History of Western Turks

Author: [French] Paul Pelliot / Feng Chengjun
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-01-01
Features: In the mid-6th century, the Turkic tribes in the Altai Mountains region broke free from the rule of the Rouran and began to grow powerful. They soon conquered neighboring tribes and the various states of the Western Regions, establishing a vast Turkic Khaganate in the heart of Central Asia. By the late 6th century, it split into the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates. During the heyday of the Western Turkic Khaganate, it extended eastward to the Altai Mountains and westward to the Caspian Sea, situated between the three major civilizations of East, West, and South in the Eurasian continent. As a result, in addition to contact with the Tang Dynasty, it maintained close exchanges with the nomadic tribes of Central Asia, the Eastern Roman Empire, Persia, and various Indian states. Given this context, both Chinese and Western ancient texts have preserved a wealth of materials on the Western Turkic Khaganate (with the former being particularly abundant). This book is a comprehensive compilation of Western Turkic historical sources, based primarily on Chinese records and supplemented with references to Western accounts. Despite the limitations of its time and the author's own constraints, the book still has many shortcomings. However, due to the author's diligent efforts in collecting and compiling the material, it remains a valuable reference for research on the Turks and related fields. This translation by Mr. Feng Chengjun was first published by the Commercial Press in 1932. The Zhonghua Book Company later revised and reissued the old translation in 1958, adding a map of Central Asia during the Western Turkic period originally included in Pelliot's original work. The book is divided into four parts: The first part is an introductory essay on the history of research, which explains the genealogy and chronology of the Western Turkic khans on one hand, and studies the two major routes through the Western Regions to some extent, thereby determining the political and geographical conditions of the territory inhabited by the tribe. The second part transcribes the biographies of the Western Turkic Khaganate from the books of the Sui and Tang dynasties, with annotations. The third part collects and analyzes relevant historical materials from the major dynastic histories and the records of Xuanzang. The fourth part is a brief political history of the Western Turkic Khaganate.