Tuoba

Tuoba
Chinese	拓拔
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Tuòbá Wade–Giles T'o-pa other Mandarin Xiao'erjing <تُوَع بَ Dunganese Туәба

The Tuoba (Middle Chinese: *tʰak-bɛt) also known as the Taugast or Tabgach (Old Turkic: 𐱃𐰉𐰍𐰲 Tabγač), was a Xianbei clan in ancient China.

The Tuoba founded the Northern Wei (386–535), a powerful dynasty that unified northern China after the Sixteen Kingdoms period and became increasingly sinicized. As a result, from 496, the name "Tuoba" disappeared by an edict of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei, who adopted the Chinese language surname of Yuan (元). After the Northern Wei split into the Eastern and Western Wei in 535, the Western Wei briefly restored the Tuoba name in 554. A surviving branch of the Tuoba established the state of Tuyuhun before submitting as a vassal of the Tang dynasty. A branch of the Tanguts originally bore the surname Tuoba, but their chieftains were subsequently bestowed the Chinese surnames Li (李) and Zhao (趙); the founding emperor of the Western Xia, Li Yuanhao, later adopted the surname Weiming (嵬名).

History

Tuoba people and their neighbours, c. III century AD

Rouran Khaganate, Tuyuhun Kingdom, Tuoba Wei 330–555 AD

Remnants of Tuoba in Alxa League

Remnants of Tuoba in Alxa League

The distribution of the Xianbei people ranged from present day Northeast China to Mongolia, and the Tuoba were one of the largest clans among the western Xianbei, ranging from present day Shanxi province and westward and northwestward. They established the state of Dai from 310–376 AD and ruled as the Northern Wei from 386-536. The Tuoba states of Dai and Northern Wei also claimed to possess the quality of earth in the Chinese Wu Xing theory. All the chieftains of the Tuoba were revered as emperors in the Book of Wei and the History of the Northern Dynasties.

Marriage policies

The Northern Wei started to arrange for Han Chinese elites to marry daughters of the Xianbei Tuoba royal family in the 480s. Some Han Chinese exiled royalty fled from southern China and defected to the Xianbei. Several daughters of the Xianbei Tuoba Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei were married to Han Chinese elites, like Princess Lanling 蘭陵公主 to Liu Hui 刘辉, who was a descendant of Liu Song royalty who fled north to the Xianbei in exile, Princess Huayang 華陽公主 to Sima Fei 司馬朏, a descendant of Jin dynasty (265–420) royalty, Princess Jinan 濟南公主 to Lu Daoqian 盧道虔, Princess Nanyang 南阳长公主 to Xiao Baoyin 萧宝夤, a member of Southern Qi royalty.

Chieftains of Tuoba Clan 219-377 (as Princes of Dai 315-377)

Posthumous name	Full name	Period of reign	Other
神元 Shényuán	拓拔力微 Tuòbá Lìwéi	219-277	Temple name: 始祖 Shízǔ
章 Zhāng	拓拔悉鹿 Tuòbá Xīlù	277-286
平 Píng	拓拔綽 Tuòbá Chuò	286-293
思 Sī	拓拔弗 Tuòbá Fú	293-294
昭 Zhāo	拓拔祿官 Tuòbá Lùguān	294-307
桓 Huán	拓拔猗㐌 Tuòbá Yītuō	295-305
穆 Mù	拓拔猗盧 Tuòbá Yīlú	295-316
None	拓拔普根 Tuòbá Pǔgēn	316
None	拓拔 Tuòbá	316
平文 Píngwén	拓跋鬱律 Tuòbá Yùlǜ	316-321
惠 Huì	拓拔賀傉 Tuòbá Hèrǔ	321-325
煬 Yáng	拓拔紇那 Tuòbá Hénǎ	325-329 and 335-337
烈 Liè	拓拔翳槐 Tuòbá Yìhuaí	329-335 and 337-338
昭成 Zhaōchéng	拓拔什翼健 Tuòbá Shíyìjiàn	338-377	Regnal name: 建國 Jiànguó

See also

• Chinese sovereign
• History of China
• Jin dynasty (265–420)
• Khitan people
• Ethnic groups in Chinese history

References

• Zuev Yu.A. "Ethnic History Of Usuns", Works of Academy of Sciences Kazakh SSR, History, Archeology And Ethnography Institute, Alma-Ata, Vol. VIII, 1960, (In Russian)
• Bazin L. "Research of T'o-pa language (5th century AD)", T'oung Pao, 39/4-5, 1950 ["Recherches sur les parlers T'o-pa (5e siècle après J.C.)"] (In French) Subject: Toba Tatar language
• Boodberg P.A. "The Language of the T'o-pa Wei", Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 1, 1936
• Pelliot P.A. "L'Origine de T'ou-kiue; nom chinoise des Turks", T'oung Pao, 1915, p. 689
• Pelliot P.A. "L'Origine de T'ou-kiue; nom chinoise des Turks", Journal Asiatic, 1925, No 1, p. 254-255
• Pelliot P.A. "L'Origine de T'ou-kiue; nom chinoise des Turks", T'oung Pao, 1925–1926, pp. 79–93;
• Clauson G. "Turk, Mongol, Tungus", Asia Major, New Series, Vol. 8, Pt 1, 1960, pp. 117–118
• Grousset R. "The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia", Rutgers University Press, 1970, p. 57, 63-66, 557 Note 137, ISBN 0-8135-0627-1 [1]