Power and Politics in Tenth-Century China: The Former Shu Regime ...

and Southern Han presented letters of credence that bore the rhetoric of political equality. Notably, Zhuangzong, though having overtly claimed supremacy in China, accepted them without obvious rebuke.⁴² In the case of the powerful Later Zhou in the late 950s, the emperor Shizong (Chai Rong , 921–959, r. 954–959) maintained a realistic attitude toward the south even after defeating the Southern Tang in Huainan. When a military governor in what is now Fujian province voluntarily offered his submission to the Zhou, Shizong turned him down, claiming that he had to abide by the treaty between the Zhou and the Southern Tang and could not interfere in southern politics.⁴³

Of course, such a pragmatic strategy for dealing with interstate relations was not universally carried out by all the rulers of the day. Some ambitious rulers did not hesitate to adopt expansionist policies, especially when rival states suffered internal strife. For example, Li Jing (r. 943–961) of the Southern Tang adopted a more aggressive policy in dealing with neighbors, sending troops to occupy Min and Chu in 945 and 951, respectively, while the two regimes were in serious internal power struggles.⁴⁴ There were also occasions on which a ruler––preferring to maintain the balance of power––would not persist in taking the same strategy during his reign and would instead alter his policy to adapt to the changing situation. This can be clearly seen in Zhuangzong’s changing attitude toward the Former Shu, which will be discussed later in this study. But it should be pointed out that while the expansionist behavior of those rulers might have temporarily changed the geopolitics of the regions involved, it did not prevent the formation of a similar balance of power in which some new regimes continued the pragmatic interstate strategies.⁴⁵ Actually, the balance of power in China proper established from the wreckage of the Tang seemed to have been sustained until the late Five Dynasties. The prolonged absence of a dominant power, the prompt filling of the vacuum left by defeated powers, and, more importantly, the deliberate efforts of the regional regimes to maintain the balance, all accounted for the lasting existence of the power-balance system. Indeed, the balance of power was not only a historical reality of tenth-century China but also an important basis on which regional