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Essay on Li Shimin: Wise King or Tyrant?

Decent Essays

China, one the of ancient countries remained on earth with approximate five thousand years of rich history. In the period of five thousand years, China had been repeating with the three-steps-cycle: unified as country, then, separated with different ideas and conflicts which lead to wars; however, united as one once again afterward whoever won the battle. Everytime China unified as a one country, the new dynasty is formed and there are almost twenty dynasties has formed and failed. Moreover, some of these dynasties could divide with south and north and many small kingdoms like Jin Dynasty (Western - 265-317 A.D and Eastern - 217-420 A.D) and Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-960 A.D). Tang dynasty is one of significant dynasty and …show more content…

With research, some historical scholars are considered him as a “Wise King” due to the affords, however, some other consider him as a loser or a tyrant due to his murder case. Anyhow, we need to understand and laid down the true facts without the influence of fictional dramas before judging what kinds of person is he. The Xuanwu gate incident is one of famous events in the Chinese history, and the event that leave a blot on Li Shimin’s reputation. At Li Shimin’s young age, the relationship between him and his other three brothers were not harmonized, they were always competing each other. During the rebellion of Sui government, Li Shimin exhibits his talent on war and gain more military exploit and contribute a lot. With this, Li Yuan consider to replace crown prince Li Jiancheng with Li Shimin. However, Li Yuan’s concubines were against this idea, that they were more favorable toward Li Jiancheng than Li Shimin. The reason behind this is because Li Jiancheng has a good relationship with Li Yuan’s concubines by offering fortunes to them. Li Shimin was different with his two brothers, he is not offering any fortunes to Li Yuan’s concubines and he also not help their brother to get government jobs. In result, Li Yuan’s concubines become “alliance” with Li Jiancheng. Meanwhile, Li Shimin gain more

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