- Tuyuhun Kingdom
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Tuyuhun Kingdom 285–670 
→Asia in 565 CE, showing Tuyuhun and its neighbors.
Capital Fuqi Government Monarchy Ruler/Khagan - 284-317 Murong Tuyuhun - 635-672 Murong Nuohebo Historical era Early Medieval - Established 285 - Vassal of Tang dynasty 634 - Destroyed by Tufan 670 The Tuyuhun Kingdom (Wade-Giles T'u-yü-hun, pinyin tǔ yù hún Chinese: 吐谷渾, also known as Henanguo 河南國, or 'A-zha or Togon in Tibetan[1]) was a powerful kingdom established by nomadic tribes related to the Xianbei in the Qilian Mountains and upper Yellow River valley.
Contents
History
After the disintegration of the Xianbei state, nomadic groups were led by their Khan, Tuyuhun, to the rich pasture lands around Lake Koko Nur about the middle of the 3rd century CE.
Murong Tuyuhun (慕容吐谷渾) was the older brother of the Former Yan's ancestor Murong Hui[2] and elder son of the Chanyu Murong Shegui (慕容涉歸) of the Murong Xianbei who took his people from their original settlements on the Liaodong Peninsula to the region of the Yin Mountains, crossing the Yellow River between 307 and 313, and into the eastern region of modern Qinghai.[3]
The Tuyuhun Empire was established in 284[4] by subjugating the native peoples referred to as the Qiang, including more than 100 different and loosely coordinated tribes that did not submit to each other or any authority.
After Tuyuhun died in Linxia, Gansu in 317, his sixty sons further expanded the empire by defeating the Western Qin (385-430) and Xia (407-431) kingdoms. The Qinghai Xianbei, Tufa Xianbei, Qifu Xianbei and Haolian Xianbei joined them. They moved their capital 6 km west of Koko Nur.[5]
After the Jin elevated their status by conferring on their ruler the old Xiongnu title of chanyu, in 281, they were ruled, from 285, by Murong Hui for five decades[6]. These Xianbei groups formed the core of the Tuyuhun Empire and numbered about 3.3 million at their peak. They carried out extensive military expeditions westward, reaching as far as Hetian in Xinjiang and the borders of Kashmir and Afghanistan, and established a vast empire that encompassed Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, northern Sichuan, eastern Shaanxi, southern Xinjiang, and most of Tibet, stretching 1,500 kilometers from east to west and 1,000 kilometers from north to south. They unified northwest China for the first time in history, developed the southern route of the Silk Road, and promoted cultural exchange between the eastern and western territories, dominating the northwest for more than three and half centuries until the Empire was destroyed by the Tibetans[7]. The Tuyuhun Empire existed as an independent Kingdom outside of China [8] and was not included as part of Chinese historiography.
Conflict between the Tang and Tibetan empires
In the beginning of the Tang Dynasty the Tuyuhun empire came to a gradual decline and was increasingly caught in the conflict between China and Tibet. Because the Tuyuhun controlled the crucial trade routes between east and the west, the empire became the immediate target of invasion by the Tang.
The Tibetan Empire developed rapidly under the leadership of Songtsän Gampo who united the Tibetans and expanded northward, directly threatening the Tuyhun Empire. Soon after he took the throne of the Yarlung kingdom in Central Tibet in 634, he defeated the Tuyuhun near Koko Nur and received an envoy from the Tang[9] The Tibetan King requested marriage to a Chinese princess but was refused. In 635-6 the Tang Emperor again attacked and defeated the Tuyuhun. After this campaign,[10] and another defeat of his forces, the Chinese emperor agreed to provide a Chinese princess to Songtsän Gampo,[11] although later historians are unsure whether she actually married Songtsän Gampo who would have been very old at the time.[12].
The exiled Tuyuhun Khan, Dayan, submitted to the Tibetan ruler, who claimed that the Tuyuhun objected to his marriage with the Tang and sent 200,000 troops to attack. The Tuyuhun troops retreated to Qinghai, whereas the Tibetans went eastward to attack Dangxiang and reached into southern Gansu. The Tang Government was shocked and sent five troops to fight. Although the Tibetans withdrew in response, the Tuyuhun Empire lost much of its territory in southern Gansu.
The Tuyuhun Government was split between the pro-Tang and pro-Tibet fractions, with the latter increasingly becoming stronger and collaborated with Tibet to bring about an invasion. The Tang sent general Xue Rengui to lead 100,000 troops to fight Tibet in Dafeichuan (present Gonghe County in Qinghai). They were annihilated by the ambush of 200,000 troops led by Dayan and the Tibetans, which was the biggest debacle in the Tang history and formally brought the Tuyuhun Empire to an end.
Disintegration
After its fall, the Tuyuhun Empire split into an Eastern and Western Kingdom. The Eastern Kingdom was led by Murong Nuohebo on the eastern side of the Qilian Mountains and increasingly migrated eastward into central China, whereas the Western Kingdom existed under the leadership of the former exile Khan Dayan. As the An Shi Rebellion shook up the Tang Court and caused its emperor to flee, Tibet overtook the entire territory of the Tuyuhun. Internal turmoil developed within the Tibetan government and massive revolts brought an end to its ruling.
Through this period, the Xianbei underwent massive diasporas over a vast territory that stretched from the northwest into central and eastern parts of China, with the greatest concentrations by Mt. Yin near Ordos. In 946, the Shatuo Turk, Liu Zhiyuan, conspired to murder the highest Xianbei leader, Bai Chengfu, who was reportedly so wealthy that “his horses had silver mangers”[13]. With the looted wealth that included an abundance of property and thousands of fine horses, Liu established the Later Han Dynasty (Five Dynasties) (947-950), which lasted only four years and became the shortest dynasty in Chinese history. The incident took away the central leadership and stripped the opportunity for the Xianbei to restore the Tuyuhun Kingdom, although later they were able to establish the Western Xia (1038-1227), which was destroyed by the Mongols[14].
