Jie (ethnic group)
Encyclopedia
The Jié were members of a small tribe in Northern China in the 4th century CE
. They established the Later Zhao
state.
According to the Book of Wei
, their name derives from the Jiéshì area (羯室, modern Yushe County
in Shanxi
province) where they reside.. The Chinese character 羯 literally means "wether" or "castrated male sheep".
According to the Book of Jin
, the ancestors of Shi Le
, the founder of Later Zhao
, were a separate tribe of Xiongnu
known as Qiāngqú (羌渠). Pulleyblank
identified Qiangqu with Kangju
, who might be Tocharian
in origin.
as 秀支 替戾剛
僕谷 劬禿當, in connection with Shi Le
's fight against Liu Yao
in 328 CE. The phrase was glossed with Chinese translation (Middle Chinese
pronunciation provided below follows Pulleyblank
):
秀支 [si̯u-ci̯e] means 軍 “army”; 替戾剛 [tʰei-let/lei-kɑŋ] means 出 “go out”; 僕谷 [bok-kuk/yok] is 劉曜胡位 “Liu Yao's barbarian title”; 劬禿當 [ɡi̯ou-tʰuk-tɑŋ] means 捉 “capture”.
This phrase has been analyzed in a number of publications. Shiratori (1900), Ramstedt
(1922), Bazin
(1948), von Gabain (1950), and Shervashidze (1986) recognized Turkic
lexicon, and gave their versions of the transcription and translation:
Pulleyblank
(1963) remarked that the Turkic interpretations cannot be considered very successful because they do violence to the phonetic values of the Chinese text and to the Chinese translation. Instead, he suggested a connection with the Yeniseian languages
.
recorded in the Book of Jin
chronicle that at around 340 CE a Jie state Later Zhao
's scholar Xie Fei
serving as a Head of Healing (Medicinal) Department in the Later Zhao State Chancellery, was a mechanical
engineer
who built a South Pointing Chariot
(also called south-pointing carriage), a directional compass
vehicle which apparently did not use magnetic principle, but was operated by use of differential gears (which apply an equal amount of torque
to driving wheels rotating at different speeds), or a similar angular differential principle.
For the great ingenuity shown in the construction of the device, the Later Zhao Emperor Shi Jilong
granted Jie Fei the noble title of hou
without land possessions and generous rewarded him generously.
-led Han Zhao
(304-329) state. However, the Later Zhao state collapsed in 351. In the period between 350 and 352, General Ran Min
ordered the complete extermination of this tribe, and their distinctive features led to large numbers being killed. Despite this, the Jie continue to appear occasionally in history over the next 200 years. Both Erzhu Rong
and Hou Jing
, two famous warlords of the Northern Dynasties
, were identified as Qihu and Jiehu respectively and modern scholars have suggested that they could have been be related to the Jie.
, living between the Ob
and Yenisey
rivers—the character 羯 (jié) is pronounced kit in Cantonese and katsu or ketsu in Japanese
, implying that the ancient pronunciation may have been fairly close to Ket. Western Washington University
historical linguist Edward Vajda
spent a year in Siberia
studying the Ket people and their language and his findings helped substantiated such conjecture into the origins of the Ket people, where DNA claims show genetic affinities with people of Tibetan, Burmese, and other origins http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ea210/ket.htm. Edward Vajda further finds a relationship of the Ket language to that of Native American
languages, and even suggests the tonal system of the Ket language is closer that that of Vietnamese
than any of the native Siberian languages http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6050673836854498204#. His (2004) monograph Ket is the first modern scholarly grammar of the Ket language in English. (Lueders 2008)
Others link the Jie with the Sogdians
, and suggest that the family name of Shi from Jie who ruled the Later Zhao
state originated in the Sogdian statelet of Tashkent
, which was later also known as the Kingdom of Shi. An Lushan
, the Tang
rebel general, had a Sogdian stepfather and was called a Jiehu. Yet others trace the Jie to those Great Yuezhi
or Tocharians
who had remained in Sogdiana.
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
. They established the Later Zhao
Later Zhao
The Later Zhao was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin Dynasty in China. It was founded by the Shi family of the Jie ethnicity...
state.
