Gaochang Kingdom—A small immigrant society on the Silk Road during the 5th to 7th centuries

Author: Song Xiaomei
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-11-01
Features: The research object of this book is the Kingdom of Gaochang. Before embarking on this study, it is necessary to define the scope of research from two dimensions: horizontal and vertical. In the second half of the 5th century, Han Chinese migrants from the Hexi and Longyou regions established a petty kingdom in the Turpan Basin of today's Xinjiang, known as the Kingdom of Gaochang, which lasted until its conquest by Emperor Taizong of Tang in 640, spanning a period of one and a half centuries. Considering that the main ethnic group of the Kingdom of Gaochang migrated from the Hexi and Longyou regions since the late Jin Dynasty and primarily during the Northern Liang period (397–439), and that the political, economic, and cultural influences of Gaochang did not cease immediately after its fall, this book sets its temporal limits from the early 5th century to the late 7th century, roughly corresponding to the late Eastern Jin and Sixteen Kingdoms period to the early Tang Dynasty in Chinese history. This is an important point to note. Secondly, although the Kingdom of Gaochang was a small oasis state deep in the heart of Asia with a highly enclosed geographical environment, its history unfolded against a broad racial and cultural backdrop. We have used a lengthy subtitle to encompass this aspect, which is another point worth mentioning. The author wishes to reiterate that if The Kingdom of Gaochang is read as a social history, it is not a systematic social history of the Kingdom of Gaochang. Although the author has tried to incorporate relevant social history content into the chapter structure as much as possible, it focuses more on the issues the author is concerned with and the topics the author believes require in-depth research and discussion, rather than approaching the problems from a systematic social history perspective. For these reasons, this book may not cover some fundamental issues in the social history of Gaochang, yet it includes content from the cultural history category. When it comes to the categorization of The Kingdom of Gaochang, the author feels a sense of being rootless and helpless. Fortunately, this does not matter. What matters is that the author can contribute some foundational work to the study of Gaochang history and provide useful historical references for formulating policies on the political, economic, and cultural aspects of the northwest frontier, as well as for developing the economic and cultural undertakings in the western region.