Dingnan Jiedushi

Who is Dingnan Jiedushi?

Dingnan Jiedushi — i.e., military governor of Dingnan Circuit — was a political office that existed during the late Tang Dynasty, the entire Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and early Song Dynasty of China. Its rulers, starting from the very first military governor of Dingnan, Li Sigong, were of Dangxiang ethnicity, and while the relationships between the subsequent military governors were not completely clear from historical accounts, they all stemmed from Li Sigong's clan, and the clan effectively ruled the circuit in de facto independence despite its nominal submission to the central Chinese dynasties. Attempts by Later Tang Dynasty and Song to dislodge the family from its rule of Dingnan Circuit were not successful, and the region eventually evolved into the independent state of Western Xia.