Download PDF | Dilnoza Duturaeva - Qarakhanid Roads to China A History of Sino-Turkic Relations. 28-BRILL (2022).
302 Pages
Foreword
The publication of the book of Dilnoza Duturaeva is very good news for the ongoing elaboration of a longue durée history of trans-Asian trade. Many books have been written on earlier or later periods, but no one has dared to deal with the eleventh–twelfth centuries, which appear as a nadir in this history. Indeed the lack of sources is transforming the attempt in a Herculean task of collecting tiny bits of evidence, whose main characteristics are both dispersion and discontinuity.
This book makes the most of these small pieces of texts or archaeological discoveries, Liao porcelains for instance. It opens new venues in research, especially in the relationship of the Qarakhanids with the Tibetan Tsongkha kingdom in Qinghai, or the diplomatic exchanges of the various Chinese dynasties with the West, Qarakhanids or Seljuks. But more importantly, it provides us with a chronology of East-West contacts – although mostly from a Chinese point of view due to the dearth of Qarakhanid written sources. And here, I would point that many if not most of the testimonies gathered by Dilnoza Duturaeva belong to a brief and powerful burst of contacts in the last quarter of the eleventh century. Before that, in the late Samanid and early Qarakhanid periods, there are very limited proofs of actual contacts, although the author most convincingly demonstrates that some links were kept alive. From this high point of the last quarter of the eleventh century, and although there was a decline in the first half of the twelfth century, trade would flow anew.
This chronology is extremely interesting for the history of globalization, and the reasons presiding to its development. It is as if the mental map of the Asian world created during the previous centuries, especially during the Sogdian period of control of international trade in Central Asia, was still enshrined in the texts and mentalities of the administrators and traders, only ready to renew long-distance links beyond periods of low-level exchanges.
The wire was still there, only to be reanimated by a new burst of current. Usually, the Mongol period was regarded as the period of renewal of East-West links. Dilnoza Duturaeva demonstrates that such was not the case and that trade restarted in a purely diplomatic and commercial setting in the end of the eleventh century well before and independently from the heavily military and political context of the Mongol conquest. In a way, it demonstrates the autonomy of economic history in Central Asia, quite different from the theory of embedment. Étienne de la Vaissière
Introduction
By the end of the first millennium CE, a vast portion of Central Eurasia was controlled by nomadic powers: the Sinicized Khitans (907–1125), who were later replaced by the Jurchens (1115–1234) and the Tanguts (1038–1227) in North and Northwest China; and the Turko-Islamic dynasties such as the Qarakhanids (840–1212), the Ghaznavids (977–1163) and the Saljuqs (1037–1194, and 1077– 1308), whose domains stretched from Northern India to Asia Minor. This was the beginning of “the age of transregional nomadic empires,” as Jerry Bentley named the period in world history from 1000 to 1500.2 Nomadic peoples established powerful empires and sponsored direct trade relations and cultural interactions between distant places.
The Mongol Empire era (1206–1368) is the age in which the nomads reached their height in terms of influence on world history, as no other nomad dynasty had succeeded in holding such a huge Eurasian landmass: at its peak, it stretched from Korea to Hungary. This situation brought the two ends of the Eurasian region into sustained cultural and commercial contact. The Mongol Empire has therefore attracted a great deal of scholarly attention over the past few decades. Significant research on the Mongol Empire, highlighting the extensive cultural exchange that took place under its rule, was done by Thomas T. Allsen, who used Islamic and Chinese sources equally
With direct access to the trade along the Silk Roads, however, the Qarakhanids shaped the largest nomadic polity before the Mongols, stretching their political and economic power from Western China to the north of Iran. Conversely, diplomacy, trade, and cultural exchange in the pre-Mongol era, especially the period of the Qarakhanids, is less well-documented, and for this reason, remains one of the least studied stages of Silk Road history.4 Moreover, studies of international relations in the pre-Mongol period often give the impression that overland trade roads between China and Central Asia5 declined and lost their previous splendor.
This is mainly explained by citing political instability in Central and North Asia and the withdrawal of the Tang dynasty (618–907) from the Western Regions, which caused a switch from the traditional overland trade roads to the maritime roads during the period of the Song dynasty (960–1279) in China.6 The lack of sources also often caused a “jump” from the Turks and Sogdians in Sui-Tang China to the Mongol globalization in works related to the history of the Silk Roads and Chinese-Western relations, completely skipping the Qarakhanids or giving just a short overview of international relations in the tenth–twelfth centuries.7 Indeed, both the lack of primary sources and the scarcity of literature make the Qarakhanid period a largely neglected field in the history of Central Asia and China. All researchers who have studied the Qarakhanids claim that their history is poorly documented and very fragmentary.
