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Li Deyu
Tang chief minister and son of Li Jifu who directed the wars against the Uighurs and the Zelu rebels under Wuzong and died in exile on Hainan
Mural of the event “Huichang Secularization of Buddhism”, which this person took part in.
In the mid-to-late Tang, Buddhist monasteries accumulated immense untaxed estates, sheltered dependent populations, and melted bronze currency for statues, causing severe fiscal distress.
Also known as Zi Wenrao · Duke of Wei
Li Deyu, courtesy name Wenrao, was a son of the chief minister Li Jifu and entered office through his father's privilege rather than the examinations. After serving as a Hanlin academician he governed Zhexi and Xichuan, where the Tibetan commander of Weizhou surrendered his city, only for the court, on Niu Sengru's advice, to hand the defectors back. Made chief minister and Earl of Zanhuang in 833, he was soon pushed out by factional rivals. Emperor Wuzong recalled him in 840, and through the Huichang years he planned the campaigns against the Uighurs and against Liu Zhen at Zelu, drafting most military edicts himself; he became Duke of Wei and backed the suppression of Buddhist monasteries in 845. Under Xuanzong he was demoted step by step to a minor post on Hainan, where he died at the end of 849 by the Chinese calendar. His writings form the Huichang Collection, and the Old Tang History's compiler recalled hearing elders tell stories of the Duke of Wei.
Life and times
- 787 CEBorn
Tang - 845Huichang Secularization of Buddhism
Took partage 58State secularization of 40,000 temples and 260,000 monastics to restore imperial fiscal solvency.- Wuzong's Huichang Secularization of BuddhismEmperor Wuzong suppressed Buddhism, confiscating monastic estates and returning 260,000 monks to secular tax rolls.
- Wuzong's Huichang Secularization of Buddhism
- 850 CEDied
Works
Literature · Prose3- Collected Works of Li Deyu from the Huichang EraTangChief minister Li Deyu's edicts and memorials of the Huichang era, records of late Tang rule
- Further Old Tales from the Liu FamilyTangLi Deyu's seventeen anecdotes of Xuanzong's court, passed down from Gao Lishi via Liu Fang
- Collected Works of Li Deyu from the Huichang Era: Memorial Congratulating the Edict on Abolishing the MonasteriesTang
- Literature · Poetry1
- Written on Climbing the Wall of YazhouTangLi Deyu's quatrain from exile on Hainan, the capital half a year's flight away for a bird
