Origins, Ancestors, and Imperial Authority in Early Northern Wei Historiography Nina Duthie ...

197 Pages·2015·1.8 MB·English

Origins, Ancestors, and Imperial Authority in Early Northern Wei Historiography

Nina Duthie

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

2015
©2015
Nina Duthie
All rights reserved
ABSTRACT
Origins, Ancestors, and Imperial Authority in Early Northern Wei Historiography
Nina Duthie

In this dissertation, I explore Wei shu historiography on the early Northern Wei imperial
state, which was founded by the Tuoba Xianbei in the late fourth century C.E. In
examining the Wei shu narrative of the Northern Wei founding, I illuminate not only the
representation of cultural and imperial authority in the reigns of the early Northern Wei
emperors, but also investigate historiography on the pre-imperial Tuoba past. I argue that
the Wei shu narrative of Tuoba origins and ancestors is constructed from the perspective
of the moment of the Northern Wei founding. Or, to view it the other way around, the
founding of the Northern Wei imperial state by Tuoba Gui signifies the culmination of
the Wei shu narrative on the early Tuoba.

This narrative of the early Tuoba past is of course teleological: Essentially everything in
this phase of Tuoba historiography leads up to the moment of the Northern Wei imperial
founding, including genealogical descent from a son of Huangdi, who is represented as
the Xianbei progenitor, in a remote northern wilderness; the continuous succession of
Tuoba rulers that followed; and the journeys that brought the Tuoba out of the wilderness
and toward the geographical center.

In focusing on the account of the inaugural reign of Tuoba Gui, the Northern Wei
founder, and the record of his ritual practice as emperor, I have discovered tensions in
Wei shu historiography that I believe signal toward some of the actual cultural
contestation that attended the founding of the Northern Wei imperial state. The Wei shu
historiography on Buddhism in the early Northern Wei then, I argue, presents an
alternative source of authority, one that stands outside both an imperial Han inheritance
and a culturally Tuoba tradition.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Part I
Chapter 1: Origins and Cultural Authority:
Ethnography and Historiography on the Early Xianbei 16

Part II
Prologue: Other Origins of the Tuoba Xianbei 54
Chapter 2: Early Tuoba Imperial Ancestors and Territorial Migrations 66
Chapter 3: Ritual and Imperial Authority in the Founding of the Northern Wei 101
Chapter 4: Imperial Authority and Buddhism in the Early Northern Wei 144
Epilogue 177
Bibliography 184
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It is difficult to imagine writing a dissertation of this kind in an institution other
than the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University.
EALAC granted me a firm foundation in the fields of Premodern Chinese literature and
cultural history, and then allowed me to pursue a project that blurs disciplinary
boundaries. I owe my deepest gratitude to my two advisors, Shang Wei and Robert
Hymes, who both read this manuscript with thoughtfulness and care. Shang Wei
graciously offered his guidance throughout the process of conceptualizing and writing
this project, and his breadth of knowledge is a source of continual inspiration. Robert
Hymes generously shared his expertise on social history of early medieval China, and
offered astute recommendations for revision of the manuscript. I am also indebted to my
other dissertation committee members Charles Holcombe, Michael Puett, and David
Lurie, each of whom provided a unique critical perspective and much constructive
advice. Al Dien provided comments on a presentation which was based on a draft of
chapter 1.
I am grateful to Haruo Shirane for generously dispensing sound advice throughout
the course of my doctoral studies at Columbia University. I am also grateful to Wendy
Swartz for her comments on an early proposal for this project and for her seminars on
Shijing and early medieval poetry, and to Li Feng for his lively seminar on history and
archaeology of early China.
My classmates in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures,
especially Linda Rui Feng, Gregory Patterson, and Nan Ma Hartmann, shared their clever
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wit and warm companionship, and I am indebted to Linda for reading drafts of chapters
even while preparing her own book manuscript for publication.
Funding to support my dissertation research was provided by a Fulbright
fellowship to Taiwan for the academic year 2010–2011. I would like to thank National
Taiwan University for hosting a productive stay, and in particular Cheng Yu-yu in the
Department of Chinese Literature and Chen Jo-shui in the Department of History.
Adventures with my fellow Fulbrighters Veronica Wong, Kim Liao, and Erin Shigekawa
exploring the cafes and bookshops of Taipei made the experience all the richer.
At the dissertation writing stage, David Schaberg’s seminar on Zuo Zhuan that I
audited at UCLA was immensely inspiring, and allowed me to think about historiography
in ways both critical and creative. I am also most grateful to Jack Chen for several
productive conversations about this dissertation project.
My parents, Jan, Martin, and Eve, have been a constant source of support and
motivation throughout my doctoral education. Finally, my gratitude is owed to Torquil,
who intuitively believed in this project even at moments when it seemed to go astray.
Thank you for patiently reading drafts of the manuscript and for cooking dinner almost
every evening.

