Heqin

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Heqin ( Chinese  和 親 , Pinyin Héqīn , W.-G. Ho-ch'in ) describes the politics of Chinese rulers from the time of the Han dynasty to the time of the Tang dynasty , contractual marriage relationships with leading families of neighboring groups To enter the border of the empire.

It was a political instrument to counter the threat posed by equestrian nomadic groups , who from the Chinese perspective appeared to be “ barbarians ”, on the northern border without often risky military action. In this context, the emperor married a princess to the leader of such a group and undertook to regularly deliver "gifts" (including grain, wine, but also luxury goods such as silk ). In return, the other side refrained from raids.

Through the “harmonious affinity”, non-Chinese groups were to be integrated into the order of the Chinese Empire, which was understood to be universal, and a Sinization should begin there so that coexistence was made possible. In the context of the heqin policy, which was sometimes associated with high gifts from the Chinese and therefore not always economically and politically successful, the Chinese emperor's claim to leadership as the “son of heaven” against non-Chinese continued to be emphasized. This has been a central point in Chinese political ideology since the Han period, according to which the Empire was the center of the world and had no borders.

Even threatening “barbaric” opponents like the Xiongnu , against whom the heqin policy was first applied, were therefore not political actors with equal rights, but part of the imperial periphery, which had to be incorporated into the political order. The marriage contracts made a kind of foreign policy possible, but it was always based on a dynastic basis and was therefore not permanently effective. This policy also indirectly ensured that the economic dependence of the Xiongnu on Chinese services was increased; this dependency was already present economically, since the (semi) nomadic way of life of the Xiongnu did not represent a sufficient material basis.

The construction was not always stable, so that there were still often military conflicts. For example, after 50 years of soothing heqin policies that did not prevent the Xiongnu from raiding, Emperor Han Wudi turned around and took military action against the Xiongnu.

literature

  • Tamara T. Chin: Defamiliarizing the Foreigner Sima Qian's Ethnography and Han-Xiongnu Marriage Diplomacy. In: Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 70, 2010, pp. 311-354.
  • Nicola di Cosmo: Ancient China and its Enemies. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002.
  • Kai Vogelsang : History of China. 3rd revised and updated edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2013.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Literally peace through kinship (Tamara T. Chin: Defamiliarizing the Foreigner Sima Qian's Ethnography and Han-Xiongnu Marriage Diplomacy. In: Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 70, 2010, here p. 311).
  2. ↑ See Kai Vogelsang: History of China. 3rd revised and updated edition, Stuttgart 2013, p. 144.
  3. ↑ On this threat, see Thomas Barfield: Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China. Cambridge (MA) / Oxford 1989.
  4. ↑ Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer: Small history of China. Munich 2008, p. 48.
  5. ^ Nicola di Cosmo: Ancient China and its Enemies. Cambridge 2002, pp. 161ff.
  6. ↑ See Kai Vogelsang: History of China. 3rd reviewed and updated edition, Stuttgart 2013, pp. 145f.
  7. ↑ See for example Tamara T. Chin: Defamiliarizing the Foreigner Sima Qian's Ethnography and Han-Xiongnu Marriage Diplomacy. In: Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 70, 2010, here p. 337ff.
  8. ^ Nicola di Cosmo: Ancient China and its Enemies. Cambridge 2002, pp. 206ff .; Kai Vogelsang: History of China. 3rd reviewed and updated edition, Stuttgart 2013, p. 151f.