62 chapter one
... it is enough if the two little boys from the South [the Northern Chou
and the Northern Qi dynasties—my note, Ts. St.] are obedient to us; in
such case we should not be afraid of poverty.^179
Other passages of the Chinese dynastic chronicles also provide elo-
quent proofs of the enormous signifi cance that the Turks attributed
to their dignity and honor in the relations of subordination which
the Middle Kingdom always tried to impose on the so-called barbar-
ians.^180 Th ese relations resemble a game of mutual outwitting in which
the “elder brother” (China) required to be respected as such notwith-
standing the passing economic and political failures, while the Turkic
and especially the Uighur rulers used each opportunity for ‘breaking
into’ the system.^181 In this case, we can accept L. Gumilev’s conclusion
that the serious confl ict between the Turks and the Chinese existed
not only at a state level but at the level of diff erent ideologies and
cultures. It was the way the Great Steppe “declared its right not to be
China, but itself ” putting the stress on the denial of Chinese culture
and the glorifi cation of the own superiority over the neighbors, China
inclusively.^182
Such behavior (for the Uighurs—aft er 757 A.D., and for the Bul-
gars—aft er 811 A.D.) towards T’ang China and Byzantium, respec-
tively, is evidence for the existence among the nomads of an ideology
about equality with the sedentary Other. It states that the rulers of these
state formations have to be treated not like barbarians of a lower rank
but like equals of the Byzantine basileus and the Chinese emperor.^183
(^179) Bichurin 1950, 233. For the need of Turkic help there exists some eloquent facts:
the Chinese signed a peace treaty with the khagan, through a diplomatic marriage,
and every year they had to submit to the Turks 100 000 rolls of silk; also, the Turks
received warm welcome in the capital city of the Middle Kingdom and there they
stayed at the expense of the China’s court. And sometimes they numbered even 1 000
people, a fact that gives an idea about the heavy burden which fell upon the China’s
treasury. 180
Bichurin 1950, 237 f., 280–281.
(^181) Bichurin 1950, 313–314.
(^182) Gumilev 1967, 338–339.
(^183) For the ideologem ‘equality with Byzantium’ in Bulgaria see, Panova 1995, 51,
- Also see the Bulgars rulers’ titles aft er 822 A.D.: they are literal translation of
the Byzantine title “from Lord ruler”—see for this, Bakalov 1985, 89–94; Stepanov
1999, 77–83; Stepanov 2001, passim. Also see the marriages in 758, 778, and 821
A.D. between Uighur khagans and daughters of diff erent Chinese emperors, which
is indeed a precedent in the relationships between the world of the steppe and the
Middle Kingdom. Also see, Bichurin 1950, 316–318; Sinor 1998, 196–197.