Yan Liben's step map is known as one of the top ten famous paintings in China, and has attracted much attention since it was exhibited at the Palace Museum, and many scholars have interpreted this "Step Map" from various angles such as artistry, art design, and clothing. In fact, the "Step Map" also records the historical moment of the spread of Chinese culture to the outside, in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, there were Turkic and Uighur regimes in the north, and there were also the same powerful Tubo and Nanzhao states in the southwest. These foreign regimes, with their own culture and religion, also had a completely different model of governance from the Han regime, and through peace and affinity, they became part of China's history.
Step diagram
Historical background of "Step Chart"
"Step Map" is a classic work of Tang Dynasty painting, but also one of the world's top ten famous paintings, the current collection of the Palace Museum is copied from the Song Dynasty, painted on 1.2 meters long silk. This picture mainly tells the story of Tang Taizong Li Shimin receiving the Tubo envoy Lu Dongzan, who came to Tang this time to tang to ask Li Shimin for his affection and marry Princess Wencheng to Songzan Gampo to achieve Tang peace.
In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Taizong learned the lessons of the demise of the Sui Dynasty, exerted great efforts to govern, opened up advice, and formulated a series of active policies for the political, economic, cultural, and ethnic integration of the country and the people, so that the Tang Dynasty's national strength was continuously enhanced, and the social culture also reached unprecedented prosperity.
The thirteenth year of Zhenguan, Goryeo, Silla, Western Turks, Toholuo, Kangguo, Anguo, Persia, Zhenle, Yanqi, Shangchang, Linyi, Kunming, and the barbarian chieftains all sent special envoys to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty. At this time, the Tang Dynasty was very strong, and these envoys offered rare treasures at the same time, and all asked for peace and kissing, and married princesses.
According to historical records, in the nearly 300-year history of the Tang Dynasty, there were more than 20 princesses with ethnic minorities and relatives. This "Step Map" fully shows the policy proposition of a marriage worth 100,000 soldiers at that time. In the spring of the fifteenth year of Zhenguan, Tubo sent an envoy, Lu Dongzan, to marry Princess Wencheng, and this "Step Map" also reflects this grand situation.
At this time, Tubo had conquered most of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and Songtsen Gampo not only sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty and relatives, but also sent envoys to Nibora and other countries, requesting peace and kissing, and even threatening to send troops, and peace became one of the main diplomatic means at that time.
After Lu Dongzan came to the Tang Dynasty, because of his eloquent speech, he was appreciated by Tang Taizong Li Shimin, and on the murals of the Jokhang Temple and the Potala Palace, the story of Lu Dongzan's "Six Trial Marriage Envoys" was also recorded.
The first test was to use silk satin to wear the Nine-Curved Pearl, because the hole in the middle of the Nine-Curved Pearl was curved and curved, it was impossible to pass through it with a needle, Lu Dongzan thought for a long time, he found an ant, tied it with a thin thread to the ant's waist, and sewed the silk satin on the other end. The ant was then placed at one end of the Nine-Curve Pearl, and the other end used honey to seduce it, so that the satin was successfully passed through the Nine-Curve Pearl.
The second test was to identify the mother-child relationship of a hundred pairs of mules and horses, and the other marriage envoys used the characteristics of horses to identify, such as tall, fat and thin, and the patterns on the body. Lu Dongzan separated all the mares and foals, only feeding them and not giving them water to drink, and finally the foals were thirsty and soon returned to the mares to drink milk.
The third test was to have all the messengers drink a hundred altars of wine in one day, eat a hundred sheep, and knead the skins of the sheep. The other envoys slaughtered sheep quickly, ate large chunks of meat, drank wine, and soon became drunk. Lu Dongzan asked his knights, after slaughtering the sheep, to drink wine in small sips, eat meat in small bites, and constantly rub their skins in the middle, and completed the task in less than a day' work.
The fourth test was to let the envoys distinguish the head and heel of a hundred pieces of pine, and Lu Dongzan threw all these pines into the water, relying on the size of the buoyancy to distinguish between the head and the roots. The fifth test was that suddenly one night all the envoys were asked to go back, and these envoys must have been confused at night when they first arrived, and Lu Dongzan was very attentive, and made a sign on the way there, so he returned to the residence smoothly.
The last one is to identify the princess, let Lu Dongzan recognize the princess from among the 300 palace maidens, Lu Dongzan gets the help of an old lady in the palace, finds Princess Wencheng in the crowd, so the princess xu is mated to Songzan Gampo.
A little historical knowledge can be seen that this story was conceived by the Tubo people, and according to the local living habits of Tubo, they made up stories that they liked to hear, but these stories were widely circulated on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and deepened ethnic integration.
The Old Book of Tang's evaluation of Lu Dongzan is: "Although Gar Dongzan did not know the literature, he had a serious temperament, lectured on military trainers, had moderation, tubo and qiang, dominated the mainland, and had more strategies." He thought that he understood the art of war and was very polite, and later Lu Dongzan helped Songzan Gampo establish a feudal system in Tubo, redivide the land, and free Tubo from slave society.