According to the Book of Wei
Book of Wei
The Book of Wei is a classic Chinese historical writing compiled by Wei Shou from 551 to 554, and serves as an important historical text describing the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei from 386 to 550....
, their name derives from the Jiéshì area (羯室, modern Yushe County
Yushe County
Yushe County is a county of Shanxi, China. It is under the administration of Jinzhong city.-References:*...
in Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
province) where they reside.. The Chinese character 羯 literally means "wether" or "castrated male sheep".
According to the Book of Jin
Book of Jin
The Book of Jin is one of the official Chinese historical works. It covers the history of Jin Dynasty from 265 to 420, which written by a number of officials commissioned by the court of Tang Dynasty, with the lead editor being the Prime Minister Fang Xuanling, drawing mostly from the official...
, the ancestors of Shi Le
Shi Le
Shi Le , courtesy name Shilong , formally Emperor Ming of Zhao , was the founding emperor of the Chinese/Jie state Later Zhao...
, the founder of Later Zhao
Later Zhao
The Later Zhao was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin Dynasty in China. It was founded by the Shi family of the Jie ethnicity...
, were a separate tribe of Xiongnu
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
known as Qiāngqú (羌渠). Pulleyblank
Edwin G. Pulleyblank
Edwin George Pulleyblank FRSC is a sinologist and professor emeritus of the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia...
identified Qiangqu with Kangju
Kangju
Kangju was the name of an ancient people and kingdom in Central Asia. It was a nomadic federation of unknown ethnic and linguistic origin which became for a couple of centuries the second greatest power in Transoxiana after the Yuezhi....
, who might be Tocharian
Tocharians
The Tocharians were the Tocharian-speaking inhabitants of the Tarim Basin, making them the easternmost speakers of Indo-European languages in antiquity. They were known as, or at least closely related to, the Yuezhi of Chinese sources...
in origin.
Jie phrase
The Jie are known for one phrase that reached us in their native language, uttered by a Buddhist monk Fotucheng and recorded in the Chinese annals Book of JinBook of Jin
The Book of Jin is one of the official Chinese historical works. It covers the history of Jin Dynasty from 265 to 420, which written by a number of officials commissioned by the court of Tang Dynasty, with the lead editor being the Prime Minister Fang Xuanling, drawing mostly from the official...
as 秀支 替戾剛
僕谷 劬禿當, in connection with Shi Le
Shi Le
Shi Le , courtesy name Shilong , formally Emperor Ming of Zhao , was the founding emperor of the Chinese/Jie state Later Zhao...
's fight against Liu Yao
Liu Yao
Liu Yao , courtesy name Yongming , was the final emperor of the Chinese/Xiongnu state Han Zhao. He became emperor in 318 after most other members of the imperial Liu clan were massacred by Jin Zhun in a coup. However, the empire was soon divided in half, as the general Shi Le declared...
in 328 CE. The phrase was glossed with Chinese translation (Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese , also called Ancient Chinese by the linguist Bernhard Karlgren, refers to the Chinese language spoken during Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties...
pronunciation provided below follows Pulleyblank
Edwin G. Pulleyblank
Edwin George Pulleyblank FRSC is a sinologist and professor emeritus of the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia...
):
秀支 [si̯u-ci̯e] means 軍 “army”; 替戾剛 [tʰei-let/lei-kɑŋ] means 出 “go out”; 僕谷 [bok-kuk/yok] is 劉曜胡位 “Liu Yao's barbarian title”; 劬禿當 [ɡi̯ou-tʰuk-tɑŋ] means 捉 “capture”.
This phrase has been analyzed in a number of publications. Shiratori (1900), Ramstedt
Gustaf John Ramstedt
Gustaf John Ramstedt was a Swedish-speaking Finnish linguist and diplomat.-Biography:Ramstedt was born in Ekenäs in Southern Finland....
(1922), Bazin
Louis Bazin
Louis Bazin is a French orientalist.-Biography:Born in Caen, he entered the École Normale Supérieure in 1939. When he graduated in 1943, he became a senior research fellow at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, while continuing his studies at the National School for Modern Oriental...
