Tuyuhun (;

LHC The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008, in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists, and ...

: *''tʰɑʔ-jok-guən''; Wade-Giles: ''T'u-yühun''), also known as Henan () and Azha (; ), was a dynastic monarchy established by the

nomadic peoples Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic past ...

related to the

Xianbei The Xianbei (; ) were an ancient nomadic people that once resided in the eastern Eurasian steppes in what is today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China. The Xianbei were likely not of a single ethnicity, but rather a multiling ...

in the

Qilian Mountains The Qilian Mountains (), together with the Altyn-Tagh sometimes known as the Nan Shan, as it is to the south of the Hexi Corridor, is a northern outlier of the Kunlun Mountains, forming the border between Qinghai and the Gansu provinces of n ...

and upper

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

valley, in modern

Qinghai Qinghai is an inland Provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. It is the largest provinces of China, province of China (excluding autonomous regions) by area and has the third smallest population. Its capital and largest city is Xin ...

, China.

History

After the disintegration of the

state, nomadic groups were led by their khagan, Murong Tuyuhun (慕容吐谷渾; 246 - 317), to the rich pasture lands around

Qinghai Lake Qinghai Lake is the list of lakes by area, largest lakes of China, lake in China. Located in an endorheic basin in Qinghai Province, to which it gave its name, Qinghai Lake is classified as an alkaline lake, alkaline saline lake, salt lake. The ...

about the middle of the 3rd century AD. Murong Tuyuhun was the older brother of the

Former Yan Yan, known in historiography as the Former Yan (; 337–370), was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Murong clan of the Xianbei during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. From Liaoning, the Former Yan later conquered and ruled over Hebei, Shaanxi, ...

's ancestor

Murong Hui Murong Hui (慕容廆, 269 – 4 June 333), courtesy name Yiluo (弈洛), was an Xianbei chief, formally known as Duke Xiang of Liaodong, posthumously honored as Emperor Wuxuan (武宣皇帝). In the Book of Jin, Murong Hui was described as ...

and elder son of the

Chanyu Chanyu () or Shanyu (), short for Chengli Gutu Chanyu (), was the title used by the supreme rulers of Inner Asian nomads for eight centuries until superseded by the title "''Khagan''" in 402 AD. The title was most famously used by the ruling L ...

Murong Shegui (慕容涉歸) of the

Murong Murong (; Eastern Han Chinese, LHC: *''mɑC-joŋ''; Middle Chinese, EMC: *''mɔh-juawŋ'') or Muren refers to an ethnic Xianbei tribe who are attested from the time of Tanshihuai (reigned 156–181). Different strands of evidence exist linking ...

Xianbei who took his people from their original settlements on the

Liaodong Peninsula The Liaodong or Liaotung Peninsula ( zh, s=辽东半岛, t=遼東半島, p=Liáodōng Bàndǎo) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located ...

to the region of the

Yin Mountains The Yin Mountains, also known by their Chinese name as the Yin Shan or Yinshan and by various romanizations as the Daqing Mountains, are mountains in the Eastern Gobi Desert steppe of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of China. The Yellow Riv ...

, crossing the

between 307 and 313, and into the eastern region of modern

. The Tuyuhun Empire was established in 284 by subjugating the native peoples referred to as the Qiang, including more than 100 different and loosely coordinated tribes that did not submit to each other or any authority. After Tuyuhun died in Linxia, Gansu in 317, his sixty sons further expanded the empire by defeating the

Western Qin The Western Qin (; 385–400, 409–431) was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Qifu clan of Xianbei ethnicity during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms. All rulers of the Western Qin declared themselves "''wang''", translatable as either "king" or ...

(385-430) and Xia (407-431) kingdoms. The Qinghai Xianbei, Tufa Xianbei, Qifu Xianbei and Haolian Xianbei joined them. They moved their capital west of Qinghai Lake. Tuyuhun people taming the horse

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 as

Hotan Hotan (also known by other names) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Northwestern China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become an administrative area in its own right i ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

and the borders of

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, and established a vast empire that encompassed

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

Ningxia Ningxia, officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in Northwestern China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous ...

, northern

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

, eastern

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

, southern Xinjiang, and most of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

, stretching 1,500 kilometers from east to west and 1,000 kilometers from north to south. They unified parts of Inner Asia for the first time in history, developed the southern route of the

Silk Road The Silk Road was a network of Asian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over , it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between the ...

, 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 the

Tibetan Empire The Tibetan Empire (,) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. It expanded further under the 38th king, Trisong De ...

. The Tuyuhun Empire existed as an independent kingdom and was not traditionally considered to be an orthodox dynasty in

Chinese historiography Chinese historiography is the study of the techniques and sources used by historians to develop the recorded history of China. Overview of Chinese history The recording of events in Chinese history dates back to the Shang dynasty ( 1600–1046 ...

Conflict between the Tang and Tibetan empires

In the beginning of the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, the Tuyuhun Empire came to a gradual decline and was increasingly caught in the conflict between the Tang and the

. 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 of

Songtsen Gampo Songtsen Gampo (Classical , pronounced ) (; (601–683 CE, reign 614-648) was the 33rd Tibetan king of the Yarlung dynasty and the founder of the Tibetan Empire. The first of three Dharma Kings of Tibet, he formally introduced Buddhism to Tib ...

