Demic Diffusion, Diplomatic Sociability, and an Emergent Trans-National Political Culture in Tenth- and Eleventh-Century Northeast Asia

Abstract

Demic Diffusion, Diplomatic Sociability, and an Emergent Trans-National Political Culture in Tenth- and Eleventh-Century Northeast Asia Nicolas Tackett An increasing volume of scholarship has examined the question of sinosteppe cultural exchange. Indeed, it is not difficult to identify elements of a common culture shared by political elites on both sides of the border. But whereas there is an extensive tradition of writing about sino-steppe culture as concerns the Tang, with its mixed Särbi-Chinese "northwestern" aristocracy, and also as concerns the Mongol Yuan, somewhat less has been written on the intervening tenth and eleventh centuries, an era dominated by the competition between the Khitan Liao, Chinese Song, and Tangut Xia states. This article will focus on three less well-known examples of trans-border diffusion dating to this intervening period: 1) the bidirectional diaspora of people from Hebei and Hedong and its impact on Song and Liao elite culture; 2) the incorporation of steppe ethnic categories into Song political discourse; and 3) the adaptation of a particular Chinese model of imperial sovereignty at multiple Eastern Eurasian courts. These examples offer an opportunity to rethink the forms, dynamics, and mechanisms of cultural diffusion across the steppe frontier. Traditional Chinese political theory imagines the civilizing sway of the imperial center as spreading out like wind over grass, to cite a well-known passage from the Analects.1 But assuming we do not ourselves believe that wind can serve as a vehicle to disseminate culture, it is necessary to come up [End Page 125] with a clearer understanding of the dynamics of cultural transmission, one that takes into account the historical particularities of tenth- and eleventh-century Northeast Asia. The Hebei-Hedong Diaspora and the Demic Diffusion of Mortuary Culture The decades following the Huang Chao Rebellion and the collapse of the Tang Dynasty were marked by very large-scale migrations of people. The best-known migrants, alluded to in countless accounts of the "Tang-Song Transition," are those who relocated to south China, thereby contributing to the great southward demographic shift of the Chinese population. But perhaps equally significant, especially in terms of their immediate impact on the politics and elite culture of the tenth and eleventh centuries, was the exodus of migrants out of Hebei and Hedong to other parts of the north. As we will see, individuals from this swathe of territory north of the Yellow River would come to play a disproportionately large role at the courts of both the Song and the Liao dynasties. One consequence of these migrations was a new metropolitan elite culture shared by both the "Chinese" Song and the "Khitan" Liao. The first large wave of migrants from Hebei and Hedong accompanied the Shatuo invasion of north China. In the final years of the Tang, the Shatuo Turk Li Keyong 李克用 (856–908) had built up a power base around Taiyuan in central Hedong. Over the course of the Later Liang Dynasty (907–923), his successor, Li Cunxu 李存勗 (884–926), expanded Shatuo control into neighboring Hebei. Whereas most of the military commanders of the emergent regime had steppe origins, the civilian administrative staff included large numbers of local Chinese. Thus, when the Shatuo invaded all of north China in 923, overthrowing the Later Liang and establishing their own new dynasty, the Later Tang, large numbers of people from Hebei and Hedong came in tow. The impact of the 923 invasion on the composition of the political elite was striking, as Wang Gungwu first noted several decades ago.2 Table 1 presents data from standard history biographies. It identifies the regions of origin of officeholders of the most important Henan-based regimes of the tenth century, [End Page 126] Click for larger view View full resolution Table 1. Region of origin of officeholders with standard history biographies (by regime) including the Five Dynasties, as well as the subsequent Song Dynasty. The data reveals a sharp increase in the representation of men from Hebei and Hedong immediately following the 923 Shatuo invasion. The fraction of officeholders from these regions continued to increase through mid-century, reaching a peak of 68% under the Later Han Dynasty. It only declined late in the century, primarily...