Changes In Political And Social Concepts Of Wuhu And Sixteen States

The era of Wuhu and Sixteen states (五胡十六国) was an important period that the northern and western ethnic groups(胡人)began to germinate self-consciousness and become the master of authority initially. On the one hand, they adapted to practical conditions, controlling Hans (汉人)and themselves in different ways. On the other hand,they consciously took the initiative to be par to the political and cultural traditions of Han, learning from Hans in the political structure, system, ideas and culture, also adopted a series of concepts and policies with which the Han dynasties dealt with the ethnic groups. This article was intended to show the changes of political and social concepts of ethnic groups’(胡人)regime through selecting and analysing several officials and appellations.The first selected official was Huqiangjiaowei(护羌校尉)as well as relevant Dongqiangjiaowei (东羌校尉)and Pingqiangjiaowei(平羌校尉)Huqiangjaowei(护羌校尉), a permanent official which Han (汉)granted Han generals to manage the included Qiang(羌),was inherited by Sixteen states (十六国政权)It could be granted to Han generals but more often to ethnic chiefs in this era. Granted to ethnic chiefs, Huqiangjiaowei became virtual. Dongqiangjiaowei(东羌校尉)and Pingqiangjiaowei (平羌校尉)were derived from Huqiangjiaowei, which made Huqiangjiaowei more virtual and be fragmented. So it changed from an entitized and conventional official into a virtual and temporary one. Meanwhile the ethnic regime inherited and created other ethnic officials similar to Huqiangjiaowei. Particularly Yaoxing(姚兴establishing Huqiangjiaowei in his internal, just those ethnic rulers like Yaoxing monopolized power to undermine the rule of Huqiangjiaowei by Han supervising the ethnic. The ethnic groups becoming the main body of power meant they would play a leading role, which led to the ethnic officials losing the significance of distinguishing themselves from Hans. Southern regime(南朝政权)also retained Huqiangjiaowei and awarded it to Tuyuhun king(吐谷浑王),but basically as decorations affiliated with the diplomacy. Eastern Jin and Southern dynasties(东晋南朝)tried to stick to the right of appointing Huqiangjiaowe, surely considering the realistic and strategic need, more importantly to prove that Southern dynasties inherited the orthodox political and cultural heritage from the former unified regime.Secondly selected appellations were shuaishan chiefs(率善长)and guiyi knighthood(归义王侯)Shuaishan chiefs(率善长)ind guiyi knighthood(归义王侯)were better titles that Wei and Jin dynasties(魏晋) granted to those ethnic chiefs who showed allegiance to the central dynasties in the guidance of the view of Wufu(五服),then forming a standardized and political system. Sixteen states also used the view of Wufu and granted these better titles to other ethnic chiefs who submitted to their regime. But compared with Wei and Jin dynasties, one important change was that the appellations of shuaiyi(率义)and guishan(归善)as variants evolving from the normative appellations of shuaishan(率善)and guiyi(归义)in Wei and Jin dynasties appeared. This in fact broke through the patterned system of enfeoffment since from Wei and Jin dynasties. Another was that the names of the ethnic groups were no longer shown inevitably in the title. Due to own power becoming weaker, those ethnics’names never appeared, and they had to depend on other stronger strengths, which resulted in covering their own existence, therefore eliminated their own national identity, lastly integrated into larger tribes. Another important change was that shuaishan of the decimal official seal(官印)was less used, which implied the decimal military and social organizations of ethnic groups were gradually disintegrating. The ethnic groups eliminated the difference between Hans and themselves step by step through inheriting and modifying the official names and appellations from Hans. This article is based on unearthed official seals and handed literature to study the appellations of shuaishan and guiyi.Finally, the ethnic monarchs,in order to show difference to the Southern dynasties, selected tianwang(天王)sometimes as the appellation of the supreme ruler or changing to dachanyu(大单于) or huangdi(皇帝)This essay regarded that tianwang(天王)didn’t appeared occasionally and casually,but deliberately was chosen under the influence of Buddhism (佛教)which was spreading quickly then also combined with the Confucian (儒学)traditional culture. Early in the era of Wu state (吴国),Kangsenghui (康僧会)who had settled in the Chinese mainland widely, red Six-jing(六经), understood the Sanskrit (梵语)and Chinese(汉语)and companied the king for a long time. He often translated the secular king with perfect virtue as tianwang(天王)when translating Buddhist scriptures, which would undoubtedly affect the later monks(僧人)in the way of translation between Sanskrit and Chinese, so gradually developing the concept of considering the secular king as tianwang(天王)Furthermore tianwang was an appellation that the early Confucian scholars showed respect to the monarch of Zhou(周天子)who had declined in the era of the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States(春秋战国)After that the appellation though not selected as the official name, once was used in the letter the ethnic chiefs wrote to the Han dynasties or by officials in the unofficial occasions, which meant the idea was deep-rooted that tianwang referred to the present monarch. The ethnic groups’monarch was God(神)also being an human-being and was monarch also being the Buddha(佛陀),which was the general feature of ethnic regimes believing in the Buddhism in the era. The title of tianwang used by ethnic regimes was integrated both Confucianism and Buddhism, taking into account the Confucian tradition of politics and culture to win support from the Han intellectuals(汉人士大夫)who still stayed in north, and at the same time making Buddhism as a link to call up a large number of religious believers forming the unique tradition of tianwang to rival the Southern regimes which also used Buddhism as a link to set up the system of tianzi{天子)with the Southeast Asia(东南亚)countries, ultimately both toward the confluence in the confrontation between the two sides.