The 100-chapter version of "Journey to the West" uses more than 20,000 words from the 53rd to the 55th chapter to describe the experiences of Tang Monk and his apprentices in the "Daughter's Kingdom".
It was also "Journey to the West" that brought a "country" composed purely of women onto the literary stage; it also aroused in the souls of the majority of men. After layers of waves, imagination is like a wild horse galloping in the wilderness...
Although every reader fully understands that the "daughter country" is just a fiction of literati, they still have to consult the vast information. Let’s find out in the historical sea, does the “daughter country” really exist? That is, is there any prototype of the "Xiliang Women's Kingdom" described in "Journey to the West"?
The author believes that the "Xiliang Women's Kingdom" in "Journey to the West" not only has a prototype, but may also be the place where Tu people live on the north bank of Huangshui River in Qinghai Province today! The author can assert this because I have found many evidences, among which the most eye-catching evidence is: the women in the daughter country all wear "long skirts and short jackets..., three locks of hair..., two-parted clothes, etc." In northwest China, In areas where ethnic minorities live, to identify the ethnic group of women, one must first observe their clothing and headwear. At least in the Ming Dynasty, whenever one or two women were seen, their clothing and hair accessories were enough to determine their ethnicity, and the locals could even determine the village where they lived! Before liberation, the ethnic minorities living in the Hehuang Valley were roughly divided into Tibetan ancestors, Hui ancestors and Tu ancestors (called Tu people at that time, not Tu people). In ethnic minority areas, clothing, headwear and dialects represent the folk cultural symbols of different villages. For example, in the fifty-fourth chapter of "Journey to the West", Fa Xing Xi Lai meets the girl in the country, the heart of the monkey is determined to take off the fireworks, and the words describing the external characteristics of the girl in the country are extracted and asked to the local people in Qinghai Province: What is the nationality of those who wear short skirts and jackets... and wear clothes in two pieces? Who is the person who "combs his hair with three locks"? The answer can only be "Tu women"! In addition to these, the scenes, time, and character stories in the novel all allude to the prototype of the "Xiliang Women's Kingdom", which is the place where the Tu people live on the north bank of Huangshui River in Qinghai Province. The specific analysis is as follows. Where is the land of Xiliang?
The word "Liang" in "Xiliang Women's Kingdom" is the same as the word "Liang" in "Xiliang" used to represent a political power in the ancient northwest region. Here, we will use the word "Tongjia" to understand, "Xiliang" That is "Xiliang". Xiliang, as the name of the political power, has the following introduction:
Xiliang, now Liangzhou District, Wuwei City, Gansu Province, has changed its name many times since the founding of Wuwei County in the Western Han Dynasty. When the Huns ruled the Hexi Corridor, they were called Guzang , Wuwei County was built after the Western Han Dynasty occupied it, and it was called Xiliang in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Its territory was sometimes large and sometimes small. When it was large, it occupied most of Gansu, and also expanded to several surrounding provinces...
The location of Huzhu County in Qinghai Province today has always been within the jurisdiction of Xiliang and Xixia in ancient times.
It is a historical fact that the "Xiliang Women's Kingdom" exists on the north bank of Huangshui River in Qinghai Province.
Looking back at history, the "women's country" recognized by historians is undoubtedly the "Supi women's country". Excerpt from the Internet and quote the following entries about the "Supi Women's Country" to prove the existence of the "Women's Country": ("Xinjiang Human Geography (Han)" 2012 Issue 6, pp. 10-19, author: Close to Nature )
Some wooden slips were unearthed from the site of Jingjue Kingdom, one of the thirty-six kingdoms in the ancient Western Regions. Interpreting them revealed that Jingjue Kingdom had been invaded by the powerful tribe "SUPIS" for a long time, and suddenly at the end of the fourth century AD and the beginning of the fifth century AD Gone. There are various signs that "SUPIS" is the country of women, that is, the country of Supi. Regarding the documents recording Supi, there are at least three types of documents that are known to be in Kallu, Tibetan and Chinese. The earliest records of Su Pi in Chinese documents are "New Book of Tang" and "Old Book of Tang".