Princess Wencheng's influence on Tubo
Princess Wencheng entered Tibet, the impact on Tubo is undoubtedly huge, Li Shimin also attached great importance to this exchange, Zhenguan fifteen years promised Princess Wencheng to marry Songzan Gampo, until the eighteenth year of Zhenguan, Princess Wencheng arrived in Tubo. During the preparation period, the preparation time was more than a year, and the huge and pro-group dispatched traveled for more than 2 years on the road. Brought all kinds of Buddhist scriptures, treasures and various books, etc., "Buddha statues, treasures, gold and jade bookcases, 360 volumes of classics, various gold and jade ornaments" were brought. In addition to these scripture treasures, Princess Wencheng also brought all kinds of food cooking technicians, architectural engineers, medical technicians, etc., as well as all kinds of planting seeds, all kinds of medical equipment, etc., which can be said to be readily available, similar to moving.
The Tubo region is cold and the wind and sand are relatively large, so people mostly use leather robes, wide cuffs, windproof and wear-resistant, and pay attention to practicality. Songzan Gampo personally led the team to Qinghai's Eling Lake to greet Princess Wencheng, "see the beauty of Chinese costumes, shrink and shrink", Princess Wencheng brought a variety of silk silk, and there are skilled textile technicians, she personally taught the local people the technology of weaving, embroidery, and dyeing and other aspects. Therefore, Han Chinese silk was also very popular in Tibet, especially to win the favor of the upper nobility.
Princess Wencheng also brought seeds and farming techniques, and it is recorded in the "Tibetan Ballads" that Princess Wencheng brought more than 3,800 kinds of crops, 5,500 kinds of livestock, barley, wheat, peas, etc., as well as the use of water mills, breeding cattle and sheep and other technologies. Of course, the numbers in these ballads are only an imaginary number, and it is not difficult to see how important the technology brought by Princess Wencheng to the local area is, and it also reflects the local people's love for Princess Wencheng.
Tubo was mainly nomadic before, this mode of production is very dependent on the weather, and it is also unstable, under the influence of the Tang Dynasty, some areas of Tubo began to use double cattle to cultivate the field, and now go to the southern Tibet region, and there is a legend that Princess Wencheng brought "two cows to raise the bar". In the "MingJian of the Lineage of the Tubo Kings", it is recorded that "the princess went to Baima Township in Kangdi, reclaimed the land, set up a water mill, and turned milk into cheese", etc., and these farming techniques in the Central Plains brought earth-shaking changes to the Tubo region.
At the same time, Songtsen Gampo also learned the land system from the Central Plains, registered the number of subjects and the area of cultivated land, fixed taxes, reclaimed wasteland, rationally arranged production, etc., and also unified weights and measures. To a large extent, it helped Tibet to increase productivity, use science and technology to ensure food production, and also enrich the people's table and improve the local diet structure.
Dietary aspects, especially the introduction of tea, are particularly important for Tibetans. Because the Tubo people like to eat meat, drinking tea can effectively relieve grease and is conducive to good health, and the tea brought by Princess Wencheng has become an indispensable local drink for life, and even become a sacred medicine in the eyes of the locals. Now in many areas, you can still hear the song "The Princess Brings the Dragon Cup", "Dragon Pattern Tea, it was the princess who brought Tibet, and when you see the cup, you think of the princess's kind appearance." In the subsequent trade with the Tang Dynasty, tea and silk became the two main demand products.
In addition, in terms of architectural style, it has also changed the way of living in felt tents in the past, replaced by civil structures in Han areas, and built many pavilions and simple stops on the way to relatives, and the locals still retain many relics of that year, some people have carved the appearance of the princess on the stone as a memorial, in order to prevent the damage of these statues, temples have also been built for people to worship. People planted willow trees in front of the temple, named Tang Liu or Princess Liu. In addition, Princess Wencheng also personally participated in the construction of the Jokhang Temple, which has the characteristics of the Han nationality in the Central Plains. Songzan Gampo also sent people to the Tang Dynasty many times to invite technical craftsmen to promote the development of Tubo architecture.
Jokhang Temple
After Princess Wencheng entered Tibet, she brought a lot of music, religion, and astronomical culture, and now there is a performance of the Tibetan opera "Princess Wencheng". After the death of the princess, in order to commemorate the princess, two special festivals were specially established, the Sagadava Festival and the Princess's Birthday Festival. In terms of religion, the princess brought in a large number of scriptures and Buddha statues such as Shakyamuni, and on the way through, Princess Wencheng also ordered craftsmen to carve many Buddha statues on the cliff walls and build stupas.
Conclusion
When Princess Wencheng and Songzan Gampo were reconciled, Songzan Gampo had just unified the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and established a unified Tubo Dynasty, the regime was not stable, and the economy was relatively backward because of the long-term division. After Princess Wencheng entered Tibet, the political significance was very great, and it also promoted the economic, technological and cultural development of Tibet. With the continuous interaction with Tibet, it has also promoted the development of trade between each other and the integration of nationalities.
References: "Tubo King's Lineage MingJian", "Old Book of Tang Tubo Biography", "Songzan Gampo Testament"