Tuyuhun 吐谷渾 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 284–670 | |||||||
Asia in 576 AD, showing Tuyuhun and its neighbours. | |||||||
| Status | Kingdom | ||||||
| Capital | Fuqi (in modernGonghe,Qinghai) | ||||||
| Common languages | Tuyuhun | ||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||
| Khagan | |||||||
• 284–317 | Murong Tuyuhun | ||||||
• 635–672 | Murong Nuohebo | ||||||
| History | |||||||
• Established | 284 | ||||||
• Vassal of theTang dynasty | 634 | ||||||
• Destroyed by theTibetan Empire | 670 | ||||||
| |||||||
| Today part of | China | ||||||
Tuyuhun (Chinese:吐谷渾;LHC: *tʰɑʔ-jok-guən;[1]Wade-Giles:T'u-yühun), also known asHenan (Chinese:河南) andAzha (Tibetan:ཨ་ཞ་,Wylie:‘A-zha; Chinese:阿豺),[2] was a dynastic monarchy established by thenomadic peoples related to theXianbei in theQilian Mountains and upperYellow River valley, in modernQinghai, China.[3]
After the disintegration of theXianbei state, nomadic groups were led by their khagan, Murong Tuyuhun (慕容吐谷渾; 246–317[4]), to the rich pasture lands aroundQinghai Lake about the middle of the 3rd century AD.
Murong Tuyuhun was the older brother of theFormer Yan's ancestorMurong Hui[5] and elder son of thechanyu Murong Shegui (慕容涉歸) of theMurong Xianbei who took his people from their original settlements on theLiaodong Peninsula to theYin Mountains, crossing theYellow River between 307 and 313, and into the eastern region of modernQinghai.[6]
The Tuyuhun Empire was established in 284[7] by subjugating the native peoples referred to as theQiang, including more than 100 different and loosely coordinated tribes that did not submit to each other or any authority.
After Tuyuhun died inLinxia, Gansu in 317, his sixty sons further expanded the empire by defeating theWestern Qin (385–430) andXia (407–431) kingdoms. The Qinghai Xianbei, Tufa Xianbei, Qifu Xianbei and Haolian Xianbei joined them. They moved their capital 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) west of Qinghai Lake.[8]
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 asHotan inXinjiang and the borders ofKashmir andAfghanistan, and established a vast empire that encompassedQinghai,Gansu,Ningxia, northernSichuan, easternShaanxi, southern Xinjiang, and most ofTibet, stretching 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) from east to west and 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from north to south. They unified parts of Inner Asia for the first time in history, developed the southern route of theSilk Road, and promoted cultural exchange between the eastern and western territories, dominating the northwest for more than three and half centuries until it was destroyed by theTibetan Empire.[9] For most of its history, Tuyuhun existed as an independent state.[10]
During the beginning of theTang dynasty, the Tuyuhun Empire came to a gradual decline and was increasingly caught in the conflict between the Tang and theTibetan Empire. 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 ofSongtsen Gampo, who united the Tibetans and expanded northward, directly threatening the Tuyuhun Empire. Soon after he took the throne of the Yarlung Kingdom in Central Tibet in 634, he defeated the Tuyuhun near Qinghai Lake and received an envoy from the Tang.[11] The Tibetan emperor requested marriage to a Tang princess, but was refused. In 635–636 theEmperor Taizong of Tang defeated the Tibetan army; after this campaign,[12] the Emperor Taizong agreed to provide a Tang princess to Songtsen Gampo.[13]
The Tibetan emperor, who claimed that the Tuyuhun objected to his marriage with the Tang, sent 200,000 troops to attack. The Tuyuhun troops retreated toQinghai, whereas the Tibetans went eastward to attack theTangut people and reached into southern Gansu. The Tang government sent troops to fight. Although the Tibetans withdrew in response, the Tuyuhun Empire lost much of its territory in southern Gansu to Tibetans.