At that time, people in the Tang Dynasty mainly understood the following points about the Supi: The Supi tribe belonged to the Western Qiang and was the most powerful among the Qiang tribes in the west at that time. According to "Book of Sui Dynasty", Su Pi "has a lot of salt. He always sells salt to Tianzhu, and the profit is several times..." and it became a prosperous place. The territory of Subi Kingdom is centered on Qiangtang in Tibet and includes the entire northern Tibetan Plateau. However, this "mysterious" country has many unexpected systems and ways of life. According to the customs of the Subi country, the Subi people retain a rather primitive way of life.
Xuan Zang recorded this peculiar country in Volume 4 of "The Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", calling it Dongnu Country or Sufa Sina Quzuluo Country, and said that this country "is dominated by women. He is a king because he rules the country with women."
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Supi was also called the Sunbo Kingdom, a country of women named after monkeys. They were buried in martyrdom. There is a custom of mainly monkeys. "Book of Sui Dynasty: Biography of the Kingdom of Women" records: Subi Kingdom is a matriarchal country, and the highest rulers are two queens. The eldest queen is mainly responsible for managing the government, while the little queen assists in management. When the eldest queen dies, the little queen will directly succeed as the eldest queen, and then the next little queen will be elected.
When local children are born, they all take their mother’s surname. Men have a low status and can only engage in physical labor such as agricultural production and hunting. The king's husband was called Jinju, and his social status was far lower than that of women. Although the envoys sent by the female kingdom to the Central Plains Dynasty were all men, their duties were only to execute orders and not to decide state affairs. The custom of favoring women over boys in Subi State is most prominent in the issue of marriage. "New Book of Tang" states: "The customs in Subi State put less emphasis on men, and noble women have male servants." In other words, the noble women of Subi State all have male servants. Have multiple husbands. According to "Tang Huiyao" records, in the Subi Kingdom, not only aristocratic women, but also women with no money or power, were also the heads of the family and had multiple husbands.
Beginning with Yao and Shun about 5,000 years ago, the primitive tribal groups, mainly the Zongri people, entered a period of migration and expansion. These tribes that developed towards the east and south, through tribal annexation, in the long historical development The all-powerful Western Qiang tribal groups such as Supi, Duomi, Dangxiang, and Bailan formed, and were in contact with the Chinese people on the edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Ruoqiang is the earliest matrilineal tribe to have contact with, and Supi is the core of the matrilineal tribe group. In the following time, as Su Pi's country became so powerful that others dared not look down upon it, they were eventually valued and utilized by the Central Plains dynasty. They also participated in large-scale military operations such as King Wu's defeat of Zhou. Subi is a very interesting country that once had a glorious civilization. It is a pity that this nation that once dominated one area with its primitive system did not survive and was eventually annexed by Tubo. However, the culture of Subi has developed to a certain extent and has made brilliant achievements in the fields of architecture, medicine and other fields. Later generations can also see traces of Subi culture in Tubo culture. As for today's "Supi Village" in Harazhigou Township, Huzhu, Qinghai Province, and "Supi Gorge" and "Supi People" at the junction of the eastern Guide County and Huangnan Jianzha County, it is because the Subi culture is unwilling to be completely wiped out by history. No testimony.
The last paragraph in the above information is obviously the personal inference of the author (author: Close to Nature). He believes that the Supi nation has not survived, and the "Supi villages" in Huzhuharazhigou Township and other places in Qinghai are testament to the Supi culture's unwillingness to be completely lost in history. The author would like to say to Mr. "Close to Nature": Don't be so pessimistic. The Subi people and their descendants are living very well. The author is from the "Supi Village" in Harazhigou. On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, place names, clan names, and personal names are generally transliterated from minority languages. Subi Village is now called "Songbu Village". There is an evolution process from "Subi" to "Songbu": "Subi" is the abbreviation of "Suhe Xianbei". In the Qinghai dialect, the Chinese character "Bei" is pronounced as the word "Pi". The homophony of "Suhe Xianbei" is simply called "Subei", which is transliterated into: "Subi". "Songbu Village" is still called "Suhe" by the Tu people. This village is a Tu ethnic village. The homophony of the word "Suhe" is in the Tu ethnic dialect. It can also be written as "Suohe", "Sihu", etc. in Chinese characters. In "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty", "Suohe" in the master's spoken language is basically the same as "Suhe" in "New History of the Tang Dynasty". The author believes that "Suhe" in "History of the Tang Dynasty" and "Suohe" in "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty" express the same meaning as the "Songbu" village in Huzhu County, Qinghai Province today.
