Super Empire (Cracking the Code of China's Most Powerful Dynasty)

Author: Mei Chaorong / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-07-01
Features: "Genghis Khan's great victories on the battlefield were not achieved through a large number of troops but through strict discipline, systems, and feasible organization. It can also be said that his brilliant achievements came from his command art. The campaigns he conducted, in terms of scale, artistry, suddenness, flexibility, strategic and tactical encirclement, were unprecedented in history." — India's former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
"If it were not for the outstanding talent and extraordinary achievements of these Yuan Dynasty rulers and their people, the path to China might not have been opened. Who knows when Marco Polo's journey eastward might have been discovered? Without Marco Polo and other pioneers inspiring the West to imagine China and making them eager to go there, how could there have been Christopher Columbus?" — American historian Daniel J. Boorstin
"The Great Yuan Empire erased the boundaries on the Silk Road and flattened the fortresses that hindered economic and cultural exchange, thus beginning frequent exchanges and shortening the distance between the East and the West." — Renowned Yuan history expert Han Rulin
"The Great Khan Kublai Khan was the greatest of all rulers or emperors. He was a powerful monarch, the most populous, wealthiest, and most prosperous since the dawn of humanity. He truly had the right to bear this name." — Traveler Marco Polo
Spring by Han Jingqing
The cuckoo cries, "Better to return than stay.
Spring has returned, but the traveler has not.
Day by day, I grow more weary,
Like drifting willow catkins in the wind.
All spring, no news of fish or birds,
Only swallows fighting over mud.
Regarding the origins of the Mongols, according to their own accounts, they believe themselves to be descendants of a blue wolf and a white deer. In reality, this is no different from how most ethnic groups identify their belonging through totemic consciousness. The reason the Mongols chose the wolf and the deer as their national totems can now be analyzed and understood to be closely tied to the environment in which their ancestors lived. Wolves and deer are creatures of forests and grasslands. As totems, the blue wolf and the white deer were revered by the Mongols as divine beings, and they were also endowed with mysterious and beautiful legends.
According to the Secret History of the Mongols, the blue wolf and the white deer were the ancestors of Genghis Khan, sent to the world by the will of heaven. Together, they crossed the Tenghis River and began to multiply at the source of the Orhon River and in front of the mountain of Buirhan. They gave birth to Bata Khan, who is considered the progenitor of Genghis Khan. In fact, the blue wolf and the white deer are called Burtai Tseren and Khoei Malan in Mongolian, but they are translated as the blue wolf and the white deer in Chinese. As the annotators of the Secret History of the Mongols note, the blue wolf and the white deer are merely legendary names, much like how our names may include characters like "Dragon" or "Tiger."
Another account from the History of the Persian and Mongol Dynasties records a devastating war that broke out on the northern grasslands, resulting in the Mongol tribes suffering a heavy defeat. After the massacre, only two men and two women survived. They fled to a dangerous valley called Ergune Kün, where they married and formed two couples. Over generations, their population gradually increased. The two families were called Nyagus and Qiyans. Eventually, after several generations, they returned to the Hulunbuir grasslands where their ancestors had lived. It is said that Genghis Khan was a descendant of the Qiyans, the same tribe that later became the Mongol tribes.
In fact, there are not only these few versions of the Mongol origins, because every ethnic group seeks to trace its roots. When unable to explain its earliest origins, it is understandable that various legends are used to explain them, as the human imagination is boundless. The Mongol region has been the home of nomadic tribes since ancient times. Since the Xia and Shang dynasties, various tribes of all sizes have roamed this vast grassland. The history of the rise and fall of these tribes and their replacements continued until the early 13th century, when a stable ethnic community—the Mongol people—finally formed.
In fact, when speaking of these nomadic peoples, many of them are often lumped together, making it difficult to understand their relationships. For example: the Xiongnu, the Hu people, the Xianbei, the Khitan, and the Jurchen. We can only rely on historical records to untangle the confusion. Let's return to the true origins of the Mongol people. Most scholars in modern and contemporary times believe that the Mongols originated from the Donghu. The Donghu was a general term for various tribes of the same origin, speaking different dialects, and bearing different names. According to Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, "They were east of the Xiongnu, hence the name Donghu." Between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE, the Donghu tribes were still in the primitive clan society stage, living a life "following the water and grass, with no fixed settlements." By the late 3rd century BCE, the Donghu tribes formed an alliance and constantly invaded westward, hostile to the Xiongnu. During the reign of Modun Chanyu (209–174 BCE), the Xiongnu grew powerful and launched a devastating attack on the Donghu, destroying their tribes and plundering their people and livestock. The Donghu tribes were ruled by the Xiongnu for three centuries (late 3rd century BCE to late 1st century CE).
