east turkestan 293East Turkestan
The Northern Silk Route
Turfan
Travelling west on the Northern Silk Route through the Tarim Basin,
Turfan was the first great oasis after Hami (map.8).^1 In Han times,
it was called Chü-shih, thereafter Kao-ch’ang. For the Six Dynasties,
the sources record one mission from Turfan to the Liang and 17 to
the Northern Wei and Northern Chou.^2
On July 21, 607, Turfan envoys to the Sui court offered regional
objects (Sui shu 3:10b).
In 608, Turfan envoys offered gifts (Sui shu 83:7a).
On May 14, 609, envoys from Turfan were received at the Sui
court (Sui shu 3:13a).
On July 23, 609, the king of Turfan, Ch’ü Po-ya, called on Emperor
Yang of Sui in person. Po-ya had recently succeeded his father, his
mother being the daughter of a Turkish qaghan. The emperor was at
that time in northwestern China. He gave a banquet for the king and
appointed him an Imperial Household Grandee of the Left and Grand
Administrator of Chü-shih. This revived the Han Dynasty name for
the kingdom of Turfan and turned it into an imaginary commandery.
Po-ya was also entitled duke of Pien. He accompanied Emperor Yang’s
attack on Koguryo in 612. On their return, the emperor enfeoffed a
lady of the Yü-wen clan as Princess of Hua-jung and married her to
him. Before the end of 612, Po-ya went back to Turfan (Sui shu 3:13a;
Chiu T’ang shu 198:3b; Wen-hsien t’ung-k’ao 325:49b; 336:38b).
On Sep.2, 619, envoys from Ch’ü Po-ya to the T’ang court offered
gifts. Later that year envoys announced that Po-ya had died and had
been succeeded by his son Wen-t’ai. Kao-tsu sent an Inspector to
condole (Chiu T’ang shu 1:6a; 198:3b-4a; Ts’e-fu yüan-kuei p.5023; Tzu-
chih t’ung-chien p.5859).
(^1) Hami has no section of of its own in the dynastic histories and encyclopae-
dias.
(^2) See my Six Dynasties, vol.II, p.102.