Author: Wang Shiyu (School of Ethnology and Sociology, Minzu University of China)
Gao Che was a nomadic people active in northern China during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and the various ethnic groups in northern Mobei called them "Shule". After Tuoba Xianbei entered the Central Plains, he was called a tall car because of the "tall wheels and at most spokes" of the car he used. Regarding the origin of the Gaoche family, there are many theories in the academic community, which can be roughly summarized as the Ding Zero theory and the Xiongnu theory, the Chidi theory and the Ghost Fang theory, the Kangju theory and the Cheshi theory.
Ding Zero said with the Xiongnu said
As the earliest comprehensive and systematic record of the history of Gaoche, the WeiShu Gaoche Biography records: "The north thought it was Shule, and Zhuxia thought it was Gaoche and Ding Zero." According to this, the Japanese scholar Shiratori Kuji, in the "Examination of the Origin of the Xiongnu" ("Journal of History", No. 18, 1923), first associated the origin of the Gaoche clan with Ding Zero, believing that Ding Zero, who was active in the Han and Jin Dynasties, was a different translation of the same name as Shule and Tiele, and that they were all transliterations of the Mongolian language tegre and terege. This statement has also been recognized by Wang Riwei's "History of the Ding Zero Nationalities" (Beiping Research Institute Historical Collection, No. 2, 1936), Feng Jiasheng and others' "Compendium of Uyghur Historical Materials" (Part I) (Minzu Publishing House, 1958 edition), Fan Wenlan's "Compendium of The General History of China" (People's Publishing House, 1965 edition) and other treatises. However, due to the theory, it only focuses on the relationship between Ding Zero and Gao Che, and does not trace the relationship between Ding Zero and the Xiongnu, which is contrary to the theory that the holding of the high car originated from the Xiongnu.
The "Xiongnu Saying" was first seen in the Sui Shu Tiele Biography: "Before Tiele, the Miao descendants of the Xiongnu also." The New Book of Tang and the Tale of the Uighurs also reads as "Hui Hui, whose predecessor Xiongnu also used to ride high-wheeled vehicles, and the Yuan and Wei dynasties were also called high-wheeled vehicles, or Shu Le, falsely known as Tie Le" (铁勒)." Since the Sui and Tang dynasties of Gaoche were also called Tiele, Hui qi originated from the Gao che Yuan Qibu, if tie le and Hui Qi were preceded by Xiongnu, then the first of Gao Che should also be Xiongnu.
Judging from the time of writing, the Book of Wei predates the Book of Sui and the New Book of Tang, and the author of the Book of Wei, Wei Shuo, has a much higher understanding of Gao Che than later generations, and the historical source of the Book of Wei and the Biography of Gao Che is also richer. When the Book of Sui and the New Book of Tang were written, the title of "Gao Che" was no longer used, and the understanding of Gao Che by Wei Zheng, Ouyang Xiu, and others could only come from the "Book of Wei" and other predecessors. In fact, the Book of Sui and the New Book of Tang link the source of Gao Che with the Xiongnu, mainly based on the legend of the Daughter of Shan Yu of the Xiongnu and the Male Wolf in the Book of Wei Gao Che, and the record of "the nephew of the Xiongnu before Yun Qi". However, the "nephew" can only indicate that the Xiongnu are related to the ancestors of Gaoche, not their direct ancestors. Despite this, the Xiongnu still played a large role in the formation of the Gaoche people.
Chi Di said with the ghost fang said
Some scholars, on the basis of agreeing that GaoChe is related to Ding Zero, trace the origin of the Gaoche clan back to the Chidi who were more active, according to the "Gaoche, Gaigu Chidi Remnant" contained in the "Wei Shu Gao Che Biography". The Japanese scholar Hidemi Onogawa's "Tie Le Kao" (Studies in Oriental History, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1940) attempted to prove etymologically that Takahashi was a remnant of the ancient Chidi. Ma Changshou's "Turks and Turkic Khaganates" (Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1957 edition) said that Chidi, DiLi, Ding Zero, Shule, Turk, etc., were the names of turkic language peoples of various ethnic groups at different times. Zhou Weizhou's "Shu Le and RouRan" (Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1983 edition) believes that "Chi Di is the title of the Chinese historical book for the clan in the Spring and Autumn Period... Gao Che is the title given to him by the People of the Northern Dynasty."