(1948), von Gabain (1950), and Shervashidze (1986) recognized Turkic
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...
lexicon, and gave their versions of the transcription and translation:
| Ramstedt | Bazin | von Gabain | Shervashidze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sükä talıqın bügüg tutun! |
Süg tägti ıdqaŋ boquγıγ tutqaŋ! |
Särig tılıtqan buγuγ kötürkän |
Sükâ tol'iqtin buγuγ qodigo(d)tin |
| Go with a war [and] captured bügü! |
Send the army to attack, capture the commander! |
You'd put forth the army, you'd take the deer |
You came to the army Deposed buγuγ |
Pulleyblank
Edwin G. Pulleyblank
Edwin George Pulleyblank FRSC is a sinologist and professor emeritus of the Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia...
(1963) remarked that the Turkic interpretations cannot be considered very successful because they do violence to the phonetic values of the Chinese text and to the Chinese translation. Instead, he suggested a connection with the Yeniseian languages
Yeniseian languages
The Yeniseian language family is spoken in central Siberia.-Family division:0. Proto-Yeniseian...
.
South Pointing Chariot
Fang XuanlingFang Xuanling
Fang Xuanling , formal name Fang Qiao but went by the courtesy name of Xuanling, formally Duke Wenzhao of Liang , was the lead editor of the Book of Jin and one of the most celebrated chancellors of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, and he and his colleague Du Ruhui, both serving during the reign...
recorded in the Book of Jin
Book of Jin
The Book of Jin is one of the official Chinese historical works. It covers the history of Jin Dynasty from 265 to 420, which written by a number of officials commissioned by the court of Tang Dynasty, with the lead editor being the Prime Minister Fang Xuanling, drawing mostly from the official...
chronicle that at around 340 CE a Jie state Later Zhao
Later Zhao
The Later Zhao was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin Dynasty in China. It was founded by the Shi family of the Jie ethnicity...
's scholar Xie Fei
Xie Fei (inventor)
Xiè Fēi was a Jie state Later Zhao scholar who occupied a position as Head of the Healing Department in the State Chancellery...
serving as a Head of Healing (Medicinal) Department in the Later Zhao State Chancellery, was a mechanical
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
who built a South Pointing Chariot
South Pointing Chariot
The south-pointing chariot was an ancient Chinese two-wheeled vehicle that carried a movable pointer to indicate the south, no matter how the chariot turned. Usually, the pointer took the form of a doll or figure with an outstretched arm...
(also called south-pointing carriage), a directional compass
Compass
A compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined...
vehicle which apparently did not use magnetic principle, but was operated by use of differential gears (which apply an equal amount of torque
Torque
Torque, moment or moment of force , is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about an axis, fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist....
to driving wheels rotating at different speeds), or a similar angular differential principle.
For the great ingenuity shown in the construction of the device, the Later Zhao Emperor Shi Jilong
Shi Hu
Shi Hu , courtesy name Jilong , formally Emperor Wu of Zhao , was an emperor of the Chinese/Jie state Later Zhao...
granted Jie Fei the noble title of hou
Hou (title)
Hou is a tile for ancient Chinese ruler, which may equivalent to King/Queen or Emperor/Empress.The Chinese character Hou is an ideogrammic compounds, in oracle bone script it is written the same as Si as the combination of mouth and hand. Hou usually refers to female rulers in oracle bone script...
without land possessions and generous rewarded him generously.
History
In 319, Jie general Shi Le established the state of Later Zhao in northern China, which supplanted the XiongnuXiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
-led Han Zhao
Han Zhao
The Han Zhao , or Former Zhao, or Northern Han , was a Southern Xiongnu state during Sixteen Kingdoms period coeval with the Chinese Jin Dynasty...
(304-329) state. However, the Later Zhao state collapsed in 351. In the period between 350 and 352, General Ran Min
Ran Min
Ran Min , also known as Shi Min , posthumously honored by Former Yan as Heavenly Prince Daowu of Wei , courtesy name Yongzeng , nickname Jinu , was a military leader during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms in China and the only emperor of the short-lived state Ran Wei . Ran is an uncommon Chinese...
ordered the complete extermination of this tribe, and their distinctive features led to large numbers being killed. Despite this, the Jie continue to appear occasionally in history over the next 200 years. Both Erzhu Rong
Erzhu Rong
Erzhu Rong , courtesy name Tianbao , formally Prince Wu of Jin , was a general of the Chinese/Xianbei dynasty Northern Wei...
and Hou Jing
Hou Jing
Hou Jing , courtesy name Wanjing , was a general for the Chinese states Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, and Liang Dynasty, and briefly, after controlling the Liang imperial regime for several years, usurped the Liang throne, establishing a state of Han...
