conclusion 681In 722. Hsüan-tsung enfeoffed the Lady Mu-jung, daughter of the
Princess of Yü-yao, as Princess of Yen commandery and married her
to the Khitan chief Li Yü-yü. When he died in 723, she married his
younger brother and successor T’u-yü. In 725, both fled to China.
In 726, Hsüan-tsung enfeoffed a daughter’s daughter of Jui-tsung, the
Lady Ch’en, as Princess of Tung-hua and married her to the Khitan
chief Li Shao-ku. When he was killed in 730, she fled to China.
In 745, Hsüan-tsung enfeoffed an orphaned daughter’s daughter
of his, the Lady Tu-ku, as Princess of Ching-lo and married her to
the Khitan chief Li Huai-chieh. He murdered her within half a year
and began a war with T’ang.
Considering only those marriages which were with actual rulers, these
were 20 in all. In spite of the short duration of the Sui as a national
dynasty (589-618), four of these took place and one was recognized
during it. The political focus was on the northeast and north, one
marriage each with kings of Turfan and the T’u-yü-hun, and three
with Eastern Turkish qaghans.
The T’ang emperor most willing to accept foreign marriages was
Hsüan-tsung (8), followed by T’ai-tsung (2), Su-tsung (2), Chung-tsung
(1), Te-tsung (1), and Mu-tsung (1), 15 in all. The political focus was
on the northeast and north, three marriages with Hsi chiefs, four with
the Khitan, four with Uighur qaghans, one with a king of the T’u-
yü-hun, one with a king of Ferghana, and only two in the southwest
with Tibetan kings. Marriages with Korean or South Asian rulers
were never an issue.
The T’ang emperors were ambivalent about political marriages
and reneged at least four times on given promises. But they could see
possible advantages. As T’ai-tsung put it in 642: “If we profit from it,
why should we be stingy about one woman?” Hsüan-tsung probably
took the initiative in 745, when he simultaneously married princesses
to a Hsi chief and a Khitan chief, and it may have been they who were
under pressure to agree. Why would both otherwise have murdered
their Chinese wives half a year later and turned against the T’ang?
On the other hand, T’ai-tsung acted under duress when he agreed
to a marriage with the king of Tibet in 641, and Su-tsung, Te-tsung,
and Mu-tsung were forced to marry princesses to Uighur qaghans in
758, 789, and 822.
During Sui, the relationship of three princesses to the imperial house
is unknown. Of the other two, one with certainty and one with prob-
ability belonged to the defunct imperial house of Northern Chou.