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The Shatuo ((沙陀), also: Shato, Sha-t'o, Sanskrit Sart [1]) were a Turkic tribe that heavily influenced northern Chinese politics from the late ninth century through the tenth century. They are noted for founding three of the Five Dynasties in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.^{[verification needed]}They have a traceable history from the central Asian Xiongnu confederation in the 3rd century BCE to the present.

Origins

The Shatuo tribes descended from the Chigil [2] tribes, belonging to a group of six Chu tribes collectively known as Chuban.

Some argue that early Chinese sources identify them as the Xueyantuo, one of the nomadic Turkic tribes among the descendants of the Xiongnu. Others even claim they emerged as part of the Üç-Oğuz confederation of Oghuz Turks [3].

A detailed analysis of the term Shatuo (Sanskrit Sart) is given by prof. Chjan Si-man [4]. Their social and economic life was studied by W. Eberhard [5]. In "Tanghuyao" the Shatuo tamga is depicted as [6]

The Shatuo left considerable traces in the late antique history of the Xiongnu tribal union, the Xianbei and Rouran Khaganates, in the histories of the Göktürks, Turgesh and Chigils, the Kimek Khaganate, Uyghur Khaganate and Karluk Khaganate.

Shatuo nobles established the Later Tang dynasty of China (923-956)[7]. During the Mongol period the Shatuo fell under the Chagatai Khanate, and after its demise remained in its remnant in Zhetysu and northern Tian Shan.

In later history the Shatuo, together with the Tian Shan Kirgyz, fell under domination of the Mongol Oirats, later known as Kalmyks. With the expansion of the Khanate of Kokand, the Tian Shan and Zhetysu Shatuo were in its protectorate.

It is also believed that the Ongud people are their descendants.

Shatuo and the Tang Dynasty

To the Tang Dynasty, the Shatuo served a purpose. Some claim that they were a part of the Tang dynasty's foreign policy to control and manage other 'border' peoples identified as a threat. The Tang Chinese refer to such peoples as Western barbarians. Some argue that a divide and conquer policy was applied against those identified as a threat, specifically the Tibetans and Turkic tribes in Central Asia. The Tang Chinese continued this long policy and in other epochs this became an institutionalised tradition.

Xueyantuo

When emperor Taizong removed the threat of the Göktürks from Central Asia around 630, the Xueyantuo, who are believed to be early Shatuo, were allowed to gain some recognition and status. They may have provided military service by assisting the Tang Empire against the Tatars in the 630s. The Xueyantuo built a vast state spanning from the Altai Mountains to the Gobi desert. In a few years they proved too cumbersome to their hosts, and were defeated in 641, when under Zhenzhu Khan they threatened to attack other Chinese-aligned tribes. Five years later their short-lived empire was all but destroyed by a Tang-Uyghur alliance. The remnants of the Xueyantuo fled west to Dzungaria and the Semirechye area.

Emerging Shatuo

At the beginning of the 8th century, the Shatuo were subject to the Tang Empire. They provided significant aid to Emperor Suzong of Tang, alongside the Uyghurs, during the An Shi Rebellion in the 750s. Consequently their chieftain Zhuye Guduozhi was conferred the title of tejin (governor) and xiaowei shang-jiangjun (colonel high general).

By the end of the eighth century, the Shatuo had fallen out with the Tang Empire. They joined with other Turkic tribes in Tibet to form an alliance with the Tibetans as they felt oppressed by the Uyghurs. Though the Shatuo fought alongside Tibetan armies for more than a decade against the Tang, the Tibetans were concerned about their loyalty. When, in 808, the Shatuo decided to leave, the Tibetans pursued them, fighting battles along the way. They made it to Lingzhou Prefecture in the Gansu corridor, where Tang general Fan Xichao granted them asylum. A source quotes them as committing mass suicide in 832 while fighting for an Uyghur ruler, but this seems to refer to a related tribe who had settled far west, into the Fergana valley. The Shatuo who had escaped Tibetan rage managed to maintain a power base in northern China around modern-day Shanxi from the late ninth century into the tenth century.

In the middle of the ninth century, it may be said that the Shatuo rewarded the generosity of the Tang by fighting alongside them against the invading Tibetans, playing a prominent role in numerous victories. They also helped quell the Pang Xun Rebellion and the Wang Xian Zhi Rebellion.

Li Keyong

The Shatuo Li Keyong was conferred the post of ci shi for Daizhou. He hired more than ten thousand Tatar nomads to bring back to Daizhou, but was denied admittance to the Shiling Guan Pass. In 882, Su You and Helian Duo joined to prepare for an attack on Li. However, he launched a pre-emptive on Su’s stronghold at Weizhou. The Tang emperor would soon offer amnesty to assist against Huang Chao, who led a fierce rebellion against the Tang. Li Keyong was named the Prince of Jin in 895 for his loyalty to the Tang.

Five Dynasties

The Tang Dynasty fell in 907 and was replaced by the Later Liang Dynasty. The Shatuo formed their own state, called Jin, in the area now known as Shanxi. They had tense relations with the Later Liang, and cultivated good relations with the emerging Khitan power to the north.

Later Tang Dynasty

The son of Li Keyong, Li Cunxu, succeeded in destroying the Later Liang Dynasty in 923, declaring himself the emperor of the “Restored Tang”, officially known as the Later Tang Dynasty. In line with claims of restoring the Tang, Li moved the capital from Kaifeng back to Luoyang, where it was during the Tang Dynasty. The Later Tang controlled more territory than the Later Liang, including the Beijing area, the surrounding Sixteen Prefectures and Shaanxi Province.

This was the first of three Shatuo dynasties, the first of the Conquest Dynasties during which most of the Chinese nation was controlled by foreigners for nearly a millennium.

Later Jin Dynasty

The Later Tang Dynasty was brought to end in 936 when Shi Jingtang (posthumously known as Gaozu of Later Jin), also a Shatuo, successfully rebelled against the Later Tang and established the Later Jin Dynasty. Shi moved back the capital to Kaifeng, then called Bian. The Later Jin controlled essentially the same territory as the Later Tang except the strategic Sixteen Prefectures area, which had been ceded to the expanding Liao Empire established by the Khitans.

Later historians would denigrate the Later Jin as a puppet regime of the powerful Liao to the north. When Shi’s successor did defy the Liao, a Khitan invasion resulted in the end of the dynasty in 946.

Later Han Dynasty

The death of the Khitan emperor on his return from the raid on the Later Jin Dynasty left a power vacuum that was filled by Liu Zhiyuan, another Shatuo who founded the Later Han Dynasty in 947. The capital was at Bian (Kaifeng) and the state held the same territories as its predecessor. Liu died after a single year of reign and was succeeded by his teenage son, in turn unable to reign for more than two years, when this very short-lived dynasty was ended by the Later Zhou.

See also

• History of China

Sources

• Chavannes, Édouard (1900), Documents sur les Tou-kiue (Turcs) occidentaux. Paris, Librairie d’Amérique et d’Orient. Reprint: Taipei. Cheng Wen Publishing Co. 1969.
• Findley, Carter Vaughn, The Turks in World History. Oxford University Press, (2005). ISBN 0-19-516770-8; 0-19-517726-6 (pbk.)
• Mote, F.W.: Imperial China: 900-1800, Harvard University Press, 1999
• chinaknowledge.de 5 DYNASTIES & 10 STATES
• Kipchaks
• Shatuo

Notes