East Asian History - ANU

34LEWIS MAYO102 See the Zhang Yichao hianwen 5i() iI)( [The transformation text ofZhang Yichao] (P.2962), the most recentauthoritative transcription of which is inZhou Shaoliang, Zhang Yongquan andHuang Zheng, Dunhang bianwen jiangjingwenyinyuan jijiao [Collected collations ofthe Transformation Texts, Slitra Lecture Textsand Nidanas from Dunhuang] (Nanjing:Jiangsu Guji Chubanshe, 1999), pp.134-8. Atranslation of this text is found in VictorMair, Tun-huang popular narratives (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1983)pp.l61-71. A foundational study of the textis Sun Kaidi, "Dunhuang xieben 'ZhangYichao bianwen' ba" [Notes on the Dunhuangmanuscript 'The Transformation Text ofZhang Yichao'], originally in Tushu jikan3.3 (936) and reprinted in Zhou Shaoliangand Bai Huawen, eds, Dunhuang bianwenlunwen lu [Reproductions of articles onDunhuang transformation texts], vol.2(Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, 1982),pp.713-22.103 See the above discussion of the 882monument erected by Zhang Huaishen,where the Tuyuhun of the south are shownbringing jade from the Kunlun mountains(referring to the areas to the south ofDunhuang which had long been Tuyuhunterritory).104 See the mention of the Tuyyut going toserve the Turk qaghan in the Kul Tegininscription cited above. Tibetan writingsfrom Dunhuang show the 'A-zha (Tuyuhun)as subordinates of other groups within theTibetan empire in the eighth and ninthcenturies, including the 'Brug, who can beidentified with the Longjia. See the materialon the 'A-zha as subjects of the 'Brug!Longjia in F. W. Thomas, Tibetan literarytexts and documents from Chinese Turkestan,vol. 2, pp.17-19.lOS Hamilton and Bazin, "L'Origine du nomTibet," pp.23-4.106 For foundational information aboutTuyuhun and his descendants, see the sectionon the Tuyuhun in thejinshutfW [Historyof the Jin] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1974),juan 97, pp.2537-42. See also Mole, TheT'u-yu-hun hun from the Northern Wei tothe time of the Five Dynasties, pp.l-3 andthe notes on pp.66--75.107 The two white goshawks given toXuanzong in 714 that were the subject of thepaean cited above came from this area.were among the mosaic of peoples living under the authority of the Tibetanemperors in the Northern periphery of their empire-indeed they shared anintimate relationship with the Tibetan imperial house. But they too were ina subordinated position in the Tibetan empire, and used the collapse of itsauthority to assert their independence once again, competing with the otherbeneficiaries of the post-Tibetan reordering of power. An epic which extolsthe deeds of Zhang Yichao recounts his defeat of an attack by the Tuyuhunking in the lands to the south of Dunhuang.102 Other rhetoric cites thesubmission of the Tuyuhun to the Guiyi jun as a mark of the stable orderproduced in the Gansu corridor by Zhang Yichao and his nephew. 103 Inhistorical writing (Turkic, Tibetan or Chinese), which is overwhelminglywritten by their rivals, the Tuyuhun are invariably positioned as autonomousactors who are at some level subordinated or tamed. 104 They have the powerto capture and to move, but this power is repeatedly co-opted by andaffiliated to the political projects of others. They are distinguished for theirferocity, and are known for bravery and intelligence, offering these talentsto extend the reach of the hand of power. But where they can evade thispower, as in times of weakness, they will depart to lead a life servingthemselves. The forces that act on them are the same ones that act on the livesof captured hunting birds brought within the field of political power. Uyghurincursions at Ganzhou produce a flight of the Tuyuhun from the oasis at thesame time that they produce control over the white goshawk (control overits powers of flight). This linkage of histories unfolding at the same time,histories of birds and histories of peoples, involves journeys in oppositedirections. The white goshawk goes as hostage to the khan while theTuyuhun escape him. But there is perhaps a deeper kinship between thesehistories and journeys. The word Tuyuhun resonates with tuyghun: whitegoshawk and hero. 105 The original name 'Tuyuhun' was that of a fourthcenturyleader106 (and thus a man whose claim to found a group or lineagethat would bear his name rested on distinguishing himself through heroism,perspicacity and rapacity, the qualities proverbially condensed in theattributes and names of the white goshawk in Uyghur) who led hissubordinates from their homeland in Manchuria famed for their productionof white goshawks and falcons.107 The migration of this name through thepeople who bore it into the Gansu corridor and the Qinghai plateau in theIHamiiton and Bazin quote a ninth-centuryArabic text which stresses the abundance ofwhite falcons in this region, and the Mohezhuan iU{$ [Monograph on the Mohe"tartars"] of the Xin Tang shu states that theterritory of the Mohe (in what we would nowcall Manchuria) was noted for its whitegoshawks (Xin Tang shu, juan 219, p.6178).Significantly, the source ofthe white goshawkswas the territory of the White Mountain Mohe[BaishanMohe 8 1i*Wll], defined by con-Itrast with the Black Water Mohe [HeishuiMohe J.I,*1i*] found to its west. Thestructural opposition between an easternwhite mountain and western black waterresonates with directional and colour contraststhat will be discussed later in the paper. TheMohe were Tungusic people who were theprogenitors of the Jurchen :9;';i.. See jin shi5iZ:.'5E [History of the Jin], juan 1 (Beijing:Zhonghua Shuju, 1975), p.l, who were inturn the supposed progenitors of the Manchus.