Whenever people today talk about ancient slavery, they always think of the Colosseum, Arab pirates and plantation owners in the southern United States. But most of them would not care. The prosperous Tang Dynasty thousands of years ago also used a large number of slaves and expanded its imports to Africa. To bring the vigor of all nations of the ruler, add a dark color with thick ink.
The prosperous atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty is inseparable from the wanton exploitation of the vast number of slaves
Slaves of the Tang Dynasty were often called "mouth", "shengkou" or "slave servant". According to the explanation of the high-ranking "Tang Rule" , this group is equivalent to livestock and property. Only the basic life guarantee given by "Law of Fighting" stipulates that the owner shall not be executed by lynching them. Otherwise, even if the slave is innocent, the master will be sentenced to one year in prison. If the slave is guilty, the master will also be beaten to 100 big plates. However, the above rules do not cover those who are killed by the owner, so there is great flexibility in the specific implementation level.
Most of the masters have great legal space after executing slaves
At the same time, seizing slaves is against humanity after all, and it is easy to erode the taxes of self-cultivated farmers on which the court relies. Therefore, although the emperor of Chang'an allowed slavery to exist, he would explicitly prohibit all acts of abducting good people as slaves. But the laws and regulations ultimately cannot resist the true fragrance law of the grassroots, so they will be open to the slaves who will pay tribute to the outside world. Therefore, Li Tang, with a rare to inclusive and open mind in history, refused all foreign slaves.
Tang Dynasty Kunlun slave portrait with obvious black characteristics
In contrast, the dark-skinned Kunlun slaves from East Africa and other places can undoubtedly best demonstrate the Tang Dynasty's slavery's connection with international connection. Because these people are often strong, they are assigned to engage in various heavy physical or high-risk jobs. As recorded in "Taiping Guangji", high-ranking officials and nobles would send black slaves to the south of the Temple of Heaven to drive oxen to plow the fields. Li Deyu, who was demoted by the government, also ordered them to go to Crocodile Beach to retrieve Luoshui calligraphy and paintings.
Tang Dynasty Kunlun slave terracotta figurines
There are only a few individuals. Because of their special sporting skills, they have been retained as animal trainers, musicians, or ethnic dance performers. The work "Pipa Song" by the great writer of the Tang Dynasty in the evening of Tang Dynasty, Yuan Zhen, , has a related description of Kunlun slave's musical talent. Of course, there are also the owners who have no family relatives, so they are confident and bold in handing over important items to them for safekeeping. Even when the Southern Song Dynasty geographer Zhao Rushi wrote "Zhufan Zhi", it was particularly mentioned that Kunlun slaves could be used to entrust keys.
East Africa South India and the Nanyang Islands are both considered to be the hometowns of Kunlun slaves
There have always been many statements about the origins of these Kunlun slaves. In addition to the most popular sayings of East African black people, it also includes various explanations such as South Asian origin and Southeast Asian islanders. Finally, it is a complex component that combines both. But it is certain that these poor people have very low status. It was not until some wise men discovered that their second name, Sengzhinu, seemed to be the transliteration of the word Zangi in the Nanyang region that the theory of origin of East Africa was further confirmed.
Arab businessmen have almost dominated the black slave market for nearly a thousand years
In fact, those Arab merchants or envoys from the South China Sea who visited Guangzhou have long-term customs of trafficking in black people. , especially the former, has always been driving south from the Red Sea to purchase goods on the shores of later generations, Somalia , Kenya and even Mozambique . Wait for the local chief to escort a group of criminals or prisoners of war to come over, and then select strong people to ship on board. Then it was sent to many ports in Egypt , Gulf of Aden , Persian Gulf or India, and may experience many redeems along the way. Sometimes it will also penetrate into some members of South India, Ceylon or the South Ocean Islands, causing interference to the work of later research teachers. But the black indigenous people produced in East Africa are undoubtedly the majority of Kunlun slave groups. Without their continued supply, there would probably be no such prosperous population trade routes.
