Key Facts
- Duration
- 902–928 (approx. 26 years)
- Region
- Modern Yunnan, China
- Founded by
- Zheng Maisi (Zheng Chang) via coup
- Predecessor state
- Nanzhao (738–902)
- Successor state
- Datianxing (928–929)
Imperial Zenith Metrics
Historical Trajectory
Phase I: Rise
Dachanghe emerged in 902 when Zheng Maisi, chief minister of the declining Nanzhao kingdom, deposed ruler Shunhuazhen and massacred the ruling Meng family. Descended from a captured Tang dynasty official who had risen to prominence in Nanzhao, Zheng renamed himself Zheng Chang, proclaimed the reign era Anguo, and positioned the new kingdom as the legitimate successor to both Nanzhao and the Tang dynasty.
Phase II: Zenith
Dachanghe maintained diplomatic activity with neighboring states, pursuing marriage alliances with Southern Han in 925—securing the Zengcheng Princess as a bride—and conducting missions to Former Shu and Later Tang. Under Zheng Renmin (r. 910–927), the kingdom projected military ambition, attacking Former Shu in 914, though that campaign ended in heavy defeat. It continued to receive returned captives from Later Tang after that power conquered Former Shu.
Phase III: Decline
Dachanghe's end mirrored its founding: in 928, the military strongman Yang Ganzhen turned against the Zheng ruling family, massacring them in a coup reminiscent of Zheng Maisi's own seizure of power. Yang then helped establish the successor state Datianxing (928–929), continuing the pattern of violent dynastic turnover that characterized this period of Yunnan's fragmented political history.
Notable Imperial Reigns
Selected rulers mapping the empire’s trajectory