Speaker: Huo Wei Location: Chinese Min University Qing History Institute Webinars Speech Time: March 2021
The historical background of the "peace and affinity" between the central Tang Dynasty and the frontier
The Tang Dynasty re-realized the unification of China after experiencing the division of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. In the early years of Tang Taizong's reign, the domestic ethnic relations faced were very complicated. How to handle the relations between the various ethnic groups in the frontier and how to handle the relations between the frontier and the Central Plains Dynasty is a political dilemma facing the newly established Tang Empire.
There are many relevant measures of the Tang Dynasty, among which I am directly related to the topic of today's lecture, that is, the peace and kinship that began during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty. He pro-ancient has been, not the first of the Tang Dynasty. Probably everyone here is also familiar with the story of the Han Dynasty's "Zhaojun out of the plug". However, the historical background of the Tang Dynasty and the pro-pro is different from the past, and the Tang Dynasty's pro-pro background is the relationship between a powerful Central Plains dynasty and its surroundings. As we all know, the historical Tang Taizong was enshrined as the Heavenly Khan, so the regime established by some ethnic minorities in the surrounding areas at that time also very much hoped to close relations with the Central Dynasty through peace and kinship. If we make a statistic, from the Zhenguan period onwards, through the peace activities of Emperor Gaozong and other emperors, at least 8 frontier peoples have been involved, and there are about 20 princesses involved.
Datang Tianzhu used the Ming (partial) information photo
Among them, the more important one is the harmony in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, involving one is a peace relative with Tuguhun and the other is a peace relative with Tubo.
If we look back at this period of history a little, we can see that the relationship with the surrounding ethnic groups in the early years of the Tang Dynasty inherited the political pattern of that time. The first is Tuguhun from the northwest, which was actually used by the Central Plains Dynasty from the sui dynasty onwards, and in the Tang Dynasty it was still an important and powerful frontier regime established by the Xianbei people. Therefore, after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, tuguhun first asked the Tang Dynasty for peace. The Tang Dynasty, in order to strengthen relations with the important minority regimes in the surrounding areas, especially in the northwest, agreed to this request, and at that time married Princess Honghua to Murong Nuobao, the Tuguhun Khan, and Princess Hengyang to the Turkic Ashinasheer, who was the son of the Eastern Turk Khan. After the Tang Dynasty put these two princesses and relatives, Tubo also made a request for peace with the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, during the tang dynasty, peace and affinity have become a kind of political exchange, but also a favorable measure of peace and friendship. The central and border areas of the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to it.
However, Tubo's marriage proposal was not smooth, and from the historical records, the Tuguhun people did something from it, which made the Tubo people very angry. After the rise of Tubo, the relationship with Tuguhun was more delicate. On the one hand they had to compete with each other, but on the other hand they all needed to seek the support of the Central Dynasty. Therefore, the peace relatives of the frontier, especially the tuguhun and the peace and relatives of tubo, became the most important event in the zhenguan period in the early years of the Tang Dynasty. In recent years, our archaeology has found related tombs related to the tomb of Princess Honghua of Tuguhun and his relatives, as well as the tombs attached to Tuguhun's eastward migration, and there are some important discoveries. As for Princess Wencheng and her relatives, although the Tubo people suffered setbacks for a time, Tubo did not give up and continued to express this strong desire to the central government of the Tang Dynasty, hoping to strengthen the relationship between Tubo and the Central Plains Dynasty, a unified regime that had just emerged on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, through peace and affection.
What we need to pay attention to here is that the Tang dynasty's peace and affinity are different from the past, and its peace and affinity are based on having a strong central power, and the ethnic minorities in the border areas of the Tang Dynasty need to obtain the support of the central government, so that it can help it have a leading edge when handling relations with other ethnic groups. It was on this basis that Tuguhun and Tubo's courtship with the Tang Dynasty and whether the Tang Dynasty allowed it or not also became the temperature gauge of ethnic relations at that time.
Finally, during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, Tubo fulfilled the request of peace. Then it opened the scene of Princess Wencheng's history of entering Tibet.
Huo Wei is a professor at the School of History and Culture of Sichuan University, a doctoral supervisor, an outstanding professor of Sichuan University, a distinguished professor of the "Yangtze River Scholar" of the Ministry of Education, the dean of the School of History and Culture of Sichuan University, and the director of the Institute of Chinese Tibetology of Sichuan University, whose main research areas are Han and Tang Archaeology, Southwest Archaeology, Tibetan Archaeology, Cultural Relics and Art History, Sino-Foreign Cultural Exchanges, and Museology. He has published nearly 100 papers, including "History of Ancient Tomb System in Tibet", "Foreign Cultural Exchanges in Southwest China during the Warring States and Qin and Han Dynasties", "Tubo Era: New Archaeological Discoveries and Their Research", etc.
