458 the turkic tribes
establish better relations with foreign rulers. Usually, a lady descend-
ing from the imperial house^116 who was not a princess in her own
right was given that title and then sent off as a bride. The husbands
were mostly aware of the subterfuge but did not object. But in the
case of the Uighurs, no less than three imperial daughters became
qatuns. The Princess of Ning-kuo in 758 was the second daughter of
Su-tsung, the Princess of Hsien-an in 788 the eighth daughter of Te-
tsung, and the Princess of T’ai-ho in 821 the seventeenth daughter of
Hsien-tsung. It is true that the Princess of Ning-kuo had been mar-
ried at least once before^117 and no longer was in her first youth.^118
The marriage was still a coup for the Uighurs and a shame to the
Chinese.^119 In 758 and 788, the Chinese gave in quickly. They tried
to resist the third time until the Uighurs in 820 simply demanded an
imperial daughter. The wedding of the Princess of Hsien-an in 788
must have rankled Te-tsung in particular, since he was the emperor
who hated the Uighurs most.
Te-tsung’s rancor stemmed from his meeting with the Teng-li
Qaghan in 762, who at that occasion had invited him to dance. He
had refused, supported by officials in his entourage. The qaghan had
thereupon put four Chinese to the rod, two of whom had died from
it during the following night. The Chinese historians naturally look
on this episode with disapproval. What is overlooked is the fact that
ceremonial or native dancing was part of festive occasions. In the
early 590’s, Mo-ho envoys danced at a banquet given by Emperor
Wen of Sui. When T’ai-tsung gave a banquet in Ch’ang-an in 634,
he requested the captured Hsieh-li Qaghan of the Eastern Turks to
dance. At a banquet of Uighur chiefs and Kuo Tzu-yi in 765, the chiefs
danced. At a banquet given by the Liao court in 940, two envoys from
the Uighurs and from Tun-huang (Sha chou) were asked by T’ai-tsung
to perform their native dances. In 1112, Emperor T’ien-tso of Liao
invited Jurchen chiefs dance. The Teng-li Qaghan may therefore have
requested what was normal and perhaps even a courtesy, and, if this
is so, it was he who was insulted and took revenge.
(^116) But also girls of other families, such as the two daughters of P’u-ku Huai-
en.
(^117) Cf. Mackerras, Uighur Empire, p.133 note 49.
(^118) Since her father was born in 711, she must have been in her late twenties.
(^119) The dynastic historians nevertheless maintain the fiction that the Chinese did
the Uighurs a favour and that the princesses were “sent down” as wives.