Yueban
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Yueban () (
Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...
: */jiuᴇt̚-pˠan/ < Late Han Chinese: */jyat-pɑn/), colloquially: "Weak
Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...
", was a Turkic tribe identified by Chinese historians as remnants of Northen Xiongnu. in Zhetysu, now part of modern-day
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
. 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 the
Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...
confederation. About 480s, the Yueban split into four
Chuy Chuy () is a city in the extreme east of Uruguay, in the Rocha Department, northeast of Montevideo. It lies on the border with Brazil, separated from its Brazilian sister town of Chuí only by a shared avenue that serves as the border, and by the ...
tribes:Gumilev L.N., ''"Ancient Türks"'', Moscow, 'Science', 1967, Ch.20 http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/OT/ot20.htm (In Russian) ''Chuyue'' (處月), ''Chumi'' (處密), ''Chumukun'' (處木昆), and ''Chuban'' (處半). One Yueban branch, Chuyue, later intermixing with
Göktürks The Göktürks (; ), also known as Türks, Celestial Turks or Blue Turks, were a Turkic people in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his sons, succeeded the Rouran Khaganate as the main powe ...
, formed the Shatuo of the Western Göktürk Khaganate. The Yueban-descended Shatuo played an important role in Chinese dynastic history. In the 10th century the remaining Shatuo branch of the Chuy tribe possibly joined Mongolic-speaking Tatar confederation in the territory of the modern
Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
, and became known as Ongud or White Tatars branch of the Tatars. Another Yueban-descended tribe, Chumukun, might be associated with the Kimek confederation.


Identity and location

Yury Zuev reconstructed 悅般 ''Yuebans underlying form as *''Örpen'' ~ ''Ürpen'', identifiable with the toponym ''Örpün'' mentioned in Bilge Khagan inscription. Zuev also compared *''Örpen'' ~ ''Ürpen'' to the
prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...
咽麫 ''Yànmiàn'' (supposedly from MC < *''iet-mien'' < *''ermen'' ~ ''örmen''?) at the
Irtysh The Irtysh is a river in Russia, China, and Kazakhstan. It is the chief tributary of the Ob (river), Ob and is also the longest tributary in the world. The river's source lies in the Altai Mountains, Mongolian Altai in Dzungaria (the northern p ...
headwaters The headwater of a river or stream is the geographical point of its beginning, specifically where surface runoff water begins to accumulate into a flowing channel of water. A river or stream into which one or many tributary rivers or streams flo ...
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 the Emel River. Gumilyov further identified ''Yueban'' with the ''Altï Čub Soğdak'' "Six Prefectures' Sogdians". Meanwhile, Sergey Klyashtorny identified the ''Altï Čub Soğdak'' with the Sogdian-populated "Six Barbarian Prefectures" (六胡州 Liùhúzhōu) of ''Lu'' 魯, ''Li'' 麗, ''Han'' 含 (or ''She'' 舍), '' Sai'' 塞, ''Yi'' 依, and ''Qi'' 契, established by Tang Chinese in 679 from "surrendered Turks" (降突厥), "originally a Sogdian people who had submitted collectively to the Eastern Turks" Later on, ''Altï Čub Soğdak'' were mentioned in Kul Tegin inscription as enemies of the Second Turkic Khaganate, and they were conquered by Bilge Khagan in 701. The Six Prefectures also revolted against Tang, until Tang army dispersed them in 722.


Language and customs

According to the Book of Wei, the Yuebans' language and customs were the same as the
Gaoche The Tiele ( zh, c=鐵勒, p=Tiělè),, Mongolian ''*Tegreg'' " eople of theCarts" also transliterated as Chile ( zh, c=敕勒, links=no), Dili ( zh, c=狄歷, links=no), Zhile ( zh, c=直勒, links=no) and Tele ( zh, c=特勒, links=no), who w ...
, who were Turkic speakers. Yuebans cut their hair and trimmed their ghee-smeared, sun-dried, glossy eyebrows evenly, and washed before meals three times every day.