Princess Wencheng in the literature is in Tibet
Today, we may all know Princess Wencheng, but we may not know exactly what Princess Wencheng did in Tibet, nor how many archaeological relics Princess Wencheng has left us. As archaeologists, we have similarities and differences with the literature-based study of general history. On the one hand, we have to read the literature, using the literature as a clue and as evidence; on the other hand, we have to look at the physical object. Therefore, if I will list some archaeological relics related to Princess Wencheng in this period or that are said to be related to Princess Wencheng, but not necessarily in a period, it is understandable to analyze the phenomenon of Princess Wencheng's historical memory.
So what is historical memory? Historical memory is not exactly equal to real history, of course, historical memory may include real history, fictional history, legendary history and even myths. From this perspective, I think there are many useful revelations that can be obtained.
Let's first take a look at the situation of Princess Wencheng's entry into Tibet and her relatives in the literature. History is, of course, the most important material we rely on. In the Zhengshi, especially in the Chinese history books, these records are relatively important and highly credible, for example, Wang Pu's "Tang Huijiao" has a special article "Princess Hefan", which records the basic situation of Princess Wencheng:
Wen Cheng, the daughter of the Clan Room. In the fifteenth year of zhenguan (641), on the fifteenth day of the first month, it was descended to Tubo Zampu Nongzan (Songzan Gampo) and ordered to be sent by King Xia of Jiangxia. Lang Zan greeted Yu Heyuan, saw the king, performed the son-in-law's courtesy very carefully, sighed the beauty of the costumes and etiquette of the big country, and leaned over with the color of frustration, saying that he was close to him: "My grandfather did not have a marriage to a big country, and now I have to be a princess of the Tang Dynasty, and I should build a city to boast of future generations!" "Still send the children of the chieftains, please enter the study of the country, in order to learn poetry, from it."
Here princess Wencheng is called the daughter of the clan, at that time to the Tang Dynasty proposed to the Tang Dynasty, there were many border tribes, it is impossible to take the emperor's own daughter as a princess, but can not reduce the specifications, so they look for women from the Tang Dynasty's clan room. For example, in Li Shimin's branch, there are many women in his clan lineage as princesses and relatives. On this point, the border tribes also acquiesced, because they asked for the Tang Dynasty princess mainly for this name, and as for the blood relationship of the princess, it was not important, it was a political symbol, a political symbol. Princess Wencheng went to Tubo in the fifteenth year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty, that is, in 641 AD. At that time, the Central Plains Dynasty also sent an envoy to the King of Jiangxia to send her to the place of Heyuan, where tubo sent a welcoming team to greet her. The location of Heyuan, basically we can now be sure that it is in qinghai, which also involves the main route taken by Princess Wencheng into Tibet, that is, the Tang Dynasty Ancient Road - starting from Chang'an, first crossing Qinghai, generally we think that this line passes through northern Tibet (today's Naqu), you can go east to west and then from west to south, into the capital of Tubo at that time, at that time Tubo has moved the capital, from the original Yalong River Valley has moved to today's Lhasa. The part at the end of this passage is the record left by the Han historians at that time, out of a dominant cultural psychology of the people at that time. But I think one thing that can be read from this passage is that songtsen gampo was able to marry such a highly civilized country at that time, which was a joy from the heart. Moreover, it is mentioned in the literature that in order to celebrate this, Songtsen Gampo wanted to build a city, and there are many theories about where this city is, and there are many theories about it, and it is generally believed that the place he chose to build the city is the Potala Palace in Lhasa today. The Potala Palace has the Cave of the King, and scholars speculate that the place should be the early building of the Potala Palace, which has continued to this day and has a lot to do with the entry of Princess Wencheng into Tibet. The meaning of the last sentence in the literature is very important, which we can see from various documents such as "Quan Tang Wen" and "Quan Tang Poems" and can be corrected by each other - that is, from that time on, Tubo's demand for Tang Dynasty culture has not been interrupted, so it is sent to The Tubo chieftains to enroll in Chang'an, to the Tang Dynasty to read and learn poetry and etiquette, which is a sign of Tubo admiring the core of the Central Plains culture.
