Wang Jianzhao (王建肇) was a warlord late in the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

, who controlled Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern

Jingzhou Jingzhou () is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei province, China, located on the banks of the Yangtze River. Its total residential population was 5,231,180 based on the 2020 census, 1,068,291 of whom resided in the built-up (''or metro' ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The pr ...

) from 887 to 888, and then Wutai Circuit (武泰, headquartered in modern

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Cou ...

) from 888 to 896, when he surrendered to Wang Jian.

Background and control of Jingnan

Little is known about Wang Jianzhao's background, as there was no biography for him in any of the official histories. The first historical reference to him was in 887, as of which time he was serving under

Zhao Deyin Zhao Deyin () (died 892), formally the Prince of Huai'an (), was a warlord late in the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, who initially served as a general under the pretender emperor Qin Zongquan. When Qin neared defeat, Zhao declared loyalty to Tang ...

, who had then claimed the title of acting military governor of Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern

Xiangyang Xiangyang is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hubei province, China and the second largest city in Hubei by population. It was known as Xiangfan from 1950 to 2010. The Han River runs through Xiangyang's centre and divides the city no ...

) under allegiance to

Qin Zongquan Qin Zongquan (; died April 1, 889) was a Chinese military general, monarch, politician, rebel, and warlord during the Tang Dynasty. He was later a claimant to the imperial throne, in competition with Emperor Xizong of Tang and, later, Emperor Xiz ...

— who was formerly a Tang general but who had rebelled against the rule of Emperor Xizong and claimed the title of emperor himself at Cai Prefecture (蔡州, in modern

Zhumadian Zhumadian (; postal: Chumatien) is a prefecture-level city in southern Henan province, China. It borders Xinyang to the south, Nanyang to the west, Pingdingshan to the northwest, Luohe to the north, Zhoukou to the northeast, and the province o ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

). Late in 887, Zhao attacked Tang's Jingnan Circuit and killed its military governor (''

Jiedushi The ''jiedushi'' (), or jiedu, was a title for regional military governors in China which was established in the Tang dynasty and abolished in the Yuan dynasty. The post of ''jiedushi'' has been translated as "military commissioner", " legate ...

'')

Zhang Gui Zhang Gui (, 255–314) was the governor of Liang province and first Duke of Xiping under Western Jin. He was the seventeenth generation descendant of King of Changshan Zhang Er from the Chu–Han Contention The Chu–Han Contention ( zh, , ...

. He then left Wang in charge of Jingnan, whose capital Jiangling Municipality was said to have only a few hundred families left after the warfare.''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynas ...

'', vol. 257. In 888, the Tang prefect of Gui Prefecture (歸州, in modern

Yichang Yichang (), alternatively romanized as Ichang, is a prefecture-level city located in western Hubei province, China. It is the third largest city in the province after the capital, Wuhan and the prefecture-level city Xiangyang, by urban populat ...

), Guo Yu attacked Jingnan and expelled Wang. Wang fled to Qian Prefecture (黔州, in modern

). Apparently, some time later, perhaps around 890, Wang submitted to Tang imperial authority and was made the military governor of Wutai Circuit.According to the modern historian

Bo Yang Bo Yang (; 7 March 1920 – 29 April 2008), sometimes also erroneously called Bai Yang, was a Chinese historian, novelist, philosopher, poet, and politician based in Taiwan. He is also regarded as a social critic. According to his own memoir, ...

, the circuit was named Wutai in 890, thus dating the probable date for Wang's submission to Tang. See ''Bo Yang Edition of the Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 62 88

As military governor of Wutai

Little is known about Wang Jianzhao's governance of Wutai. In 896, Guo Yu (who, by that point, had changed his name back to his birth name of Cheng Rui, which he changed to Guo Yu during a time when he was fleeing from disaster), along with his subordinate Xu Cun (許存), headed west on the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flow ...

to capture Wang's territory. Wang was unable to resist their attack, and he abandoned Qian Prefecture and withdrew to Fengdu (豐都, in modern Chongqing).''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 260. Cheng made his subordinate Zhao Wu (趙武) the acting military governor of Wutai. Zhao thereafter made repeated attacks on Wang at Fengdu. Wang could not resist Zhao's attacks, so he surrendered to Wang Jian the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese provin ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of th ...

). That was the last historical reference to Wang Jianzhao, and it is not known whether he served in any campaigns under Wang Jian or when he died.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Jianzhao 9th-century births Year of death unknown Qin Zongquan's state Tang dynasty jiedushi of Wutai Circuit