In "Studies on ethnic minorities in Zhou and Qin" (Longmen United Bookstore, 1958 edition), Meng Wentong first traced the origin of the Gaoche clan back to the ghost fang. Wang Guowei, in "Ghost Fang Kunyi Fox Examination" (Guantang Jilin( Zhonghua Bookstore 1959 edition), used the double evidence method to combine archaeological data with documentary data, believing that all the Di tribes in the Spring and Autumn Period were from the ghost side. Although the relationship between Ding Zero, Gao Che and Zhu Di is not mentioned in this article, its role as a bridge in the study of Gao Che family sources cannot be ignored. Duan Lianqin's "Ding Zero, Gao Che and Tie Le" (Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1988 edition) combines the excavated materials of South Siberia and Mongolia to link Ghost Fang, Chi Di, Ding Zero with Gao Che, and demonstrates in detail the source of Ding Zero in China's historical books. Zhou Jianqi's "Examination interpretation of ghost fang, ding zero, and aole (tiele)" (Journal of Inner Mongolia University, No. 1, 1992) is based on historical records, referring to altaic language, especially Uighur language, examining the relationship between the various ethnic groups such as ghost fang, Ding zero, and shule, and proving that ghost fang is the family source of Ding zero and Shule.
Judging from the above historical materials and viewpoints, although there is some truth in exploring the source of Ding Zero to the Ghost Fang in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties and the Chi Di in the Spring and Autumn Period, the Ghost Fang and chi di are extremely long away from the era when Gao Che was active, and they did not have a direct connection with Gao Che. The Gaoche people should be mainly formed by the fusion of Ding Zhitong from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties with other ethnic groups living on the Mongolian plateau. In addition, the deeds of Ghost Fang and Chi Di are still controversial in the field of historiography, so this statement still needs more evidence.
Kangju said with the car master
Cen Zhongmian's "Turkic Collected History" (Part II) (Zhonghua Bookstore 1958 edition) believes that Gaoche originated from the Han Dynasty Western Regions state Kangju, "Kangju is the transliteration of Kankali, its meaning is Che, to Wei and transliteration of Gaoche, both transliteration and meaning". At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the scholar Hong Jun, in the "Yuanshi Translation Of the Supplementary Text, Mu Laiyi Supplementary Biography Attached to Kangli Supplement" (Tokyo Bunkotang 1902 edition), said that "Kangli, don't be Kanglin, after the ancient Gaoche". Some ethnic historical materials, such as The Legend of the Wugus Khan (Xinjiang People's Publishing House, 1980), The Collected Histories (Commercial Press, 1983), and The Turkic Lineage (Zhonghua Bookstore, 2005), believe that "Kangli" is related to being good at making cars. This is very similar to the situation of Gao Che contained in the Wei Shu Gao Che Biography. The Kangli Kingdom of the Yuan Dynasty was located in the old place of Kangju in the Han Dynasty. Therefore, Cen Zhongmian's "Expounding the Ancient Culture of the Turkic People" (Ethnological Research Journal, No. 6, 1948) said that "the same kangju- gaoche-kangli has been finalized." Some scholars also oppose Cen Zhongmian's views. Duan Lianqin's book "Ding Zero, Gao Che and Tie Le" believes that the "Historical Collection" and "The Legend of the Oghuz Khan" are all documents after the 13th century, and cannot be used as the absolute basis for Kangju to be the ancient Gaoche state. Shiratori Kuji's "Translation Series of Papers on the History of Saiwai" (Shanxi People's Publishing House, 2015 edition) proposes that Kangju is Kangar, which means brave and noble, and has nothing to do with "car", which can also prove that Kangju and Gaoche are not a family.
Su Beihai proposed that Gaoche originated from the Cheshi Kingdom in the Western Regions, and in his "Uyghur Ancestors - Gushi (Cheshi), Ogus, Gaoche Discern" (Journal of Kashgar Normal University, No. 1, 1990), he called the Gushi people the Ugus and Gaoche tribes, which later evolved into the Uchi and Uhu; the Gushi belonged to the Turkic language family and used Turkic languages.
The above two statements are mainly based on the similar pronunciation of "Kangju", "Cheshi" and "Gaoche", but ignore the record of the origin of the Gaoche family in the "WeiShu Gaoche Biography", and there are more speculative components and less convincing.
