China has a long history of 5,000 years and has experienced countless dynasties. There are some dynasties that people are proud of just by saying them. For example, the Tang Dynasty is the most economically prosperous dynasty in China's history, and it is famous in the world.
So to this day, many other countries refer to Chinese gathering places as Chinatowns. Although the academic community is inconclusive about the size of the territory during the Tang Dynasty, it is still one of the most extensive dynasties in China's history. The large land area and strong economic strength are bound to have an impact on other countries.
We all know that if you divide it by skin color Chinese belong to the yellow race. However, in some historical records, it can be found that during the Tang Dynasty, there was a group of dark-skinned slaves in China, who were docile and hardworking, and the labor was cheap, and they were very popular with the dignitaries and nobles, known as "Kunlun Nu".
So, why are most of the blacks who came to our country during the Tang Dynasty of the Tang Dynasty of low social status and could only be slaves?
In fact, as long as you understand the national conditions during the Tang Dynasty, this matter is not difficult to understand. The strength of the Tang Dynasty was the strength of its comprehensive strength, and whether it was internal politics, economy, culture, or external military and diplomacy, it reached an unprecedented top level.
The Tang Dynasty not only improved its own economic level through the Silk Road, but also promoted the development of many neighboring countries. So there were a lot of foreigners coming to China at that time, and it was not surprising that foreigners of all colors appeared in Chang'an City.
These foreigners came to China for many purposes, in addition to studying and doing business, there were also slave traders.
Except for some people who can't live in their own countries at all, so they leave their homes and make a living by selling labor. Most slaves were forcibly trafficked or brought to the Tang Dynasty by illegal means.
Photo: Stills of people trading in Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty
At that time, the economy of the Tang Dynasty was unprecedentedly developed, and the rich people had more demand for slaves, so foreigners came to China to trade slaves. As for the dignitaries, when they saw such low-priced and obedient slaves, they naturally rushed to buy them.
The slave trade abroad was dominated by low-ranking blacks, so the slaves who eventually flowed into China the most were also blacks. Even some vassal states of the Tang Dynasty would offer black slaves as tributes when they paid tribute, so slowly, the Tang Dynasty had a large number of black slaves.
In the Tang Dynasty's "One Hundred and Forty-Seven Tales of Nanyi", there is a record of black slaves: "From the south of Linyi, all of them were curly-haired and black-bodied people, and they were collectively called Kunlun. ”
Curly black body is not difficult to understand, so what does Kunlun mean? Why did the Tang Dynasty call these slaves "Kunlun Nu"?
Image: Scramble to buy stills of slaves
When we mention Kunlun, the first thing that comes to mind may be China's first sacred mountain: Kunlun Mountain. In some literary works, it is also called Kunlun Ruins or Jade Mountain.
The emperors of ancient China paid attention to the dragon vein, and Kunlun Mountain is known as the "ancestor of the dragon vein", which shows that it has a high status in the cultural history of our nation. Located at the junction of present-day Xinjiang and Tibet, Kunlun Mountain belongs entirely to China and cannot have black people.
Therefore, if you simply associate Kunlun Nu with Kunlun Mountain literally, it will not work.
Then we have to consider the second meaning of Kunlun. Kunlun can also be used in Old Chinese to represent things black. The Tang Dynasty called black slaves Kunlun nu only because their skin color was dark.
Kunlun nu was loved by the nobles of the Tang Dynasty for two main reasons.
The first reason is that Kunlun nu is a symbol of their status.
At that time, the Tang Dynasty people's customs were developed, and most people were quite wealthy. In order to show their superiority, the nobles would raise a large number of servants and maids. At that time, there was a jargon called Kunlun Nu, Silla.
Kunlun Nu did not say much, Silla was equivalent to today's professionally trained Filipino maid. Therefore, the high-ranking officials and nobles at that time would buy Kunlun Nu and Silla concubines in large quantities to show their identity.
Second, Kunlun Nu is really more practical
Although they are not tall, they all have a body of muscle. For some tasks that are difficult for ordinary people to do, Kunlun Nu can complete them with ease.
Since more labor can be bought at similar prices, the masters are more willing to buy Kunlun slaves as slaves.
The Tang Dynasty monk Hui Lin once said that Kunlun Nu was very good at taming beasts such as lions and tigers, so the rich people who had money to raise beasts in their families inevitably wanted to find Kunlun Nu to come back as beast trainers.
According to historical records, the earliest appearance of Kunlun nu in China can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty reached the peak of its numbers. In our inherent impression, black people seem to be Africans.
In fact, only some of the Kunlun nu of the Tang Dynasty came from Africa, and many of the remaining were "dwarf blacks" from Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and other countries, with the scientific name of Negrito. They are fundamentally different from black Africans.
First of all, their hair is not curly hair like Africans, but black hair like yellow people. In addition, although they were called black slaves at that time, they were not really black people, but their skin color was much darker than that of ordinary yellow people, but they had not yet reached the level of black people.
Due to the underdevelopment of ancient information, coupled with the low status of slaves, the owners did not want to know too much about their origins. Therefore, whether it is Black Africans or Short Blacks, they are uniformly referred to as "Kunlun Nu" in the history books.
Regarding the origin of these Kunlun nu, at the beginning, modern experts could not give a unified conclusion. One said that they came from Malaysia and Indonesia to the Tang Dynasty to work as coolies; the other said that they were African slaves who had been trafficked from thousands of miles from Africa.
Later, after much research and consulting the history books, it was first determined that the main source of Kunlun Nu was Saigon. In the Annals of India, Saigon was the largest slave trading market in Asia at that time, and China was the most important seller of this market.
In addition, many Tang tombs in China have found black humanoid clay figurines, which has attracted the attention of experts. After careful study and discussion by several experts, the theory that the blacks of the Tang Dynasty came from Southeast Asia and South Asia was determined.
Image from the Internet: black humanoid figurines
In fact, no matter which country Kunlun Nu came from, in the end, it was only a small point in the long river of history. For us, the greatest significance of studying Kunlun Nu is to reflect the grand style of the Tang Dynasty at that time and confirm how powerful the Tang Dynasty was in the world.
History is an extremely rich collection of cases for us. While appreciating the charm of Kunlunnu, we should think more about how to learn from past experience to enrich ourselves, so that we are always in a leading position.
Article author: Zi Haojun
The whole graphic was produced by the Zi Haoxin team!