Tartars and Chinese: one government, one language, two characters
Editorial contextIn a section headed 'Character of the Tartars', Hüttner says mixed marriages, a single government and a common language had made Tartars and Chinese hard to tell apart in their customs. Yet he found the Tartar, as travellers described him, rough, hard and blunt: sturdier in build, clumsier in manners and less clean in his dwellings than the Chinese, but without the deceitful double-dealing he attributes to his Chinese neighbour. On the next page the two mandarins conducting the embassy blamed the stubbornness and pride of the Tartars for trouble getting supplies in Tartary.
Mixed marriages of Tartars and Chinese, one and the same government, one and the same language naturally produce the same customs. But since a people can never wholly deny its own character, here too some traits shine through that clearly distinguish the Tartar from the Chinese. Travellers describe the former as rough, hard and blunt; and so we really found him.
Working translation
Original wording
Vermischte Ehen der Tartarn und Chinesen, einerlei Regierung, einerlei Sprache bringen natürlicher Weise dieselben Sitten hervor. Da aber ein Volk seinen eigenthümlichen Charakter nie gänzlich verläugnen kann, so leuchten auch hier einige Züge hervor, die den Tartarn merklich von dem Chinesen unterscheiden. Reisende beschreiben den erstern als roh, hart und gerade; und so fanden wir ihn wirklich.
About Manchus ('Tartars') and Chinese
Keep in mind
National-character stereotypes, partly borrowed from earlier travellers, as Hüttner admits.
The Tartar raid of 1550 and a city retaken
Editorial contextPortuguese prisoners in China were told that after some years of truce, the Tartars made a great invasion in 1550 and took a very important city. The Chinese besieged it but could not storm it; on the advice of a low-born man they found a way to kill the Tartars and their horses and recovered the city. Cruz does not name the city or the method. The date matches the great Mongol raid on the Beijing region in 1550.
It was affirmed to the Portuguese who were captives … that for some years there had been truces between the Chinese and the Tartars; and in the year fifty the Tartars made a great incursion into China, in which they took from them a very important city … on the advice of a man of low rank they found a means by which they killed them and their horses, and became masters of the city once more.
Working translation
Original wording
Afirmouse aos Portugueses q̃ estauam catiuos … q̃ ha algũs annos q̃ auia entre os Chinas e Tartaros treguas: e no anno de cincoenta fizeram os Tartaros hũa grãde ẽtrada na China, da qual lhe tomaram hũa cidade muy principal … por cõselho de hũ homẽ de baixa sorte, tiuerã meo cõ que a elles e aos cauallos matarã, e ficarã outra vez señores da cidade.
About Tartars (Mongols) and Ming Chinese
Keep in mind
Prisoners' hearsay; the city is not named.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR of this blackletter print is garbled); long s normalized, the Tironian sign for 'and' given as 'e', a few contractions (de, per, pro, terra) expanded, other abbreviation marks kept as printed.
Mass weddings by lot 'toward Tartary'
Editorial contextMendoza passes on a story that in the provinces toward Tartary, and in Tartary itself, governors set an age by which men and women must either enter religion or marry. At the appointed time all who are to marry gather in a designated city, where twelve elders record their names and wealth; if there are more men than women, they draw lots, and the surplus wait until next year. He introduces it with 'they say'.
They say that in the provinces toward Tartary, and in Tartary itself, a certain very strange manner of marrying is customary, which is that the viceroys or governors have set a time for both men and women, so that on reaching a certain age they are obliged either to enter religion or to marry.
Working translation
Original wording
Dizen que en las Prouincias hazia la Tartaria, y en la mesma Tartaria, se acostumbra vna cierta manera de casar muy estraña, y es que los Virreyes, o Gouernadores tienen señalado tiempo, assi a los hombres como a las mugeres paraque hasta llegar a tal edad tengan obligacion, o de meterse en Religion, o de casarse.
About Peoples of the northern provinces and 'Tartary itself'
Keep in mind
Hearsay introduced with 'they say'; the story echoes older European tales (such as Herodotus's Babylonian bride market) and has no clear Asian source.