This is not only recorded in the Tang Huijiao, but we can also see such records in other Tang Dynasty documents. The relevant records in the Old Book of Tang are similar to those in the "Tang Huijiao", but a little more detailed, and I will not talk more about the similar content in the front of the "Old Book of Tang" and the "Tang Huijiao", and the following words are as follows:
The princess hated her ochre face, praised the power of the country and dismissed it, and also released the felt qiu, attacked Qi Qi, and gradually admired the Chinese style. He still sent the children of the chieftains to study poetry and books, and asked Chinese literate people to observe their omissions.
That is to say, after Princess Wencheng went, she did not like the local ochre customs, and Songzan Gampo said that since you did not like it, then we will change customs and customs and no longer have ochre noodles. In fact, Bai Juyi said in his poem that since the custom of ochre noodles was transmitted to the Central Plains, the women of the Central Plains still liked tubo's "ochre noodles" and innovated it, not only painting Zhu on the face, but also pasting honeysuckle ornaments, which became a popular trend. But that's a different topic. There is also the so-called "shi felt qiu", which means to start wearing Chinese clothes and go to felt fur, "Hua yi" may mainly be silk imported from the Tang Dynasty, these records have obtained archaeological evidence.
In addition to these two major paragraphs, there is a sporadic point, which mentions that in the first year of Emperor Gaozong of Tang (680), Princess Wencheng died, and the Tang Dynasty sent envoys to mourn.
The ruins of the Tsing waddze Palace overlook the data picture
In addition to the Chinese historical records, the Tibetan inscription of the Tang Dynasty Alliance Stele also contains records:
At the age of Zhenguan, he married Princess Wencheng to Zampu Ya tent.
Please note that the Tibetan Tibetan Tubo Tooth Tent and the Han Chinese Beizhu Yicheng are likely to be the same place.
In the Tibetan literature, the real Tang Dynasty period, there are some Tubo inscriptions, as well as Tibetan writing volumes unearthed in Dunhuang. Among them, PT.1288, the Dunhuang Tibetan writing volume PT.1288, clearly records the deeds of Princess Wencheng being welcomed to Tubo:
Princess Zanmeng Wencheng was welcomed from Gardong Zanyusong to the land of Tubo,...... In the following six years, Akamatsu Zanpu ascended to the throne and lived with Princess Zanmeng Wencheng for three years. ...... In the winter of the Year of the Goat (683), the sacrifice of Princess Zanmeng Wencheng was for one year.
From this point of view, the Sino-Tibetan literature still has a lot in common with Princess Wencheng's entry into Tibet. For example, here it is said that It was Gar Dongzan (i.e., Lu Dongzan) who, as a Tubo envoy, married Princess Wencheng into Tibet, and then Princess Wencheng lived in the capital city, and probably followed Songzan Gampo to his tooth tent. We later found that the capital of the nomadic people is not static, it is not the same in summer and winter. Therefore, the question of which places Princess Wencheng lived in is a clue in the literature, but it has not yet been carefully examined by archaeology. This passage also mentions that Princess Wencheng was sacrificed after her death, and the praise in the text refers to the wife of the King of the Tubo people.
We see that the name of Lu Dongzan is mentioned in the literature, and he came to greet Princess Wencheng. In the Tibetan history books, this person is praised, especially his ingenuity, which is first reflected in his invitation to Princess Wencheng. A famous Tibetan work that was later written in the book, called "The Wedding Feast of the Sages", recorded a story that was widely circulated among Tibetan people. This story is that after Lu Dongzan welcomed his relatives to the Tang court, Tang Taizong gave him a question and tested his wisdom. Tang Taizong came up with 7 difficult problems, some of which are called the Seven Difficulties, some of which are said to be ten difficulties, which are all folklore. The first problem was to give him 100 sheep and 100 bottles of wine (Tubo unit of measurement), to eat all these things in one day, to tan the sheepskin, and to clean the house. The second puzzle was to have a large bead, like a small shield, with two holes in it, one in the middle and one in the edge, how to pass it through the hole of the jade with silk. We need to know that turning inside jade is a problem in today's manufacturing process. By the way, we have seen in archaeological discoveries such jade with turning holes, but it is more difficult to wear silk on such jade. There are also 100 hens and 100 chicks, 100 mares and 100 foals in the puzzle, how to identify the mother-child relationship between them. There are also 100 pieces of wood cut down, to identify who is the root of the wood, who is its tip, etc. Tang Taizong used these topics to make it difficult for the messengers, saying that whoever came up with a way to marry the princess to whom, only Lu Dongzan came up with a way to answer the questions one by one, and I will not expand on the content later in the story. This story is widely circulated among Tibetan folk. In fact, the most important thing I want to say is that Lu Dongzan is a very important person, and after the death of Songzan Gampo, Lu Dongzan and his son played a very important role in the use of troops in Tuguhun and the control of the Tubo dynasty.
