ch’ing-hai 277Ch’ing-hai
The T’u-yü-hun
The T’u-yü-hun state was founded by a branch of the Mu-jung clan
of the Hsien-pi and came gradually into existance after about A.D.300.
The people of this state seem to have been a mixture of Mongols,
Tibetans, and some Turks. They inabited the area of the great lake
now called Ch’ing-hai or Kokonor and were Buddhists. From 423
to 540, 29 missions are recorded from the T’u-yü-hun to the Liu
Sung, Southern Ch’i, and Liang dynasties of the south, and 75 to the
Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Northern Ch’i, Western Wei, Northern
Chou, and Sui^1 dynasties of the north. The kings of the T’u-yü-hun
were never vassals of the Chinese emperors, and one of them even
executed a Southern Ch’i envoy in 490 for his insolence.^2
From having prospered through the caravan trade which passed
through their territory and from their lively commerce with the north-
ern and southern dynasties in China, the T’u-yü-hun fell on hard times
during the T’ang and disappeared from history after the 10th century.
From 925, the sources occasionally refer to them by the abbreviated
name of T’u-hun.
On Sep.1, 590, T’u-yü-hun envoys were received at the Sui court
(Sui shu 2:6b).
In 591, it became known at the Sui court that the king of the T’u-
yü-hun, K’ua-lü,^3 had died and that his son Shih-fu had succeeded
him (Sui shu 83:4a; Pei shih 96:18b).
On Mar.2, 591, Shih-fu’s elder brother’s son Wu-su presented
regional objects and a letter to the Sui court. In this letter, the new
king offered a daughter to Emperor Wen. This was rejected (Sui shu
2:7a; 83:4a; Pei shih 96:18b-19a).
On Mar.30, 591,^4 Emperor Wen sent a Secretarial Receptionist as
envoy to the T’u-yü-hun. In 592, he dispatched a Master of Writing
(^1) Before the unification of 589.
(^2) See my Six Dynasties, vol.I, p.122 and passim, vol.II, pp. 81,82, 99-101.
(^3) Correcting Lü-k’ua to K’ua-lü. Cf. my Six Dynasties, vol.I, p.201 note 36.
(^4) The text has 3rd month, jen-wu, but that was the last day of the 2nd month.