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- Title
Locating Advantages: The Survival of the Tuyuhun State on the Edge, 300-ca. 580.
- Authors
Yihong Pan
- Abstract
Among all the states that emerged during the Period of Division in China, the Särbi (Ch. Xianbei) Tuyuhun kingdom was the longest lasting. Why was it able to keep its ethnic and political identity for so long? Tuyuhun's geographical location and ecological conditions in the northeast section of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau benefited the state in several ways. They enabled the development of a multi-ethnic power with a self-sufficient mixed economy. Its distance from major powers in North and South China and on the Mongolian steppe protected Tuyuhun from annexation and offered it space to develop. Tuyuhun's control over the so-called Qinghai road, a branch of the Silk Road south of the Hexi corridor, raised its status as a crucial intermediary for trade and regional diplomacy during the Period of Division. Tuyuhun was able to rise and flourish when North China was weak but lost its locational advantage when caught between the unified and expansive Tang and Tibetan empires; its land was subsequently incorporated into the Tibetan empire. Understanding Tuyuhun history illuminates important interactions between nomadic and agrarian societies in the history of Inner Asia and East Asia.
- Subjects
QINGHAI Sheng (China); TIBET (China); TUYUHUN Empire, 285-670; XIANBEI (Asian people); NOMADS; GEOPOLITICS; TIBETAN history; SIXTEEN Kingdoms, China, 304-439; HISTORY; KINGS &; rulers
- Publication
T'oung Pao, 2013, Vol 99, Issue 4-5, p268
- ISSN
0082-5433
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1163/15685322-9945P0002