However, We Will Quit This Subject, And I Will Tell You Of Another City
Which Lies Towards The North-West At The Extremity Of The Desert.
NOTE 1.
- [The Natives of this country were called by the Chinese
T'ang-hiang, and by the Mongols T'angu or T'ang-wu, and with the
plural suffix Tangut. The kingdom of Tangut, or in Chinese, Si Hia
(Western Hia), or Ho si (West of the Yellow River), was declared
independent in 982 by Li Chi Ch'ien, who had the dynastic title or Miao
Hao of Tai Tsu. "The rulers of Tangut," says Dr. Bushell, "were scions of
the Toba race, who reigned over North China as the Wei Dynasty (A.D. 386-
557), as well as in some of the minor dynasties which succeeded. Claiming
descent from the ancient Chinese Hsia Dynasty of the second millennium
B.C., they adopted the title of Ta Hsia ('Great Hsia'), and the dynasty
is generally called by the Chinese Hsi Hsia, or Western Hsia." This is a
list of the Tangut sovereigns, with the date of their accession to the
throne: Tai Tsu (982), Tai Tsung (1002), Ching Tsung (1032), Yi Tsung
(1049), Hui Tsung (1068), Ch'ung Tsung (1087), Jen Tsung (1140), Huan Tsung
(1194), Hsiang Tsung (1206), Shen Tsung (1213), Hien Tsung (1223), Mo Chu
(1227). In fact, the real founder of the Dynasty was Li Yuan-hao, who
conquered in 1031, the cities of Kanchau and Suhchau from the Uighur Turks,
declaring himself independent in 1032, and who adopted in 1036 a special
script of which we spoke when mentioning the archway at Kiuyung Kwan. His
capital was Hia chau, now Ning hia, on the Yellow River. Chinghiz invaded
Tangut three times, in 1206, 1217, and at last in 1225; the final struggle
took place the following year, when Kanchau, Liangchau, and Suhchau fell
into the hands of the Mongols. After the death of Chinghiz (1227), the last
ruler of Tangut, Li H'ien, who surrendered the same year to Okkodai, son of
the conqueror, was killed. The dominions of Tangut in the middle of the
11th century, according to the Si Hia Chi Shih Pen Mo, quoted by Dr.
Bushell, "were bounded, according to the map, by the Sung Empire on the
south and east, by the Liao (Khitan) on the north-east, the Tartars (Tata)
on the north, the Uighur Turks (Hui-hu) on the west, and the Tibetans on
the south-west. The Alashan Mountains stretch along the northern frontier,
and the western extends to the Jade Gate (Yue Men Kwan) on the border of the
Desert of Gobi." Under the Mongol Dynasty, Kan Suh was the official name of
one of the twelve provinces of the Empire, and the popular name was Tangut.
(Dr. S. W. Bushell: Inscriptions in the Juchen and Allied Scripts and
The Hsi Hsia Dynasty of Tangut. See above, p. 29.)
"The word Tangutan applied by the Chinese and by Colonel Prjevalsky to a
Tibetan-speaking people around the Koko-nor has been explained to me in a
variety of ways by native Tangutans. A very learned lama from the Gserdkog
monastery, south-east of the Koko-nor, told me that Tangutan, Amdoans, and
Sifan were interchangeable terms, but I fear his geographical knowledge
was a little vague. The following explanation of the term Tangut is taken
from the Hsi-tsang-fu. 'The Tangutans are descendants of the
Tang-tu-chueeh. The origin of this name is as follows: In early days, the
Tangutans lived in the Central Asian Chin-shan, where they were workers of
iron. They made a model of the Chin-shan, which, in shape, resembled an
iron helmet. Now, in their language, "iron helmet" is Tang-kueeh, hence
the name of the country. To the present day, the Tangutans of the Koko-nor
wear a hat shaped like a pot, high crowned and narrow, rimmed with red
fringe sewn on it, so that it looks like an iron helmet, and this is a
proof of [the accuracy of the derivation].' Although the proof is not very
satisfactory, it is as good as we are often offered by authors with greater
pretension to learning.
"If I remember rightly, Prjevalsky derives the name from two words meaning
'black tents.'" (W. W. Rockhill, China Br. R. As. Soc., XX. pp.
278-279.)
"Chinese authorities tell us that the name [Tangut] was originally borne
by a people living in the Altai', and that the word is Turkish.... The
population of Tangut was a mixture of Tibetans, Turks, Uighurs, Tukuhuns,
Chinese, etc." (Rockhill, Rubruck, p. 150, note. - H. C.)]
Sachiu is SHACHAU, "Sand-district," an outpost of China Proper, at the
eastern verge of the worst part of the Sandy Desert. It is recorded to
have been fortified in the 1st century as a barrier against the Hiongnu.
[The name of Shachau dates from A.D. 622, when it was founded by the first
emperor of the T'ang Dynasty. Formerly, Shachau was one of the Chinese
colonies established by the Han, at the expense of the Hiongnu; it was
called T'ung hoang (B.C. 111), a name still given to Shachau; the other
colonies were Kiu-kaan (Suhchau, B.C. 121) and Chang-ye (Kanchau, B.C.
111). (See Bretschneider, Med. Res. II. 18.)
"Sha-chow, the present Tun-hwang-hien (a few li east of the ancient
town).... In 1820, or about that time, an attempt was made to re-establish
the ancient direct way between Sha-chow and Khotan. With this object in
view, an exploring party of ten men was sent from Khotan towards Sha-chow;
this party wandered in the desert over a month, and found neither
dwellings nor roads, but pastures and water everywhere. M. Polo omits to
mention a remarkable place at Sha-chow, a sandy hillock (a short distance
south of this town) known under the name of Ming-sha shan - the 'rumbling
sandhill.' The sand, in rolling down the hill, produces a particular
sound, similar to that of distant thunder.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 206 of 335
Words from 209055 to 210066
of 342071
