Who were the Hu people in the Tang Dynasty?

Hu figurines are a special group of ancient figurines, which only appeared in Sui and Tang Dynasties and no longer appeared in Song Dynasty. In fact, most of the "Hu figurines" unearthed in the tombs of the Northern Dynasties represent Xianbei people; It is natural for the owner of Xianbei tomb to bury Xianbei figurines, which is different from Hu figurines in Tang Dynasty. Further, on the stone reliefs of the Han Dynasty, we can see the scenes of large-scale battles between Hu and Han, with different characteristics of the times.

The "Hu" in the Tang Dynasty figurines generally refers to the Sogdians. There are also people from the Kunlun school who can distinguish it, but very few. As for the difference between rare big eaters and other ethnic groups, it is still difficult to accurately do so; We won't discuss it. The Sogdians are a semi-agricultural and semi-commercial people. They live in the central part of Central Asia, that is, the Heshan River Basin in Seraphim. At that time, the big caravan used force to protect itself, so the Sogdians were also martial. However, unlike the northern nationalities who invaded the Central Plains during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, the Sogdians who knocked on the customs mostly appeared as businessmen. Although Kang Yandian, the leader of Kangguo in Zhenguan period (geography of new Tang Dynasty), was appointed as the town ambassador of Shicheng Town in Pu Changhai (now Lop Nur), "Hu people followed and settled down". Later, outside Shicheng Town, new towns inhabited by Hu people were built, such as Grape City and Sapi City (S.367 Geography of Yizhou and Shazhou), which seemed to be some colonial strongholds. However, the Tang government adopted a tolerant attitude. At this time, most of the Sogdians who entered China lived in such settlements. At first, they were almost out of tune with the Tang society. Sogdians believe in Zoroastrianism, but it is not spread abroad, and there has never been a Zoroastrianism classic translated into Chinese. Tang governments in various places also "forbidden people to worship" (New Tang Book Guan Baizhi); Religiously isolated from the Tang people who believed in Buddhism and Taoism. In marriage, the Sogdians practice consanguineous marriage. Sui Shu's Biography of the Western Regions said that the Sogdians were "separated from each other, and the mother and son were beasts". Tang Huichao's Biography of the Five Kingdoms of Tianzhu said that the Sogdians "had extremely bad customs, intermarried with their mothers and sisters". Tang Duhuan's Historical Records also said: "Xun Xun (referring to Zoroastrianism) is the most important among the Yi people." In the epitaph of Ma Shi, the wife of Tang Suliang unearthed in Xi 'an, the intermarriage between Zoroastrians is recorded (Archaeology 1964 9). This custom, in the Tang Dynasty's view, is against ethics and morality, which is intolerable by reason. In the funeral system, the Zoroastrian classic "Avesta Sutra" stipulates that the deceased should be placed on the mountain for dogs to eat and birds to peck. But Sassanbos was buried in the sky. Although the body was pecked by birds, it was not swallowed by wild animals. Sogdians are not. Tang Wei's "Xi Fan Ji Bao" said that Guo Kang was outside the city, "Don't build a hospital, keep a dog in the hospital. Every time someone dies, they will take the body away and put it in this hospital, let the dog eat all the human flesh and collect the bones for burial. " The "Yellow Pit" in Taiyuan, recorded in the Biography of Old Tang Dynasty, is also a place where dogs eat the dead, and it seems to be a place where Sogdians living in the local area handle funerals. To mourn the dead, their relatives may cut off their faces and ears. These practices surprised and shocked the Tang people. Of course, if they practice their own customs in their hometown, outsiders need not be suspicious. However, a large number of Sogdians miss the richness of the Tang Dynasty and are unwilling to return to China. In this way, how to find a way to live here for a long time is actually how to enter the Tang society.

When the rule of the Tang Dynasty was consolidated, most of the settlements were organized into villages, and the naturalized Sogdians engaged in agriculture obtained land according to the law of land equalization and assumed corresponding taxes and military service. They live with Han farmers and intermarry with each other, which makes them easy to be sinicized. Those who continue to do business: those who are not naturalized are called "Hookers"; Naturalized people become "Yi Tribe Tigers in Dangxian County", and their native place is "those who belong to western, court, Iraq and other state capitals, have official documents and listen to the east of their native land" (S. 1344 "Kai Yuan Hu Bu Ge Duan Jian"). In other words, naturalized Hu merchants can only trade in the mainland east of the border state where their household registration is located. Although "Hook" is not allowed to bind mainland products and "enter Tibet" at will, it can be brought in from abroad, which is more convenient than naturalization. Therefore, these two parts of Sogdian merchants cooperated with each other and controlled the trade on the Silk Road. There are many Hu merchants in the west of Chang 'an, and "Hu (Shang) in the west of Chang 'an" became a special name at that time. The western goods they resell are often valued by critics and praised as "Samarkand Golden Peach". Although this brought a number of western articles with shapes and decorations, it enriched the craft production in the Tang Dynasty. But most of them are luxury goods or imported goods with limited use; Far from being compared with American crops in16th century and European machinery in19th century, it has played a very important role in developing social production and improving people's lives. In addition, non-naturalized Hakkas are highly mobile. Although they are good at adapting, they can hardly be regarded as social stability factors.

The Sogdians, who lived in the Tang Dynasty for a long time, broke away from the shackles of settlements and gradually did not follow the old system. There are also many converts to Manichaeism, Nestorianism and Buddhism. Buddhist masters in the Tang Dynasty, such as Interpretation of Dharma and Tibetan Buddhism (see Biography of Eminent Monks in Song Dynasty) and Interpretation of Dharma and Eight Horses (see Biography of Monks Seeking Dharma in the Western Regions of Datang), are all Sogdians. Its elites try harder to accept China culture, and many people work for Tang Ting. They not only serve as language translators, acting officers and supervising animal husbandry, but also become scholars and civil servants. But these people, including the members of the Sogdian settlement before the disintegration, will not appear in the Hu figurines. Only poor Sogdian immigrants who have lived for a long time, are familiar with the customs of the Tang Dynasty and are basically China people can be accepted by the Han family. Even only "family children" can be completely trusted. Because the Hu figurines buried with him represent this kind of people, not a couple born in heaven, not an elite. Therefore, the investigation of Hu figurines who became slaves in real life can only reveal that a corner of this big picture of Sogdians in Tang Dynasty was inevitably painted with the color of the tomb owner. Because the Sogdians "rode sheep and chased gerbils at the age of ten" (Li's Complete Poems of Tang Dynasty, Volume 282) knew about animal husbandry, there were many Hu figurines who led camels and horses, but no matter the figurines, camels, horses and their contents, they undoubtedly represented the property of the tomb owner. Researchers should not leave this basic fact and extend it excessively. For example, some people regard them as part of the Silk Road caravan; Even the animals' faces are decorated on camels. However, Prince Zhang Huai is neither a businessman nor a Zoroastrian, and has nothing to do with the Silk Road trade or the worship of God. In addition, the painted camel-riding figurines unearthed from the tomb of Tanglushandu in Chaoyang, Liaoning Provincial Museum show that the camel-riding people are all Han faces, and Chaoyang is isolated in the north, which also shows that this camel has no direct relationship with the caravan on the Silk Road. The Yuan Dynasty packhorses unearthed from He Tomb in Huxian County, Shaanxi Province are also decorated with animal faces. Zoroastrianism was not popular in Yuan Dynasty. This backpack has nothing to do with Zoroastrianism.

Sogdians are good at music, singing and dancing, and the musical figurines of Hu people in the Tang Dynasty are not uncommon, especially the camel-carrying musical figurines unearthed from Yu Tinghui's tomb in Anxian County. Ren Hu 169 in the Tang Dynasty collected 6 musical figurines unearthed from the tomb of Bo Shi Fort in Tangbie, Zaoyuan in the western suburbs of Xi. The instruments they play are Erxian Pipa (if you doubt, don't thunder), wax drum, flute, clarinet and so on. There are also songs written by other singers, and their arrangements are almost the same as those of the above musical figurines. Give ten capsules to be the leader of the Turks. "Yuan Gui of Bookstore" was published in 1974, and in April of the fourth year of Kaiyuan, "Iloyou, the leader of the lost country of Turkey, lost ten Jin, named his wife Alyinaxi as the wife of Yanmen County, in order to make her a pet". This man died in the twelfth year of Kaiyuan, and only lived for eight years in the Tang Dynasty. Buried with the joy of Hutang costumes, it is suspected that it is not his own family. At this time, the number of Turks attached to the Sogdians is very large, so these musical figurines may also be Sogdians. But strangely, the dancers in the figurines and related works of art are Hu Teng's Hu Ren, while Hu Xuan and the philosopher's Hu Ren are unknown. In fact, Hu Ji among Hu girls was in full swing in the Tang Dynasty. Li Bai's poems such as "Hu Ji looks at flowers, when the furnace laughs at the spring breeze" and "Hu Ji beckons the vegetarian hand and delays the drunkenness of the guests" (Li Taibai Ji, volume 3, volume 18) all reflect the way of drinking and teasing with Hu Ji. But the pink is floating, and the poem is thin; Considering her Zoroastrianism background of "evil desire", Hu Ji was generally not regarded as a good woman in people's eyes at that time. When it comes to the affair between men and women in Yuanqu, Zoroastrianism is often involved. For example, the third fold of Merchant Dan said: "There is a fire in the temple, which is a long-term fate." Even the white-browed god worshipped in brothels in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was transformed from other gods according to Mr. Liu's textual research (Frontier Studies 1942~ 1944). Therefore, there is no place for them in the pottery figurines used for funeral in the upper class of the Tang Dynasty, and no identifiable female Hu figurines have been found in the unearthed objects so far. The facial features of male Hu figurines in Tang Dynasty are fierce, and some are close to ferocious. Hu Nv's facial features do not conform to the aesthetic habits of the Tang Dynasty. It is by no means a compliment to say "the child looks like Hu" at this time. "Like a Flower" is just an improvisation when chanting. Moreover, because they are defined as glamorous in social psychology, it is difficult for them to show their faces in formal occasions. In view of this, the ladies of the descendants of the Sogdians in the Tang Dynasty are often obsessed with the integrity of the fierce wife of the Han nationality. For example, the epitaph of Cao Shi in the second year of Yifeng unearthed in Luoyang, whose father's name is Pisha, is obviously the semi-final of the conference. But said that she was "elegant and elegant, which made Fan sit up and take notice"; "Four virtues prepare for the week, and six lines drive together"; "Filial piety and Fu Liang are the same, and the festival is greater than righteousness" ("Records of the Zhai of Thousand Tang Dynasties"). These words may not be all true records. Because whether it is Anshi's epitaph (Longshuo three years) or Kangda's epitaph (two years in total), the words in Luoyang are almost the same (see Luoyang Volume, Epitaph Collection of Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties). The fabricator takes the gourd as an example, and it is self-evident that it is false and empty.

The occupation that Sogdian immigrants really recruit is to be a mercenary. "The Western Regions of Datang" said that the state of Kangguo "has not moved, and there are many obstacles. Jealous people are brave by nature Seeing death as if you were home, there is no former enemy. " Zhejie is also called Zhejie, which means soldier. Ren Hu in Tang Dynasty 170 page, Ren Hu rides a small statue with bare upper body and full muscles, and is also a philosopher and bodyguard representing Princess Yongtai. The establishment of the Tang Dynasty depended on the help of Turkish soldiers, so there was a tradition of appointing Fan Jiang from the beginning. Especially in the Xuanzong period, because the land equalization system went too far, the government soldiers based on the land equalization system really "could not attack or fight", and the army under the command of the general had become the main armed force of the country. Although it includes the ranks of the Han Dynasty, and barbarians are not all Sogdians, after all, the nine surnames Hu account for a considerable proportion. Gao Shi's poem even said: "You should control the string with the Yinshan Mountain, and always ride a big horse in battle" (Volume 213 of Complete Tang Poetry); It is conceivable that there were many people riding Hu in Tang Junzhong at that time. In order to gain trust, generals always try their best to express their sincere loyalty: "Be loyal to your master and wait for Song Jun; The quality is entrusted, and the heart is sincere and the jade is expensive "("Kang Epitaph ",see the Collection of Epitaphs in Luoyang in Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties). But in fact, people who can be loyal to the same surname, such as An Jinzang and Shi Yanfen, are rare (The Biography of An and Shi Ben in the New Tang Dynasty). Its folk customs may be as stated in the Western Regions: "Hu people are greedy and willful." Take An Lushan for example, his performance in front of Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, as recorded in Biography of An Lushan, can be described as affectation, which has reached the extreme. An Lushan's abdomen is knee-high. When asked what it was, he said, "Only bare ears!" Finally, this man became our envoy in Fanyang, Pinglu and Hedong, and he was also the commander of the three military regions. He was punished by soldiers and killed by a man. The number of urban soldiers under its command is equivalent to 36% of the national soldiers. His rebellion became the dividing line between Li Tang's prosperity and decline. Du Fu's lament: "The barbarians' service to the rulers is ultimately unreliable, and the wandering poets lament that there is no return in the times" (Complete Tang Poetry, volume 23 O). This rebellion not only caused irreparable harm to the country, but also made Du Fu suffer from displacement. There were many Zhejie rebels in the Anshi Rebellion. When Suiyang City was besieged, "the great chief was arrested, led by more than a thousand riders, and patrolled the city with flags" (Biography of Zhang Xun in the New Tang Dynasty). Although these Zhejie cavalry have long been lost in the long river of time, from the Hu figurines on page 138 of Tang Dynasty, it seems that we can still see the shadow of Sogdian fighters at that terrible historical moment.