Chang He (586 – 16 June 653),

Courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Dalai, formally the Count of Wushui (武水伯), was a

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

general and official. He was the head of the Xuanwu Gate's guard during the

Xuanwu Gate Incident The Xuanwu Gate Incident was a palace coup for the throne of the Tang dynasty on 2 July of 626, when Prince Li Shimin (Prince of Qin) and his followers assassinated his brothers Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and Prince Li Yuanji (Prince of Qi). L ...

, playing an important role in it.

Background

Chang He was born in 586 during the reign of

Emperor Wen of Sui Emperor Wen of Sui (; 21 July 541 – 13 August 604), personal name Yang Jian (), Xianbei name Puliuru Jian (), was the founding Emperor of China, emperor of the Chinese Sui dynasty. As a Buddhist, he encouraged the spread of Buddhism through ...

. Chang Cen (常岑), his grandfather, served under

Northern Qi Qi, known as the Northern Qi (), Later Qi (後齊) or Gao Qi (高齊) in historiography, was a Dynasties in Chinese history, Chinese imperial dynasty and one of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties during the ...

, and Chang Xu (常续), his father, was a minor official. His ancestral home was in Wen County, Henei Commandery (now

Wen County, Henan Wen County or Wenxian () is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Jiaozuo, in the northwest of Henan Province. Geography Wen County lies on the left or north bank of the Yellow River, opposite the county-level cities ...

).''

Dunhuang manuscripts The Dunhuang manuscripts are a wide variety of religious and secular documents (mostly manuscripts, including Hemp paper, hemp, silk, paper and Woodblock printing, woodblock-printed texts) in Old Tibetan, Tibetan, Chinese, and other languages tha ...

,'
P.2640
/ref> Initially serving under Li Mi, Chang He served under

Wang Shichong Wang Shichong (; 567– August 621), courtesy name Xingman (行滿), was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician during the Sui dynasty who deposed Sui's last emperor Yang Tong and briefly ruled as the emperor of a succeeding state ...

before surrendering to the

. He followed Crown Prince Li Jiancheng in suppressing

Liu Heita Liu Heita () (died March 623( ��德六年��月，刘黑闼伏诛。) ''Xin Tang Shu'', vol.01; the month corresponds to 7 Mar to 5 Apr 623 in the Julian calendar. Vol.190 of ''Zizhi Tongjian'' dated Liu's capture to the ''ji'mao'' day of the 1st m ...

's rebellion and was also involved in defeating

Xu Yuanlang Xu Yuanlang (徐圓朗) (died 26 March 623) was an agrarian rebel leader who rose against the rule of the Chinese Sui dynasty late in the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui. After doing so, he did not initially claim any royal title, instead successiv ...

. His position then was General of the Courageous Guard (驍騎將軍).

Service Under Emperor Taizong

The Xuanwu Gate Incident

In 624,

Li Shimin Emperor Taizong of Tang (28January 59810July 649), previously Prince of Qin, personal name Li Shimin, was the second Emperor of China, emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, ruling from 626 to 649. He is traditionally regarded as a co-founder ...

, the Prince of Qin, ordered Chang He to guard Xuanwu Gate (玄武門), the northern gate leading to the Palace City in imperial capital

Chang'an Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...

. He bestowed Chang He and his subordinates gold for doing so. On 2 July, 626, Chang He allowed Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and his political ally

Li Yuanji Li Yuanji ( Chinese: 李元吉, Pinyin: Lǐ Yuánjí) (603 – 2 July 626), formally Prince La of Chao (巢剌王), more commonly known by the title of Prince of Qi (齊王), nickname Sanhu (三胡), was an imperial prince of the Chinese Tang dy ...

, the Prince of Qi, to enter Xuanwu Gate in order to answer Emperor Gaozu's summon while allowing Li Shimin to enter Xuanwu Gate with his troops beforehand to set up an ambush against them. After Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji entered, Li Shimin and his troops ambushed and killed them in what would be known as the

. Soon after this, Li Shimin forced Emperor Gaozu, his father, to make him the Crown Prince and, about two months later, forced him to abdicate in favor of him, who would become known as Emperor Taizong. Soon after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Chang He was made the Baron of Wushui (武水男).

Discovery of Ma Zhou

By 631, Chang He was a General of the Household (中郎將). In 631, Emperor Taizong ordered his officials to submit essays of suggestions. Chang He, being a martial man and not well-acquainted with writing, had Ma Zhou, his guest, to write for him. Ma Zhou wrote an essay of some 20 suggestions, which greatly impressed Emperor Taizong. When Emperor Taizong questioned Chang He about this essay, he said: "This is not what I can think of, but suggested by Ma Zhou, my guest. He is a loyal and filially pious man." Emperor Taizong summoned Ma Zhou and, after a smooth conversation, had him serve at the ''

Menxia Sheng The Menxia Sheng (), sometimes translated as the Chancellery, was one of the departments of the Three Departments and Six Ministries government structure of imperial China. It advised the emperor and the ''Zhongshu Sheng'' (Central Secretariat), ...

'' (門下省, Imperial Chancellary). He would eventually become a

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

. Emperor Taizong awarded Chang He three hundred rolls of silk for discovering Ma Zhou.

Later Life

Chang He's title was changed to Count of Wushui (武水伯) in 632. In 637, Chang He was made the Inspector of Jing Prefecture. In 642, Chang He was ordered to oversee renovations of the Palace of Nine Perfections. In 645, Chang He served as the deputy of Zhang Liang in Emperor Taizong's campaign against Goguryeo, attacking Goguryeo by sea. Chang He died on 16 June, 653, during the reign of

Emperor Gaozong of Tang Emperor Gaozong of Tang (21 July 628 – 27 December 683), personal name Li Zhi, was the third Emperor of China, emperor of the Chinese Tang dynasty, ruling from 649 to 683; after January 665, he handed power over the empire to his second wife ...

. His epitaph, written by

Li Yifu Li Yifu (; 614–666) was a Chinese historian, poet, and politician who served as a chancellor of the Tang dynasty, during the reign of the Emperor Gaozong. He became particularly powerful because of his support for Emperor Gaozong's second wife ...

, is mostly extant and found among the

. He was reburied in his hometown in 655.

Notes and references

* ''

New Book of Tang The ''New Book of Tang'', generally translated as the "New History of the Tang" or "New Tang History", is a work of official history covering the Tang dynasty in ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of the So ...

'', vol. 82, 84, 220. * ''

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 ...

'', vol. 191. * ''Zhenguan Zhengyao'', vol. 2. People from Wen County, Henan People from Kaifeng Tang dynasty generals Transition from Sui to Tang Tang dynasty people 586 births 653 deaths {{DEFAULTSORT:He, Chang