The Tang (唐) Dynasty is famous in Chinese history for ushering in the golden age of the Silk Road by conquering an immense swath of territory towards the west. The Tang army led by brave foreign generals known for their organizational skills conquer...
The Tang (唐) Dynasty is famous in Chinese history for ushering in the golden age of the Silk Road by conquering an immense swath of territory towards the west. The Tang army led by brave foreign generals known for their organizational skills conquered territory reaching even beyond the boundaries of present‑day China. As a result, people and goods from diverse regions were drawn into Tang China, further enriching the culture. From its defeat of Eastern Turks in 630 until the outbreak of a large‑scale civil war known as the An Shi Rebellion in 755, the Tang Dynasty maintained to occupy a dominant position in what was then known as the Western Regions (西域). The Tang government adopted new systems to rule this area, including the “bridled and haltered prefectures” (羈縻府州, jimi fuzhou) where the Chinese administrative system was applied to pastoral peoples. The Tang Dynasty also created a zhengzhou (正州, directly ruled prefecture) in some of the areas within the present‑day Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. These prefectures were established in what is now Turfan or Turpan (吐魯番), Hami (哈密), Jimsar (吉木薩爾), Xizhou (西州), Yizhou (伊州), and Tingzhou (庭州). This paper intends to shed light on the Tang‑era management of its directly ruled prefectures in the Western Regions by examining the case of Xizhou.
Starting in the third century, immigrants fleeing wars in China began to settle in the Turfan region. In the late fifth century, these Chinese immigrants displaced the local residents and founded the independent kingdom of Gaochang (高昌). In 640, Tang Dynasty forces attacked and destroyed the Gaochang Kingdom. China justified its invasion on the grounds of Gaochang’s military provocations and diplomatic discourtesies, asserting the right to intervene in the complex internal affairs of the kingdom. In essence, however, the invasion was simply a product of Emperor Taizing’s desire to extend his territory. The surrender of Turkic generals and Sogdian merchants helped justify the invasion.
Tang China absorbed the independent kingdom of Gaochang as a directly ruled domain. In order to eliminate the existing ruling class and establish a new order, the king and leading officials of the Gaochang Kingdom were transported to the Tang capital and poor farmers and prisoners from Tang China were sent in return. As lingering fears in the wake of the war and mass migrations caused social disturbances in Gaochang, the Tang government sought to create social stability by granting Gaochang residents the right to gain social status as an official, administrative assistant, or regular army soldier. The frontier region of Xizhou required considerable numbers of people to manage its defense, traffic, and communications. The residents who had been displaced within the Gaochang Kingdom during the rule of Qu Clan regarded these measures as an opportunity to sustain or improve their social standing. Accordingly, a majority of residents in Xizhou participated in the military administration system imposed by Tang China.
Tang China actively utilized manpower from Xizhou to govern the Western Regions. However, in the late seventh century the Tibetan Empire (吐蕃) advanced north into the Tarim Basin and the struggle intensified over the four garrison stations of Anxi, leading to considerable loss of life in Xizhou. Moreover, as the Eastern Turks enjoyed a resurgence in the early eighth century, the Tang Dynasty relocated its local strategic center to Tingzhou to the north of Xizhou. The regional military governor of Beiting (北庭節度使) was stationed at Tingzhou, and Xizhou came to be under the authority of Beiting. As Beiting with its low population became a strategic center, Xizhou lost its previous status and its capacity to superintend the Western Regions.
The draining of regional population resulting from the Tang government’s management of Xizhou can be demonstrated by epitaph tablets (誌石), which are considered an indicator of the composition of local residence groups in Xizhou. An analysis of 379 epitaph tablets excavated in Turfan ranging from the Gaochang Kingdom era through the Tang Dynasty indicates that in the late seventh century powerful Chinese families that had been designated as traditional local residence groups began to decline and new groups failed to replace them. This disappearance of local residence groups meant a reduction in the resources that the Tang Dynasty government could utilize in Xizhou.
Even after the An Shi Rebellion (安史之亂), a turning point during which the Tang Dynasty lost its influence over the Western Regions, Xizhou continued on for more than half a century. This was not an indication that the ruling systems of Tang China were particularly stable, but a result of Xizhou’s withholding of soldiers for the suppression of the rebellion and thus maintaining of its military strength. Moreover, Xizhou became a major strategic target for the Tibetan Empire only relatively late. When the Tibetan Empire turned toward Xizhou after conquering Hexi (河西; present‑day Gansu), Beiting was captured in 790. In 792, Xizhou also collapsed. Accordingly, China lost all of its directly ruled prefectures in the Western Regions.
In the late tenth century, an envoy of the Song (宋) Dynasty visited this region occupied by the Uygur (回紇). During his visit, he observed the legacy left by Tang Dynasty, including Buddhist temples and calligraphy by Tang emperors, but could not find any Chinese residents. The Tang Dynasty had utilized manpower from Xizhou as a resource for ruling the Western Regions by incorporating it into its military administration system. It shifted a strategic point from Xizhou to Tingzhou in response to changes in the international environment. In consequence, Tang Dynasty China was able to achieve several accomplishments in the management of the Western Regions. On the other hand, it ended up destroying the longstanding Chinese society that had resided in the area.