the ‘inside’ other 109
the chest.^91 They can be seen in a fresco from Kizil (Kucha) named
“Peoples lamenting Buda”. The same positioning scheme for these
decorations can be found in a female Turk statue from the Semirechie
region.^92
During the last century, a hypothesis was put forward regarding
a stronger (in this particular case, Sogdian) and a weaker (Byzan-
tine) influence over the ceremonial costume of the peoples in Eastern
Turkestan. The first hypothesis is difficult to prove as the sources do
not provide sufficient information and the second one, as Yatsenko
states, “does not withstand the test of time”.^93
Finally, let us pay attention to the influence of the steppe traditions
particularly in the attitude towards women in the Northern Chinese
regions in the times of T’oba-wei dynasty, which was considered in
China to be “foreign”, non-Chinese, as it was of Manchurian origin.
Although being inevitably influenced by the Chinese, for the inhabit-
ants of the South, e.g. the region along Yangtze River, which in the
fourth–sixth century was still ruled by a true Chinese dynasty, those
people in the North did not bear the traditions from the time of the
great Han dynasty. The differences provoked some debate during the
period mentioned for the Southerners used to consider their neigh-
bors from the North capable and brave soldiers who, however, lacked
the exquisite taste of literary expression and style of behavior so dear
to the Han dynasty, especially in ceremonial practices. The South
never missed an opportunity to point also to the different status of
the women in the North—they had more freedom and were admitted
into public life, in courts and were involved in economic transactions
as well; they even used to lobby at the royal court. It was a rule there
that instead of tea, e.g. the favorite beverage of the South, yoghurt with
water was preferred, while local aristocrats used to ridicule the elitist
habit of tea drinking in the South. Thomas Barfield points out that the
list could be continued but even this is enough to conclude that a big
number of steppe rites were integrated into the daily life of the North,
especially among the Chinese elite in the royal court.^94
(^91) Grunwedel 1912, ill. 415.
(^92) Sher 1966, tabl. XIX, N 83; Yatsenko 2000b, 352.
(^93) Yatsenko 2000b, 364–366, with literature cited there. Yatsenko 2001, 14, claims
that one can see Han’s and T’ang’s China and Sassanian Iran’s influence in that same
direction.
(^94) Barfield 1989, 124–145 and esp. p. 140. Also see, Wright 1978, 21–53.