In the Living Buddha system of Youning Temple, which is locally known as the "Mother of the Temples in Huangbei", the first Living Buddha "Songbu" was born in the village of "Songbu", hence the name "Songbu" Living Buddha ; But it was written as "Songba" Living Buddha in Qing Dynasty documents. The homophony of the word "Songba" is obviously the abbreviation of "Suohaba" (or Suheba), which means "Suheren". The author has a say in the identification of these words, because the author's family is the descendant of the family of the first living Buddha Songbu. I heard from the elders in the clan that our family is the descendant of the family of the living Buddha's sister. The people of Suhe Village all have the surname "Bai". The first living Buddha Songbu should be surnamed "Bai", and his sister should also be surnamed "Bai". The ethnic group to which the author belongs is all surnamed "Bai". From the perspective of surname transmission alone, the Bai family where the author belongs has a "female country" style, that is, it inherits female surnames. Generally, a surname can easily become the name of a place or village, and vice versa.
The homophone of "Suhe" (or Suohe, Sihu) seems to be the only village name in Qinghai Province, specifically referring to "Songbu" in Harazhigou Township, Huzhu County. "Village, also refers to its neighboring village - "Songbutan" Village in Danma Township. "Suhe" as a surname is a rare compound surname. It is recorded in "Zheng Tongzhi - Clan Brief" and can also be found in other historical materials:
"Wei Shu" has Suhe Guo, or Take the country as your surname. Later Zhao Yousu and Ming Dynasty, Tang Dynasty Yousu Hegui.
There are also people named Suhe: Suheba, a fashion book of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Su Heyan was the crown prince Zuo Xueshi in the Tang Dynasty. Later it was changed to Heshi.
"New Book of Tang: Biography of Tuyuhun" and other records record that in the third year of Longshuo, Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, the minister of Tuyuhun "Su Hegui" colluded with Tubo to destroy Tuyuhun. According to "Wei Shu·Guanshi Zhi": "The surname Suhe was later changed to the surname He"; in "Surname Compilation" No. 11 of the Suhe surname, it is said that "it is based on the Bai family, so it was named Suhe". "Tongjian" Volume 1О4, in the first year of Taiyuan (376) of Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin Dynasty, Hu noted: "Xianbei had the Bai tribe. In the Later Han Dynasty, the Xianbei people who lived in Baishan were the most powerful, so they were called the Bai tribe."
It is recorded in the historical book "Tongzhi Clan Briefing": "In the Later Wei Dynasty, there was the Suhe surname, which was changed to the He surname." The Suhe surname was originally a compound surname of the northern Xianbei tribe. During the period of Emperor Huan Emperor Liu Zhi of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the northern Xianbei tribe The descendants of Lord Tan Shihuai of the Alliance were originally from the Bai tribe, so they were named Suhe.
There is also a description in "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty": "The Black Mountains have come. Could it be Hu Su. Although the Rong people are all the same, the ethnic groups are divided. The borders are drawn and the borders are sealed. The natives are encircled. The city is built and the fields are cultivated. Animals. They value money and bribes. They value benevolence and righteousness. If a woman is married, her body will be burned and her hair and clothes will be cut off. Sacrifice the ghosts. Ji Nai wears soap clothes. The same customs and different systems are discussed in different places. "Of course, Tang Seng reviewed the customs of the Hu people here according to the values ??of the Tang Dynasty people. People obviously refer to the "Suhe Xianbei" people and Tuyuhun and others. Because these customs are still retained among the Qinghai Tu ethnic group.