History

Between 155 and 166, 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 ...
(*''Särpi'') (Ch. 鮮卑, Wade–Giles Hsien-pi, Hsien-pei), a former vassal tribe of the
Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...
, united under Tanshihuai conducted a series of campaigns against Northern 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. The defeat ended the prominence of the Xiongnu as a major power in inner Asia. Tanshihuai expelled the Xiongnu from Dzungaria to beyond the Tarbagatai Mountains, and pushed the
Dingling The Dingling (174 BCE); (200 BCE); Eastern Han Chinese: *''teŋ-leŋ'' < Old Chinese: *''têŋ-rêŋ'' were an ancient people who appear in Chinese historiography in the context of the 1st century BCE. The Dingling are considered to have been ...
beyond the
Sayan Mountains The Sayan Mountains (, ; ) are a mountain range in southern Siberia spanning southeastern Russia (Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tuva and Khakassia) and northern Mongolia. Before the rapid expansion of the Tsardom of Russia, the mou ...
. The defeat had cost the Xiongnu their revenue from 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 ...
in the agricultural dependencies in the
Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Xinjiang, Northwestern China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, Ch ...
("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" or Yueban took advantage of the vulnerability of the neighboring Uar (a people possibly linked to the
Hephthalites The Hephthalites (), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian languages, Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit and Prakrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to ...
and/or the " Avars" who later invaded Eastern Europe) and conquered Zhetysu, where they established the principality of Yueban. Later, some Uar returned to Zhetysu, and in cooperation with the Mukrins, a Xianbei tribe, occupied the Tianshan slopes in the 2nd century, retaining their independence for some time as the Western Xianbei Horde.Gumilev L.N., ''"Hunnu in China"'', Moscow, 'Science', 1974, Ch. 9, http://gumilevica.kulichki.com/HIC/hic09.htm (In Russian) Zhetysu was also populated by the Azi (who lived between Suyab and Uzkent) and the Tuhsi. The ''Azi'' and ''Tuhsi'' are sometimes linked to
Asii The Asii, Osii, Ossii, Asoi, Asioi, Asini or Aseni were an ancient Indo-European people of Central Asia, during the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE. Known only from Classical Greek and Roman sources, they were one of the peoples held to be responsibl ...
and Tukharas;
Indo-European peoples Indo-European is a major language family of Europe, parts of West and Central Asia, and South Asia. Indo-European may also refer to: * Proto-Indo-European language Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-E ...
who had conquered
Bactria Bactria (; Bactrian language, Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient Iranian peoples, Iranian civilization in Central Asia based in the area south of the Oxus River (modern Amu Darya) and north of the mountains of the Hindu Kush, an area ...
six centuries earlier, and formed the
Kushan Empire The Kushan Empire (– CE) was a Syncretism, syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Afghanistan, Eastern Iran, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbe ...
. According to Persian historian Gardizi, Azi and Tuhsi were remnants of Türgesh, along with Khalaj.
Karakhanid The Kara-Khanid Khanate (; zh, t=喀喇汗國, p=Kālā Hánguó), also known as the Karakhanids, Qarakhanids, Ilek Khanids or the Afrasiabids (), was a Karluk Turkic khanate that ruled Central Asia from the 9th to the early 13th century. Th ...
linguist Mahmud Kashgari described Tuhsi as a dynastic tribe of Turkic-speaking monoglots. This may suggest that Indo-European peoples underwent language replacement, in the form of "
Turkification Turkification, Turkization, or Turkicization () describes a shift whereby populations or places receive or adopt Turkic attributes such as culture, language, history, or ethnicity. However, often this term is more narrowly applied to mean specif ...
", had occurred. The ''Azi'' were also alternatively proposed to be Yeniseian-speaking, as Vasily Bartold noted the similarities between
Old Turkic Old Siberian Turkic, generally known as East Old Turkic and often shortened to Old Turkic, was a Siberian Turkic language spoken around East Turkistan and Mongolia. It was first discovered in inscriptions originating from the Second Turkic Kh ...
𐰔 ''Az'' and the ethnonym ''Assan'' of a people who spoke an extinct Yeniseic Kott dialect. In 448 the Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei received an envoy from the Yueban to negotiate a war with the
Rouran The Rouran Khaganate ( Chinese: zh, c=, p=Róurán, label=no), also known as Ruanruan or Juan-juan ( zh, c=, p=Ruǎnruǎn, label=no) (or variously ''Jou-jan'', ''Ruruan'', ''Ju-juan'', ''Ruru'', ''Ruirui'', ''Rouru'', ''Rouruan'' or ''Tantan'') ...
. 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. In the late 5th century the Yueban were attacked by the Tiele, 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. The dominance of Yueban's Tiele enemies was short-lived: first, the
Hephthalites The Hephthalites (), sometimes called the White Huns (also known as the White Hunas, in Iranian languages, Iranian as the ''Spet Xyon'' and in Sanskrit and Prakrit as the ''Sveta-huna''), were a people who lived in Central Asia during the 5th to ...
conquered the Tiele (495-496), followed by the Rouran in 530s and finally in 551, the Turks, as Rouran's vassals, again quelled Tiele's rebellion. Nevertheless, the four splinter tribes still became major players in the First Turkic Khaganate. After the First Khaganate's disintegration, Chumukun were in the Duolu wing, whereas Chuban were in both Duolu and Nushibi wings of the Western Turkic Khaganate ''On Oq'' (Ten Arrows) elites. Much later, Chuyue branch, intermixing with Göktürk remnants, formed the Shatuo tribe in Southern Dzungaria, west of Lake Barkol. An 8th-century Tibetan geographer mentioned Chumuhuns in Altai and south of it as the ''Ibilkur'', 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 between
Karluks The Karluks (also Qarluqs, Qarluks, Karluqs, , Qarluq, Para-Mongolic languages, Para-Mongol: Harluut, zh, s=葛逻禄, t=葛邏祿 ''Géluólù'' ; customary phonetic: ''Gelu, Khololo, Khorlo'', , ''Khallokh'', ''Qarluq'') were a prominent no ...
and Turgesh. Their possessions were on the west side of the Tarbagatai range. Chinese chroniclers listed ''Chumukun'' (處木昆), led by a *''Külüg čor'' ( 啜 '' uü chuo''), as the first of five Duolu tribes in the On-Ok union. 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.


