Thanks to Mr. Hu Yaofei for his valuable information
Essay on the History of the Silk Road in the Yuan Dynasty
|Written by Dang Baohai|
Social Sciences Academic Press, February 2024
ISBN：978-7-5228-3384-2
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Introduction
With the completion of the unification of the unprecedented territory of the Yuan Dynasty, the land and maritime Silk Road also ushered in a peak of personnel and material exchanges. From the perspective of the land and maritime Silk Road in the Yuan Dynasty, this book makes detailed and in-depth research and discussion on the royal family of the Wuer Kingdom in the Western Regions, the families of the people of the Western Regions who moved eastward, the documents and commodities of the Yuan Dynasty in Hexi, the relationship between the Yuan Dynasty and Annam, and the relationship between China and the Persian Gulf region and the southern Arabian Peninsula in the Yuan Dynasty, so as to promote the understanding and investigation of the history and places along the Silk Road in the Yuan Dynasty.
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About the Author
Dang Baohai, Ph.D. in History, is an associate professor in the Department of History, Peking University. He is mainly engaged in scientific research and teaching of ancient Chinese history, Mongolian and Yuan history, and ancient history of Sino-foreign relations, and is the author of "Research on the Transportation of Mengyuan Station" and "China in the Eyes of Marco Polo". In recent years, he has been participating in the Maritime Silk Road Research Project of the Department of History of Peking University.
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Preamble/i
Part I
Chapter 1 A Study of the Family History of the Fearful Child/3
Section 1 "The Travels of Marco Polo" Supplement to the Legend of the Tree of the Monarch of the Vultures/3
Section 2 Identification of the Chronology of the Battle of Huozhou in the Yuan Dynasty/17
Section 3 The Lineage of the Yuan Dynasty/33
Section 4 Yidu protects the Gaochang King Timur'er to make up for the death of the year exam/48
Chapter 2: The Families of the Western Regions Migrating East/61
Section 1 Yuan Dynasty Wu'er Meng Susu Family Offering Diagram / 61
Section 2 Wei Gongcun Examination/78
Section 3 Two Nestorian Families in China in the 11th-13th Centuries/92
Section 4 Historical Sources in Chinese on the Jews of the Yuan Dynasty/107
Chapter 3 Literature and Commodities in the Western Regions and Hexi Region/116
Section 1 Examination of the Unearthed Gold Collection in Turpan/116
Section 2 Mr. Huang Wenbi's Brief Knowledge of Chinese Documents of the Yuan Dynasty/142
Section 3 Dunhuang Yuan Dynasty Han Civil and Official Documents Renewal Examination / 160
Section 4 Hangzhou Products on the Ancient Silk Road/172
Section 5 Hexi Commodities on the Ancient Silk Road/185
Part II
Chapter 4: War and Peace in the Yuan Dynasty and Annam/207
Section 1 Diplomatic Documents between the Yuan Dynasty and Annam in the Late 13th Century/207
Section 2 The Han of Annam and the Han Army of Zhang Xian in the Jiashen Yuanyue War/230
Section 3 Three Questions on the Battle of the Baiteng River in Yuanyue/241
Chapter 5 Maritime Exchanges between Ancient China and the Indian Ocean Region/261
Section 1 Maritime Links between the Yuan Dynasty and the Ilkhanate/261
Section 2 Indian Ocean Routes between Europe and China in the 13th-14th Centuries/282
Section 3 China and Yemen in the 8th-15th Centuries/295
Document Ref.: 316
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Foreword
One
The "Silk Road" discussed in this book includes both land and sea routes. The geographical scope of the above section is mainly Xinjiang, China, and the geographical scope is mainly Xinjiang, China, especially the Gaochang Uighur-Vultures centered on Gaochang (the site is in the southeast of Gaochang District, Turpan City, often called Huozhou in the Yuan Dynasty, which is actually the phonetic change of Gaochang) and Beiting (the site is in the north of Jimsar County, often called Beshbali in the Yuan Dynasty, this Turkic name means "five cities"). Individual topics will be expanded westward to Central Asia and even West Asia, and eastward to Hexi.
