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Birds and the Hand of Power: a Political Geography of Avian Life in the Gansu Corridor, Ninth to Tenth Centuries Lewis Mayo

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Birds and the Hand of Power: a Political Geography of Avian Life in the Gansu Corridor, Ninth to Tenth Centuries Lewis Mayo East Asian History NUMBER 24 . DECEMBER 2002 In stitu te ofAd v an ced Studies Australian Nation al Un iversity Editor Geremie R. Barme Associate Editor Helen Lo Editorial Board Mark Elvin (Convenor) John Clark Andrew Fraser Helen Hardacre Colin Jeffcott W.]. F. Jenner Lo Hui-min .j Gavan McCormack David Marr Tessa Morris-Suzuki Michael Underdown Design and Production Helen Lo Business Manager Marion Weeks Printed by Goanna Print, Fyshwick, ACT This is the twenty-fourth issue of East Asian History, printed August 2003 , in the series previously entitled Papers on Far Eastern History. This externally refereed journal is published twice a year Contributions to The Editor, East Asian History Division of Pacific and Asian History Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Phone +61 26125 3 140 Fax +61 26125 5525 email [email protected] Subscription Enquiries to Subscriptions, East Asian History, at the above address, or to [email protected] Annual Subscription Australia A$ 50 (including GST) Overseas US$45 (GST free) (for two issues) ISSN 103 6- 6008 iii .Jt CONTENTS 1 Birds and the Hand of Power: a Political Geography of Avian Life in the Gansu Corridor, Ninth to Tenth Centuries Lewis Mayo 67 A Tempestuous Tea-Port: Socio-Political Commentary in Yokahama-e, 1859-62 Todd S. Munson 93 Taiwan's Search for National History: a Trend in Historiography Q. Edward Wang 117 Rai San'yo's Philosophy of History and the Ideal of Imperial Restoration BarryD. Steben iv Co v er calligrap hy Yan Zhenqing �Ji:���n, Tan g calligrap her an d statesm an Co ver illustration Av ian sign ature from the tim e of Cao Yan lu liE!J�- see p.52 CS.24741,rep ro duced bype rmission ofthe British Library) BIRDS AND THE HAND OF POWER: A POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF AVIAN LIFE IN THE GANSU CORRIDOR, NINTH TO TENTH CENTURIES LewisMayo In the su mm er of 866 fou r "green-shinned" goshawks! arrived at the Tang Jl!f Profound and sincere thanks are due to court in Chang'an �� (m odern Xi'an jffi�).2 The geo-political order of Miriam Lang for her help with this paper in its various versions. It is only available to be read because of her labours and encourage­ Notes on document reJerencing system and /P oppe, A grammar oj written Mongolian ment. Similar thanks are due to Marion romanisation: Dunhuang documents held in (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1974) except for Weeks, Helen Lo and Geremie Barme for the British Library carry the prefix 'S' (to well-known names like Chinggis khan, while their support for and patience with perhaps denote the Stein collection) before the serial romanisations for Manchu essentially accord the most troublesome contributor to East number. Dunhuang documents held in the with the system used by Jerry Norman. As Asian History. It is a privilege to be able to Bibliotheque Nationale carry the prefix 'P' (to much as possible I have kept titles of books publish in such a wonderful journal. I offer denote the Chinese-language materials in the and articles and names of authors that are thanks and apologies to Craig Benjamin, Fonds Pelliot). 'Or' denotes materials in the originally written in simplified characters in David Christian and Beth Lewis who bent British Library which are not identified by a their original form (this applies even where a over backwards to help me get my work into Stein number. Documents in the National book has its title in simplified and articles volumes which they were editing, and Library in Beijing have the prefix 'Beitu'. contained in it are in complex characters.) retained no resentment when I could not do Uyghur romanisation for the most part follows Everything else, including words from so. I am very much indebted to Dilber the romanised and vocalised transcriptions Dunhuang documents that are published in Thwaites for teaching me modern Uyghur, used in James Hamilton's editions of the Old simplified charcters, has been written using which has been of decisive importance for Uyghur texts from Dunhuang. For items that complex characters. this paper. I also wish to acknowledge Ruth Barraclough for reading through an earlier are discussed frequently, I generally substitute 1 Modern scholars concur that the birds draft of this work. Paul Kroll provided a standard English alphabet letters for Greek referred to as ying in Chinese texts from 11 meticulous and supportive review for East letters and other symbols that do not appear in the medieval era are goshawks. The most the standard Latin alphabetic sequence. Thus Asian History in which he was kind enough widely respected English-language study of to disclose his identity. I also