Multicultural China in the Early Middle Ages - Sanping Chen Encounters with Asia

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particular task of the Sui/ Tang ruling class was to obscure their non-Sinitic Steppe background and connections. A particular case in point is the contrast between Zhou shu (The History of the Northern Zhou Dynasty), the official Tang-authorized history of the victorious Zhou regime in the struggle to unify northern China, and that of the loser, Bei Qi shu. Because the early Tang ruling clique was dominated by the descendants of the Northern Zhou aristocracy, the chief compiler, Linghu Defen, being the grandson of the Zhou general-in-chief Linghu Zheng (Zhou shu 36.643), Zhou shu could hardly afford any real impartiality or objectivity. This was noticed and criticized even by the Tang historian Liu Zhiji.97 Meanwhile, the ruling families of the Qi fared quite miserably after forfeiting their state. Some former royal household members even ended up peddling candles (ZZTJ 173.5382), and the Northern Zhou aristocracy's distrust of the people of the former Qi domain persisted well into the Tang times and might even have contributed to the cause of the An Lushan Rebellion.98 The narration in Bei Qi shu was therefore much less inhibited, if not deliberately negative, in describing the Qi regime. As an example of issues pertinent to this study, one can get significantly more information on the Turco-Xianbei cultural and political traits of the Qi ruling clan than of that of the Zhou,99 whereas in reality the latter was much more “Xianbei-ized” than the former.100 In view of the “politically correct” ethnic images in Zhou shu, one should not be surprised by the even less frequent Northern traits in the Tang records.

      On the second factor, of the passing of time, after the death in exile of the Buddhist monk Falin, it was not until the Southern Song that the kind of political atmosphere first emerged in which questions would be raised on this long-stablished historical image. By that time, few solid records remained to allow concrete and detailed examination of the real origin and characteristics of the Tang imperial house.

      This study also tries to show the inherent problem of relying on traditional historiography without critically examining the very source of these records: just like the Arabo-Persian authors who would not write about their ruler's Turkic culture and heritage, even without the attentive interference from a court obsessed with its historical image, Confucian historians would still hardly have found the many Turco-Xianbei aspects of the regime they were serving a worthy topic. Repeated rewriting and editing of the histories for the sake of elegance and concision, if not for some less honest purpose, had made the situation even worse.

      By studying several aspects of the Tang blood tanistry struggles, especially its relationship with the so-called sinicization, one can see that, contrary to the conventional view that conquerors would soon melt in the sea of Chinese populace, the sinicization of Steppe people in the Central Kingdom was a long and painful process. The strong reactions to Tuoba emperor Xiaowen's forced wholesale sinicization, culminating in the Six-Garrison Rebellion and the downfall of the Northern Wei, could still see their ripples in early Tang.

      Another seemingly entrenched notion challenged in this chapter is the classification of Chinese dynasties into “native” and “conquest” regimes. Even in his otherwise enlightening book on China's “perilous frontier,” Thomas Barfield sticks to the conventional view that “the collapse of the [Northern] Wei marked the end of Manchurian rule in China.”101 Yet as I have shown, in many aspects the (early) Tang bore striking similarity to the Qing dynasty. In addition to the succession struggles, the institution of heir apparent, the frontier and ethnic policy, the advance into Central Asia, and even the fate of the “national language,” I may add that the Tang and the Qing were the only two Chinese dynasties during which provincial governors held enormous prestige and power. At the very least, these facts suggest that the distinction between a “native” and a “conquest” dynasty is at best a gray area.

       Chapter 2

      From Mulan to Unicorn

       The Ballad of Mulan

       Anonymous

      Click, click, forever click, click;

      Mulan sits at the door and weaves.

      Listen, and you will not hear the shuttle's sound,

      But only hear a girl's sobs and sighs.

      “Oh tell me, lady, are you thinking of your love,

      Oh tell me, lady, are you longing for your dear?”

      “Oh no, oh no, I am not thinking of my love,

      Oh no, oh no, I am not longing for my dear.

      But last night I read the battle-roll;

      The Qaghan has ordered a great levy of men.

      The battle-roll was written in twelve books,

      And in each book stood my father's name.

      My father's sons are not grown men,

      And of all my brothers, none is older than me.

      Oh let me to the market to buy saddle and horse,

      And ride with the soldiers to take my father's place.”

      In the eastern market she's bought a gallant horse,

      In the western market she's bought saddle and cloth.

      In the southern market she's bought snaffle and reins,

      In the northern market she's bought a tall whip.

      In the morning she stole from her father's and mother's house;

      At night she was camping by the Yellow River's side.

      She could not hear her father and mother calling to her by her name,

      But only the song of the Yellow River as its hurrying waters hissed and swirled through the night.

      At dawn they left the River and went on their way;

      At dusk they came to the Black Water's side.

      She could not hear her father and mother calling to her by her name,

      She could only hear the muffled voices of Scythian horsemen riding on the hills of Yan.

      A thousand leagues she tramped on the errands of war,

      Frontiers and hills she crossed like a bird in flight.

      Through the northern air echoed the watchman's tap;

      The wintry light gleamed on coats of mail.

      The captain had fought a hundred fights, and died;

      The warriors in ten years had won their rest.

      They went home; they saw the Emperor's face;

      The Son of Heaven was seated in the Hall of Light.

      To the strong in battle lordships and lands he gave;

      And of prize money a hundred thousand strings.

      Then spoke the Qaghan and asked her what she would take.

      “Oh, Mulan asks not to be made

      A Counsellor at the Qaghan's court;

      She only begs for a camel that can march

      A thousand leagues a day,

      To take her back to her home.”

      When her father and mother heard that she had come,

      They went out to the wall and led her back to the house.

      When her little sister heard that she had come,

      She went to the door and rouged her face afresh.

      When her little brother heard that his sister had come,

      He sharpened his knife and darted like a flash

      Toward the pigs and sheep.

      She opened the gate that leads to the eastern tower,

      She sat on her bed that stood in the western tower.

      She cast aside her heavy soldier's cloak,

      And wore again her old-time dress.

      She stood at the window

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