Tang ve Uygur Hanedanları Arasındaki Diplomatik Evlilikler

Year 2025, Volume: 9 Issue: 1, 164 - 182, 26.02.2025

Aymira Taşbaş

https://doi.org/10.35236/jots.1590797

Abstract

This paper explores the practice of heqin (marriage alliance) in Chinese history, a diplomatic strategy used to establish relations between different ethnic groups through marriage. Originating in the 3rd century BCE, heqin became widespread during the Han Dynasty and continued through the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, reaching its peak in the Tang Dynasty. While 13 heqin agreements were made during the Han Dynasty, 23 such marriages occurred during the Tang period. A notable feature of Tang heqin practices is the establishment of marriage alliances with two Turkic qaghanates, the Köktürks and the Uyghurs, providing a comparative framework for analyzing Chinese-Turkic relations. This article focuses on the heqin marriages between the Tang and Uyghur dynasties, examining the historical context and the role of princesses in heqin diplomacy. It shows that the selection of princesses was influenced by the nature of diplomatic relations and strategic priorities, interpreting heqin as a reflection of the power dynamics and cultural exchanges between the two societies. The first section of this paper will outline the heqin practices between the Western Wei, Sui, Tang, and Köktürk dynasties to provide historical context. The subsequent section will focus on the heqin practices between the Tang and Uyghur dynasties.

Keywords

Heqin, Tang Dynasty, Uyghur Khaganate, diplomatic marriage, Chinese princesses

Diplomatic Marriages Between the Tang and Uyghur Dynasties

Abstract

This paper explores the practice of heqin (marriage alliance) in Chinese history, a diplomatic strategy used to establish relations between different ethnic groups through marriage. Originating in the 3rd century BCE, heqin became widespread during the Han Dynasty and continued through the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, reaching its peak in the Tang Dynasty. While 13 heqin agreements were made during the Han Dynasty, 23 such marriages occurred during the Tang period. A notable feature of Tang heqin practices is the establishment of marriage alliances with two Turkic qaghanates, the Köktürks and the Uyghurs, providing a comparative framework for analyzing Chinese-Turkic relations. This article focuses on the heqin marriages between the Tang and Uyghur dynasties, examining the historical context and the role of princesses in heqin diplomacy. It shows that the selection of princesses was influenced by the nature of diplomatic relations and strategic priorities, interpreting heqin as a reflection of the power dynamics and cultural exchanges between the two societies. The first section of this paper will outline the heqin practices between the Western Wei, Sui, Tang, and Köktürk dynasties to provide historical context. The subsequent section will focus on the heqin practices between the Tang and Uyghur dynasties.

