Yueban | |
|---|---|
| 160–490 | |
 | |
| Historical era | 1st millennium |
• Established | 160 |
• Disestablished | 490 |
| Today part of | Kazakhstan |
Yueban (Chinese:悅般) (Middle Chinese: */jiuᴇt̚-pˠan/ <Late Han Chinese: */jyat-pɑn/[1]), colloquially: "WeakXiongnu", was the name used by Chinese historians for remnants of the Northern Xiongnu[2] inZhetysu, now part of modern-dayKazakhstan. In Chinese literature they are commonly called Yueban. The Yuebans gained their own visibility after disintegration of the Northern Xiongnu state, because unlike the main body of the Northern Xiongnu, who escaped from the Chinese sphere of knowledge, the Yueban tribes remained closer to China.
The Yueban emerged after the disintegration of theXiongnu confederation. About 480s, the Yueban split into fourChuy tribes:[3]Chuyue (處月),Chumi (處密),Chumukun (處木昆), andChuban (處半).
One Yueban branch, Chuyue, later intermixing withGöktürks, formed theShatuo of the WesternGöktürk Khaganate.[4] The Yueban-descendedShatuo played an important role in Chinese dynastic history. In the 10th century the remaining Shatuo branch of the Chuy tribe possibly joinedMongolic-speakingTatar confederation in the territory of the modernMongolia, and became known asOngud or White Tatars[5][6] branch of the Tatars.
Another Yueban-descended tribe, Chumukun, might be associated with theKimek confederation.
Yury Zuev reconstructed 悅般Yueban's underlying form as *Örpen ~Ürpen, identifiable with the toponymÖrpün mentioned inBilge Khagan inscription.[7][8] Zuev also compared *Örpen ~Ürpen to theprefecture 咽麫Yànmiàn (supposedly fromMC < *iet-mien < *ermen ~örmen?) at theIrtyshheadwaters in the 7th century. Meanwhile, Vladimir Tishin compared 咽麫Yànmiàn (< LMC *ʔjianˊ-mjianˋ < EMC *ʔɛnH-mjianH < *Emän) to the names of the Chumukun's "town of Yan" (咽城) and theEmel River.[9]
Gumilyov further identifiedYueban with theAltï Čub Soğdak "SixPrefectures' Sogdians".[10] Meanwhile, Sergey Klyashtorny identified theAltï Čub Soğdak with the Sogdian-populated "Six Barbarian Prefectures" (六胡州 Liùhúzhōu)[11] ofLu 魯,Li 麗,Han 含 (orShe 舍),Sai 塞,Yi 依, andQi 契, established byTang Chinese in 679[12] from "surrendered Turks" (降突厥),[13] "originally a Sogdian people who had submitted collectively to the Eastern Turks"[14] Later on,Altï Čub Soğdak were mentioned inKul Tegin inscription as enemies of theSecond Turkic Khaganate,[15] and they were conquered byBilge Khagan in 701. The Six Prefectures also revolted against Tang, until Tang army dispersed them in 722.[16]
According to theBook of Wei, the Yuebans' language and customs were the same as theGaoche, who wereTurkic speakers. Yuebans cut their hair and trimmed their ghee-smeared, sun-dried, glossy eyebrows evenly, and washed before meals three times every day.[17][18]
Between 155 and 166, theXianbei (*Särpi) (Ch. 鮮卑, Wade–Giles Hsien-pi, Hsien-pei), a former vassal tribe of theXiongnu, united underTanshihuai conducted a series of campaigns againstNorthern Xiongnu, eventually defeating them and forcing them to flee west, which started a series of Xiongnu migrations (93 CE - circa 380 CE) westward to southern Siberia and Central Asia.[19][20]
The defeat ended the prominence of the Xiongnu as a major power in inner Asia. Tanshihuai expelled the Xiongnu fromDzungaria to beyond theTarbagatai Mountains, and pushed theDingling beyond theSayan Mountains. The defeat had cost the Xiongnu their revenue from theSilk Road in the agricultural dependencies in theTarim Basin ("Western Territories", Xiyu or Xinjian of the Chinese annals), forcing them to find new dependencies, and the Xiongnu split again.