Transcribed from the page image; long s normalized.
Tatar Khan's realm by the powerful town of Dsurdsut
Editorial contextWhen Oghuz Khan forced his neighbours to accept the true faith, a few refugees fled to Tatar Khan, who lived near 'Dsurdsut'. Abu'l Ghazi calls it a very powerful town ruling several smaller ones, near China's frontier. Dsurdsut is most likely the Jurchen, the people of Manchuria, so here the early Tatars are placed beside a town-dwelling kingdom.
a very few who retir'd into the Dominions of Tatar Chan, who resided in the Neighbourhood of Dsurdsut. The Town of Dsurdsut is very powerful, having several small Towns under its Jurisdiction: 'Tis situate towards the Frontiers of Kitay, being called Zinu in the Indian and Persian Language.
About Tatars under the legendary Tatar Khan; the Jurchen (Dsurdsut)
Keep in mind
Part of the Oghuz Khan legend; identifying Dsurdsut with the Jurchen is a modern reading, not the text's.
Transcribed from the page image (corpus OCR for this volume is unreadable); long s normalized.
Before they ruled, the Turks were ironsmiths
Editorial contextIn his addenda Schott explains a note from the Chinese encyclopedias Hoan-jü-ki and Ma Tuan-lin: the chief Tu-lun of the S'en-sen took the title K'o-han (khagan, 'khan') in the time of T'ai-wu-ti (reigned 424 to 451), emperor of the Wei dynasty under which the 'Tatar people Topa' ruled northern China, and the Tu-kiu later followed his example. He adds that the S'en-sen were overthrown by the Tu-kiu, who had first served them as ironsmiths. Schott's point is that the title and these peoples are documented in Chinese records centuries before Chinggis Khan.
Heu-Uei (or Juan-Uei) was the Chinese name under which the Tatar people Topa (Tö-pö) ruled the northern China it had conquered. … The S'en-sen, who according to Chinese history were a tribe of the Hiung-nu, were for a time powerful in eastern Turkistan, and fell to the Tu-kiu, who had at first done forced labour for them (as ironsmiths).
Working translation
Original wording
Heu-Uei (oder Juan-Uei) war der chinesische Name, unter welchem das tatarische Volk Topa (Tö-pö) über das von ihm eroberte nördliche China herrschte. … Die S'en-sen, von denen die chinesische Geschichte sagt, dass sie ein Stamm der Hiung-nu gewesen, waren eine Zeitlang im östlichen Turkistan mächtig, und unterlagen den Tu-kiu, die ihnen anfänglich Frohndienste (als Eisenschmiede) geleistet hatten.
About Topa (Tuoba) of northern China, the S'en-sen (Rouran) and the Tu-kiu (early Turks)
Keep in mind
Schott's romanisations are his own (Heu-Uei is the Later or Northern Wei; S'en-sen is usually written Rouran or Juan-juan).
Horse fairs on the Great Wall
Editorial contextAfter Altan Khan made peace in 1571, the Ming set rules for border markets: the Mongols would bring gold, silver, cattle, horses, hides and horsetail, and Chinese merchants satin, silk, cloth and iron cooking pots. Each market ran for a month, with three hundred Mongols camped outside the wall and five hundred Chinese troops guarding the marketplace. Iron pots were a key trade good because the Mongols could not easily make them.
One: establish border markets, on the model of the northern tribes' three tributes at the start of Hongzhi. The fan (Mongols) bring gold, silver, cattle, horses, hides, horse tails and such; the merchants bring satin, silk, cloth and iron pots and cauldrons. On market days three hundred of those who come are to camp outside the wall, and five hundred of our soldiers are to be stationed at the marketplace; the market lasts a full month.
Working translation
Original wording
一立互市其規如𢎞治初北部三貢例蕃以金銀牛馬皮張馬尾等物啇販以縀紬布匹釡鍋等物開市日来者以三百人駐邉外我兵五百駐市場期盡一月
About Tumed and other Eastern Mongols ('Tatars')
Keep in mind
A summary of the governor Wang Chonggu's proposals as quoted in the history.