Theism, spirits, and magic

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 the Eurasian Avars sorcerers in their war with the
Franks file:Frankish arms.JPG, Aristocratic Frankish burial items from the Merovingian dynasty The Franks ( or ; ; ) were originally a group of Germanic peoples who lived near the Rhine river, Rhine-river military border of Germania Inferior, which wa ...
, and Naiman sorcerers against Chingis-Khan. The Manichaean Chuyue tribe's descendants, Shatuo, later founded the Chinese state Hou Tang (923-936) in Northern China, and adopted a Chinese surname Li (李). The Shatuo had a predominant Dragon cult. Later Tang's founder Li 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. Within China, Chuy Shatuo became active adherents and protectors of
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
and
Taoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...
, and initiated construction of many Buddhist temples. Subsequent to Shatuo, most of these temples were demolished.


Legacy

The Chuyue (處月) were often identified with the '' Čigil'', a Middle Turkic-speaking tribe "opposing Rūm" mentioned by 10th century Karakhanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari;Maħmūd al-Kaśğari. "Dīwān Luğāt al-Turk". Edited & translated by Robert Dankoff in collaboration with James Kelly. In ''Sources of Oriental Languages and Literature''. Part I. (1982). p. 82-83 still, Atwood (2010) doubts this Chuyue-Chigil identification and notes that Chuyue is phonetically closer to the Chunghyl "bones" of the Yugurs. The Chumi (處密) tribe may be identified with the ''Čömül'', another tribe opposing Rūm and spoke both Middle Turkic and their own "gibberish" (Ar. رَطَانَة‎ ''raṭāna''). The Chumukun (處木昆) were identified by Gumilyov with the Kimek (which existed in the period of 743-1050 AD). Abu Said Gardizi (d. 1061) listed the Kimek khaganate's seven constituents as Imi, Yemeks,
Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary
are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...
, Bayandur,
Kipchaks The Kipchaks, also spelled Qipchaqs, known as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Russian annals, were Turkic nomads and then a confederation that existed in the Middle Ages inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe. First mentioned in the eighth cent ...
, Lanikaz, and Ajlad. Much later, both Chumukun and
Kipchaks The Kipchaks, also spelled Qipchaqs, known as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Russian annals, were Turkic nomads and then a confederation that existed in the Middle Ages inhabiting parts of the Eurasian Steppe. First mentioned in the eighth cent ...
would possibly contribute to the ethnogenesis of the Polovtsy.Gumilyov, L. (2009) ''Searches for an Imaginary Kingdom: The Legend of the Kingdom of Prester John'
ch. 14
(in English; translated by R.E.F. Smith)


See also

* Chigils * Kimek * History of the central steppe


Notes

{{notelist


References

Xiongnu