Tribes known as the "Weak Xiongnu"[21] or Yueban took advantage of the vulnerability of the neighboring Uar (a people possibly linked to theHephthalites and/or the "Avars" who later invaded Eastern Europe) and conqueredZhetysu, where they established the principality of Yueban. Later, some Uar returned to Zhetysu, and in cooperation with theMukrins, a Xianbei tribe, occupied the Tianshan slopes in the 2nd century, retaining their independence for some time as the Western Xianbei Horde.[22]
Zhetysu was also populated by theAzi (who lived betweenSuyab andUzkent) and theTuhsi. TheAzi andTuhsi are sometimes linked toAsii[a][23][24] andTukharas;[25]Indo-European peoples who had conqueredBactria six centuries earlier, and formed theKushan Empire. According to Persian historianGardizi, Azi and Tuhsi were remnants ofTürgesh,[26][27] along withKhalaj.[28]Karakhanid linguistMahmud Kashgari described Tuhsi as a dynastic tribe of Turkic-speakingmonoglots.[29] This may suggest that Indo-European peoples underwentlanguage replacement, in the form of "Turkification", had occurred. TheAzi were also alternatively proposed to beYeniseian-speaking, asVasily Bartold noted the similarities betweenOld Turkic 𐰔Az and the ethnonymAssan of a people who spoke an extinct YeniseicKott dialect.[30]
In 448 theEmperor Taiwu of Northern Wei received an envoy from the Yueban to negotiate a war with theRouran. If the Yueban would pressure them from the west, the Rouran would lose any freedom to maneuver. Though no direct records exist about the war in Dzungaria, by the course of the events, there was no peace, and the nomadic empire of Rouran began to decline.[22]
In the late 5th century the Yueban were attacked by theTiele, who had split from the Rouran in 487. The Yueban principality ceased to existed during the 480s and split into four tribes, known as the Chuyue, Chumi, Chumuhun, and Chuban.[31] The dominance of Yueban's Tiele enemies was short-lived: first, theHephthalites conquered the Tiele (495-496), followed by the Rouran in 530s[32] and finally in 551, the Turks, as Rouran's vassals, again quelled Tiele's rebellion.[33]
Nevertheless, the four splinter tribes still became major players in theFirst Turkic Khaganate.[22] After the First Khaganate's disintegration, Chumukun were in theDuolu wing, whereas Chuban were in both Duolu andNushibi wings of theWestern Turkic KhaganateOn Oq (Ten Arrows) elites.[34][35] Much later, Chuyue branch, intermixing withGöktürk remnants, formed the Shatuo tribe in SouthernDzungaria, west ofLake Barkol.[3]
An 8th-century Tibetan geographer mentioned Chumuhuns in Altai and south of it as theIbilkur, and associated them with Külüg-Külchur. They were the only Chuy tribe that in the middle of the 8th century preserved their independence, in spite of being sandwiched betweenKarluks and Turgesh. Their possessions were on the west side of theTarbagatai range.[36] Chinese chroniclers listedChumukun (處木昆), led by a *Külüg čor ([屈]律啜[Qu]lü chuo), as the first of fiveDuolu tribes in the On-Ok union.[37][38][39][40]
Based on a reconstruction of Yueban history,Lev Gumilev argued against a then-widespread view that the Rouran were synonymous with the "Avars" or "Pseudo-Avars" (who attacked the Sabirs before invading Eastern Europe), because the Rouran would have had to pass through the Yueban state to attack the Sabirs.[41]
No records address the Yueban religion, though Chinese annals depict some manifestations of religious rites and magic. A narration about the Yuebans tells about sorcerers, able to cause frost and rainstorm. During a war with the Rouran, Chuban sorcerers incited a snowstorm against them, making the Rouran so frostbitten they had to stop their campaign and retreat. A similar legend is later told about theEurasian Avars sorcerers in their war with theFranks, andNaiman sorcerers againstChingis-Khan.[42]
TheManichaeanChuyue tribe's descendants, Shatuo, later founded the Chinese stateHou Tang (923-936) in Northern China, and adopted a Chinese surname Li (李). The Shatuo had a predominant Dragon cult. Later Tang's founderLi Keyong also came from the Dragon tribe. The annals even noted that the Shatuo were praying "old services following the custom of the North" at the Thunder-mountain, at the Gates of Dragon.[43] Within China, Chuy Shatuo became active adherents and protectors ofBuddhism andTaoism, and initiated construction of many Buddhist temples. Subsequent to Shatuo, most of these temples were demolished.[44]
The Chuyue (處月) were often identified with theČigil,[45][46][47] aMiddle Turkic-speaking tribe "opposingRūm" mentioned by 10th century Karakhanid scholarMahmud al-Kashgari;[48] still, Atwood (2010) doubts this Chuyue-Chigil identification and notes that Chuyue is phonetically closer to the Chunghyl "bones" of theYugurs.[49]
The Chumi (處密) tribe may be identified with theČömül, another tribe opposing Rūm and spoke bothMiddle Turkic and their own "gibberish" (Ar. رَطَانَةraṭāna).[48][50]
The Chumukun (處木昆) were identified by Gumilyov with theKimek (which existed in the period of 743-1050 AD).[51][52]Abu Said Gardizi (d. 1061) listed theKimek khaganate's seven constituents asImi,Yemeks,Tatars,Bayandur,Kipchaks,Lanikaz, andAjlad. Much later, both Chumukun andKipchaks would possibly contribute to the ethnogenesis of thePolovtsy.[53]