Gao Che is a Ding Zero derived from the blood of the Xiongnu
To explore the origin of the Gaoche family, we should examine the literature, the area of activity, the language, customs and habits and other aspects. The "Wei Shu Gao Che Biography" says: "The north thinks that it is Shu Le, and the Zhu Xia thinks that it is Gao Che and Ding Zero", which indicates that the source of the Gao Che clan is related to Ding Zero. During the Western Han Dynasty, Ding Zero, whose original pronunciation was "Türk", lived in the area of Lake Baikal and was a xiongnu vassal for a long time. It was not until the third year of the Eastern Han Dynasty and Emperor Yongyuan (91 AD), after the Northern Xiongnu were forced to move west, that some of Ding Zero began to migrate to the hinterland of the Mongolian plateau. During the Great Alliance period (around 166-167), Xianbei once blocked their further large-scale southward migration. But even so, the Dingzhi people have lived in the Mongolian plateau for at least 60 years, and some have even settled down. These Remnants of the Xiongnu, who had not migrated westward, lived in the same place, and gradually formed a new ethnic group after mixing and merging, engaged in nomadic life.
During the Six Kingdoms period of the Two Jin Dynasties, in order to distinguish it from Ding Zero, who had already moved inland to Hebei, Henan, Shanxi and other places to settle down and live in farming, historians chose to name the ethnic group after another transliteration of "Türk", "Shule". Later, the life characteristics of the "Shule" people who were good at manufacturing and using high-wheeled vehicles were familiar to the Tuoba Xianbei people, so they were also called "Gaoche", which ran parallel to "Shule". Tracing back to the origin, Gao Che and The Inner Migration Ding Zero are both descendants of the early Ding Zero. The fact that "Ding Zero" and "Gao Che" are also found in the Book of Wei and the Northern History can only show that Gao Che is different from the internal migration of Ding Zero in this period, and cannot be used as a basis for denying that the source of the Gao Che clan is related to Ding Zero. Among the Gaoche clan, Ding Zero was the main component, and the Xiongnu were a secondary component. Gao che and Ding Zero and Xiongnu, who were directly related to their ethnic origins, were active in the northern desert region.
According to the "Biography of Gao Che in the Book of Wei", the Gao Che language is "slightly the same as the Xiongnu but sometimes slightly different". Therefore, gaocha language should be closely related to the Xiongnu language, but the two are not completely equivalent. The so-called "slightly same as the Xiongnu" is probably because after the Dingzhi people migrated to the Mongolian plateau, they came into contact with and integrated with the remnants of the Xiongnu left in the local area, not only forming a new ethnic group of Shule (Gaoche), but also absorbing a large number of Xiongnu words in the language of Shule.
In addition to language, the customs and habits of Gaoche also had a certain connection with the Xiongnu. According to the "Biography of Gao Che" and the "Biography of the Xiongnu", the Gaoche people "gathered together to worship the heavens, and the crowd reached tens of thousands." Assembly, horse slaughter, wandering song and chanting Xin Xin". Every May, the Huns "assembled to worship the city and sacrifice its ancestors, heaven and earth, and ghosts and gods." The high car man "little worker riding shooting", the number is "the world's famous riding". The Huns were "able to ride sheep and shoot birds and mice with bows; and the young men shot foxes and rabbits: for food." Snickers can bend their bows and ride as much as they can." The famous general of the Gaoche clan in the Northern Qi period, Huo Lujin, "was good at riding and shooting, marching with the Xiongnu method, looking at the dust and knowing how many horses were moving, and sniffing the land to know the distance and proximity of the army" (Northern Qi Shu Huo Lujin Biography). His son Hu Luguang "marched with the Xiongnu Method, and the auspiciousness was all hit." The barracks are undecided, and they will not enter the curtain, or they will not sit for a day" ("The Biography of Beishi Huo Luguang"). This phenomenon should also be the result of the long-term integration and exchange between Ding Zero and the Xiongnu.
As mentioned above, from the end of the 1st century to the middle of the 2nd century, after the DingZhi people living in south Siberia and lake Baikal migrated to the Mongolian plateau, they mixed and merged with the remnants of the Xiongnu who stayed in the local area, forming a tribe dominated by the DingZhi people and mixed with some Xiongnu, which was called Shule during the Period of the Two Jins and Sixteen Kingdoms. After Tuoba Xianbei entered the Central Plains, Shule was also known as "Gaoche". It was precisely because of its close ties with the Xiongnu that Gaoche was also deeply influenced by the Xiongnu in terms of language and customs. In short, the origin of the Gaoche clan is related to both Ding Zero and Xiongnu, and it is not accurate to simply think that Gaoche originated from Ding Zero or Xiongnu.
Source: China Social Science Network - China Social Science Daily