Keywords

Heqin, Tang Dynasty, Uyghur Khaganate, diplomatic marriage, Chinese princesses

References

• Barfield, T. J. (1992). The perilous frontier: nomadic empires and China. 221 B.C. to A.D. 1757. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers.
• Başkan, S. (2023). Göktürklerin Fetret Dönemi’nde (630-680) Çin ile Yaptığı Siyasî Evlilikler. In Y. E. Tansü (Ed.), Tarih Alanında Seçme Yazılar-III (28-47). Gaziantep: Özgür Yayınları.
• Chen, H. (2021). A History of the Second Türk Empire (ca. 682–745 AD). Leiden: Brill.
• Chin, T. T. (2010). Defamiliarizing the Foreigner: Sima Qian’s Ethnography and Han-Xiongnu Marriage Diplomacy. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 70(2), 311-354.
• Drompp, M. R. (2005). Tang China and the Collapse of the Uighur Empire. Leiden: Brill.
• Drompp, M. R. (2007). From Qatun To Refugee: The Taihe Princess among the Uighurs. In Veit, V. (Ed.), The Role of Women in the Altaic World: Permanent International Altaistic Conference 44th Meeting, Walberberg, 26–31 August 2001 (57–68). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
• Drompp, M. R. (2018). The Kök Türk Empires. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History. Oxford University Press.
• Ganiev, R. T. (2017). Политика первых Каганов и возвышение древних тюрков в Центральной Азии (534-572 гг.). Problemy istorii, filologii, kul’tury, 1, 189-201.
• Golden, P. (1992). An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples. Ethnogenesis and State-formation in Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
• Holcombe, C. (2020). Chinese Identity During the Age of Division, Sui, and Tang. Journal of Chinese History, 4(1), 31–53.
• Kara, G. (2015). Zhou Tarihi’nin Türkler Bölümü Üzerinde Metin Çalışması. İnsan ve Toplum Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi, 4(3), 542-562.
• Kozhabekova, Z. (2013). Turkic Kaganate and China by Sources and the Latest Archeological Research. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 82, 117–121.
• Li, Y. (1974). 北史 [History of the Northern Dynasties]. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju.
• Lin, E. (1985). 從民族主義觀點看漢唐之和親政策 [Analyzing the Han and Tang Dynasties’ Heqin Policy from a Nationalist Perspective]. 政治文化 [Political Culture], 3, 23-39.
• Liu, Mau-Tsai (2011). Çin Kaynaklarına Göre Doğu Türkleri. Çev. Kayaoğlu, E. & Banoğlu, D. İstanbul: Selenge Yayınları.
• Liu, X. (1975). 舊唐書 [Old History of the Tang Dynasty]. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju.
• Lorge, P. A. (2011). The Sui and Tang Dynasties. In Chinese Martial Arts: From Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century (93–112). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Mackerras, C. (1972). The Uighur empire, according to the T’ang dynastic histories: a study in Sino-Uighur relations 744-840. Canberra: Australian National University.
• Mackerras, C. (2004). Relations between the Uighurs and Tang China, 744-840. Journal of Turkic Civilization Studies, 1(1), 93-106.
• Ouyang, X. (1975). 新唐書 [New History of the Tang Dynasty]. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju.
• Pan, Y. (1997). Marriage Alliances and Chinese Princesses in International Politics from Han through T’ang. Asia Major, 10(1/2), 95-131.
• Sinor, D. et al. (1998). The Uighurs, the Kyrgyz and the Tangut (eighth to the thirteenth century). In Asimov, M. S. & Bosworth, C. E. (Eds.), History of civilizations of Central Asia: Vol. IV. The age of achievement: A.D. 750 to the end of the fifteenth century, Part I: The historical, social and economic setting (191–214). UNESCO Publishing.
• Skaff, J. K. (2012). Sui-Tang China and Its Turko-Mongol Neighbors: Culture, Power, and Connections. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Şaşmaz Y. A. (2022). Batı Han ve Tang Hanedanı dönemlerinde Heqin politikası. Humanitas, 10(19), 349-373.
• Urgunbuyan, B. (2023). Princesses of the Central Plains Married into the Turkish Khaganate. Mongolian Diaspora. Journal of Mongolian History and Culture, 3(3), 37-51.
• Wang, P. 王. (1955). 唐會要 [Institutional Records of the Tang Dynasty]. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju.
• Wang, Z. (2013). Tang China in Multi-Polar Asia. A History of Diplomacy and War. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
• Wright, D. C. (2011). A Chinese Princess Bride’s Life and Activism among the Eastern Türks, 580-593 CE. Journal of Asian History, 45(1/2), 39–48.
• Xingcheng, L. (2022). 近百年来和亲概念研究述评 [A Research Review on the Concept of Peace-making Marriage in the Last 100 Years]. Journal of Kunming University, 4(1), 40-45.
• Yoshida, Y. (2020). Studies of the Karabalgasun inscription. Edition of the Sogdian Version. Modern Asian Studies Review, 11, 1-139.
• Zhou, J. (2009). The visualization of Wang Zhaojun in the vicissitude of time. Frontiers of History in China, 4(3), 470–478.