, 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. The Tibetan emperor requested marriage to a Tang princess, but was refused. In 635-636 the

Emperor Taizong of Tang Emperor Taizong of Tang (28January 59810July 649), previously Prince of Qin, personal name Li Shimin, was the second emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, ruling from 626 to 649. He is traditionally regarded as a co-founder of the dynasty fo ...

defeated the Tibetan army; after this campaign, the Emperor Taizong agreed to provide a Tang princess to Songtsen Gampo. 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 to

, whereas the Tibetans went eastward to attack the

Tangut people The Tangut people ( Tangut: , ''mjɨ nja̱'' or , ''mji dzjwo''; ; ; ) were a Sino-Tibetan people who founded and inhabited the Western Xia dynasty. The group initially lived under Tuyuhun authority, but later submitted to the Tang dynasty. A ...

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. Battle of Dafei River

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 general

Xue Rengui Rengui (; 614 – 24 March 683), formal name Xue Li (薛礼) but went by the courtesy name of Rengui, was a Chinese military general during the early Tang dynasty. He is one of the most well-known military generals of his time due to his humble ...

to lead 100,000 troops to fight Tibet in Dafeichuan (present

Gonghe County Gonghe County ( zh, s=共和县; ), also known as Kungho, is a county of Qinghai Province, China under the administration of Hainan Prefecture. The seat of Gonghe County is in the town of Qabqa. Administrative divisions Gonghe County is made up ...

, 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.

Disintegration

After the fall of the kingdom, the Tuyuhun people split. Led by

Murong Nuohebo Murong Nuohebo () (died 688), regnal name Wudiyebaledou Khan (烏地也拔勒豆可汗) or, in short, Ledou Khan (勒豆可汗), Tang dynasty noble title Prince of Qinghai (青海王), was the last khan of the Xianbei-ruled Tuyuhun state. He had b ...

on the eastern side of the

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 Mt. Yin near

Ordos Loop The Ordos Plateau, also known as the Ordos Basin or simply the Ordos, is a highland sedimentary basin in parts of most Northern China with an elevation of , and consisting mostly of land enclosed by the Ordos Loop, a large northerly rectangular ...

. In 946, a

Shatuo The Shatuo, or the Shatuo Turks (; also transcribed as Sha-t'o, Sanskrit SartZuev Yu.A., ''"Horse Tamgas from Vassal Princedoms (Translation of Chinese composition "Tanghuyao" of 8-10th centuries)"'', Kazakh SSR Academy of Sciences, Alma-Ata, I ...

Liu Zhiyuan Liu Zhiyuan () (March 4, 895 – March 10, 948), later changed to Liu Gao (), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Gaozu of Later Han (), was the founding Emperor of China, emperor of the Shatuo-led Chinese Later Han (Five Dynasties), Lat ...

, conspired to murder the highest Xianbei leader, Bai Chengfu, who was reportedly so wealthy that “his horses had silver mangers”. With the looted wealth that included an abundance of property and thousands of fine horses, Liu established the

Later Han Later Han (後漢) may refer to two dynastic states in imperial China: *Eastern Han (25–220), the second period of the Han dynasty, also called Later Han * Later Han (947–951), a dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period See al ...

(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 the

Western Xia The Western Xia or the Xi Xia ( zh, c=, w=Hsi1 Hsia4, p=Xī Xià), officially the Great Xia ( zh, c=大夏, w=Ta4 Hsia4, p=Dà Xià, labels=no), also known as the Tangut Empire, and known as Stein (1972), pp. 70–71. to the Tanguts ...

(1038-1227), which was destroyed by the Mongols.

Language

Alexander Vovin Alexander Vladimirovich Vovin (; 27 January 1961 – 8 April 2022) was a Soviet-born Russian-American linguist and philologist, and director of studies at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, France. He wa ...

(2015) identifies the extinct

Tuyuhun language Tuyuhun (), also known as ‘Azha from Tibetan script, is an extinct language once spoken by the Tuyuhun of northern China about 500 AD. The existence of the Tuyuhun, and consequently their language, is first attested in the '' Book of Song'', ...

as a

Para-Mongolic Para-Mongolic is a proposed group of languages that is considered to be an extinct sister branch of the Mongolic languages. Para-Mongolic contains certain historically attested extinct languages, among them Khitan language, Khitan and Tuyuhun lang ...

language, meaning that Tuyuhun is related to Mongolic as a

sister clade In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

but is not directly descended from the

Proto-Mongolic language Proto-Mongolic is the hypothetical ancestor language of the modern Mongolic languages. It is very close to the Middle Mongol language, the language spoken at the time of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. Most features of modern Mongolic language ...

. The

Khitan language Khitan or Kitan ( in large Khitan script, large script or in small Khitan script, small, ''Khitai''; , ''Qìdānyǔ''), also known as Liao, is an extinct language once spoken in Northeast Asia by the Khitan people (4th to 13th century CE). It wa ...

is also a Para-Mongolic language.

Culture

When the Chinese pilgrim

Songyun Songyun is the atonal pinyin romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliterat ...

visited the region in 518, he noted that the people had a written language, which was more than a hundred years before

Thonmi Sambhota Thonmi Sambhota (Thönmi Sambhoṭa, (Tib. , Wylie transcription, Wylie ''thon mi sam+b+ho Ta''; c.619-7th C.) is a figure credited by Tibetan traditions with creating the first Tibetan script, based on the Gupta script, Gupta alphabet, after bei ...

is said to have returned from India after developing a script for writing the Tibetan language.''Ancient Tibet: Research Materials from the Yeshe De Project'' (1986), p. 136. Dharma Publishing, California. .

Rulers

Rulers family tree

References

Works cited

* *

External links

* Emperor Taizong's campaign against Tuyuhun - with the 634 defeat of Tuyuhun troops * http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/tuyuhun.html {{Mongolic ethnic groups , state=expanded 670 disestablishments 284 establishments Xianbei Tang dynasty Former countries in Chinese history Former kingdoms Historical Chinese exonyms