34 chapter one
elites took part. Th ose practices included marriages between the
courts (or, the so-called diplomatic marriages), tribute payments to
the nomads, annual taxes and presents from the Chinese emperor for
the nomadic chieft ains. However, the most important thing, with view
to the economy and the stability of the khagans, was the establish-
ment of trade centers along the borders.^69 Also, we should not ignore
the fact that at the end of the reign of Sui dynasty (i.e. from 617 until
623 A.D.), as a result of the serious unrest in China, many subjects of
the emperor fl ed north to the Turks or were taken captives by them.
However, it is hard to believe that they had enough time to enter the
Turkic environment and accept the Turkic lifestyle since their return
to the original Chinese territories was proclaimed the highest prior-
ity of Chinese foreign policy as early as the fi rst years of the T’ai-
tsung reign (627–649). Th is way, as a result of the victories of China
over the Turkic khaganate in 629–630 A.D., more than 1.2 million
people returned back to China and among them there were 100 000
Turks who expressed their desire to become subjects of the Chinese
Emperor. In 631 A.D. that same emperor “redeemed with the help of
gold and silk 80 000 Chinese men and women who were taken cap-
tives by the Turks during the Sui unrest and gave them back their
household property”.^70
Regardless of how afraid they were of the otherness of the seden-
tary civilization, the nomads had to trade with the people living there.
Jordanes’s words (the sixth century) can be used as an appropriate
illustration for this necessity:
Th e wild Scythian tribes allowed the Greeks to establish these cities [along
the Black Sea coast, e.g. Boristhenida, Olbia, Chersonesus, etc.—my note,
Ts. St.], in order to trade with them.^71front of the walls of the capital city of Byzantium, suff ered serious defeat and had to
make a retreat from Constantinople.
(^69) Jagchid 1991, 66–69, with examples. I. Ecsedy points out that there was a dif-
ferent attitude toward trade (as basic positions as well as methods) among the Turks
and Chinese during the second half of the sixth–beginning of the seventh century;
sometimes this was followed by serious problems between the two powers and even
by a change of one dynasty, (e.g. Sui, with another—T’ang), that was made thanks
to the help rendered by the Turks—for this see, Ecsedy 1968, 131–180; Ecsedy 1990,
123–132. Also see, Seaman 1991, 3, 8. 70
Popova 1999, 51–52.
(^71) Iordanes 1958, 335.