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The Xin Tangshu (“New Tang [Dynasty] History”), a work compiled in large part by the Chinese Song dynasty (A.D. 960-1279) Neo-Confucian literatus Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072), contains some material on the Türks (called Tujue by the Chinese). In his prolegomena to this material, Ouyang Xiu launches into a shrill anti-nomad tirade that betrays his emotional excess and ideological prejudices against the Türks, Xiongnu, and other nomadic peoples who historically inhabited the steppe regions north of China. In addition, Ouyang's style of historical writing valued conveyance of moral principles over dispassionate description. The Xin Tangshu's historical coverage of the Türks is therefore quite suspect and should be used with caution. Other Chinese-language works on Tang history and the Türks (among them the Jiu Tangshu, or “Old Tang History” and others) are more reliable and detailed. But since the Xin Tangshu contains some information not found in other texts, it would be a mistake for Turkologists to neglect it altogether. Informed caution, not uninformed avoidance, is the correct approach to using the Xin Tangshu.
Abstract
This paper attempts to give new explanation for the expression agrïp yok bol- occurring in 9th line of the south side of the Bilgä Kagan Inscription. After a thorough survey of former research and several Chinese sources, the authors came to the conclusion that this expression must be a euphemistic expression for being beheaded in a battle. The authors found also that kog säŋün was Guo Yingjie 郭英傑. In sum, the sentence in question is to be read as ulug oglum agrïp yok bolča kog säŋünüg balbal tikä bertim ‘When my oldest son died of a disease, I readily erected General Kog as a balbal (for him).’ The expression agrïp yok bol- is to be regarded as a euphemistic expression for being beheaded in a battle.
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collection of Wang Yucheng)] Wang Yucheng 王禹偁 . Facsimile reprint. Shanghai, Shangwu yinshuguan, 1936 . Xin Tangshu 新唐書 [New book of Tang]. Ouyang Xiu 歐陽脩 (1007–1072)–Song Qi 宋祁 (998–1061) . Punctuated and collated edition. Beijing
