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

place? Their bewilderment increased a few days later, when a stranger at a post station north of Chengdu proclaimed himself the new governor and asked for bribes. It soon turned out that the man was an imposter, who was executed immediately after the genuine appointee assumed his post.²

This episode vividly reveals the extraordinary importance attached to Shu in the Tang period. As will be demonstrated, the region is central to the subject of this book, the Former Shu regime and its founder Wang Jian. In its heyday, the territory of the Former Shu covered major parts of today’s Sichuan, Chongqing, and the Hanzhong area of Shaanxi province, as well as some lands in adjacent provinces including Guizhou, Yunnan, Hunan, Hubei, and Gansu. Despite frequent minor changes in its territorial makeup, the Sichuan Basin, especially the Chengdu Plain, remained the core domain of the Former Shu from its founding to its fall.³ Indeed, the Former Shu and all the other polities in Chinese history that went by the name “Shu,” used it to designate the greater area centered on the Chengdu Plain. From any point of view, this area constitutes a significant part of China proper, both historically and in the present day. It is well known for its isolated geography, amazing wealth, large population, vibrant culture, and unique political traditions. Considering the centrality of this distinctive setting to our subject, I will provide a brief survey of Shu’s physical conditions, historical development and communications with the rest of China, with a focus on its unique role during the Tang dynasty prior to the 880s, when Wang Jian emerged in this area and started to lay the foundation for his Shu empire.

A History of Shu before the Tang

Situated in the hinterland of southwest China, the greater Shu region encompasses a variegated topography, from the highlands in the north and west, to the basin and plain in the middle and the east, to the narrow gorges channeling the Yangzi River eastward. The territory is as large as France. On the western edge of Shu are mountainous areas, constituting the eastern extremity of the great Himalaya range, with an average altitude of over 9,000 feet above sea level. These, in turn, connect to the