The majority of sources were written outside of the Qarakhanid realm, and consist, for the most part, of information on relations with their neighbors in the Islamic and Sinitic worlds.8 This also explains the variety of source languages, mainly Arabic, Persian, and Chinese. However, due to the traditional division of academic fields in English- and Russian-language academia, the Qarakhanid dynasty has always been mainly the purview of Turkologists. Therefore, Chinese primary and secondary sources have not usually been consulted. But the history of the Qarakhanid dynasty is included in the multi-volume publication Zhongguo lishi (History of China) published in Beijing.9 Moreover, Chinese historical records are usually consulted and well-known to historians working on ancient and early medieval Central Asia. For particular periods, Chinese texts are one of the most important – often the only – written sources related to pre-Islamic Central Asia. Scholars on Islamic Central Asia seldom consult Chinese primary sources. This has restricted research not only on the Qarakhanids, but also on the Saljuqs, the Ghaznavids and other polities in Central Asia. Any research on Saljuq and/or Ghaznavid history is considered a subject for Iranists and mainly based on Islamic sources.10
The history of medieval Central Asia from the tenth to the twelfth centuries has usually been written without consulting Chinese primary or secondary sources. However, China was one of the Turks’ closest neighbors and a source of luxury goods that were highly prized in the Islamic world. This book demonstrates that the Uyghur and Qarakhanid Khagans, as well as the Saljuq and Ghaznavid Sultans (although probably to a lesser extent), sought to establish direct economic contacts with China by sending official envoys.
Chinese texts recorded data about official envoys from a vast swath of the Turko-Islamic world and provided information on diplomacy and trade with China that cannot be obtained from other sources. Furthermore, Chinese records give us an understanding of how the Turko-Islamic dynasties were viewed in the Sinitic world. The main accounts of these dynasties, as for any nomadic peoples, were written mainly by the settled people they conquered, who held an uncomprehending and often hostile view of these alien invaders. Chinese sources provide perceptions of the Turks outside their realm, which can be used to counteract these biased views. Paradoxically, these sources have remained largely overlooked until now and in particular cases, completely unknown in the contemporary scholarship of Qarakhanid Central Asia. Qarakhanid studies have been developed in the pioneering works of Vasily Bartold and Omeljan Pritsak, and their works continue to be relevant in the field.11 Among later works, there are monographs in Turkish by Reşat Genç, in Russian by Omurkul Karaev, and in Chinese by Wei Liangtao.12
Over the last few years certain aspects of the Qarakhanid history have been given a fresh look using Islamic sources on an equal footing with Chinese ones. In particular, Qarakhanid trade with China, specifically with the Liao dynasty, was examined by Valerie Hansen and Michal Biran.13 Biran’s work on the Qara Khitai Empire based on Islamic and Chinese sources contains much information about the region in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.14 Significant research on Song China’s foreign relations, although not focused on the Qarakhanids, can be found in a volume edited by Morris Rossabi.15 Generally, these publications do not include the many numismatic and archaeological materials from the Qarakhanid period that have been recently discovered, or the Silk Road artifacts from Liao and Song tombs that mostly appear in Russian and Chinese archaeological publications. Recent scholarly interests in Qarakhanid studies can be also observed in publication of two major works in English.
The complete English translation of the Tazkīrah-i Bughrā Khān has been recently published in the book Warrior Saints of the Silk Road: Legends of the Qarakhanids by Jeff Eden.16 Richard McClary’s Medieval Monuments of Central Asia: Qarakhanid Architecture of the 11th and 12th Centuries provides the first solid overview of the Qarakhanid monuments that demonstrate urban developments in Central Asia under their rule.17 Recent works from archaeological excavations in the Qarakhanid sites make equal mention of economic solidity and urban development in Central Asia during the tenth–twelfth centuries.18
It would have been impossible without the economic growth that resulted from Qarakhanid international trade and policy, including their commercial activities in the East. This book provides a detailed study of Chinese records on the Qarakhanids and their allies in Islamic and non-Islamic Central Asia and includes relevant texts with translation and notes. It also incorporates relevant Muslim sources on China and Tibet. Additionally, it utilizes related archaeological discoveries in Central Asia and China that allow for deeper insight into the history of international relations in the tenth–twelfth centuries, supplementing information given in written sources. This book is, to my knowledge, the first detailed narrative history of the Silk Road during the Qarakhanid period written in any language. In this sense, it fills a gap in the research of the history of the Silk Roads and diplomatic relations of China and Central Asia in the pre-Mongol period. In addition, the book aims to prove that Qarakhanid international commerce and diplomacy not only maintained extant overland trade routes but also developed new networks.