Regarding Lu Dong's invitation to Princess Wencheng, the Old Book of Tang records:
In the first year of Yonghui (650), he was praised as a pawn. Emperor Gaozong mourned for his actions and sent the general Marquis Xian yu of the Right Wu Dynasty to hold the Festival Seal Book to offer sacrifices. ...... In the beginning, Emperor Taizong promised to demote Wencheng to become a princess, and Zampu made Lu Dongzan come to greet him, summoned advisers, and entered the heyi, and Emperor Taizong lied to him.
This historical data is very important, not only showing the close political exchanges between the Tang Dynasty from Taizong to Gaozong and Tubo, but also this passage makes it very clear that Emperor Taizong came to welcome Princess Wencheng during this period. Lu Dongzan's ingenuity is not told in the Chinese literature, that is, he behaved very properly when he answered Tang Taizong, so Tang Taizong looked up to him. This also shows that this person must be an elite figure in the Tubo period. Later, Lu Dongzan played a major role in presiding over the tubo dynasty, which also fully demonstrated this.
Let's talk about the record of Princess Wencheng's entry into the house in the ancient Tibetan documents unearthed in Xinjiang:
Zampu married Princess Mun-ch(e)ng, the daughter of the Tang Emperor... Officials and noble people, women and the above officials... Met Princess Mun-ch(e)ng, and the two sides exchanged courtesies ... Give out a variety of gifts. Subsequently, Princess Mun-ch(e)ng was in central Dbon-yul... Fix its home. Thereafter, Pengyodu, who settled in Tso...
There is still controversy in academic circles about the determination of the time involved in the documentation. However, the "Princess Mun-ch(e)ng" mentioned in the article is Princess Wencheng, which has been recognized by the academic community. This record is still a little different, Princess Wencheng's place of residence is more abundant, but there are still many problems in this, and we will not expand on it today.
Picture of songtsen gampo tomb in the tomb of King Zao of Shannan, Tibet
Relevant records of Princess Wencheng's activities in Tibet
After Princess Wencheng entered Tibet, she brought a relatively peaceful, friendly and stable new Tang-Bo relationship, which played an important role in the historical cultural exchanges between Tibet and the Tang Dynasty.
Here I will give an example, after Princess Wencheng entered Tibet, she played a very important role in the traffic routes between China and India. Mr. Ji Xianlin said the following passage in the "> of Xuanzang and < The Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty - Proofreading < The Preface to the Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" >:
In terms of Sino-Indian traffic routes, a new stage has been opened since the early Tang Dynasty. ...... There is also a road overland, that is, through Tibet and Nepal to India. Very few people used to take this route. In the early Tang Dynasty, there were more monks who took this path, mainly for political reasons. Princess Wencheng married into Tibet, on the one hand, brought the culture of the Chinese mainland to Tibet, and strengthened the mutual learning and mutual understanding between the two ethnic groups of Han and Tibet. On the other hand, conditions were created for monks who went to India to study. ...... Another feature of Sino-Indian traffic in the early Tang Dynasty was the taking of the Roads of Tibet and Nepal, which can be illustrated by sufficient examples in the "Biography of the Senior Monks Seeking the Dharma in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty".
This route through Tibet and Nepal to India has been used by the Tubo people in the past, but as an international passage, after Tubo opened this route, after Princess Wencheng entered Tibet, the Central Plains Dynasty began to expand and make full use of this road through the Tubo regime, especially Songtsan Gampo and Princess Wencheng, and it eventually became an important international passage, which is a new road. As Mr. Ji Xianlin said, there are enough examples in the "Biography of the Senior Monk Seeking the Dharma in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" to illustrate that there are 11 monks who went to India to seek the Dharma through this ancient road of The Great Tang Dynasty, including Xuanzhao and Daoxi, of which Xuanzhao passed through Tubo twice and involved Princess Wencheng, according to the "Biography of the Senior Monk seeking the Dharma in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty":
Passing through Soli (i.e., Sogdia), passing through the Cargo Luo, and crossing the Hu Frontier to the Tufan Kingdom. Princess Meng Wencheng was sent to the Northern Heavens and gradually went to the kingdom of Jalantha, and after four years, the King of Meng was admired and left to make offerings. ...... Later, because Tang sent Wang Xuance back to his hometown, he expressed his true virtue, so he surrendered his edict, re-learned the Western Heavens, and pursued XuanZhao into Beijing. Luci Mud Borneo, sent by the King of Meng, sent to Tufan, re-saw Princess Wencheng, deep courtesy, and gave it to The Tang Dynasty. So he toured the west and went to the eastern xia. In September, he resigned from the ministry, and went to Luoyang in the first month, and between May, he passed through thousands of miles.
