Shatuo Turks

The Shatuo (沙陀) (also: Seyanto, Xueyantuo, Sha-t'o) were a Turkic tribe that heavily influenced northern Chinese politics from the late ninth century through the tenth century. They are noted for founding three of the Five Dynasties in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

Ethnic Origins and Geography

In Chinese, the Shatuo means Sand Beast of Burden. These Turkic peoples originating external to Tang dynasty's borders, were part of the broader Western Oriental peoples, and the ethnic Turkic peoples that stretched from Midwestern Asia to Anatolia in modern-day TurkeyFacts|date=September 2007. They emerged from the Tujue tribe of the western ethnic Turks, of Tiele descent, and after a split among the tribe in the seventh century, the remaining Tujue Turks (see Chiglis) began referring to themselves as Shatuo or the Beast of Burden Turks. Some argue that the early Chinese sources identify this people with the ethnonym Seyanto, quoting them as one of the nomadic Turkic tribes among the non-indigenous Turkic descendants of the Xiongnu. Others even claim they emerged as part of the "Üç-Oğuz" confederation of Oghuz Turks cite web|author=Biologie. De - Deutsche Zentrale fur Biologische Information|title= Seyanto|url=http://www.biologie.de/biowiki/Seyanto] .

hatuo Turks and the Tang Dynasty

To the Tang Dynasty, the Shatuo Turks served a purpose. Some sources point that the ethnic Turks were a part of Tang dynasty's Chinese foreign policy to control and manage other 'border' peoples identified as a threat. The Tang Chinese refer to such peoples as Western Oriental barbarians. Some argue that a divide and conquer policy was applied against those identified as a threat, specifically, the Tibetans and other Turkic tribes in their colonies and territories in Midwestern Asia. The Tang Chinese continued this long policy and in other epochs this became an institutionalised tradition. The Shatuo may have even provided service to their host country in military aspect such as filling in the number of military conscripts and national defense assistance to the Tang Empire in the 630s against Turkic Tartars and the Golden Horde. When emperor Taizong remove from the Midwestern of Asia the threats of the Göktürks around 630, the Shatuo/Seyantos were allowed to gain some recognition and even their status. They built a vast state spanning from the Altai to the Gobi desert. In a few years they proved too handful to their hosts, and were quickly and ruthlessly crushed as in 641, under their khagan Inan (d. 645), they threatened to attack other Chinese-aligned Turk or ethnic tribes. Five years later their short-lived claim was all but destroyed by a Tang-Uyghur (Turkic) alliance; the remnants of the Shatuo Turks fled west to Dzungaria and the Semirechye area.

At the beginning of the 8th century, they were completely subject to the Tang China (Empire). The Shatuo provided significant aid to Tang Emperor Suzong alongside the Huihe (Uyghurs) during the Anshi Rebellion in the 750s. Consequently their chieftain Zhuye Guduozhi was conferred the title of "tejin" (governor) and "xiaowei shang-jiangjun" (colonel high general). the Tang China and Empire compounded its predicament under great threat from resident Turkic tribes by not preventing the establishment of Uyghur Empire, who claimed to be rising to great power.

Thus, by the end of the eighth century, the Shatuo had fallen out with the Tang Empire. The Shatuo collaborated with other Turkic tribes in Tiba to form an alliance with Tibetans as they felt oppressed by the Huihe-Uyghurs. Though the Shatuo fought alongside Tibetan armies for more than a decade against the Tang, the Tibetans were concerned about their loyalty, and with reason. When, in 808, the Shatuo decided to leave, the Tibetans pursued them, fighting battles along the way. The fugitives made it to Lingzhou Prefecture in the Gansu corridor, where Tang general Fan Xichao granted them asylum. A source quotes them as committing a mass suicide in 832 while fighting for an Uyghur ruler; but this seems to refer to a related tribe who had settled far west, into the Fergana valley. The Shatuo who had escaped Tibetan rage managed to maintain a power base in northern China around modern-day Shanxi from the late ninth century into the tenth century.

In the middle of the ninth century, it may be said that the Shatuo rewarded the generosity of the Tang by fighting alongside them against the invading Tibetans, playing a prominent role in numerous victories. They also helped quell the Pang Xun Rebellion and the Wang Xian Zhi Rebellion.

Li Keyong

Li Keyong was conferred the post of "ci shi" for Daizhou. He hired more than ten thousand Dadan nomads to bring back to Daizhou, but was denied admittance to en route Shiling Guan Pass. In 882, Su You and Helian Duo combined to prepare for an attack on Li. However, he launched a pre-emptive on Su’s stronghold at Weizhou. However, the Tang emperor would soon offer amnesty to assist against Huang Chao, who led a fierce rebellion against the Tang. Li Keyong was named the Prince of Jin in 895 for his loyalty to the Tang.

Five Dynasties

The Tang Dynasty fell in 907 and was replaced by the Later Liang Dynasty. The Shatuo Turks formed their own state, called Jin, in the area now known as Shanxi. They had tense relations with the Later Liang, and cultivated good relations with the emerging Khitan power to the north.

Later Tang Dynasty

Li Cunxu succeeded in destroying the Later Liang Dynasty in 923, declaring himself the emperor of the “Restored Tang”, officially known as the Later Tang Dynasty. In line with claims of restoring the Tang, Li moved the capital from Kaifeng back to Luoyang, where it was during the Tang Dynasty.

The Later Tang controlled more territory than the Later Liang, including the Beijing area, the surrounding Sixteen Prefectures and Shaanxi Province.

This was the first of three Shatuo Turk dynasties, and was the first of the Conquest Dynasties, beginning nearly a millennium, during most of which a significant portion of the Chinese nation was controlled by foreigners.

Later Jin Dynasty

The Later Tang Dynasty was brought to end in 936 when Shi Jingtang (posthumously known as Gaozu of Later Jin), also a Shatuo Turk, successfully rebelled against the Later Tang and established the Later Jin Dynasty. Shi moved back the capital to Kaifeng, then called Bian. The Later Jin controlled essentially the same territory as the Later Tang except the strategic Sixteen Prefectures area, which had been ceded to the expanding Liao Empire established by the Khitans.

Later historians would denigrate the Later Jin as a puppet regime of the powerful Liao to the north. When Shi’s successor did defy the Liao, a Khitan invasion resulted in the end of the dynasty in 946.

Later Han Dynasty

The death of the Khitan emperor on his return from the raid on the Later Jin Dynasty left a power vacuum that was filled by Liu Zhiyuan, who founded the Later Han Dynasty in 947. The capital was at Bian/Kaifeng and the state held the same territories as its predecessor. Liu died after a single year of reign and was succeeded by his teenage son, in turn unable to reign for more than two years, when this very short-lived dynasty was ended by the Later Zhou.

Legacy of the Shatuo Turks

As the first of four major foreign groups to gain control over significant portions of the heartland of Chinese civilization, the Shatuo left a significant legacy. While later groups would create more innovations on how to rule the Chinese, the Shatuo Turks showed others that outsiders could go beyond simply raiding the Chinese and settling down to actually rule them. Like other nomadic conquerors of China, the Shatuo Turks would gradually assimilate into Chinese society. This realization would have a direct bearing on the progression of Chinese civilization over the next thousand years.

References

cite web|url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Tang/wudai-event.html
title=5 DYNASTIES & 10 STATES|accessdate=2006-10-11

cite web|url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/shatuo.html
title=Shatuo|accessdate=2007-01-13

Notes