Jiedushi

The title Jiedushi ( Chinese  節度使  /  节度使 , Pinyin Jiédùshǐ ) denoted regional military governors in China during the Tang Dynasty and the time of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms . Originally used to ward off external threats, the Jiedushi gained more and more power and influence, from the right to collect taxes to hereditary titles to maintaining their own armies.

A famous example is An Lushan , who, as a Jiedushi of three areas, was equipped with an army of 200,000 men and called in 755 to rebellion. But even after this revolution was suppressed, the Jiedushi retained their power and pushed the fall of the Tang dynasty all the more violently, so that around 900 AD the powerful Jiedushi succeeded in eliminating the central government in China. This led to the political instability of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period , which was marked by power struggles between rival kingdoms, dynasties and regional Jiedushi.

Famous Jiedushi

• To Lushan
• Zhu Wen
• Li Keyong
• Li Cunxu
• Li Maozhen
• Liu Rengong
• Liu Shouguang
• Li Jiqian
• Meng Zhixiang

Web links

• some Jiedushi the Five Dynasties (Engl.)