The main sources for the current work are official histories and encyclopedias, scholarly treatises and artworks, and memoirs and travelogues compiled by officials and scholars who served at Chinese and Central Asian courts. Documentary sources, specifically on trade commodities and foreign images, are supplemented by archaeological records, which are mainly available in Russian and Chinese. Central Asian sources on the Qarakhanid history are well known due to the lack of this type of material.
These include the famous and the only Turkic sources of the period: the Qarakhanid dictionary Dīwān lughāt al-Turk by Maḥmūd al-Kāshgharī (1008–1102), which includes the Qarakhanid world map including East Asia; and the Qarakhanid Mirror for Princes Qutadghu Bilig by Yūsuf Khāṣṣ Ḥājib (d. 1077). Additionally, works compiled by historians and scholars who served in the neighboring dynasties, particularly at the Saljuq and the Ghaznavid courts, as well as general histories and geographies of other Muslim authors, are also incorporated into the book. Short introductions to the sources and their authors are given when it is essential to understand the information. It should be mentioned that Central Asian sources do not provide many materials on Qarakhanid relations with China. Moreover, descriptions of China available in Muslim sources are very fragmentary and give only a general understanding on existence of contacts between China and Central Asia during the Qarakhanid period. However, these materials are also essential to interpreting the data given in Chinese records. Chinese sources that contain historical and geographical information on medieval Central Asia during the Qarakhanid period can be divided into several categories. These include a series of official histories of successive dynasties, the so-called zhengshi “Standard Histories.” This kind of history was compiled by the official office of a dynasty that was headed by a well-known scholar and established to write the history of its predecessors. The chief sources for this work, Song shi, Liao shi, and Jin shi, were compiled by a group of scholars led by the Yuan official Toqto’a (Chin. Tuotuo, 1314–1356).
The imperial annals include sections devoted to foreign countries and peoples, their rulers, and their relations with China. Important countries are given sections of their own while lesser ones are grouped together. The Qarakhanids appeared in their own section in Song shi under the name “Khotan,” which can be divided into two parts. The first part is devoted to the history of the ancient Khotan kingdom up to the beginning of the eleventh century, and the second part deals with the Qarakhanid period from the eleventh to the twelfth century. Song shi furthermore provides separate sections on the Ganzhou Uyghurs and the Uyghur Idiquts in Turfan, known as the Xizhou Uyghurs during the Song period. These sections contain data on commodity exchanges with the Qarakhanids. There are also sections on Anatolia and India, which are essential in discussions on possible Saljuq and Ghaznavid envoys to Song China.
Liao shi and Jin shi are less informative on the contacts with the Qarakhanids compared to Song shi, but contain useful information not found elsewhere. The Chinese often shortened or omitted important information when compiling imperial histories. Therefore, the standard histories were used together with a type of source known as biannianti, “Chronological History,” compiled during the Song period, and texts called huiyao, “Collected Matters of Importance,” which is a compilation of imperial documents. In this term, the Song chronicle Xu Zizhi tongzian changbian by Li Tao (1115–1184) becomes increasingly important for this work. It covers the period of 960–1100 and contains essential information that is not found in other sources. For instance, Li Tao recorded a detailed interview between Emperor Shenzong of Song (1068– 1085) and the Qarakhanid envoy that appears in a shortened version in Song shi. The Song-era document collection Song huiyao was partly extracted from the Yongle Encyclopedia of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and compiled by the Qing official Xu Song (1781–1848) as Song huiyao jigao.
This collection of Song imperial documents also includes edicts and memorials related to Qarakhanid trade in Song China. Other important Chinese sources used for this work are histories known as zashi, “Miscellaneous Histories,” which also include ethnographic works, travelogues, and diaries based on private observations. The book attempts to demonstrate the complexity of interaction and exchange during the tenth–twelfth centuries and introduce Chinese records on this issue. The first four chapters are devoted to Qarakhanid diplomacy and trade in China, discussing Qarakhanid policy in the East in general, including their contacts with the Uyghurs and Tibetans. The fifth chapter deals with Chinese records on Qarakhanid allies in the Turko-Islamic world such as the Saljuqs, Ghaznavids, and Khwarazmshahs, including the role of the Qarakhanids as middlemen between China and the Islamic world. The last chapter describes Qarakhanid activity along the Silk Roads and beyond, including their activities in the international amber, frankincense and tea trades. Throughout the book, I focus on three interrelated themes: (1) each group’s image and knowledge of each other’s societies; (2) imperial encounters and emissary missions; and (3) trade-cultural transfer and exchange. (1) The Representation of Sinitic and Turko-Islamic Worlds. This question seeks answers in works by medieval Chinese and Muslim historians, travelers, and geographers.