The Tuyuhun government was split between the pro-Tang and pro-Tibet factions, with the latter increasingly becoming stronger and collaborated with Tibet to bring about an invasion. The Tang sent generalXue Rengui to lead 100,000 troops to fight Tibet inDafeichuan (modernGonghe County, Qinghai). They were annihilated by the ambush of 200,000 troops led by Dayan and the Tibetans. The Tibetan Empire took over the entire territory of the Tuyuhun.
After the fall of the kingdom, the Tuyuhun people split. Led byMurong Nuohebo on the eastern side of theQilian Mountains they migrated eastwards into central China. The rest remained and were under the rule of the Tibetan Empire.
Through this period, the Xianbei underwent massive diasporata over a vast territory that stretched from the northwest into central and eastern parts of China, with the greatest concentrations by Mount Yin near theOrdos Loop. In 946, aShatuo,Liu Zhiyuan, conspired to murder the highest Xianbei leader, Bai Chengfu, who was reportedly so wealthy that "his horses had silver mangers".[14] With the looted wealth that included an abundance of property and thousands of fine horses, Liu established theLater Han (947–950). 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 theWestern Xia (1038–1227), which was destroyed by the Mongols.[15]
Alexander Vovin (2015) identifies the extinctTuyuhun language as aPara-Mongolic language, meaning that Tuyuhun is related to Mongolic as asister clade but is not directly descended from theProto-Mongolic language.[16] TheKhitan language is also a Para-Mongolic language.
When the Chinese pilgrimSongyun visited the region in 518, he noted that the people had a written language, which was more than a hundred years beforeThonmi Sambhota is said to have returned from India after developing a script for writing the Tibetan language.[17]
| Regal names | Family names andgiven name | Durations of reigns |
|---|---|---|
| Henan King (河南王) | Mùróng Tǔyùhún (慕容吐谷渾) | 284–317 |
| Henan King (河南王) | Mùróng Tǔyán (慕容吐延 ) | 317–329 |
| Tuyuhun King (吐谷渾王) | Mùróng Yèyán (慕容葉延) | 329–351 |
| Tuyuhun King (吐谷渾王) | Mùróng Suìxī (慕容碎奚) | 351–371 |
| Bailan King (白蘭王) | Mùróng Shìlián (慕容視連) | 371–390 |
| Tuyuhun King (吐谷渾王) | Mùróng Shìpí (慕容視羆) | 390–400 |
| DaChanyu (大單于) | Mùróng Wūgētí (慕容烏紇褆) | 400–405 |
| Wuyin Khan (戊寅可汗)/ Da Chanyu (大單于)/ Wu King (武王) | Mùróng Shùluògān (慕容樹洛干) | 405–417 |
| Bailan King (白蘭王) | Mùróng Āchái (慕容阿柴) | 417–424 |
| Hui King (惠王)/ King of Longxi (隴西王) | Mùróng Mùguī (慕容慕璝) | 424–436 |
| Henan King (河南王) | Mùróng Mùlìyán (慕容慕利延) | 436–452 |
| Henan King (河南王)/ Xiping King (西平王) | Mùróng Shíyín (慕容拾寅) | 452–481 |
| Henan King (河南王) | Mùróng Dùyìhóu (慕容度易侯) | 481–490 |
| Mùróng Fúliánchóu (慕容伏連籌) | 490–540 | |
| Khan | Mùróng Kuālǔ (慕容夸呂) | 540–591 |
| Khan | Mùróng Shìfú (慕容世伏) | 591–597 |
| Busabo Khan (步薩鉢可汗) | Mùróng Fúyǔn | 597–635 |
| Zhugulüwugandou Khan (趉故呂烏甘豆可汗)/ Daning King (大寧王)/ XipingCommandery King (西平郡王) | Mùróng Shùn | 635 |
| Wudiyebaledou Khan (烏地也拔勒豆可汗)/ Heyuan Commandery King (河源郡王) | Mùróng Nuòhébō | 635–672 |
| Tuyuhun rulers family tree | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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