TSENPO CHUNG, YUNNAN WANG, MAHĀRĀJA 59

© École  ançaise d’Extrême-Orient, Paris, 2011 Do not circulate without permission of the editor / Ne pas diff user sans autorisation de l’éditeur Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 24 (2015) : 59-76 TSENPO CHUNG, YUNNAN WANG, MAHĀRĀJA: ROYAL TITLES IN NARRATIVES OF NANZHAO KINGSHIP

BETWEEN TIBET AND TANG CHINA

Megan Bryson

From the mid-eighth century to 903 the Nanzhao 南 詔 kingdom ruled a large area that included modern-day Yunnan Province 雲 南 省 along with parts of modern-day Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Guizhou 貴 州 , and Sichuan 四 川 . Nanzhao’s location placed it in a triangular relationship with the two powers to the north and east, Tibet and the Tang dynasty (618– 907). As leaders of the smallest of these three regimes, Nanzhao rulers had to develop survival strategies. From Nanzhao’s conquest of the Dali Plain in the eighth century to the kingdom’s demise, it switched allegiance between Tang and Tibet to play the larger powers against each other and curry favor with whichever side had the advantage.