The research shows that both Chinese and Muslim historians of the era documented the increase of knowledge in their societies about each other. Central Asia was a bridge between two worlds in this process and facilitated the rise of Chinese knowledge about the Islamic world. In the meantime, political and cultural contacts between Liao-Song China and Qarakhanid Central Asia transmitted knowledge about China to the Islamic world. Central Asian scholars of the eleventh century had access to more recent data on China. It should be noted that the Central Asian texts that we have at our disposal are not very informative; they contain general records on China. But in comparison with tenth-century geographical works that mostly utilized data collected during the Tang period, we can observe updates in political, commercial and cultural issues. For instance, al-Bīrūnī provided detailed information on commodities from the Khitan (Qitāy) realm and Song China (al-Ṣīn) that are not found in earlier sources. He served at the Ghaznavid court and personally met with foreign envoys and merchants to obtain relevant information about distant places, including China.19 At the same time, Chinese texts of this period demonstrate that the term “Dashi,” which initially applied to the Arabs and Arabia, was mainly used to refer to the Qarakhanids in Khitan and Tangut sources and in Song China applied not only to the Arabs but also to non-Arab Islamic dynasties and apparently, to non-Muslims under their rule as well. This study will lead to an understanding of the role of China in pre-Mongol Islamic Central Asia, as well as what China knew about Islamic Central Asia. The understanding of the Qarakhanid image in China helps to identify different names applied to them by Chinese authors, which may introduce more new data about them. The most complicated part of utilizing Chinese sources is to identify terms applied to foreign peoples and ethnic groups. For this reason, a significant part of data in Chinese sources on various foreign regions and peoples remain unknown. (2)
Imperial Encounters and Emissary Missions. I focus on the Qarakhanid diplomacy in the East and specifically their relations with the Song dynasty and the Liao dynasty through the study of emissary exchange. Chinese records prove that the Qarakhanids sent more than forty delegations to the Song court, mainly using two roads via the Hexi Corridor and Tibet; the latter is also known as the Qinghai Road. The Qarakhanid emissary missions were mostly commercial and played a key role in promoting trade between Central Asia and China.
The true number of commercial envoys and caravans sent by the Qarakhanids may have been much higher than reported in Chinese official records. I also seek to illustrate that the Qarakhanids served as middlemen between the Sino-Tibetan and the Turko-Islamic worlds. For instance, the Qarakhanids accompanied foreign missions to Tibet and China or issued special documents that allowed foreign delegations to travel to the region and obtain access for trade. This study contributes to the field by providing detailed investigation and translation of some Qarakhanid written documents sent to Chinese emperors and Chinese imperial edicts on Qarakhanid trade. I also discuss official envoys from Anatolia and Northern India to Song China that may refer to the Saljuqs and the Ghaznavids. (3)
Trade-Cultural Contacts and Exchange. This topic combines studies of different kinds of sources: official and non-official histories, chronicles, travelogues, and scientific works, as well as archaeological data. It seeks to explore extant and new trade networks in the Qarakhanid world. I also investigated the question of how far the Qarakhanid trade reached.
Trade and movement of commodities between Qarakhanid Central Asia and China offer unique opportunity to discover Qarakhanid activities beyond the Silk Roads, for instance, along the amber, frankincense, and tea-horse trade. Through a basic word search in the Scripta Sinica database, it can be observed that some commodities that were transported by the Qarakhanids, such as amber, flowed to China along the overland trade roads, especially during the Northern Song period. Trade commodities often brought cultural patterns and aesthetics connected with them to new territories and later could become “local.”
This research discusses some examples of cultural exchange through trade that are still visible. It will also lead to an understanding of how the Khitans, as non-Muslims, were later able to establish their authority in Islamic Central Asia and ruled the region for almost a century. This book is not only about politics and trade but also about a history of mutual understanding, cultural bridges, and peace between the peoples of Central Asia and China.
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