or T'ai-tsung orig. Li Shimin
born 598, China
died 649, China
Second emperor of China's Tang dynasty.
In his father's campaign against the Sui dynasty, Li Shimin was responsible for the conquest of Luoyang, the eastern capital. There he built up a regional administration and an entourage of talented officials. His brothers are said to have plotted to kill him; he did away with them instead, and his father soon abdicated in his favour. He restored normal civil administration to local government and created a unified civil service. He further developed the state schools created by his father and launched the editing of the Confucian Classics. On the frontiers, he fought eastern and western Turks and began to establish sovereignty over the oasis kingdoms of Xinjiang. An invasion of the Korean Kogury 014F; kingdom failed, but he won great prestige for the Tang and came to be widely revered.