''Sabao'' ( zh, t=薩保, p=sàbǎo, l=Protector, Guardian), or sārtpāw in
Sogdian,
was an official Chinese title in the 5th-7th centuries CE, used for government-appointed leaders of the
Sogdia
Sogdia () or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemen ...
n immigrant-merchant community.
The word ''sabao'' is derived from the Sogdian word ''sārtpāw'', "caravan leader".
Sabaos also often had titles of "Prefects", with regional responsibilities, in the Chinese administration :
An Jia was Sabao and Grand Governor (大都督, Dàdūdū) of
Tong Prefecture.
They were in charge of commercial affairs for foreign merchants from
Middle Asia
Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian suffix " -sta ...
doing businesses in China, as well as Zoroastrian affairs. Various ''Sabaos'' are known from their epitaphs, such as
An Jia,
Wirkak or
Yu Hong.
The tombs of the ''Sabaos'' in China are among the most lavish of the period in this country, and are only slightly inferior to Imperial tombs, suggesting that they were among the wealthiest members of the population.
Tombs of Sabaos
File:Tomb of An Jia.jpg, Tomb of An Jia
The Tomb of Ān Jiā, also sometimes read Ān Qié ( zh, t=安伽墓石門暨圍屏石榻, l=Stone tomb gate and couch of An Jia), is a Northern Zhou period (557–581 CE) funeral monument to a Sogdian nobleman named "An Jia" in the Chinese epita ...
, 579 CE, Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology.
File:Northern Zhou Dynasty Tomb of Shijun (roof reconstructed).jpg, The tomb of Wirkak, 580 CE, Xi'an City Museum
File:Tomb of Yu Hong with roof (reconstructed, colored).jpg, Tomb of Yu Hong
The Tomb of Yu Hong ( zh, t=虞弘墓, w=Yü2-Hung2-Mu4, p=Yú Hóng Mù) is the grave of Yu Hong and his wife, dating back to 592 AD (Sui dynasty). The tomb was discovered by some locals in 1999 in Wangguo village in Jinyuan district of the city ...
, 592 CE, Shanxi Museum.
References
{{reflist
Sogdians
Multiculturalism in Asia