A Jewish Ruler in Xinjiang

I was contacted earlier this year by a Princeton graduate concerning my past research on the Kaifeng Jews. I'm always on the lookout for new material, so I welcomed the news that he had located a reference to Jews in Xinjiang province, China that had been overlooked by researchers like Donald Leslie and Chen Yuan. This new information was located in a report on the 1900-1901 exploration of Xinjiang (then known as Eastern Turkestan) by the famous archaeologist Aurel Stein (1862-1943). [1] It describes a 12th-century Jew named Turk Terkhān, the ruler of the desert town of Kenhān. This entry presents my opinion on the historical validity of the material in relation to the Jews of China.

In mid-march of 1901, Stein set out to locate a town named in various historical travel logs as Hanmo (捍麽) (Song Yun, 6th. c.), Pimo (媲摩) (Xuanzang, 7th c.), and Pein (Marco Polo, 13th c.). [2] After crossing an expanse of desert and swamp by camel and horse, he came across two ancient deserted towns, Uzun-Tati (“the distant tati [dwelling]”) and Ulūgh-Ziārat (“ancient shrine”), which he believed to be contenders for the target of his search. Positioned about 3 miles apart, these two towns were located in the exact direction and number of miles from Yotkan, the capital of the ancient Khotan empire, as given in the travel account of the monk Xuanzang (玄奘, 602-664). [3] Stein cites evidence that both locations were occupied as late as the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). [4] For example, the Tadhkira (biography) of Maḥmūd Karam Kābulī, a work containing information about the 12th-century, mentions Ulūgh-Ziārat by name. It is this work that references the Jewish ruler. Stein writes:

“This text…describes in some detail the conquest by the Muhammadan champions of the territory of ‘Kenhān’, situated between the Keriya river and Khotan. Its ruler, the infidel ‘Turk Terkhān’, is spoken of as a Jew and as a dependent of the Nūdūn Khān, the ‘Tersa’ or Christian, who held Khotan with his Kirghiz Kalmak or Kara-Khitai. [5] After defeating Turk Terkhān the Muhammadan host is said to have taken and pillaged the rich town of Ulūgh-Ziārat, which was close to his capital Kenhān. The latter itself vanished through magic, while the Muslim host next occupied Chīra, and victoriously advanced upon Khotan. Whatever interpretation we may care to put upon any historical reminiscences that may possibly have mingled with this legend, it is quite clear on topographical grounds that by ‘the province of Kenhān’ must be meant the oases stretching from Kerya to Chīra, and by ‘the town of Ulūgh-Ziārat’ the site of Ulūgh-Ziārat. The ‘town of Kenhān’, Turk Terkhān’s capital, which is said to have vanished, may, at the time not exactly known to us when the legend took the shape recorded in the Tadhkira, have been looked for among the sands of Uzun-Tati.” [6]

Despite Ulūgh-Ziārat being a historical city, I am not inclined to accept the account provided by the Tadhkira. I have not been able to track down any more information on Turk Terkhān or Nūdūn Khān. I find it hard to believe that a Jew and a Christian ruled over land (Terkhān and Khān are both ranks) in a predominantly Muslim area neighboring the eastern caliphate. [7] In fact, there are elements of the story that make me think it was a legend created to glorify Islam. For starters, both men are referred to by derogatory terms. The Terkhān is called an “infidel” and the Khān is called a “tersa.” The Persian word tersa was a universal term applied to “conquered idolaters” (any non-Muslim living under their rule).[8] Second, the Muslim forces are portrayed as sweeping through and easily conquering both men and their nomad armies. [9]. Thus, the Jew and Christian are painted as weak infidels, while the Muslims are painted as conquering victors.


A good parallel is the legend told to the Jesuit Matteo Ricci by the Chinese Jew Ai Tian (艾田) in 1605. Ricci recorded in his journal that the Jew told him “they [the community] had preserved the tradition that many Moors, Christians and Jews had come with the King Tamerlane, when he conquered Persia and also China 800 years ago.” [10] Eight hundred years prior would have put Tamerlane’s (1336-1405) arrival during the middle of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The only problem is that he lived during the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and died just 200 years prior to Ai and Ricci’s meeting. Additionally, he never conquered China at all. Tamerlane originally became upset when Ming Emperor Hongwu (洪武, 1328-1398) sent him a letter describing him as a vassal in 1397. He didn’t start amassing forces for an offensive against China until 1404, during the rule of the Yongle Emperor (永樂], 1360-1424). Fortunately, Tamerlane died of an illness in 1405 in the Central Asian town of Otrar before ever reaching China. [11] He originally intended on converting all of China to Islam, [12] so the legend of him conquering the land may have been spawned by wishful thinking Muslims living in the Middle Kingdom.

In conclusion, the story regarding Turk Terkhān cannot be accepted as a historical account of a Jew living in Xinjiang. No source outside of the Tadhkira mentions the events, which makes it difficult to verify. It’s very possible that Turk Terkhān is a fictional straw man—or at the very least the shadow of a demonized historical ruler—created to glorify Islam. He and the Christian Nūdūn Khān are painted as weak infidels, while the Muslims are painted as conquering victors. Such stories may have been common because the 17th-century Jew Ai Tian shared a legend about the Muslim ruler Tamerlane conquering China. This is obviously wrong considering that Tamerlane died before his armies reached China. It was most likely the product of wishful thinking Muslims, like those who created the story featured in the Tadhkira.

