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2LEWIS MAYOFigure 1The Ganjun shan goshawks in theannals of imperial power: entry in theCefu yuangui recording their arrivalin the Ta ng court in Chang'an2 The reference is in theJiu Tang shu li m[Old Tang History], juan :§ 19a (Beijing:Zhonghua Shuju, 1975), p.660. The goshawksalso appear in the Cefu yuangui -fffi Jff:lC[Lessons from the past from the Palace ofBooksl,juan 169 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju,1960), p.2034. The birds are mentioned byRong Xinjiang ;wrrr in Guiyi jun shiyanjiu [Studies in Guiyi jun history] (Shanghai:Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, 1996), p.162. (Iwish to thank Rong Xinjiang for sending mea copy of this excellent book which has beenninth-century Central Asia structured the lives of these hawks, an order whichthe birds themselves helped to constitute. The goshawks were subjects andemanations of the authority of Zhang Yichao 51H,3 the Han 1l Chinesewarlord who had taken control of the string of oases between the YellowRiver and the Tarim basin after the collapse of Tibetan imperial rule in the840s. They came to Chang'an as a gift from Zhang to the Tang emperorYizong Jfl;*, his formal suzerain, in honour of Yizong's birthday.4The origin of these birds was specifically recorded: they came fromGanjun shan ttLlJ, the Ganjun mountains near Ganzhou ttj'l'l (presentlofinvaluable help in my work.) E. H. Schafermakes reference to these goshawks in "Falconryin T'ang times," p.311, and in The goldenpeaches of Samarkand (Berkeley, Calif.:University of California Press, 1963), p.94. Inthe earlier work Schafer translates the name as"blue shins," and in the latter "green shanks."In "Falconry in T'ang times," Schafer quotesJ. J. L. Duvyendak in T'oung Pao 35 (1940) that"blue-shinned" was a hunters' metaphor ofmagical import. Qingqiao W1t or "greenshinned"appears as an epithet or metonymfor goshawks in a number of pre-Tang literaryworks. It is found in the paean to the goshawk("Yong ying shi" UJ*) by the Sui emperor Yangdi * that is included in theTang encyclopedia for the instruction ofprinces, the Chuxue ji *)] [Record ofprimary learning]-see juan 30 (Beijing:Zhonghua Shuju, 1980), p.732-and also inZhang Pingzi's 5.!P¥-=J- Xijing fu jffi;ji:J!jtt[Western metropolis rhapsody], which appearsin the literary anthology Wenxuan )(JI[Literary selections], juan 2 (Shanghai: GuijiChubanshe, 1986), voU, p.70. DavidKnechtges's translation of the Wenxuan has"Blue-necked" for qingqiao. See Xiao Tong,Wen xuan, or Selections of Refined Literature,Volume 1, Rhapsodies on Metropolises andCapitals, translated, with annotations andintroduction by David R. Knechtges (Princeton,NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982), p.22I.3 In "Falconry in T'ang times" Schafer describesZhang Yichao as "a legate stationed at Shachou(Tun-huang)"-see p.311, n.l.4 The entries in the Jiu Tang shu and Cefuyuangui state that the goshawks werepresented along with two yanqingjie E£ liJhorses. Yanqing jie was the festival for thecelebration of Yizong's birthday, the 4th dayof the 7th lunar month-see Zhuang Chuo!lfMi,]ileibianWJ [The chicken rib col-Ilectionl,juanxia -r (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju,1983), p.l24. Schafer refers to the festival inThe golden peaches of Sam ark and, p.292, n.5(quoted in footnote 7 below)' Rong Xinjiangsuggests that Yanqingjie refers to the area ofYanzhou E£1'1'[ and Qingzhou m (the areaof modern Yan'an E£*' and Qingyang in Shaanxi jffi province) and that thesewere horses from this region (presumablytaking jie to be an appreviation for jiedushiliJ J.!t 1JI!, denoting in this case the territorialjurisdiction of a Military Commissioner, theprovincial military governors who were thedominant figures in the territorial administrationof the Tang empire after the An Lushanrebellion. See Charles O. Hucker, A dictionaryof official titles in imperial China (Stanford,Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985) p.l44.On these grounds Rong suggests that ZhangYichao's power extended west of the YellowRiver into the area of modern Shaanxi. SeeRong Xinjiang, Guiyi jun shi yanjiu, p.162).However, it seems likely that the imperialbirthday is meant, as Schafer suggests. Theeditors of the Zhonghua Shuju edition of theJiu Tang shu do not underline the words (as istheir usual practice with proper names).Moreover, the entry for the following year(867) in the Xin Tang shu;wr m [New TangHistory], juan 9 (Shanghai: Zhonghua Shuju,1975), p.260, records that the hunting birds,horses and women from the royal householdwere to be ritually released because of thesickness of the emperor, and that gifts ofwomen for the duanwu Jiffilq: (5th day of the5th lunar month-by Tang times the principalmidsummer festival (see Derk Bodde Festivalsin classical China [Princeton, NJ: PrincetonUniversity Press, 1975], pp.289-316) andyanqing festivals were to be banned. Thismakes it likely that yanqingjie in the entriesin Jiu Tang shu and Cefu yuangui refers toYizong's birthday.