Culture
The Tuyuhun people were experts in horse breeding and also practiced agriculture. As a realm just between the Chinese empires in the east (Northern Wei, and the Southern Dynasties) and other steppe tribes such as the Rouran and Tiele, the Tuyuhun acted as envoys and traders, while many Buddhist missionaries and travelers crossed their country.[citation needed]
When the Chinese pilgrim monk, Songyun, visited the region in 518 CE he noted that the people had a written language, which was more than a hundred years before Thonmi Sambhota is said to have returned from India after developing a script for writing the Tibetan language.[15]
The modern Monguor people are said to be descendants of the Tuyuhun.
Rulers
Regal names Family names and given name Durations of reigns Henan Wang (河南王) 慕容吐谷渾 Mùróng Tǔyùhún 284-317 Henan Wang (河南王) 慕容吐延 Mùróng Tǔyán 317-329 Tuyuhun Wang (吐谷渾王) 慕容葉延 Mùróng Yèyán 329-351 Tuyuhun Wang (吐谷渾王) 慕容碎奚 Mùróng Suìxī 351-371 Bailan Wang (白蘭王) 慕容視連 Mùróng Shìlián 371-390 Tuyuhun Wang (吐谷渾王) 慕容視羆 Mùróng Shìpí 390-400 Da Chanyu (大單于) 慕容烏紇褆 Mùróng Wūgētí 400-405 Wuyin Khan (戊寅可汗)/
Da Chanyu (大單于)/
Wu Wang (武王)慕容樹洛干 Mùróng Shùluògān 405-417 Bailan Wang (白蘭王) 慕容阿柴 Mùróng Āchái 417-424 Hui Wang (惠王)/
Longxi Wang (隴西王)慕容慕璝 Mùróng Mùguī 424-436 Henan Wang (河南王) 慕容慕利延 Mùróng Mùlìyán 436-452 Henan Wang (河南王)/
Xiping Wang (西平王)慕容拾寅 Mùróng Shíyín 452-481 Henan Wang (河南王) 慕容度易侯 Mùróng Dùyìhóu 481-490 慕容伏連籌 Mùróng Fúliánchóu 490-540 Khan 慕容夸呂 Mùróng Kuālǔ 540-591 Khan 慕容世伏 Mùróng Shìfú 591-597 Busabo Khan (步薩鉢可汗) 慕容伏允 Mùróng Fúyǔn 597-635 Zhugulüwugandou Khan (趉故呂烏甘豆可汗)/
Daning Wang (大寧王)/
Xiping Jun Wang (西平郡王)慕容順 Mùróng Shùn 635 Wudiyebaledou Khan (烏地也拔勒豆可汗)/
Heyuan Jun Wang (河源郡王)慕容諾曷鉢 Mùróng Nuòhébō 635-672 Footnotes
- ^ Christopher I. Beckwith, The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia: A History of the Struggle for Great Power Among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese During the Early Middle Ages (Princeton University Press, new ed. 1993), p. 17. ISBN 0691024693.
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 90.
- ^ The T'u-yü-hun from the Northern Wei to the time of the Five Dynasties, p. XII. 1970. Gabriella Molè. Rome. Is.M.E.O.
- ^ 281 is the foundation for the first or 'Former' (of the four) Murong Xianbei Kingdoms. See Charles Holcombe, The Genesis of East Asia, 221 B.C.-A.D. 907: 221 B.C.-A.D.907,University of Hawaii Press, 2001 pp.130-131.
- ^ "Note sur les T’ou-yu-houen et les Sou-p’i." Paul Pelliot. T’oung pao, 20 (1921), p. 323.
- ^ Mark Edward Lewis, China Between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties, Harvard University Press, 2009 pp.132-3
- ^ Zhou, Weizhou [周伟洲] (1985). Tuyühu shi [The Tuyühu History] 吐谷浑史. Yinchuan [银川], Ningxia ren min chu ban she [Ningxia People's Press] 宁夏人民出版社.
- ^ Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Christopher Beckwith (Christopher I. Beckwith). 2009. Princeton University Press, pp. 128-129. ISBN 978-0-691-13589-2.
- ^ Tibetan Civilization, p. 57. R. A. Stein. 1972. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. ISBN 0-8047-0806-1 (cloth); ISBN 0-8047-0901-1 (paper).
- ^ OTA l. 607
- ^ Tibet: A Political History, p. 26. Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa. 1967. Yale University Press. New Haven and London.
- ^ The White Annals, pp. 62-64, 78-9. Gedun Choephel, translated by Samten Norboo. 1978. Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, Dharamasala, H.P., India.
- ^ Molè, Gabriella, 1970, The T'u-yü-hun from the Northern Wei to the time of the five dynasties. Roma, Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente. p. xxiv.
- ^ Lü, Jianfu [呂建福], 2002. Tu zu shi [The Tu History] 土族史. Beijing [北京], Zhongguo she hui ke xue chu ban she [Chinese Social Sciences Press] 中囯社会科学出版社.
- ^ Ancient Tibet: Research Materials from the Yeshe De Project (1986), p. 136. Dharma Publishing, California. ISBN 0-89800-146-3.
External links
- Emperor Taizong's campaign against Tuyuhun - with the 634 defeat of Tuyuhun troops
- http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/tuyuhun.html
Categories:- Former monarchies of Asia
- Former countries in Asia
- States and territories established in 285
- States and territories disestablished in 670
- 670 disestablishments
- Tuyuhun
- Tibet
- Ancient peoples of China
- Tang Dynasty
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