Turks and the Turkic Khaganate

Author: Ma Changshou
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-05-01
Features: The history of the northern ethnic groups in ancient China is part of Chinese history and also a significant component of the formation history of the Chinese nation. Moreover, these ancient northern ethnic groups also had a profound impact on the history of East Asia, Central Asia, and even Europe. Therefore, scholars both within and outside China have placed great importance on the study of ancient northern ethnic groups in China, and it has even become a hot topic or specialized discipline in the international academic field, such as the so-called Xiongnu Studies, Xianbei Studies, Turkic Studies, and Western Xia Studies. Traditional Chinese historiography has always attached great importance to the records and studies of neighboring ethnic groups, especially northern ethnic groups, with an extensive body of literature and research achievements from different historical periods. The "Series on the History of Ancient Northern Ethnic Groups in China" that we edit and publish is one of the reflections of the research achievements on the history of ancient northern ethnic groups in China during the 1950s to 1980s. The works compiled in this series are the writings of Ma Changshou, a renowned Chinese ethnologist and historian, and his disciple Zhou Weizhou. Professor Ma Changshou (1900-1973), styled Songling, was from Xiyang, Shanxi Province. He graduated from the Department of Sociology at Central University in 1933. In his early years, he conducted numerous in-depth ethnic surveys in the southwestern ethnic minority regions of China, introducing Western modern and contemporary theories and methods of sociology, ethnology, and anthropology. He published a series of important ethnic survey reports and academic papers. After the 1950s, he taught at Fudan University and Northwest University, gradually shifting his focus to the study of the history of China's ethnic minorities. He conducted pioneering research on the history and culture of northern ethnic groups in ancient China, such as the Xiongnu, Wuhuan, Xianbei, Di, Qiang, and Turks. His research was characterized by integrating the fine traditions of Chinese historiography with the essence of modern Western social sciences, guided by the advanced materialist historical view of Marxism, emphasizing ethnic surveys and archaeological and cultural relics data, and combining historical facts with theory. As a result, these academic characteristics gradually developed into a unique and self-contained school of thought, which had a certain influence both domestically and internationally. The series includes five works written by Professor Ma Changshou during the 1950s and 1960s, namely "The Northern Nomads and the Xiongnu," "The Di and the Qiang," "The Wuhuan and the Xianbei," "Ethnic Groups in the Guanzhong Region from the Northern Qi to the Early Sui as Seen in Inscriptions," and "The Turks and the Turkic Khaganate." Among these, "The Di and the Qiang" and "Ethnic Groups in the Guanzhong Region from the Northern Qi to the Early Sui as Seen in Inscriptions" were published in the 1980s after Professor Ma Changshou's death in 1971. Renowned ethnic historian Lin Hu once commented on "The Northern Nomads and the Xiongnu" when evaluating it: "This book is a detailed and specific monograph on the history of the Xiongnu after the liberation. Therefore, the publication of this book has provided an example for Chinese historians to use Marxism-Leninism in researching and writing monographs on the history of the Xiongnu" (Lin Hu, "Preface to the General History of the Xiongnu," People's Publishing House, 1986). Scholars in the northeast have proposed that the "second milestone" in the study of "Xianbei Studies" was marked by the publication of "The Wuhuan and the Xianbei" (Yu Zhilian et al., "Several Issues on the Early History of the Xianbei and Their Archaeological Relics," in "Ethnic Research," January 1982). "Ethnic Groups in the Guanzhong Region from the Northern Qi to the Early Sui as Seen in Inscriptions," despite its limited length, is widely regarded by scholars both at home and abroad as a model of combining archaeological and cultural relics data (inscriptions) with literature to study the history of ethnic minorities in China. The other works, such as "The Di and the Qiang" and "The Turks and the Turkic Khaganate," have also had a significant impact in academia, and any scholarly works on these ethnic groups must reference these books.