I do not doubt, however, that Jews have lived and passed through Xinjiang for centuries. They are known to have been active in the area by at least the 8th-century. For example, during the same expedition, Stein uncovered a Judeo-Persian business letter in Dandān-Uiliq near Khotan.[13] The letter was written during the Tang dynasty by a Jew upset with a business partner in Persia because he was stuck with selling an inferior flock of sheep. [14] It is important to note that it was written on paper, which was only available in China at this time. [15] The Kaifeng Jews are thought to have settled in China during 12th-century. The fact that they were Persian merchants probably means they had to have traveled through Xinjiang in order to get to the imperial capital of Kaifeng. Also, Jews may have been among the “people with colored eyes” (色目人) imported to China by the Mongols during the proceeding Yuan dynasty. [16] Those living in the north no doubt had to travel through Xinjiang.

Notes

[1] Aurel Stein, Ancient Khotan, Detailed Report of Archaeological Explorations in Chinese Turkestan (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907). The entire 700 + page report can be downloaded for free from Google Books.
[2] Ibid, 452 and 455-457. The Chinese characters for Song Yun and Xuanzang are 宋雲 and 玄奘, respectively. Both monks traveled to India with the expressed purpose of retrieving Buddhist sutras.
[3] Ibid, 462.
[4] Ibid, 461 and 463.
[5] The Kirghiz Kalmak or Kara-Khitai are nomadic tribes from Central Asia and Mongolia known for their fighting ability.
[6] Ibid, 463.
[7] These ranks were common among Mongolian and Turkish people (Henry H. Howorth, History of the Mongols, From the 9th to the 19h Century (New York: Burt Franklin, 1966), 31). Terkhān was once a rank in the Persianate, but eventually became a name by the time of Baber (1483-1530) (Robert Marriott Caldecott, The Life of Baber, Emperor of Hindostan (London: J. Darling; [etc.], 1844), 17).
[8] Palmira Johnson Brummett, The 'book' of Travels: Genre, Ethnology, and Pilgrimage, 1250-1700 (Leiden: Brill, 2009), 42.
[9] See note #5.
[10] Donald Leslie, The Survival of the Chinese Jews: The Jewish Community of Kaifeng (Tʻoung pao, 10. Leiden: Brill, 1972), 9 and 32. The bracketed words are mine.
[11] Denis Crispin Twitchett, John K. Fairbank, and Frederick W. Mote, The Cambridge History of China. Vol.7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 259.
[12] Ibid.
[13] David S. Margoliouth, “An Early Judaeo-Persian Document from Khotan in the Stein Collection, with other early Persian Documents,” in Studies of the Chinese Jews: Selections from Journals East and West, ed. Hyman Kublin (New YorK: Paragon Book Reprint Corp, 1971), 25.
[14] A full translation of the letter can be found in Bo Utas, “The Jewish-Persian fragment from Dandan-Uiliq,” Orientalia Suecana, Uppsala, 17 (1968): 123-136.
[15] Xu Xin, The Jews of Kaifeng, China: History, Culture, and Religion (Jersey City, NJ: KTAV Pub. House, 2003), 153.
[16] Zhu Jiang, "Jewish Traces in Yangzhou," in Jews in Old China: Studies by Chinese Scholars, ed. Sidney Shapiro (New York: Hippocrene Books, 1988), 146.

Bibliography

Brummett, Palmira Johnson. The 'book' of Travels: Genre, Ethnology, and Pilgrimage, 1250-1700. Leiden: Brill, 2009.

Caldecott, Robert Marriott. The Life of Baber, Emperor of Hindostan. London: J. Darling; [etc.], 1844.

Howorth, Henry H. History of the Mongols, From the 9th to the 19h Century. New York: Burt Franklin, 1966.

Leslie, Donald. The Survival of the Chinese Jews: The Jewish Community of Kaifeng. Tʻoung pao, 10. Leiden: Brill, 1972.

Margoliouth, David S. “An Early Judaeo-Persian Document from Khotan in the Stein Collection, with other early Persian Documents.” in Studies of the Chinese Jews: Selections from Journals East and West, ed. Hyman Kublin, 23-54. New YorK: Paragon Book Prent Corp, 1971.

Stein, Aurel. Ancient Khotan, Detailed Report of Archaeological Explorations in Chinese Turkestan. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.

Twitchett, Denis Crispin, John K. Fairbank, and Frederick W. Mote. The Cambridge History of China. Vol.7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Utas, Bo. “The Jewish-Persian fragment from Dandan-Uiliq.” Orientalia Suecana, Uppsala, 17 (1968): 123-136.

Xu, Xin. The Jews of Kaifeng, China: History, Culture, and Religion. Jersey City, NJ: KTAV Pub. House, 2003.

Zhu, Jiang. "Jewish Traces in Yangzhou." in Jews in Old China: Studies by Chinese Scholars, ed. Sidney Shapiro, 143-158. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1988.