, two famous warlords of the Northern Dynasties
Northern dynasties
The Northern Dynasties included Northern Wei Dynasty, Eastern Wei Dynasty, Western Wei Dynasty, Northern Qi Dynasty, Northern Zhou Dynasty.Also see Southern and Northern Dynasties.-External links:*...
, were identified as Qihu and Jiehu respectively and modern scholars have suggested that they could have been be related to the Jie.
Historiography
Some historians conjecture the Jie to have been be a medieval tribe related to the modern KetsKet people
Kets are a Siberian people who speak the Ket language. In Imperial Russia they were called Ostyaks, without differentiating them from several other Siberian peoples. Later they became known as Yenisey ostyaks, because they lived in the middle and lower basin of the Yenisei River in the Krasnoyarsk...
, living between the Ob
Ob River
The Ob River , also Obi, is a major river in western Siberia, Russia and is the world's seventh longest river. It is the westernmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean .The Gulf of Ob is the world's longest estuary.-Names:The Ob is known to the Khanty people as the...
and Yenisey
Yenisei River
Yenisei , also written as Yenisey, is the largest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean. It is the central of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean...
rivers—the character 羯 (jié) is pronounced kit in Cantonese and katsu or ketsu in Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
, implying that the ancient pronunciation may have been fairly close to Ket. Western Washington University
Western Washington University
Western Washington University is one of six state-funded, four-year universities of higher education in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located in Bellingham and offers bachelor's and master's degrees.-History:...
historical linguist Edward Vajda
Edward Vajda
Edward Vajda is a historical linguist at Western Washington University. He has become known for his work on the proposed Dené–Yeniseian language family, seeking to establish that the Ket language of Siberia has a common linguistic ancestor with the Na-Dené languages of North America...
spent a year in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
studying the Ket people and their language and his findings helped substantiated such conjecture into the origins of the Ket people, where DNA claims show genetic affinities with people of Tibetan, Burmese, and other origins http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ea210/ket.htm. Edward Vajda further finds a relationship of the Ket language to that of Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
languages, and even suggests the tonal system of the Ket language is closer that that of Vietnamese
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
than any of the native Siberian languages http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6050673836854498204#. His (2004) monograph Ket is the first modern scholarly grammar of the Ket language in English. (Lueders 2008)
Others link the Jie with the Sogdians
Sogdiana
Sogdiana or Sogdia was the ancient civilization of an Iranian people and a province of the Achaemenid Empire, eighteenth in the list on the Behistun Inscription of Darius the Great . Sogdiana is "listed" as the second of the "good lands and countries" that Ahura Mazda created...
, and suggest that the family name of Shi from Jie who ruled the Later Zhao
Later Zhao
The Later Zhao was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin Dynasty in China. It was founded by the Shi family of the Jie ethnicity...
state originated in the Sogdian statelet of Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
, which was later also known as the Kingdom of Shi. An Lushan
An Lushan
An Lushan was a general who rebelled against the Tang Dynasty in China.His name was also transcribed into Chinese as Āluòshān or Gáluòshān ,...
, the Tang
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
rebel general, had a Sogdian stepfather and was called a Jiehu. Yet others trace the Jie to those Great Yuezhi
Yuezhi
The Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....
or Tocharians
Tocharians
The Tocharians were the Tocharian-speaking inhabitants of the Tarim Basin, making them the easternmost speakers of Indo-European languages in antiquity. They were known as, or at least closely related to, the Yuezhi of Chinese sources...
who had remained in Sogdiana.
Additional reference
- Zhonghan Wang, "Outlines of Ethnic Groups in China", Taiyuan, Shanxi Education Press, 2004, p. 133, ISBN 7544026604
External links
- 羯語記載 The language of Jie ( Kiet ) – earliest Turkic language phrase recorded in Chinese Chronicle(Chinese Traditional Big5 code page) via Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...