Publisher's Synopsis
From the time of the "Chaos of the Eight Princes" (291 IV. Modern Western Literatures) in the Western Jin Dynasty, China suffered from civil strife and foreign aggression. After nearly three hundred years the people lived in extreme poverty until Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty unified China in 589 CE. The continual strife had created a melting pot and laid the foundation for the subsequent Sui and Tang Dynasties. Among the many ranks of barbarians that migrated into China, one nomadic tribe - the Sau-ro - has been ignored by classical historians. The correct pronunciation "Sau-ro," which is a shortened form of the translated word Sauromatae. Sauromatae is the name of their western homeland, probably modern-day Ukraine. During the mid-4th century, the Sau-ro nomads fled because of a great famine that had overtaken their homeland. They nomadized this great distance to Siberia and Mongolia searching for water and fodder for their flocks. Over time their migration continued, this time toward the south in quest of a more hospitable climate. As to be expected, local nomads with superior mobility and combat effectiveness attacked them along the way. The Sau-ro thus suffered defeat in 399 CE and again in 429 CE. Following these vanquishments the Northern Wei took approximately half-a-million Sau-ros, who had settled in central Mongolia and Trans-Baikal, prisoner. They were then again re-settled on the steppes of Inner Mongolia. The biggest impact the Sauromatians introduced to the oriental nomads was their Runic alphabet and their heavy combat cavalry. To the Han Chinese, however, the biggest Sauromatian contribution was neither heavy cavalry nor the Runic alphabet nor Scytho-Sauromatian portable art but a limited number of outstanding Chineselized political and military leaders. These people of Sauromatian descent were among the important founding monarchs of Sui and Tang dynasties and under their leadership an age of prosperity ruled over China. Although their grandfathers and fathers were once prisoner of war, these people were able to accomplish an outstanding military career from grassroots. They gradually attained the prestigious position of either a high-ranking officer or founding father. Later generations under the patronage of elders established new dynasties without employing a similar ethnic military force. These accomplishments are remarkable when compared to other armed barbarians who established regimes in China including the Wu-hu (Five Barbarians), Khitan, Jurchen, Mongolian, and Manchu. The principal difference was that Sauromatians had become Chineselized before they establish their own dynasties, so that the nature of their regime was Han Chinese, not barbarian. As Historian Master Chen Yin-ke said, "The reason the Li-Tang clan was able to rise suddenly is because of their infusion of the strong and unyielding barbaric blood from Northern barbarians into the decaying body of Chinese culture. Once the old vulgar custom was abolished, a new spirit grew, and an unprecedented world naturally emerged." Because the royal families of the Sui and Tang Dynasties had barbarian blood, China was able to establish a civil examination system to replace the system of selection from powerful families. Since then, this examination system has changed all the classes of the society for over a thousand years. It was truly a turning point for the social classes in China.