BIRDS AND THE HAND OF POWER3day Zhangye *-1ro, the major centre in the middle of the Gansu if'*'"corridor. 5 In this precise identification of their place of origin, the goshawksmarked Zhang Yichao's annexations of territory in the areas east ofDunhuang 1i (usually referred to at that time as Shazhou 1Y1+[) from the840s to the 860s 6 These goshawks were fruits and pleasures of conquest.Like all territorial conquests, this was a conquest of rival lives, the lives thatobstruct or permit dominion over space-those of enemies like the remnantforces of the Tibetan empire, those of potentially disloyal allies and thoseof subjects and subordinates: soldiers, lieutenants, scribes, goshawk masters,and also oxen, camels, wolves, pine trees and flowers. The subjection ofthese birds to political power was an outcome of the subjection of thecorridor itself to the military authority of Zhang Yichao; the historicalcondition for the possession of violent birds by political forces was a historyof political violence. Their relationship to the transformation of the territorialorder since the 840s was registered by juxtaposition: the goshawks arrivedat the Tang court along with two Tibetan women, Ganjun shan's formerrulers now made slaves 7 These ornamental bodies presented before theemperor the history of the collapse of Tibetan empire and the history ofZhang's conquest, a history which the Tang court attempted to definethrough the title "The Army which Returns to Righteousness" (Guiyi junM.),8 a term of complex resonances marking both a restoration of orderand something other than full integration into the systems of empire.9The goshawks were themselves part of the stratagems that this conquestordained, a component in the political engagement between Zhang Yichaoand the Tang dynasty. Ganjun shan lay on the border with Liangzhou r* 1'1'1,conquered by Zhang Yichao at the head of a mixed Han and non-Han forcein 861, 1 0 having hitherto been ruled by former subjects of the Tibetanempire. The Tang state refused to ratify Zhang's authority over Liangzhou 11(which had been one of the great centres of Tang power in the Gansucorridor prior to the An Lushan t U-! rebellion of 755-63). 1 2 In 863 (threeThe prefecture of Ganzhou was named afterthese mountains, located to the east of theprefectural capital. See Jiu Tang shu, juan 40,Dili zhi :!::FJI!;E; [Monograph on geographyJ,juan 3, p.l641.6 According to the Zhang Huaishen bei11E1i!If! Ganzhou was taken in 849 (see ChiHexi jiedu bingbu shangshu Zhang gongdezheng zhi bei fPJjffiifrJtt,€flH;!,j01!i&jjlljl [Monument to the virtuousgovernance of his lordship Zhang, imperiallyappointed Minister of the Board of War andMilitary Commissioner of Hexil, P.2762, S.3329,5.6161, 5.6973 and S.11564, transcribed byRong Xinjiang, Guiyi jun shi yanjiu, p.400).Liangzhou was taken in 861 (Rong Xinjiang,IGuiyi jun shi yanjiu, p.5; see footnote 15below on the capture of Liangzhou forreferences).7 See references to Jiu Tang shu and CeJuyuangui in footnotes 2 and 4 above. Thesewomen are also mentioned in The goldenpeaches oj Samarkand, where Schaferdescribes them as "appropriate tokens ofcongratulation on a national holiday" (p.50).In a footnote he states that "Chang I-ch'ao,imperial legate at Sha-chou (Tun-huang)sent them along with four goshawks andtwo horses for the Yen-ch'ing Festival. Thefollowing year an edict put an end to thesubmission of women as gifts on theoccasion of this festival and the Tuan-wuIFestival." See The golden peaches ojSamarkand, p.292.8 For sources on the granting of the name'Guiyi jun', see Rong Xinjiang, Guiyi jun shiyanjiu, p.3; see also Yang Jidong, "ZhangYichao and Dunhuang in the 9th century,"Journal oj Asian History 32.2 (998): 116-18.Yang Jidong argues that in the Han dynasty"Returning to Righteousness" was a titlebestowed on foreign chieftains who hadsurrendered, and that in 842 the title had beengiven by the Tang to a Uyghur clan which hadsurrendered to the Tang after the collapse ofthe Uyghur empire Cid., pp.116-17).9 Yang Jidong contends that the associationsof the name 'Guiyi jun' with the surrender offoreigners meant that "when in the 850s theenvoys from Dunhuang arrived at Chang'anthey were considered by the Tang as aliensrather than subjects of the empire whounfortunately fell under foreign rule for aboutseventy years, a sense predominant in laterwritings. Thus the fact that the Returning toRighteousness Army itself seemed not willingto use this name also becomes understandable"("Zhang Yichao and Dunhuang in the9th century," pp.117-18). Rong Xinjiang haspointed out that documents produced atDunhuang itself in the era of Zhang Yichaoand his successor Zhang Huaishen do not usethe term 'Guiyi jun' (although they did use thistitle in communications with the Tang centre).See Rong Xinjiang, "Guiyi jun ji qi yu zhoubianminzu de guanxi chutan" [The Guiyi jun andits relations with neighbouring ethnic groups:a preliminary studyl, Dunhuangxue jikan 100986.2): 29, and 41, n.49 for examples.10Xin Tang shu, juan 9, p.257, and Sima---Guang 'R]}.l§;IC, Zizhi tongjian m[Comprehensive mirror for aid in government],juan 250 (Beijing: Guji Chubanshe,1956), p.8104. The former source gives thedate of the taking of Liangzhou as the 3rdlunar month of the 2nd year of the XiantongJI3t era (861), while the latter puts it in the4th year of the Xiantong era (863).11 5.6342 contains the text of the memorial inwhich Zhang Yichao requested official appointmentas governor of Liangzhou, together withthe imperial denial of the request. See RongXinjiang, Guiyi jun shi yanjiu, p.158, for atranscription of this document.12 "Liang-chou had more than a hundredthousand residents, reputed to be of hard andunyielding temperament, since they lOVER
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