In 48 CE, the Xiongnu split into the Southern Xiongnu and the Northern Xiongnu, their power declining. The Wuhuan and Xianbei seized the opportunity to rise. The Wuhuan and Xianbei were descendants of the Donghu. In 209 BCE, after Modun Chanyu destroyed the Donghu, some Donghu people settled in the Wuhuan Mountains along the Liao River basin, while others settled in the Huangshui River basin, giving rise to the names Wuhuan and Xianbei. According to the Book of the Later Han, during the reign of Emperor He of the Han Dynasty (89–105 CE), the Han forces defeated the Xiongnu, and the Northern Xiongnu fled. The Xianbei people moved to that area and settled. The remaining Xiongnu numbered over 100,000 households, all claiming to be Xianbei. Thus, the Xianbei began to flourish. By the mid-2nd century CE, during the reign of Tan Shi-huai, according to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, "They occupied the former lands of the Xiongnu," controlling a vast area of "12,000 li east to west and 7,000 li north to south" and establishing an unprecedentedly powerful Xianbei tribal military alliance. The leaders of each tribe ruled their respective territories, with clear boundaries. After Tan Shi-huai's death, the Xianbei tribal military alliance also disintegrated.
At the same time, archaeological discoveries and records in Han-era texts about the customs and language of the Xianbei people also largely prove the ancestral connection between the Mongols and the Xianbei.
In the mid-4th century, one branch of the Xianbei called themselves the Khitan and lived in the Huangshui and Lao Haha River basins. The Xianbei people living west of the Xing'an Mountains (now the Hulunbuir region) were called the Shiwei. The Shiwei first appeared in the Book of Wei, written as Shivei. The Shiwei shared the same origin as the Khitan, with the Xing'an Mountains as their boundary, "those south of the mountains were called Khitan, while those north were called Shivei" (Book of the Northern Dynasties, Volume 94, Biography of the Shiwei). After the 6th century, the Shiwei people divided into five branches: the Southern Shiwei, Northern Shiwei, Bo Shiwei, Shenmohe Shiwei, and Da Shiwei, each further subdivided into smaller groups.
According to linguistic analysis, the various groups active in the Mongol region were divided into two major language families: Mongolian and Turkic. In Turkic historical records, the Shiwei were called "Dadai" (Tartars). The Kutlug Tablet, erected on the right bank of the Orhon River in 732, records the "Thirty Surnames of the Dadai." The Thirty Surnames of the Dadai may have been the name of a powerful Shiwei tribe or tribal alliance adjacent to the Turks, whom the Turks used to refer to all Shiwei tribes. Later, "Dadai" became the general term for all Mongol tribes. This was because, "for most of ancient times, they were conquerors and rulers of most tribes and regions, great, powerful, and highly respected." "Due to their extremely great and respected status, other Turkic tribes, though of different kinds and names, gradually became known by their name, all being called Tartars" (History of the Mongols by Rashid al-Din).
Because of the Mongols' strength, the name "Dadai" was gradually replaced by "Mongol," becoming the general term for the Shiwei tribes.
The term "Mongol" first appeared in the Old Book of Tang, referring to "Mengwu Shiwei," a member of the Da Shiwei, who lived in the southern part of the Erguna River.
These are some of the historical records about the origins of the Mongol people. However, the true protagonist we will discuss, Genghis Khan, what were the origins of his ancestors?
Genghis Khan's verifiable ancestors trace back to Bode Chaghar. It is said that he was the fifth son of Alan Khoja and was born by the light of the sun and moon, the son of heaven. This son of heaven was destined for great achievements, and according to historical, even if he did not become an emperor, he would still be extraordinary. So, didn't Bode Chaghar become an ancestor of the emperor? Of course, all of this is the mystical color added by later historians for him. If he were not Genghis Khan's ancestor, how could this son of heaven have fallen upon him?
Bode Chaghar's mother told his brothers when they were young, "All five of you were born from my belly. If you scatter, you will be like an arrow that anyone can break. But if you love each other and work together, like five arrows joined together, no one will be able to break you." After her death, the five brothers were not harmonious. The four older brothers said that the youngest, Bode Chaghar, was quiet and foolish and did not share the livestock with him. The youngest brother had to ride a thin horse with a sore tail and hunt along the Orhon River for a living, even eating leftover scraps from wolves. But this forged a wolf-like character in Bode Chaghar. He robbed others' livestock, took beautiful women as wives, and captured people from other tribes as slaves.
In fact, Bode Chaghar's behavior was quite common among nomadic peoples at the time, which also illustrates that their customs were still bound by the unavoidable "survival of the fittest" rule. Among Bode Chaghar's children was one named Yushu Habi, and he is mentioned here because his great-grandson, Khaidu, was recognized as the Great Khan in the Mongol tribe. The main reason he is mentioned is that Yushu Habi is also an ancestor of Genghis Khan.
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