Disaster of Yongjia

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Map depicting the Upheaval of the Five Barbarians

The Disaster of Yongjia (simplified Chinese: 永嘉之乱; traditional Chinese: 永嘉之亂) refers to an event in Chinese history that occurred in 311 CE (5th year of the Yongjia era of the reign of Emperor Huai of Jin, hence the name), when forces of the Xiongnu-led Han-Zhao dynasty captured and sacked Luoyang, the capital of the Western Jin dynasty. After this victory, Han's army committed a massacre of the city's inhabitants, killing the Jin crown prince, a host of ministers, and over 30,000[1] civilians. They also burnt down the palaces and dug up the Jin dynasty's mausoleums. This was a pivotal event during the Upheaval of the Five Barbarians and the early Sixteen Kingdoms era, and it played a major role in the fall of the Western Jin dynasty in 316 CE.

Aurel Stein discovered 5 letters written in Sogdian known as the "Ancient Letters" in an abandoned watchtower near Dunhuang in 1907. One letter in the collection was written by the Sogdian Nanai-vandak addressed to Sogdians back home in Samarkand, informing them about a mass rebellion by Xiongnu Hun rebels against their Han Chinese rulers of the Western Jin dynasty. He further informed his people that every single one of the diaspora Sogdians and Indians in the Chinese Western Jin capital Luoyang died of starvation due to the uprising. The Han Chinese emperor abandoned Luoyang when it came under siege by the Xiongnu rebels and his palace was burned down. Nanai-vandak also said the city of Ye was no more as the Xiongnu rebellion resulted in disaster for the Sogdian diaspora in China.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

The Disaster of Yongjia was a major impetus for the mass migration and expansion of Han people into southern China. Many clan genealogies ascribe this event in particular as the reason why their ancestors moved from the north to places in Fujian, Guangdong, etc.[13]

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References[edit]

  1. ^ "Volume 102: 劉聰載記". Book of Jin. 648. p. 2659. 曜於是害諸王公及百官已下三萬餘人
  2. ^ Sims-Williams, N. (December 15, 1985). "ANCIENT LETTERS". Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. II. Encyclopædia Iranica. pp. 7–9.
  3. ^ Keramidas, Kimon. "SOGDIAN ANCIENT LETTER II". NYU. Telling the Sogdian Story: A Freer/Sackler Digital Exhibition Project.
  4. ^ "The Sogdian Ancient Letters 1, 2, 3, and 5". Silk Road Seattle - University of Washington. translated by Prof. Nicholas Sims-Williams.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ^ Norman, Jeremy. "Aurel Stein Discovers the Sogdian "Ancient Letters" 313 CE to 314 CE". History of Information.
  6. ^ Sogdian Ancient Letter No. 3. Reproduced from Susan Whitfield (ed.), The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith (2004) p. 248.
  7. ^ "Ancient Letters". THE SOGDIANS Influencers on the Silk Roads. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
  8. ^ Keramidas, Kimon. "SOGDIAN ANCIENT LETTER III: LETTER TO NANAIDHAT". NYU. Telling the Sogdian Story: A Freer/Sackler Digital Exhibition Project.
  9. ^ "Sogdian letters". ringmar.net. History of International Relations. 5 March 2021.
  10. ^ Vaissière, Étienne de la (2005). "CHAPTER TWO ABOUT THE ANCIENT LETTERS". Sogdian Traders: A History. Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 8 Uralic & Central Asian Studies. Vol. 10. Brill. pp. 43–70. doi:10.1163/9789047406990_005. ISBN 978-90-47-40699-0.
  11. ^ Vaissière, Étienne de la (2005). "About the Ancient Letters". Sogdian Traders. Brill. pp. 43–70. doi:10.1163/9789047406990_005. ISBN 9789047406990.
  12. ^ Livšic, Vladimir A. (2009). "SOGDIAN "ANCIENT LETTERS" (II, IV, V)". In Orlov, Andrei; Lourie, Basil (eds.). Symbola Caelestis: Le symbolisme liturgique et paraliturgique dans le monde chrétien. Piscataway: Gorgias Press. p. 344-352. ISBN 9781463222543.
  13. ^ Zhenhe, Zhou; Lo, Kathy (1991). "Migrations in Chinese History and their Legacy on Chinese Dialects". Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series (3): 29–49. JSTOR 23827034.