The Gaochang and Beiting areas belong to the transportation hubs of the eastern section of the ancient Silk Road, which are not only rich in products and developed commerce, but also have a profound cultural heritage. In 840 AD, after the collapse of the Mobei Uighur Khanate, some of the Uighurs who migrated westward gained a firm foothold in the Beiting and Gaochang regions, not only establishing a state and achieving long-term peace and stability, but also taking advantage of the convenient conditions of Silk Road exchanges to create a unique culture of diversity and diversity. In the 12th century, the Uighur-Uighur kingdom of Gaochang became a vassal state of the powerful Western Liao regime. In the 13th century, the Great Mongol State arose. The king of Wu'er, Yidu Protector of Bar Tart, killed the officials sent by the Western Liao to supervise, took the initiative to surrender to Genghis Khan, and was regarded as the fifth son by Genghis Khan, marrying the daughter of Genghis Khan. From then on, the kingdom of the Vultures became part of the Greater Mongol State, and although initially independent, it gradually became more and more integrated into the Mongol regime.
The conquest of the Great Mongol Kingdom removed the political barriers created by the multiplicity of states, and the number of records of the Vultures in other parts of the country's borders increased significantly. Many travelers from Han China, Persia, and even Europe passed through the Vultures region, leaving behind vivid and detailed records of their experiences. In addition, the Mongol script was borrowed from the Uighur script, also known as the Uighur script, the Uyghur character, and the Uyghur character, and a large number of Uyghurs relied on their personal ability, especially cultural cultivation, to go out of Mongolia and become trusted servants of the monarch and high-ranking officials of the khanate. Some of the Wu'er families have been read for generations, and the official titles are prominent, and the Chinese biographical information about these families is quite abundant. Before the time of the Great Mongol Kingdom, the Vultures did not have such an important position.
The study of the Iduq qut family of the royal family of the Vultures Kingdom is concentrated in the first chapter of the book.
Scholars have long noticed that there are legends in Chinese and Persian literature about the ancestors of the Yiduhu family born from trees, and the Italian traveler Marco Polo specifically pointed out that the ancestors of the Wu'er were born from tree galls. The legend originated very early, and in the course of historical evolution, it was significantly influenced by Manichaeism and Buddhism. A Uighur document found in St. Petersburg, Russia, records the legend in the language of the Uyghurs themselves, and in many details can be reconciled with the Persian historical book The History of the World Conquerors. The myth of the tree born man is a common type of myth in early human society, and it cannot be judged that the myth of the later era is the result of cultural transmission simply according to the difference in time order. Combined with the ancestral legends of the Western Mongols, which are a little later, it may be speculated that the myth that the ancestors were born from tree galls should be the product of the production and life of some ancient Uighurs in the forest areas of North Asia.
After the Ughurs were also escorted and surrendered to the Mongols, the kingdom of the Ughurs maintained a strong independence for a long time. With the dissolution of the Great Mongolian State, the conflict between the Yuan Dynasty and the Ögedai Khanate and the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia intensified. The Western Regions became the main battlefield of the conflict, and Huozhou and Beiting were the two important fulcrums of the Yuan Dynasty's defense line in the Western Regions. Yuan Shizu strengthened his control over the Wuer region, and Yiduhu led the Wuer army and civilians to support and cooperate with the Yuan army. The inscription about the royal family of Yidu in the late Yuan Dynasty, "Yidu Hu Gaochang Wang Shixun Tablet", records a great battle that took place under the city of Huozhou during the Yuan Dynasty. The commander of the attacking side of this urban offensive and defensive battle is the queen of Chagatai Wang Duwa, and the defending side is headed by the Jin of Yidu Huhuo Chihar. The Battle of Huozhou marked the rise and fall of the influence of the Chagatai Khanate and the Yuan Dynasty in the kingdom of Vul. Soon after this battle, the Yuan Dynasty was squeezed out of the Gaochang Wuer area, and a large number of Wuer people moved to Hami and later to Yongchang, Liangzhou. Regarding the time of the Battle of Huozhou, there have been two different opinions since the early years of the Republic of China, one is the "twelfth year of the Yuan Dynasty" recorded in the "Yidu Hu Gaochang Wang Shixun Monument", and the other is the "twenty-second year of the Yuan Dynasty" initiated by Tu Ji. On the basis of previous research, the second section of the first chapter of this book makes supplementary discussions from several aspects, such as the attackers, defenders, post-war situation, and the intermarriage between the Yiduhu family and the Mongol khanate in the Battle of Huozhou, and further explains that the war in Huozhou in the twelfth year of the Yuan Dynasty originated from the attack of Haidu Khan of the Ögedai Khanate, and the Battle of Huozhou in the twenty-second year was launched by the capital of the Chagatai Khanate. In the past ten years, the situation in Beiting and Huozhou has changed a lot, and it cannot be confused.
