重探上官婉兒的死亡、平反與當代評價

Reexamining the Death, Rehabilitation and Evaluations of Shangguan Waner

Shangguan Waner (上官婉兒) was one of the most famous female political figures of the Tang dynasty. She was killed by Li Longji (李隆基, Xuanzong玄宗) in the palace coup against Queen Wei (韋皇后) in 710. The Jiu Tang shu and the Xin Tang shu record that after ascending the throne, Xuanzong commanded the officials to compile the corpus of Shangguan Waner. However according to the preface written by Zhang Yue (張說) it was Princess Taiping (太平公主), the political adversary of Xuanzong, who requested Ruizong (睿宗) to have her works compiled. In the Jiu Tang shu and the Xin Tang shu, the records about the death and the rehabilitation of Shangguan Waner are vague and incomplete and avoid showing Xuanzong in a bad light. This was probably because the Veritable Records (實錄) were edited in Xuanzong's reign.
This paper will reexamine the death, the rehabilitation and the evaluations of Shangguan Waner by reading carefully and contrasting the official records and other Tang documents. First, I　clarify the political status and orientation of Shangguan Waner to review whether it was just to kill her in the palace coup against Queen Wei. Then I will suggest why Shangguan Waner was rehabilitated in Ruizong's period and what kind of political effects this event might have produced. Finally, I ask what cultural contexts might have induced people to take it as historical fact that Xuanzong was the one who ordered the compilation of Shangguan Waner's collection.