The Rouran make Kan Bozhou king of Gaochang
In 460 the Rouran took Gaochang in the Turfan oasis, killed Juqu Anzhou, the last of the Northern Liang ruling house, and made Kan Bozhou king — the first ruler of Gaochang to bear that title. The Chinese oasis kingdom thus founded survived several changes of dynasty and lasted until the Tang conquest of 640.
- Date
- 460year known
- Place
- Gaochang in the Turfan oasistoday: Ruins of Gaochang (Karakhoja) near Turpan, Xinjiang, China · Central and Northern Asia
- Participants
- Rouran Khaganate, Kan Bozhou
- Threads
- The Steppe and Central Asia (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Kan Bozhou; Juqu Anzhou; Juqu Wuhui; Kan Shuang; Northern Liang; Kingdom of Gaochang; Qocho; Karakhoja; Turfan; Кань Бочжоу; Цзюйцюй Аньчжоу; Цзюйцюй Ухуэй; Кань Шуан; Северная Лян; Кочо; Караходжа; Турфан
Gaochang, the chief town of the Turfan oasis on the road from China to the Tarim Basin, had been a Chinese commandery since 327, when the Former Liang of Gansu created it. When the Northern Wei destroyed the Northern Liang in 439, Kan Shuang, a man from Liangzhou, seized Gaochang and styled himself its governor; in 442 the troops of Juqu Wuhui, a Northern Liang prince who had fled west with his brother Anzhou, stormed the town, and Kan Shuang fled to the Rouran. After Wuhui’s death in 444 Anzhou ruled there as the last of the Juqu.
In 460 the Rouran attacked Gaochang, killed Anzhou, wiped out the Juqu and set up Kan Bozhou as king; “it was from this that Gaochang’s rulers were called kings”, the Zizhi tongjian notes. The Chinese histories describe a country of eight towns, all with Chinese inhabitants. The kingdom remained a Rouran vassal, but not a stable one: after Kan Bozhou’s death in 477 his son was murdered by a cousin, whom the king of the Gaoche, the Rouran’s rebellious subjects, in turn killed, installing Zhang Mengming of Dunhuang; after him and Ma Ru the people of Gaochang chose Qu Jia of Jincheng in Gansu, whose family ruled from about 500 until the Tang conquest of 640.
Connections
Related events
- Lü Guang takes Kucha and carries off Kumārajīva384 · Central and Northern AsiaGaochang had been a Chinese commandery since 327; Lü Guang’s army passed through it in 383 and 385
- Northern Wei takes Guzang and unites northern China18 October 439 · East Asiasurvivors of the Northern Liang house fled west after 439 and held Gaochang from 442 until the Rouran removed them
- The Ashina become ironworkers of the Rouran in the Altaibetween 439 and 460 · Central and Northern Asiasome historians date the Ashina’s move to the Altai to the Rouran conquest of Gaochang
- The Rouran Khaganate dominates the steppe402–552 · Central and Northern Asiathe Rouran extended their power over the oases of the Silk Road
Same place
- Ban Yong restores Han authority in the Western Regions123–127 · Central and Northern Asia
Adjacent events in the thread
- Fall of the Kidarites and rise of the Hephthalitesbetween 466 and 468 · Central and Northern Asia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Saint Patrick’s mission in Irelandbetween 432 and 461 – between 461 and 493
- Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britainbetween 410 and 449 – between 550 and 625
Eastern Europe
- Early Slavic cultures: Prague-Korchak, Penkovka and Kolochinc. 450 – c. 700
Middle East and Egypt
- Simeon Stylites on his pillarc. 423 – 2 September 459
Africa
- Martianus Capella’s Marriage of Philology and Mercurybetween 410 and 490
South Asia
- Skandagupta repels the Hunasbetween 450 and 460
- The later caves of Ajanta under the Vakataka king Harishenabetween 460 and 480 – between 480 and 550
East Asia
- Zu Chongzhi presents the Daming calendar462
- The Yungang Grottoes: cave temples of the Northern Wei near Pingchengc. 460 – 494
- Kofun period: the age of keyhole tombsbetween 250 and 300 – 538
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- The inscriptions of Purnavarman, king of Taruma in western Javabetween 400 and 600
- Gold pendant copying a coin of Antoninus Pius at Óc Eobetween 152 and 600
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
North America
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
Latin America
- Burial of the Lady of Cao at El Brujobetween 400 and 500
- Teotihuacan at its height: the largest city of the Americasc. 250 – c. 550
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Gaochang
- Wikipedia (Russian): Гаочан
- Wikipedia (Chinese): 阚伯周
- Сыма Гуан. Цзычжи тунцзянь, гл. 124 (442 г.), гл. 129 (460 г.).
- Ли Яньшоу. Бэй ши (History of the Northern Dynasties), гл. 97: жизнеописание Гаочана.
- Линху Дэфэнь и др. Чжоу шу (Book of Zhou), гл. 50: жизнеописание Гаочана.