the ‘outside’ other 53
cally Bulgarian^142 and apparently worth the attention of the Byzantine
miniaturists. Th erefore, we are able to highlight once again the eff ort
to maintain traditions and the intentional loading of the costume with
signifi cative and diff erentiating functions, which applied to the early
medieval Bulgar elite as well.
Th e Uighur costume kept its uniqueness for a very long period, but
ca. eighth century the Uighurs began to accept a number of elements
from the Chinese costume. It is likely that it happened far earlier before
the Uihgurs’ settling down in Turfan in the ninth century; maybe even
during the reign of Tengri khagan (759–779).^143 At the time they set-
tled down permanently in Turfan, they already belted their kaft ans to
the right and this manner was typical, especially for the aristocrats.
Probably S. Yatsenko is correct in arguing that this novelty (or, should
I put it metaphorically, ‘uncomplainingly accepted otherness’) was also
a result of the relations between the Uighurs and the Chinese aft er 762
A.D., as during this period numerous missions sent by the khagan vis-
ited the capital cities of T’ang China every year and received Chinese
robes as gift s.^144 Probably the Uighurs did not consider it dangerous
to accept some other elements of the Chinese culture (some women’s
hair styles, hats, waist belts, the coloring of the women’s foreheads and
cheeks with red paint),^145 but as a whole, these elements did not sub-
stantially infl uence Uighur culture.^146 Th e fl exibility in the behavior of
some Uighur merchants in the Chinese capital Chang’an was perhaps
a small exception. Th e tea merchants at the big market, situated in the
western part of the capital city, gained great prestige and became espe-
cially popular from the mid-eighth century onwards. Th e new fashion
of tea drinking spread out among the Uighurs as well. Indeed, when
the Uighurs visited the market in Chang’an the fi rst thing they did
was to stop at the shop of the tea merchants.^147 Such fl exibility and
freedom could be manifested ‘outside’. At home, however, the tradi-
tions required kumis drinking; apart from that, the climatic conditions
(^142) For a detailed analysis of this source, and exactly in that same direction see in,
Atanasov 1999, 17, 47–49, and Tabl. II.2 and IX.4.
(^143) Maliavkin 1974, 92.
(^144) Yatsenko 2000b, 367.
(^145) Le Coq 1913, Tabl. 11, 32; Yatsenko 2000b, 367 and Tabl. 64.
(^146) Yatsenko 2000b, 369, points out that there were some Uighur objects that were
highly valued by the Chinese too; they were indeed linked to the nomads’ clothing, for
instance belt buckles made of jade and the winter kaft ans lined with sable.
(^147) Schafer 1963, 20. Th e same book has also a Russian translation—Shefer 1981.