This passage is to say that Xuanzhao was sponsored by Princess Wencheng twice. Xuan Zhao's experience is the most representative, and other monks and envoys who have taken this route at the same time should also have received help from Princess Wencheng. For example, Wang Xuance, as a contemporary of Tang Xuanzang, his greatest deed was to use this road to reach the border of China and Nepal in three or four degrees, and left his inscription in jilong, Tibet, which is the famous "Tang Dynasty Tianzhu Envoy Inscription".
After Princess Wencheng arrived in Tubo, she and Songzan Gampo ensured smooth traffic between the Central Plains and Tubo, and also ensured that there was a new route to the international passage in the Central Plains. According to my research, this route was closed in the late Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty was reopened, and later, the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties have also been using this passage, which is a very important thing, the exchange of Tang and Bo culture has also entered a prosperous period, the Tang-Bo relationship in this period is relatively harmonious, in addition to the Various Gifts given by the Tang Emperor to Songzan Gampo, and songzan Gampo to the Tang Dynasty with various gold and silver objects as tributes, there are other things passed down from the Central Plains. I think there are several events in this period that are noteworthy, the first is papermaking, Tubo probably after accepting the Tang Dynasty papermaking, and then passed it to South Asia, so Tubo became a very important transit station for cultural dissemination. The second is the "stone honey" that Mr. Ji Xianlin studied in the past, that is, the sugar making technique we are talking about today, this technique was brought back by Wang Xuance, which is recorded in the "Fayuan Zhulin" compiled by the monks of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Xuance traveled back and forth between China and India through the new road of Tubo, and Tubo is likely to be a transit station. At that time, the advanced Culture of the Central Plains helped the Tubo Dynasty, which was in the borderlands, to achieve a leap forward. The prosperity of the Tubo Dynasty was inseparable from its close cultural exchanges with the Tang Dynasty.
Of course, the historical Tang Dynasty and Tubo also had many wars, when they were warlike. From my personal point of view, in the early years of Princess Wencheng's entry into Tibet, she and Songzan Gampo should have been happy and happy, but when Songzan Gampo died, Princess Wencheng experienced the years of long-term war between Tang and Bo. In that environment, Princess Wencheng's situation can be imagined, she not only has to maintain the traditional friendship between the two fraternal peoples, but also has to face all kinds of unspeakable sufferings brought about by changes in the political landscape. For her contributions, she has left an extremely good memory among the Han and Tibetan peoples.
For example, in today's Sichuan, Qinghai and the eastern Sino-Tibetan border area of Tibet, archaeology has found a number of Buddhist statues of the Tubo era, although the age of the statues due to the Tibetan inscription, it can be clearly concluded that in the early 9th century AD, more than a hundred years later than the era of Princess Wencheng and Songtsen Gampo, but the local Tibetan masses still believe that they were engraved when Princess Wencheng entered Tibet, and some directly call them "Wencheng Princess Temple". Today, at the Jokhang Temple and the Potala Palace, there are statues of Princess Wencheng and Songtsen Gampo and murals reflecting Princess Wencheng's entry into Tibet and the construction of the Jokhang Temple, which are the historical memories left by Princess Wencheng.
The final destination of Princess Wencheng
After so many years of archaeology in Tibet, I have always wanted to find the final destination of Princess Wencheng. On this issue, I will share it with you today.
