One of the most important Chinese dynasties was derived from a nomadic Turkic tribe.
By examining the record of a local anti-Tibetan rebellion in document scroll S.1438 from the Dunhuang “library cave,” this discussion demonstrates that the nomadic Tuoba origin of the Tang royal house was known not only to the ancient Turkic people, as shown by their name for the Tang, Tabγač, but also to the Tang subjects themselves. In addition to substantiating Paul Pelliot’s old assertion that the Old Turkic name Tabγač came from the name Tuoba, this work argues that the Tang dynasty was in many aspects indeed the continuation of its Tuoba predecessors.
Sanping Chen, “The Tang as a Tuoba Dynasty” (pdf), 356 Sino-Platonic Papers (2024) via Language Log.
5 comments:
Wikipedia says Tang was founded by the "Li family" who were "ethnic Han"...
Wikipedia might not be up to date in this regard.
This is an excellent article that does not just talk about Tang origins, but about proTang loyalism out west under Tibetan occupation.
Google "tang turkic origins" and you will see this is a debate going back to Imperial Japan at least (a Japanese scholar argued for this, a Chinese argued against). I would also add that Sino-Platonic Papers is an imprint personally associated with Victor Mair of Language Log.
@Mitchell Thanks for the insights.
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