The image of Kunlun slaves in the Tang Dynasty on the Dunhuang murals
After entering the country from ports such as Guangzhou, these black people will most likely become members of the Tang Dynasty official slave group. In addition, some wealthy households in the southern region will also buy them as private property, but in terms of total volume and purchase frequency, they cannot be compared with the huge official. Some lucky people have received professional training in their hometowns or along the way, and will complete transactions at a higher value and receive relatively good support treatment. But more people are just a lifelong strength and can only be bought in groups and engaged in labor-intensive production without any technical content.
Most Kunlun slaves are used to engage in labor-intensive industries
For this group of slaves with abnormally prominent physical characteristics, authors from the Tang Dynasty and later generations often gave high praise. For example, in the Yuan drama "Stealing Red Silk", Kunlun slave not only used his wisdom and martial arts to rob him of Hongxiao. In the future, he will further upgrade and become a Hu businessman who can make a fortune silently.
"Stealing Red Silk" plot is enough to make many keyboard warriors today all the best
earlier "Zizhi Tongjian" also left a chapter to record a shocking revenge. roughly refers to Guangzhou Governor Lu Yuanrui, who sheltered local staff and looted foreign merchant ships, and arrested the victim Hu merchants who were petitioning. The Kunlun slave of Hu Shang broke into the mansion and killed the governor and more than ten people on his left and right with his sleeve sword. Due to his outstanding fighting ability, no one else dared to stop him, and he watched Kunlun hero escape from the sea. However, the protagonist of this strange story is more likely to be a business group bodyguard who has received strict martial arts training. Most Kunlun slaves, who were driven by human traffickers, obviously could not have the level of combat power that was close to them.
Arabs began to train some black slaves to participate in the war very early
The cruelest master in the history of Kunlun slaves in the Tang Dynasty was Tao Xian, who was known as the scattered man. This descendant of Tao Yuanming, a master of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, once bought a black slave named Maha for himself. out of a boring and fun mentality, he ordered him to go into the water to retrieve the sword and jade ring he threw many times. As a result, Moke was poisoned by a water snake bite, so he could only use the method of chopping off his fingers to avoid poisonous hair all over his body. Some people took the opportunity to dissuade Tao Xian from doing such unreasonable things. Unexpectedly, the founder of Jiangnan Sizhu, shamelessly compared Xie Lingyun's love to the mountains and rivers, and refused to give up the low-level fun of playing with black slaves.
Kunlun slave's status in the Tang Dynasty was obviously extremely low
In the end, Maha was attacked by a crocodile when he was in the water one after another and was dismembered and died on the spot. Tao Xian was very sad about this, but it was just a child's inevitable cry when he lost his delicate toys. If he had known that in the Internet thousands of years later, countless people would have criticized the black slave trade. I don’t know if I will laugh at the simple and naive people of my later generations, or be surprised by the changes in public opinion.
Some trendy film and television dramas will also arrange black characters for the background of the Tang Dynasty
In any case, with the decline of the national strength of the Tang Dynasty, records of Kunlun slaves gradually faded out of history. This does not mean that the prisoners of war of East African chiefs suffered serious unsalable sales, but it is more likely that the financial decline of the entire literati class has gradually derailed their daily lives from the outside world. Because at least to the Yuan Dynasty, which was usually the sea route, a large number of foreign merchants also traded in Lingnan. As for the Ming Dynasty, which expelled them all, it never banned the slavery tradition when it was in power.
literati and doctors see the descendants of Kunlun slaves again. It was already the 16th century
When the scholars and doctors who were watching the sky in a well noticed the black slave group again, it was the 16th century that started a new round of globalization. At that time, they often called themselves "Tangren", but they had to face a group of completely different dark-skinned visitors. These descendants of Kunlun slaves who followed the Portuguese captain, although the number is not as good as before, are all masters who operate swords, shields, war halberds and muskets. They will not only defend against Chinese and foreign pirates for the literati and bureaucrats in Macau, but will also go to Guilin to serve the king when the empire is overthrown.Finally, he even changed jobs to Zheng Chenggong, and contributed his professional skills to conquer the Dutch people's Relan Chacheng.
The contribution it has made in a specific historical stage is probably no longer comparable to those of the believers...
