Compendium of Historical Materials on the Dangxiang and Western Xia (Volumes 1, 2, 3, and Supplement, totaling nine volumes)

Author: Han Yuncheng (Editor)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-06-01
Features: The Tangut were one of the northern ethnic minorities of ancient China, originally inhabiting the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. In ancient China, the inhabitants of this region were generally referred to as the Qiang people, and both the Tangut and the Tibetans were considered branches of the Qiang ethnic group. In terms of language and customs, the Tangut and the Tibetans seemed to share a bloodline. The materials collected in this book are limited to Chinese-language sources, dating from the early Sui Dynasty to the end of the Yuan Dynasty. The main sources are the relevant sections from the Twenty-Four Histories, supplemented by contemporary historical works, collections, and inscriptions. In fact, since the Northern Wei Dynasty's Emperor Xiaowen implemented sinicization, the Tuoba clan changed their surname to Yuan starting in the late 570s AD. The branch of the Xianbei people who migrated to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau was the Tuyuhun, descended from the Murong clan, and did not carry the Tuoba surname. Of course, some branches of the Xianbei Tuoba clan were indeed Xianbei. Yuan Hu Zengxun's annotations to the Zizhi Tongjian state, "The Tangut also had their own Tuoba clan," which is now considered a definitive conclusion. Records of Tangut affairs first appeared in the Sui and Tang dynasties. Although the Sui Dynasty's account of the Tangut mentions, "They frequently troubled the borders during the Wei and Zhou periods," the Books of Wei and Zhou do not mention the Tangut. In the early Tang Dynasty, due to the rise of the Tibetans, the Tangut faced threats and gradually migrated eastward. They passed through southern Gansu, crossed the Liupan Mountains, and moved toward the Hequ region in northern Shaanxi. Some tribes settled in various mountainous areas along the way, while others were resettled in the three prefectures of Ben, Lin, and Fu. The Tuoba clan settled in Xiazhou (Hengshan Mountains in northern Shaanxi).