To sum up, the "Nv Kingdom" recorded in historical records, also known as the "Subi Kingdom", was originally a kingdom established by the "Suhe Xianbei" tribe on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Because all the kings in the past dynasties were women, it was called the "female country". The word "Suhe" is his family name, which means "Subai". Today's "Songbu" villagers all have the surname Bai, and the Songbu Living Buddha system has been the master of Youning Temple since 1604 AD. These can be evidence of the survival of the "Supi Girl Kingdom" and its descendants. In the Tibetan language system, the color represented by the Chinese character "白" has the sound "Ga", and there is also a "Gaer" family on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. During the Tang Dynasty, the envoy Lu Dongzan who married Princess Wencheng was a member of the Gar family. The historical and geographical conditions for the existence of the "Women's Country"
It is recorded in history books that there is another women's country on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. "Old Book of Tang" and "New Book of Tang" are also called "Eastern Women's Kingdom", but the descriptions are quite confusing. Roughly speaking, their clan originates from the Xiqiang people. The national custom favors women over men. The queen's nickname is "Binjiu" and the female official's nickname is "Gaoba", both of which are hereditary. There are more than 40,000 household registrations and more than 80 tribes of different sizes, with big surnames such as Tang and Dong. The Chinese people live in multi-story houses scattered in the valleys, and there are written characters. During the Sui Dynasty (605-618), King Yang Xiu of Shu once sent envoys to appease him. Tang Wude sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty several times during the early days of Tianbao (618-742). The queen also received official posts from the Tang Dynasty. Tianbao later turned the man into a king and became a vassal of the Tubo people. In the ninth year of Zhenyuan of the Tang Dynasty (793), he requested to join the Tang Dynasty (618-907). After that, although the king was appointed as the governor, he also made friends with Tubo.
In fact, the name "Gaoba" (mostly written as Garbo today) is interpreted in Tibetan as "Gar people", that is, "Suhe people".
The formation of a women's country on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in ancient times has a lot to do with its geographical environment and historical background.
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is not suitable for human habitation. The harsh natural environment is caused by high cold and lack of oxygen. Unfortunately, due to historical reasons, a large number of plateau people live here, most of whom are Qiang people. It is difficult to verify their identity. Migrated from time and place, or were indigenous people. However, the Subi people settled on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the Han Dynasty and were a branch of the Xianbei Tanshihuai people. The Supi people led the natives to establish a kingdom before the Tubo regime. During the Yongjia Rebellion, several Donghu and Xianbei tribes were stationed on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The joining of these ethnic groups is bound to completely break the "Garden of Eden" nomadic lifestyle of the indigenous people. With the rapid development of people, there will be many survival crises, such as disputes over pastures, war disputes with the Central Plains ethnic groups, etc., forcing the people here to survive only by "holding together", that is, forming a tribal organizational form based on villages. Kingdoms were formed through alliances between tribes.
By analyzing the living conditions of the villagers in the Hehuang area of ??Qinghai in modern times during the year, it is not difficult to restore the reasons for the formation of the "daughter country". In the spring and summer, if you casually enter the countryside in the Hehuang area, you will find that all the young and middle-aged men in the village go out to work for a living. Most families are left behind by women, the elderly, and children; some terms such as "left-behind children" and "left-behind children" also appear. "Left-behind elderly people" etc. In modern times, men go out to work, but what about ancient times? In addition to war, it is to go to the hinterland of the grassland to herd horses, and to conduct war and nomadic herding in the form of tribes or kingdoms, it is easy to separate the male group from the female group.
