the turkic tribes 403bours, and in the early period China found itself politically subservient
and militarily on the defensive. It treated the qaghans with respect. In
597 and 599, two Chinese princesses were consecutively given in mar-
riage to the same qaghan. In 609, 619, and 620, court was suspended
for three days at the death of qaghans. At the last two occasions, offi-
cials were ordered to condole with the Turkish envoys at their guest
lodge. In 619, and 735, Chinese envoys went to the Turkish court to
condole at the death of qaghans. In 732, they condoled at the death
of Ch’üeh-t’e-le (Kul-tegin). In 732 and 735, Chinese workmen set
up memorial steles and built temples. The stele inscription of 732
was written by Emperor Hsüan-tsung himself. Three qaghans were
recognized by the Sui and T’ang.
When Emperor Yang met with the Ch’i-min Qaghan in 607, it was a
carefully orchestrated encounter of equals. When the Shih-pi Qaghan
and his Chinese princess visited Lo-yang in 615, he did not come as
a supplicant or feudatory. This is proved by the fact that later that
year he almost captured Emperor Yang in northern Shan-hsi. When
the Hsieh-li Qaghan in 630 proposed to call on Emperor T’ai-tsung
in Ch’ang-an and recognize his overlordship, he was in dire straits.
Nothing came of his proposal, and it might have been a ploy, seeking
to gain time. The Hsieh-li and Chü-pi Qaghans did not surrender with
their states in 630 and 650 respectively but were taken prisoners. It
cannot even be said that T’ai-tsung pacified the Eastern Turks and
that these were dominated by the T’ang from 650 to 682. The Hsieh-li
Qaghan was captured less by Chinese efforts than because such sub-
ordinate tribes as the Hsüeh-yen-t’o and Uighurs had rebelled, that
there had been a harsh winter, and that Hsieh-li and T’u-li had fallen
out with each other. The northern tribes kept their independence but
did not have the strength or unity to raid China. This is what gave
China more than three decades of peace at its northern border. After
the resurgence of the Eastern Turks from 682, the Mo-ch’o Qaghan
in 698 and 700 offered a daughter to marry a son of the T’ang heir-
apparent (Chung-tsung), which would have made him the father-in-law
of the next emperor, and he did not hesitate to insult the Empress
Wu when he rejected her grandnephew as a son-in-law. Looking at it
in reverse, Emperor Kao-tsu of T’ang can with some justification be
called a vassal of the Shih-pi Qaghan. He allowed the murder of the
refugee Ch’u-lo Qaghan of the Western Turks when presssured by the
Eastern Turks. When the Empress Wu gave a banquet for an envoy
of Mo-ch’o, such prominent guests participated as the heir-apparent,