Shortly after the Battle of Huozhou in the 22nd year of the Yuan Dynasty, Duwa launched another attack on the Wuer region. Yidu protected the fire Chihar's Jin and died in battle. His son Newlin's Jin was only succeeded by Yuan Wuzong when he was also protected, and scattered historical materials show that they also protected others during this period. The author speculates that Xue Xue's Jin, a Vultures who led an army to attack Burma in the middle and late years of the reign of Sejo, and his son Duo'er Zhijin served as Yidu Protector, and later gave way to Jin in Newlin. Xuexue's Jin was once named King of Gaochang, and his family probably settled in Jiangling, Hubei. The inheritance of King Gaochang was once again twisted and turned at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. The three sons of Newlin's Jin, Timur Buhua, Zhuji, and Taipingnu, all served as Yidu Protectors, but Taipingnu was unjustly killed in the early years of Zhizheng. According to the analysis of the political situation at that time, the Yuelu Timur and Sango of King Yiduhu and Gaochang should not be from the Jin family of Newlin, but probably belong to Xuexue's Jin system. Clarifying the lineage of the Fearful Warriors is helpful to understand the political fate of the Fearory royal family in the Yuan Dynasty.
The documents of the last years of the Yuan Dynasty have two different accounts of the ending of Yidu Hu and Gaochang King Timur'er, one is that he was killed by the powerful minister Boyan before February of the sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty, and the other is that he was killed by the prime minister Tokhtar, after the second visit to the prime minister Tokhtar in the ninth year of Zhizheng. By analyzing the nature of the historical materials, the author's sources of information, and the relevant people and events, it can be confirmed that the first statement is accurate, that Timur Buhua was appointed as the prime minister of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province in June of the second year of Emperor Shun, and that he was killed by Boyan at the end of the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty.
The second chapter of the book focuses on the families of the Western Regions who migrated eastward to the interior.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the German expedition to Turpan obtained a group of fragments of Buddhist figures for monks and laymen, which can be roughly restored to a large offering map after being put together. It was printed by the Mughal nobleman Mengsusi family, and the place of engraving is supposed to be in Yanjing, and the date is about the end of the 50s of the 13th century. In the first section of this chapter, in addition to reinterpreting the names of the Monsusi family on the offering map, it also discusses the Mongolization phenomenon reflected in the family's hairstyle and clothing.
After his death, Meng Susi was buried on the banks of the Gaoliang River in Yanjing. After that, his burial place developed into a family cemetery. The location of the cemetery is outside the Dadu City and Yimen (Xizhimen in the Ming and Qing dynasties), and near the Imperial Buddhist Temple Dahuguo Renwangji (in the vicinity of the National Library of China in Baishiqiao, Beijing). In the adjacent area, there is also the cemetery of Meng Susi's son-in-law, Lian Xixian, a high-ranking official of the Yuan Dynasty, an important general of the Yuan Dynasty, the prime minister of Huguang Province, and the family cemetery of the Wuer Ali Haiya family, the cemetery of the Qushu family of the Haralu noble, and so on. The large cemeteries of these high-ranking families require grave keepers to be responsible for daily care, maintenance, and sacrifices. Over time, small settlements were formed. By the early Ming Dynasty, this small settlement was called Wuwu Village, also known as Weigu Village, Weiwu Village, Weiwu Village, etc. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the place name was changed to Weigong Village. The second section of this chapter discusses the reasons for the formation of the village and the process of the evolution of the name.
The Uighur-Uighur kingdom of Gaochang pursued a policy of cultural pluralism, and the eastern Christian sect of Nestori was widely spread among the Uighurs. This sect is known in the Chinese-speaking world as Nestorianism. As early as the Tang Dynasty, Nestorianism was introduced to the Central Plains. Tang Wuzong launched a campaign to exterminate Buddhism, which also dealt a heavy blow to Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, and Nestorianism, and since then, Nestorianism has gradually disappeared from the Han region in the Central Plains. However, Nestorian believers from Central Asia were still active in northern and northwest China, and two of these families left behind more information, and after they moved eastward, they had new surnames and ethnic identities, respectively, and became Yelu and Ma, and were regarded as Khitans and Wanggu people in later generations. The discussion of these two families in the third section of this chapter aims to emphasize that during the period from the destruction of Buddhism by Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty to the establishment of the Great Mongolian State, new Nestorian followers moved in from the north, and the religious activities of Nestorianism continued.