thank the other instead of qayan and Uyyur I write qaghan and hawks and hawking terminology in medieval reviewer for very nice words about the Uyghur, Yaghlaqar instead ofYaylaqar, and so China, Edward H. Schafer's "Falconry in Tang paper. I am grateful to James Hamilton for on. Chinese romanisation is in pinyin, Tibetan times," T'oung Pao 46 (1958): 293-338, answering a query, to Igor de Rachewiltz for romanisation is in Wylie (except where I provides a systematic account of the various quote from scholars who have used other consultation about Mongolian matters, to names for hunting birds in the period, and is Brian McKnight for bird-related assistance, systems), and Khotanese follows the trans­ confident that references to ying are to and to both of the latter for their long-term criptions used by Harold Bailey. Mongolian goshawks and not to eagles or other raptors. friendly concern for my progress. romanisation follows the system in Nicholas Schafer's discussion of goshawks is on pp.310- 11. 1 2 LEWIS MAYO ninth-century Central Asia structured the lives of these hawks, an order which Figure 1 the birds themselves helped to constitute. The goshawks were subjects and The Ganjun shan goshawks in the emanations of the authority of Zhang Yichao 51H��,3the Han 1l Chinese annals of imperial power: entry in the warlord who had taken control of the string of oases between the Yellow Cefu yuangui recording their arrival River and the Tarim basin after the collapse of Tibetan imperial rule in the in the Ta ng court in Chang'an 840s. They came to Chang'an as a gift from Zhang to the Tang emperor Yizong Jfl;*, his formal suzerain, in honour of Yizong's birthday.4 The origin of these birds was specifically recorded: they came from Ganjun shan tt�LlJ,the Ganjun mountains near Ganzhou ttj'l'l(present- lof invaluable help in my work.) E. H. Schafer Ilectionl,juanxia-r (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, makes reference to these goshawks in "Falconry 1983), p.l24. Schafer refers to the festival in in T'ang times," p.311, and in The golden The golden peaches of Sam arkand, p.292, n.5 peaches of Samarkand (Berkeley, Calif.: (quoted in footnote 7 below)' Rong Xinjiang University of California Press, 1963), p.94. In suggests that Yanqingjie refers to the area of the earlier work Schafer translates the name as Yanzhou E£1'1'[ and Qingzhou �m (the area "blue shins," and in the latter "green shanks." of modern Yan'an E£*'and Qingyang �� In "Falconry in T'ang times," Schafer quotes in Shaanxi �jffi province) and that these J. J. L. Duvyendak in T'oung Pao 35 (1940) that were horses from this region (presumably "blue-shinned" was a hunters' metaphor of taking jie to be an appreviation for jiedushi magical import. Qingqiao W1t� or "green­ liJJ.!t 1JI!, denoting in this case the territorial shinned" appears as an epithet or metonym jurisdiction of a Military Commissioner, the for goshawks in a number of pre-Tang literary provincial military governors who were the works. It is found in the paean to the goshawk dominant figuresin the territorial administration ("Yong ying shi" �UJ*�) by the Sui � of the Tang empire after the An Lushan emperor Yangdi �* that is included in the rebellion. See Charles O. Hucker, A dictionary Tang encyclopedia for the instruction of of offi cial titles in imperial Ch ina (Stanford, princes, the Chuxue ji *)]�� [Record of Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985) p.l44. primary learning]-see juan 30 (Beijing: On these grounds Rong suggests that Zhang Zhonghua Shuju, 1980), p.732-and also in Yichao's power extended west of the Yellow Zhang Pingzi's 5.!P¥-=J- Xijing fu jffi;ji:J!jtt River into the area of modern Shaanxi. See [Western metropolis rhapsody], which appears Rong Xinjiang, Guiyi jun shi yanjiu, p.162). in the literary anthology Wenxuan )(JI However, it seems likely that the imperial [Literary selections], juan 2 (Shanghai: Guiji birthday is meant, as Schafer suggests. The Chubanshe, 1986), voU, p.70. David editors of the Zhonghua Shuju edition of the Knechtges's translation of the We nxuan has Jiu Ta ng shu do not underline the words (as is "Blue-necked" for qingqiao. See Xiao Tong, their usual practice with proper names). Wen xuan, or Selections of RefinedLiteratur e, Moreover, the entry for the following year Volume 1, Rhapsodies on Metropolises and (867) in the Xin Ta ng shu;wrm� [New Tang Capitals, translated, with annotations and History], juan 9 (Shanghai: Zhonghua Shuju, introduction by David R. Knechtges (Princeton, 1975), p.260, records that the hunting birds, NJ : Princeton University Press, 1982), p.22I. horses and women from the royal household 2 The reference is in theJiu Ta ng shu lim� were to be ritually released because of the juan 3 In "Falconry in T'ang times" Schafer describes [Old Tang History], :§ 19a (Beijing: sickness of the emperor, and that gifts of Zhang Yichao as "a legate stationed at Sha- Zhonghua Shuju, 1975), p.660.
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