Let's first look at the burial place of Songtsen Gampo. Songtsen Gampo died in 650 AD, and due to the early death of his son Gongri Gongzan, he was succeeded by Songtsan Gampo's grandson Mangsong Mongzan. After songtsen gampo's death, his fate is relatively clear. At present, it is generally believed that the mausoleum of Songtsen Gampo is the tomb of the Tibetan king in the territory of qiongjie County in present-day Shannan, Tibet Autonomous Region. Princess Wencheng entered Tibet in 641 AD and lived with Songtsen Gampo for about 3 years, and by the first year of Emperor Gaozong's death (680), she lived in Tibet for nearly 40 years. As for the cause of Princess Wencheng's death, there are different theories in Tibetan literature, and more commonly it is that she died of a vicious infectious disease such as smallpox. There are also different accounts of her placement after her death. Some theories are that they are buried alone, because there was a custom in Tibet at that time, and those who had suffered from infectious diseases were considered unclean and could not be buried in the ancestral tombs. However, there are also documents that say that Princess Wencheng's funeral was an exception, and she was eventually buried with Songtsen Gampo. There are also accounts that she was buried with Princess Zhizun of mud borneo. These are the sayings of later Tibetan historical books or folklore. We cannot find reliable evidence in the Chinese historical materials. The historical documents of the Tubo period only have records of the memorial of Princess Wencheng, but there is no record of the burial place.
So where is princess Wencheng's final destination? There are two possibilities, according to the Tibetan history books, mentioning two locations, one is the tomb of King Qiongjiezang and the other is the Qingwadaz opposite the tomb of the Tibetan king. A few years ago, I led the archaeological team of Sichuan University to do the protection of cultural relics in the Tomb of the King of Tibet, and systematically conducted a meticulous investigation of these two places. The sealing soil of the tomb of the King of Tibet has not been preserved very completely, but it can still be seen that its sealing form is very close to the sealing form of the Tang Tomb. By the way, we have been working in the Tomb of the King of Tibet over the years, and one of the biggest discoveries has found that there are walls around the mausoleum, which is the same as the Tang Tomb. There are also stone tablets and stone lions in the cemetery, which also reflect the institutional characteristics similar to the Tang Tombs.
So is it possible that Princess Wencheng was buried in the tomb of Songtsen Gampo? This involves a very important question, that is, many years after Songtsen Gampo's death, is it possible for his mausoleum to be opened again, so that they can achieve husband and wife burial? From a practical point of view, I think this is unlikely. The first is that after inspecting the mausoleums, we see no signs of reopening them. The second is that in the burial customs of Tibet at that time, there were indeed restrictions on patients with infectious diseases.
The second possibility is in the mountain opposite the river across the Tibetan tomb, Tsingwadaz. There are very obvious ruins on the hill, divided into several different periods, along the ridge there are palace ruins, and in the middle waist there is a fortress-type ruins built of rammed earth, which has an archaeologically superimposed relationship with the brick building. The sealing soil of this fortress site, judging from its soil quality, ramming method, layering, and inclusions inside, is very close to the tomb of the Tibetan king opposite. So I've always wondered, was there only a castle or another tomb here? If it is assumed that there is a tomb, its form of burial separate from the tomb of the Tibetan king also means that this is a tomb created for special deceased people. Local folklore refers to this site as the Tomb of Princess Jincheng, saying that the later Princess Jincheng who was close to her was buried in Qingwadaz, which is recorded in Tibetan history books.
So the question we face is, is this enclosure the site of a city or a tomb? Or was there a transition between the city and the tomb, and in the early days it was the city behind the tomb, or did it start with both castles and tombs? So far, none of these problems have been fully solved. According to the Dunhuang Tubo literature, Qingwa Dazi was the palace of the Tubo people in the early days, and later moved to Lhasa, why did they return here later to build ancestral tombs? Just consider that this is where their ancestors' castles are located. If this is the way of thinking, then will there still be a tomb in Chevadaz? Again, this is a question.
Of course, archaeological possibilities and impossibilities exist. In recent years, we have discovered some ancient and pro-princess historical sites. For example, the epitaph of Princess Honghua was found in Qingzui Lama Bay in Gansu, and Princess Honghua was the daughter of Emperor Taizong of Tang and married to the Khan of Tuguhun, which is a very important discovery. Recently, there is also an important archaeological discovery, which is the tomb of the tuguhun small king (Achai King) who married Tubo and became a "nephew and uncle" with Tubo. With these important discoveries, perhaps in the future, with the continuous progress of archaeological discoveries, we will also find the last traces left by Princess Wencheng.
To sum up, in our historical memory of Princess Wencheng, we have retained many common cultural backgrounds of the two ethnic groups, and these cultural backgrounds are very profound historical memories that have experienced wind and rain and experienced wars and chaos, and cannot be erased. When we go today to study history, Princess Wencheng, and The history of Tibet from the perspective of archaeology, I think this point is of enlightening and reference significance for us to correctly understand the relationship between Tang and Bo and how the Chinese nation has formed a unified sense of community.
Guangming Daily (2021-05-15 edition 10)
Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily