the ‘inside’ other 103
There is another interesting detail concerning this marriage. Being
overzealous to ensure Uighur support, emperor Su-tsung sent one
more Chinese princess, namely the daughter of the prince Yu, to Bögü
khagan. She had to become a concubine to the Uighur ruler and her
title was clearly expressive—“little (or younger) princess Ning-kuo”.
However, she was not allowed to return to China after the khagan’s
death. Instead, following the rites in the khaganate, she was married to
the heir of the dead khagan and got the status of junior “khatun”. She
gave birth to two boys who were killed during the disturbances in the
Uighur court. This noble Chinese princess passed away in the year 791
A.D. surrounded by the nomads and far away from her native land.^64
The next marriage dates back to 788 A.D. but emperor Te-tsung
agreed to it only after the Uighurs accepted the following preliminary
conditions: 1) the Uighur khagan, like the Turk ruler had done earlier,
had to accept subordination as a Chinese vassal; 2) no more than 200
men to be sent as escort for special missions of the Empire; 3) no more
than 1 000 horses to be offered for trade by the Uighurs, and 4) no
subjects of the emperor to be brought to the Uighur territory. Princess
Xian-an was sent to the Uighurs only after special ceremonies and
feasts were held in the emperor’s palace.^65
The Uighur female coronation rite described in ‘Tang shu’ needs
special attention, namely with the episode of the last marriage of a
khagan to a Chinese emperor’s daughter—princess T’ai-ho. Before
that, however, the ‘New Tang shu’ has to be cited in order to gain
a better understanding of the pomp surrounding that marriage: the
preparation, the delegation, and gifts sent to the Middle Kingdom
were so enormous and extravagant that the author of the chronicle
did not forget to mention that never before had such a numerous del-
egation from any “barbarian” country arrived in China. Let us point
out vaguely just a telling detail—the Uighurs had taken 20 000 horses
and 1 000 camels with them! And the khagan himself sent a special
escort of 2 000 soldiers just to escort the princess and even went
out to see her going to Karabalghasun. Just for comparison, for the
(^64) Jagchid and Symons 1989, 159.
(^65) Bichurin 1950, 327–328 (also, see here n. 61). For the next marriage see, Bichurin
1950, 331–333 and esp. p. 333, where is stated that the princess decided to put on
Uighur dress first (!) and just after that—the official khatun clothes, e.g. a red kaftan
and a special garment over it, and to put on her head the hat adorned with gold.
Details also see in, Sinor 1998, 196; Mackerras 1990, 325.