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Introduction

The Project
At the close of the fourth century (in 398 C.E.), Tuoba Gui (cid:629)(cid:1415)(cid:973), the ruler of
the Tuoba Xianbei, proclaimed the founding of the (Northern) Wei imperial state and
formally accepted the insignia of emperor, acceding as Taizu (cid:358)(cid:1052), Emperor Daowu (cid:1475)
(cid:810), according to the Wei shu. Earlier that year, Tuoba Gui had fulfilled each of the
requisite acts attendant at the founding of an imperial state. He formally accepted the
mandate of heaven, held deliberations with his ministers on the name of the imperial
state, built the new capital of Pingcheng, erected therein the ancestral temple and the
altars of soil and grain, and further, instituted an array of new imperial rituals to be
performed by the Tuoba emperors of the Northern Wei.
The elevation of the Northern Wei from kingdom to imperium (Tuoba Gui had
previously declared himself king of the Wei state, which thereby supplanted the
predecessor state of Dai) signified both Tuoba Gui’s personal ambitions as ruler and his
aspirations for the regime he led. The founding of the imperial Northern Wei state laid
the groundwork for the eventual conquests of the surrounding states, and within only
about four decades, by the mid-fifth century, the Northern Wei would effectively unify
the north under its imperial rule.
The focal point of this dissertation is the Wei shu narrative of the founding of the
imperial Northern Wei state through the inaugural reign of Tuoba Gui, or Emperor
Daowu. I explore the deeply interconnected issues of cultural and imperial authority at
this moment of the Northern Wei founding, as represented in Wei shu historiography.
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Through an examination of Wei shu accounts of Emperor Daowu’s practice of imperial
ritual, tensions emerge in the text between an avowed adherence to Zhou–Han textual
prescriptions and vestiges of culturally Tuoba traditional practice. Moreover, the accounts
preserve a record of ritual performance that cannot be categorized as following either
tradition. I not only investigate ritual practice in Emperor Daowu’s reign, but also trace
the history of ritual practice through the ensuing reigns of the Northern Wei emperors.
Although the focal point of my dissertation is the founding of the Northern Wei,
this moment is refracted across Wei shu historiography on the early Tuoba, as it is from
the perspective of the imperial Northern Wei founding that the origins, early history, and
lineage of the Tuoba were constructed. Significantly, only at the inauguration of the
Northern Wei imperial state were the five imperial ancestors enshrined as past emperors.
The Wei shu narrative traces the Tuoba from their genealogical and territorial origins,
throughout their journeys as they emerge from a wilderness, and into the formation of the
Dai state. This phase of pre-imperial Tuoba history is written in the “Prefatory Annals” (
(cid:507)(cid:1117)) of the Wei shu, and aspects of this history are also incorporated into the
“Lingzheng zhi” (cid:1596)(cid:562)(cid:567)(cid:1)(“Treatise on Auspicious and Inauspicious Influences”).
This project also moves forward in time from the moment of the Northern Wei
imperial founding to examine Wei shu historiography on Buddhism during the reigns of
the early Northern Wei emperors. I explore Buddhism as an alternative source of imperial
authority, and trace the arc of the historiographical narrative from imperial
accommodation through persecution and finally to restoration. I argue that this narrative
illuminates issues of acculturation and cultural authority during the early Northern Wei,
and also poses an interesting case of the writing and rewriting of history in the Wei shu.
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The parameters of this dissertation therefore encompass the historiographical
representation of the earliest history of the Tuoba clan through the reigns of the first five
emperors of the Northern Wei imperial state.

The Text
The historiographical text that treats the Tuoba Xianbei and the Northern Wei is
the Wei shu ((cid:1679)(cid:736), History of the Northern Wei). The history was compiled by Wei Shou
(cid:1679)(cid:664) (505–572 C.E.) under the command of the founding emperor of the Northern Qi,
which had succeeded the Eastern Wei, in the mid-sixth century C.E., and the final text
was presented in 554 C.E., though it subsequently underwent revision. The structure of
the text, in one hundred and thirty chapters ((cid:235)), follows the composite annals–biography
style (jizhuan ti (cid:1117)(cid:135)(cid:1668)), and incorporates ten treatises (zhi (cid:567)), two of which were
innovations by Wei Shou.
The earliest source text for the Wei shu annals section (which is referred to in the
Wei shu as the “Imperial Annals,” or “Diji” (cid:493)(cid:1117)) was the Annals of Dai (Dai ji (cid:86)(cid:1117)),
compiled by Deng Yuan (cid:1506)(cid:876) at the command of the Northern Wei founder, Tuoba Gui.
The Annals of Dai historiography broadly corresponds with the “Prefatory Annals”
chapter (“Xuji” (cid:507)(cid:1117)) in the Wei shu, and covers the history of the Tuoba from their
earliest origins through the founding of the Northern Wei. Throughout the Northern Wei
regime, the history of the state was continually recorded, and toward the end of the
Northern Wei, Wei Shou himself participated in the compilation of the History of the
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