The Niu–Li Factional Strife

The Origins of a Historiographical Fiction

Bibliographic Data

ID21877985
AuthorsMichael Höckelmann (0000-0001-5377-6855, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume9
Issue1
Pages84-111
Publication date2025-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Chinese History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2059-1632 • E-ISSN: 2059-1640
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/jch.2024.12
OpenAlexW4398179708
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited16

The “Niu–Li Factional Strife,” named after Niu Sengru (779–847) and Li Deyu (787–850), is an enduring theme in Tang history. Based on accounts of personal animosity, a narrative evolved in which Niu and Li have become the ringleaders of two factions that drew in almost all high-profile literati of the ninth century. This article revises traditional and modern narratives of the Strife by first showing that the scattered and contradictory evidence in the earliest sources does not bear out the model of a decades-long struggle between two factions. Second, it demonstrates how “Niu and Li” first arose as an emblem of Tang weakness and a rallying cry for unity within the bureaucracy under the Northern Song two centuries later. Finally, it shows how modern historians picked up the loose ends and remoulded them into a struggle between different classes against the backdrop of factious politics in Republican China

Ancient history · Archaeology · Historiography · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Philosophy · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies