LI K'O-YUNG

died 908, Shansi province, China Pinyin Li Keyong T'ang general of Turkish origin who suppressed the great peasant rebellion of Huang Ch'ao (d. 884), which threatened the T'ang dynasty (618907) in its last years. Afterward the empire was divided between powerful warlords, and Li became a leading contender for power in North China. Driven out of the central-northern area near the capital at Ch'ang-an, he established himself in the northwestern province of Shansi. When Chu Wen (854914), Li's principal competitor, usurped the T'ang throne in 907, Li established the independent state of Chin in Shansi.