During the Tuyuhun period, there was a group of women in the Hehuang agricultural area of ??Qinghai, and the adult male groups to which they belonged must have been nomadic in various pastures. The "drinking water to form a fetus" described in "Journey to the West" is just a fiction and exaggeration of the literati. In Tuyuhun, men go out to work hard, and only women and children are left at home. No one familiar with the situation would say that this is a "daughter country." But if you were a literati from other places, you would be inspired to make up stories. Nomadic life on the plateau forces adult male and female groups to be separated for a long time, making it unrealistic to form "small families" or "big families" like those in the Central Plains on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. But we still have to face the problem of a large population, and the marriage system formed here is also very different from that in the Central Plains. Marriage systems such as "walking marriage" and "daitiantou" are very popular. The formation of this marriage system also reflects the formation of a de facto "daughter country". The secrets in "The Poems of the Tripitaka of the Tang Dynasty"
The dialogue between the Monkey Walker (the artistic predecessor of Sun Wukong in "Journey to the West") and the Master (Tang Monk) in the Song Dynasty script "The Poems of the Tripitaka of the Tang Dynasty" happens to be A true portrayal of the local social conditions: "Don't say that no one lives in the barren country. Who is willing to farm in the barren county and barren state? I don't know the manpower farming master, but this gentleman lives in Xicheng. He came here early to farm and stayed in the Heavenly Palace to rest in Dongting."
There is also a fragmentary description of the Kingdom of Women. Its location is at the bottom of Huangshui Valley, near today’s Xining City:
(Passing through the Kingdom of Women, Tenth) Monk’s Walk Go ahead and bathe in hospitality. The shops are sparse and we stay in the wilderness. Although there are tigers, wolves, insects and beasts, no one is injured or disabled.
The first time I entered a country, there was no one there. I saw only deserted houses and broken grass gardens. As we moved forward, there were gradually several people plowing the mountains and planting grains. The master said: "There seem to be states and counties here, but there are few people, and only a few farmers can be seen here." When the farmers saw it, all their eyebrows opened. The master wrote a poem and said:
No one lives in the deserted county in the deserted state, and the monks go to the pilgrimage and stay in the wild.
When farmers meet each other today, teachers and monks have to show off their faces.
The Monkey Walker's poem says:
Don't talk about the desolate country where no one lives, who is willing to farm in the desolate county and desolate state?
I don’t know the manpower farming division, but this gentleman’s residence is Xicheng.
I came here early to work on the land and stayed overnight in the Heavenly Palace to rest in the Dongting.
Go on the road and stop being attached to it, so you don’t have to worry about returning home.
My steps are like flying, and I encounter a stream in front of me, and there is a huge flood. The mage is troubled. The monkey traveler said: "But please go forward, it will be convenient for you." The traveler shouted "King of Heaven", and the stream stopped flowing and the waves stopped. After the master has passed, he puts his palms together and raises his fists. This is fate, and the heavenly palace helps.
The next trip passed through another deserted state, traveling for dozens of miles, and stopped in a village. The master said: "There is no one there when I go there. I don't know where it is?" The traveler said: "I went to ask for questions and rest and sigh."
We walked a hundred miles away and saw a country with a dense population of people. , buy and sell parallel lines. When you enter the country, you will see a sign on the door that says: "The Country of Women." The monk went to see the queen. The queen asked: "Why did the monk come to this country?" The master replied: "By the order of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, I went to the west to obtain scriptures and build a field of great blessing for all living beings in the east." The queen clasped her hands and set up a fasting ceremony. The monks went to fast, but they couldn't eat. The queen said, "Why don't you eat fast?" The monk stood up and sang, "The king gave me a fast, and the cover is covered with sand, so I can't eat anything." The queen said, "Monk Qi knows that there is no grain in this country. It's just people from Dongtu Buddhist Temple, and When you are born in the country, you will collect it from the ground and other places, so there will be a lot of sand. When the monk returns to the east, it will be convenient. "The master stood up and left a poem:
The queen specially set it up. Qingzhai, the cover is covered with sand and there is too much sand to accept it.
When Zhu returned to Japan after studying scriptures, he ordered the Eastern scholars to build a birth platform.