Among the immigrants from Central and West Asia who moved into China were Jews known as the "Sudden Hui". The fourth section of this chapter focuses on a possible Jewish account in the Zhizheng Jinling Xinzhi of Jiankang Road Fangzhi in the late Yuan Dynasty, in which the first year of Zhizheng (1341) there was a superintendent named Yisiha in the Jiangnan Xingyushitai, who belonged to the Zhuwat clan. If this person had been a Djuhūd/Jahūd named Ishaq, he would be the only Yuan Jew we know of now who had a clear identity.
The third chapter of this book discusses the documents and commodities of the Yuan Dynasty in the Western Regions and Hexi region, and is divided into five sections. First, the fragments of Chinese Buddhist scriptures unearthed in the Turpan area belonging to the Jin Dynasty Tripitaka (referred to as "Jinzang") system are compared, and it is pointed out that the Han printed Tripitaka was once offered and recited in the Western Regions. According to the inscriptions of the Tibetan Uighur Buddhist scriptures in Germany, we can understand the way through which some of the "Golden Tibetan" Buddhist scriptures were introduced to the Turpan region. Second, it re-interpreted the Yuan Dynasty Chinese documents, book fragments, coins, ornaments, etc., collected by Mr. Huang Wenbi in Xinjiang, and compared some of them with the Yuan Dynasty documents unearthed from the Heicheng site in Ejinaqi, Inner Mongolia. Thirdly, the fragments of Chinese documents of the Yuan Dynasty unearthed from the northern grottoes of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu Province were reinterpreted, and in addition to analyzing the source of these documents by interpreting the official seal of the Ba Si Pa character on the documents, it was also related to the Yuan Dynasty documents unearthed from the Heicheng site, pointing out that some of the documents came from the Yuan Dynasty Yiji Nai Road. Fourthly, using documentary records and unearthed objects, the spread of Hangzhou products along the Silk Road in the Yuan Dynasty is discussed from the aspects of silk, gold leaf, and printed matter. The spread of Hangzhou products not only reflects the elevation of the status of Jiangnan products on the Silk Road after the southward shift of China's ancient economic center, but also is consistent with the accounts of European merchants of the same period about the economic status of Hangzhou (written as Quinsai, Cassai, Cansai, etc., etymology is "Xing Zai"). Fifth, using Marco Polo's description of the products of the Hexi region in the early Yuan Dynasty, the importance of the commodities in the Hexi region on the Silk Road was discussed from three aspects: rhubarb, musk, and woolen fabric.
Two
The "Maritime Silk Road" discussed in the second part of this book is broadly defined to include not only the South China Sea in the western Pacific, but also the eastern part of the Indochina Peninsula and the northern Indian Ocean. A discussion of the history of the Maritime Silk Road in the Yuan Dynasty can be found in Chapters 4 and 5 of this book.
The theme of the fourth chapter of the book is the relationship between the Yuan dynasty and Annam. The Yuan Dynasty usually had six requirements for the subjugated state, namely, the monarch and the pro-dynasty, the children into the pledge, the number of people, the military service, the loss of taxes, and the placement of Daru Huachi, referred to as the "six things". For Annan, the Yuan Dynasty repeatedly asked him to fulfill the "six things", but Annan has not fully implemented it. Before the destruction of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty did not delve into this, and after the destruction of the Song Dynasty, it threatened war and demanded that the monarch of Annam must personally enter the Yuan Dynasty for Hajj. This request was rejected by Annan on various grounds. The two countries fought two wars, in 1284-1285 and 1287-1288, and the seemingly powerful Yuan dynasty was defeated. Both countries fought fiercely over diplomatic documents, both before, during, and after the war. The first section of this chapter deals with the various games that were played between the two countries through diplomatic documents during the Yuan Shizu period.
On the eve of the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, a large number of Song people fled to Annam for refuge, and in 1284 (Jiashen), the Yuan Dynasty attacked Annam from the north and south. In the face of a powerful incoming enemy, the Song people who lived in Annam also diverged, some of them surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty with the Annam nobles, and some of them resisted the Yuan army together with the Annam army and people. In the Yuan army on the southern front, a general Zhang Xian led the Han army under his command to surrender to Annam, resulting in a major defeat of the southern line troops of the Yuan Dynasty led by the instigation of the capital. A captive named Li Yuanji in the instigated army introduced Chinese theater art to Annam.
