), being the only state of the Sixteen Kingdoms to achieve so. Its capital was Chang'an up to Fu Jiān's death in 385. The prefix "Former" is used to distinguish it from the Later Qin and Western Qin dynasties that were founded later. In 383, the severe defeat of the Former Qin by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Jin dynasty at the Battle of Fei River encouraged uprisings, splitting Former Qin territory into two noncontiguous pieces after the death of Fu Jiān. One remnant, at present-day Taiyuan, Shanxi was soon overwhelmed in 386 by the Xianbei under the Later Yan, West ...
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Zizhi Tongjian
The ''Zizhi Tongjian'' (1084) is a chronicle published during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) that provides a record of Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynasties and spanning almost 1400 years. The main text is arranged into 294 scrolls (), each equivalent to a chapter—totaling around 3 million Chinese characters. In 1065, Emperor Yingzong of Song commissioned his official, Sima Guang (1019–1086), to lead a project to compile a Universal history (genre), universal history of China, and granted him funding and the authority to appoint his own staff. His team took 19 years to complete the work and in 1084 it was presented to Emperor Yingzong's successor Emperor Shenzong of Song. It was well-received and has proved to be immensely influential among both scholars and the general public. Endymion Wilkinson regards it as reference quality: "It had an enormous influence on later Chinese historical writing, either directly or through its many a ...
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