Li Bian

Also known as Xu Zhigao · Nantang Liezu

Li Bian, the Southern Tang emperor Liezu, was born into a Li family of Xuzhou, adopted as a child by the Wu general Xu Wen, and as Xu Zhigao ran the Wu government for many years. In 937 he accepted the abdication of the Wu ruler Yang Pu and took the throne at Jinling, naming his state Qi and his era Shengyuan; in 939 he resumed the surname Li, took the name Bian, renamed the state Tang, claiming descent from a son of the Tang emperor Xianzong. He seldom went to war and kept peace with Wuyue and other neighbors; when a great fire struck Hangzhou in 941 and his ministers urged an attack, he refused and sent envoys with condolences instead. Weakened by elixirs, he died in March 943 and was succeeded by his eldest son Li Jing. His Yong Mausoleum at Zutang Hill near Nanjing was excavated in the early 1950s together with Li Jing's tomb as the Two Southern Tang Mausoleums.