From 1287 to 1288, the Yuan army attacked Annam again and suffered heavy defeats. Modern Vietnamese historians regard the Battle of Bai Teng River, which took place in March 1288, as a key strategic decisive battle. The third section of this chapter analyzes the pre-war situation, the generals of both sides, the composition of the army, morale, popular sentiment, and the course of the war before the Battle of Baitengjiang, and argues that the Battle of Baitengjiang was not decisive for this war, and that the Yuan army had already been defeated before that. For Annan, the Battle of Baitengjiang was indeed a great victory, but the results should not be exaggerated, and Zhang Wenhu, the naval general of the Yuan Dynasty, did not participate in this battle, let alone suffer a crushing defeat at Baitengjiang. In order to ease relations with the Yuan Dynasty, he sent King Siriji, the son of Möngke Khan, to return to China, secretly killed the senior generals Wu Ma'er and Fan Ji, who were experienced in warfare, and falsely claimed that they had died in ship accidents and diseases in order to weaken the military power of the Yuan Dynasty.
Chapter 5 of the book deals with Yuan China's relations with the Persian Gulf region and the southern Arabian Peninsula, as well as the travels between China and Europe by European merchants and missionaries through the Indian Ocean shipping routes.
After the death of Möngke Khan, the Great Mongol Kingdom fell into a state of great division. The monarchs of the Yuan dynasty and the Ilkhanate were descendants of Tulei, and the two countries had close relations and shared common interests in many respects. However, the land connection between them was often obstructed and destroyed by the Ögedai Khanate and the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia. As a result, maritime communication between China and the Persian Gulf has arisen from time to time. The first section of this chapter discusses the strengthening of maritime ties between the Yuan dynasty and the Ilkhanate from several perspectives, including the official envoys of the two countries, the Iranian inhabitants of the coastal cities of the Yuan dynasty, European travelers, the merchants of the Yuan dynasty, the early production of blue and white porcelain, and the geography and seafaring knowledge of Yuan China.
The second section discusses the Indian Ocean route between Europe and China in the 13th and 14th centuries, and divides the European itineraries that used or planned to use this route into four types: arriving at China by sea, returning to Europe by sea, abandoning the Indian Ocean navigation plan but failing to come to China, and abandoning the Indian Ocean navigation plan to come to China by land. Through the Indian Ocean Road, European merchants and missionaries accumulated a wealth of geographical knowledge, which prepared them for the advent of the European Age of Discovery.
The third section deals with the relationship between ancient China and Yemen, a country in the Arabian Peninsula, not limited to the Yuan dynasty, but from the Tang dynasty to the Qing dynasty. From the Tang Dynasty onwards, Chinese texts clearly record the great port of Aden (Sanlan Kingdom) in Yemen. During the Song Dynasty, large quantities of Chinese goods, especially porcelain, arrived at several ports in Yemen. Yemenis came to China and built a mosque in Quanzhou, Fujian. The Yuan dynasty had official relations with Yemen's Rasul dynasty, whose monarch had sent a letter to Yuan Shizu calling for the ban to be lifted over a decree prohibiting Muslim circumcision. Zheng He's fleet under the Western Ocean of the Ming Dynasty visited Yemen many times, but with the adjustment of maritime policy during the Ming Xuanzong period, China's relations with Yemen were severed. Due to the destruction of the navigational data of Zheng He's fleet, by the late Ming Dynasty, China's geographical understanding of Yemen had become quite erroneous.
Most of the chapters in this book have been published in academic journals or conference proceedings (see "References" at the end of the book), and the basic structure of the articles has not changed at the time of inclusion in this book, but the content has been revised to varying degrees. There are still many topics to be explored in depth about the study of the history of the Silk Road in the Yuan Dynasty. The work done in this book is only a preliminary attempt, and the mistakes should be corrected by the Fang family.
This book was originally intended to be titled "Essay on the History of the South China Sea in the Western Regions of the Yuan Dynasty", and was later adjusted to its current name for some reason. Both titles were given by Mr. Rong Xinjiang, and I would like to thank you. The two editors, Zhao Chen and Dou Zhiyuan, have carefully edited this book, and we hereby thank you.
1. Song Dynasty History Research Information 1
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