Liu Cong (Xiongnu)

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Liu Cong ( Chinese  劉聰  /  刘聪 , Pinyin Liú Cōng , W.-G. Liu Ts'ung ; † 318 ) was a ruler of the southern Xiongnu from 310 to 318 .

After the southern Xiongnu had submitted to the Han dynasty in the middle of the 1st century AD , large parts of them were settled in Shanxi , where they took on military protection tasks. After the fall of the Han dynasty in the early 3rd century, power struggles between local warlords broke out in China , which fragmented the state order. Under the Jin Dynasty , China was reunited for a short time, but the weakness of the imperial central government once again meant that local rulers were able to rise (period of the sixteen empires ); among them was the Sinized Xiongnu ruler Liu Yuan . This propagandist proclaimed an ideal successor to the Han dynasty, to which he was distantly related (due to the heqin policy of the Han emperors), rose himself to be king of Han ( Han-Zhao ) in 304 and proclaimed himself emperor in 308 out. He chose the city of Pingyang as his residence .

Liu Yuan died in 310, whereupon his son Liu Ho succeeded him, but was killed a few days later by his brother Liu Cong, who now became emperor of the Han-Zhao. Liu Cong was also a Sinized Xiongnu and well versed in classical Chinese literature, which he also promoted. At the same time, however, he acted quite unscrupulous as a ruler.

Liu Cong used the weakness of the Jin emperors by advancing with his troops on the eastern imperial city of Luoyang as early as 311 and conquering it without major difficulties. The Xiongnu even captured the Jin Emperor Jin Huaidi , whom Liu Cong had killed two years later. In this context there were massacres and devastation. It is said that 30,000 people were killed, and temples and imperial tombs were looted. The destruction must have been considerable, as can be seen from the received letter from a Sogdian trader named Nanai-Vandak. There it says:

“Lord, the last emperor, as they say, fled Saragh (Luoyang) from the famine. Its fortified residence and fortified city were turned over to the fire. The residence burned down and the city was destroyed. Since then, Saragh is no more, and Ngapa is no more. Furthermore, the emperor was made a prisoner and taken into captivity by the Huns (Xiongnu). "

The fall of Luoyang is a dramatic event in Chinese history (the capture of an emperor, the loss of a capital, and the loss of human life and cultural property), which is clearly expressed in the sources. In this sense it can be compared with the sacking of Rome (410) .

These deeds gave Liu Cong the dubious reputation of being the " Attila of China" in modern research . In 316, under the command of Liu Cong's general Liu Yao , the Xiongnu also plundered the western capital of Chang'an , which had already fallen to them for a short time in 311 and captured another emperor, Jin Mindi . He was kidnapped, humiliated and soon afterwards murdered. The Jin Empire was effectively dissolved, although a prince established a new government in Nanjing , which however only comprised part of the old Jin Empire ( Eastern Jin Dynasty ).

Liu Cong had achieved considerable success, although his very close reference to the Chinese culture within the Xiongnu group that he ruled was probably not only well received. He died in 318. He was succeeded by his son Liu Can , who was murdered after a short time. The Han Zhao Empire was finally conquered in 329 by Shi Le , another local ruler and former vassal of the Lius and founder of the later Zhao dynasty .

literature

  • Piero Corradini: The Barbarian States in North China. In: Central Asiatic Journal 50, 2006, pp. 163-232.
  • Otto Franke : History of the Chinese Empire. Volume 2. De Gruyter, Berlin / Leipzig 1936, p. 45 ff.
  • David A. Graff: Medieval Chinese warfare, 300–900. Routledge, London et al. 2002, p. 48 ff.

Remarks

  1. ↑ See Mark Lewis: China between Empires. The Northern and Southern Dynasties. Cambridge (Mass.) 2009, p. 28 ff.
  2. ↑ On his person see David B. Honey: Sinification as Statecraft in Conquest Dynasties of China: Two Early Medieval Case Studies. In: Journal of Asian History 30, 1996, pp. 115–151, here pp. 118 ff.
  3. ^ Piero Corradini: The Barbarian States in North China. In: Central Asiatic Journal 50, 2006, p. 185 f.
  4. ↑ See Arthur Waley: The Fall of Luoyang. In: History Today 4, 1951, pp. 7-10.
  5. ↑ A full English translation of the letter can be found in Valerie Hansen: The Silk Road. A history with documents. Oxford 2016, pp. 227-229; see also The Sogdian Ancient Letters . Cf. with evidence from Étienne de La Vaissière : Sogdian Traders. A history . Leiden 2005, p. 43 ff.
  6. ^ Burchard Brentjes: Central Asia. A cultural history of the peoples between the Caspian Sea and Tien Shan. Leipzig 1977, p. 62.
  7. ↑ See also Otto Franke: History of the Chinese Empire. Volume 2. Berlin / Leipzig 1936, p. 46.
  8. ^ Kai Vogelsang : History of China. 3rd revised and updated edition. Stuttgart 2013, p. 203; Arthur Waley: The Fall of Luoyang. In: History Today 4, 1951, here p. 7.
  9. ^ René Grousset : The steppe peoples. Munich 1970, p. 99; John Keay: China. A history. New York 2009, p. 205.
  10. ↑ Cf. Otto Franke: History of the Chinese Empire. Volume 2. Berlin / Leipzig 1936, p. 50.
  11. ↑ See Thomas J. Barfield: The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China. Cambridge (MA) / Oxford 1989, pp. 102f.
  12. ↑ Cf. generally on this David A. Graff: Medieval Chinese warfare, 300–900. London et al. 2002, p. 57 f.
personal data
SURNAME Liu, Cong
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Liu, Ts'ung
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Ruler of the southern Xiongnu (310-318)
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH 318