The Fan zhen 藩鎭 and the Central Authority in the Late Tang 唐 : especially during the Reingns of De Zong 徳宗 and Xian zong 憲宗

In order to understand the development of Late Tang political history we must study not only the activities of the central government of the Tang 唐 state but also those of the Fan zhen 藩鎭 as local political authorities. Unless we have a thorough grasp of the relations between the Tang state and the Fan zhen powers, I think it will be difficult for us to understand historical developments from the last phase of the Tang period to Five Dynasties 五代 period. In this article I take up three representative types of Fan zhen and analyse the relations between them and the Tang state. Then, I trace political developments from the 'temporizing' policy of De zong 德宗 to the dynastic 'restoration' policy of Xian zong 憲宗. The major Fan zhens of the period can be classified into three types with respect to their attitudes towards the central authority : (A) those which aimed to be independent of the central authority; (B) those which aimed at seizing the central authority; and (C) those which supported the central authority of the Tang state. The Tang state tried to maintain and strengthen its own authority, dealing with these three types of Fan zhen in various ways, as Lu zhi 陸贄, prime minister during De zong's reign, did. The 'restoration' of the dynasty by Xian zong can be considered an extension of the aforesaid line of policy of the Tang State