From Warhorses to Ploughshares

Mingzong (r. 926-933) was the most illustrious emperor of the Five Dynasties, and one of the most admired of China's middle period, the Tang to Song. A warrior of Shatuo-Turk ancestry, he ascended the throne of the Later Tang on the heels of a mutiny against his adopted brother, thus sparing his dynasty an early death. Mingzong's brief reign came to be heralded by historians as the "Small Repose"a happy convergence of peace and prosperity. He marshaled a cluster of eminently able courtiers, men