The Screed of a Humbled Empire: The XinTangshu's Prolegomena on the Türks

Wright, David Curtis (2002) The Screed of a Humbled Empire: The XinTangshu's Prolegomena on the Türks. Acta Orientalia, 55 (4). pp. 379-389. ISSN 0001-6446

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Abstract

The Xin Tangshu (“New Tang [Dynasty] History”), a work compiled in large part by the Chinese Song dynasty (A.D. 960-1279) Neo-Confucian literatus Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072), contains some material on the Türks (called Tujue by the Chinese). In his prolegomena to this material, Ouyang Xiu launches into a shrill anti-nomad tirade that betrays his emotional excess and ideological prejudices against the Türks, Xiongnu, and other nomadic peoples who historically inhabited the steppe regions north of China. In addition, Ouyang's style of historical writing valued conveyance of moral principles over dispassionate description. The Xin Tangshu's historical coverage of the Türks is therefore quite suspect and should be used with caution. Other Chinese-language works on Tang history and the Türks (among them the Jiu Tangshu, or “Old Tang History” and others) are more reliable and detailed. But since the Xin Tangshu contains some information not found in other texts, it would be a mistake for Turkologists to neglect it altogether. Informed caution, not uninformed avoidance, is the correct approach to using the Xin Tangshu.

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