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| An Explorative Study on the Life of Gao Chongwen Through Textual Research in History, Biography, Stela Inscription, and Monumental Writing |
| Lu Yanxin |
| School of Literature, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China |
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Abstract Gao Chongwen was born in the Fifth Year of the Reign of Tianbao of Tang Dynasty (746 AD) . His life and deeds can be traced in official history books such as The Book of Tang, The New Book of Tang, and The Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance; in addition, there are six pieces of monumental writing in the form of tablets and stele. They are (1) “The Stele at the Head of Burial Path for Lord Gao Chongwen of Nanping Prefecture”; (2) “The Monument to Lord Gao Chengjian”; (3) “The Monument to Lord Gao Chengjian”; (4) “The Stele of Lord Gao Chengjian”; (5) “The Epitaph of Gao Chongwen”; (6) “The Epitaph of Gao Chenggong”. Nnumbers 3 and 4 no longer exist and what is available now are only the titles. Numbers 5 and 6 however, are recently excavated.Reading the monument inscriptions together with history and biographies, we know that Gao Chongwen was born in Lu County of You Prefecture and his great-grandfather and grandfathers respectively served the empire as Deputy Prefect of Bian Prefecture and Court Secretary of Righteous Comment. Gao joined the military in the fourteenth year of the Reign of Tianbao (755) as an orderly to the general of the Pinglu Army and was promoted to the Regional Head of Chen and Xu Prefectures. Eventually, he was granted the title of the Prince of Bohai Region. In the spring of the first year of the Reign of Yuanhe (806), he was promoted to the minister of the Industrial Department and at the same time worked as the Imperial Representative Supervisor, and as Commanding Officer of both Left and Right Imperial Guards with the title of Left General of the Imperial Guards, and later as Commander of the Fengtian and Linyou Military Regions in the attack against the rebellion lead by Liu Pi. Because of his military achievements, he was promoted to the position of the Minister of Defence, Supervising Lord of the Industry Department, Mayor of Chengdu City, Deputy Head of the Western Sichuan Military District, Observer/Executive of Bin, Ning, and Qing Prefectures, the Governor of Region West of the Imperial Capital. He died in the fourth year of the Reign of Yuanhe (809).He married a woman from the Dong family, who was granted the title of the Lay of Xun. In his second marriage, he married a woman from the Guo family, who was granted the title of the Lady of Jin.His eldest son was Gao Chengjian, aka. Shizheng, whose year of birth is unknown. Gao Chengjian followed his father in the campaign against Liu Pi, and he was granted the title of the Tutor for Prince En. He later served as the Prefect of Xing Prefecture, Imperial Observing, and Executive Representative of Bin, Ning, and Qing Prefectures. Gao Chengjian died in the eighth month of the first year of the Reign of Dahe (827).His first wife also gave birth to Gao Shirong who served as the General of the Capital Guards; and to Gao Shiming, who served the emperor at a lower rank secretarial position, and at an even lower rank of a logistic officer.His second wife gave birth to Gao Chenggong who followed his father marching into Sichuan in the first year of the Reign of Yuanhe. Gao Chenggong also served in the positions of Interim Head of the Imperial Library, Prefect of Shou Prefecture, Imperial Observing/Executive Representative of Bin, Ning, and Qing Prefectures, and commander of the Zhenwu Army. He died in the second year of the Reign of Xiantong (861).Based on this research it is also evident that (1) Gao Chongwen’s early military career is related to Han Quanyi. The major reason for his promotion is that Gao Chongwen is good at taking care of his soldiers as well as fighting. (2) The reasons for his being able to be in charge of all the troops in Sichuan are Emperor Xian Zong’s trust, his outstanding military talent, the recommendation by Du Huangshang and his social background is different from other generals. (3) The essence of his defeating Liu Pi is to “set all the four directions right with one army coat”.Additionally, the monument inscriptions can help us make sure that his major lieutenants are Gao Chengjian, Gao Chenggong, Gao Xiayu, and Li Dingjin.
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Received: 29 November 2022
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2023, Vol. 53 