When the queen saw the poem, she ordered the mage and her entourage to enter the inner palace to read the poem. When the monk walked in, he saw that the seats were filled with fragrant flowers and seven treasures. Two rows were filled with women, only twenty-eight years old. They were beautiful and light, with starry eyes and willow eyebrows, red lips and green teeth, a peach face and cicada hair, bright clothes, and soft speech. There was nothing like this in the world. As soon as he saw the monk coming in, he was smiling with his eyebrows lowered and bowed to each other: "I ask the monk, this is a country of women, and there are no husbands. Today, monk Xing came to worship him and built a temple there. "I asked seven people to be the abbots. I am a woman from the country who got up early and came late, went to the temple to burn incense, listen to the scriptures, and cultivate good roots. I also met my husband. I don't know what the monk's intention was." "How can I be hospitalized here as a living being in the Eastern Land?" The queen said, "Brother monk, don't you hear the ancients say: "A person lives only one life, but only two lives." "Just live here and be the master of the country for me. It will be a very romantic affair!"
The monk refused again and again, so he said goodbye. The two women, with tears running down their faces and sad eyebrows, said to each other: "When will I see my husband again after I leave?" The queen then took five night-bright pearls and a white horse and gave them to the monk for use. The monk put his palms together in thanks and left a poem saying:
May the king be good and practice well. How long will the illusion and floating life last?
A single thought in your mind that is not enlightened will fall into your hands for thousands of lives and eons.
Don't miss the green mouth and pink face, don't miss the lightness and green eyebrows.
When the end comes, there is no place to escape. Where can the skull ask for clothes?
The queen and her daughters sent the teacher out of the city with fragrant flowers. The poem said:
Among them is a family of immortals, sending you off to Zhutian.
To know the queen’s name, it is Manjusri and Samantabhadra.
After traveling hundreds of miles, the Master sighed. The monkey walker said: "My master, let's go ahead. We will go fifty miles to the West Queen Mother Pond."
It is hundreds of miles away from Xining City to today's Qinghai Lake.
There is a detail in "The Poems of Tripitaka of the Tang Dynasty": the queen gave the mage a "white horse and a pig", which also reflects that the main business of the "Land of Women" is horse herding. On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the separation of male and female groups only occurs among horse herders.
Historically, in order to feed the people of a country, the Tuyuhun Kingdom had to inherit the original industry in Liaodong under the plateau climate conditions with low food production, and still regarded horse herding as its main business.
Herding horses is different from herding cattle and sheep. One person can herd hundreds of cattle and sheep without any problem. In addition to raising horses for their own military needs, most of the horses in Tuyuhun were exported to the Central Plains as commodities. Raise horses without taming them into wild horses, and wild horses are useless. The pony is untamed and grows into a wild horse. Horse training must be carried out within the prescribed time. A foal that is too young cannot be tamed, and a horse that is too old cannot be tamed. When trading with the Central Plains, only tamed war horses had a market, while poorly tamed or untamed horses were difficult to control and had no use value. Castrated male horses are called geldings and are used to plow fields and pull carts; uncastrated male horses are called foal horses and can be kept as stallions or military horses (in fact, most male horses are castrated), while female horses are generally kept for breeding. Do you have more than thousands of horses to worry about all year round? All the men in the Tuyuhun country had to participate and it was not enough. An old man of the Tu ethnic group said that at that time, when a boy reached the age of twelve, he was drafted to herd horses. Women, boys under twelve years old, and the elderly and sick who cannot herd horses work as housekeepers and farmers. Herding horses, taming horses, breeding thoroughbred horses, sometimes fighting for territory, foreign trade, and guarding against horse thieves. After completing a series of jobs, the men had almost no time to return home. When the war was severe, they could not return home for several years.
The "country of women" formed in reality is a temporary form of social organization formed under special historical and geographical conditions. According to historical records, when the Tang Dynasty flourished, the "Eastern Girl Kingdom" ceased to exist. The reason is that the Tuyuhun regime collapsed and the men went home!
In Chapters 53 to 55 of "Journey to the West", the description of the clothing, dietary style and other details of the people in the daughter country can give a glimpse of the prototype of the "Xiliang Women's Country" It refers directly to the residence of the Tu ethnic group in Huangbei, Qinghai. When "Pipa Girl" entertained Tang Monk, she brought out two kinds of steamed buns, one meat and one vegetarian. At the wedding of the Tu people, these two foods are also the most representative of the wedding banquet of the Tu people. In ancient times, only these two plates of steamed buns were the protagonists of Tu wedding banquet delicacies.