Long-haired Bishies is my Obsession.

I haven’t really had time to work on this little project lately, so here’s a little sidenote to chew on.  As you know, Chang Ge Xing is a work of historical fiction; Changge, Ashina Sun, Mujin, Qin, Gongsun Heng, and many other characters in the story are simply figments of Xia Da’s imagination.  There are, however, many real figures as well.  Many of them don’t appear until much later in the story (in comparison to what I’ve covered so far), but I thought it would be fitting to point out reality from fiction and provide a little biographical information about each of the real characters.  

Li Shimin, Li Jiancheng, and Li Yuan were all real people; I wrote about them in the Xuanwu Gate Incident.  Li Yuan was a Sui Dynasty general who rebelled, the first Tang emperor, and father of Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng.  Li Shimin was famous for his military conquests, and really did kill his brother and ascend to the throne, sparing many of his brothers’ advisors to work in his new court while he served as Emperor Taizong.  Changge’s mother almost certainly did not exist; the easiest way that I can explain this is that non-Han Chinese ethnic groups typically did not marry into the imperial family.  Li Shimin was, however, enamoured of his real beloved wife, Empress Zhangsun, and mourned her greatly after her passing.  Li Jiancheng’s real wife is of little historical importance today.

Luo Yi, Li Jing, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Yuchi Gong all served the Tang imperial court.  Luo Yi was a Sui Dynasty general who helped Li Yuan establish the Tang Dynasty.  As a reward for his loyalty, he was bestowed with the royal surname and thusly became Li Yi, Prince of Yan.  Luo Yi supported Li Jiancheng and grew fearful when Li Shimin usurped the throne; he raised a rebellion against Li Shimin (by then Emperor Taizong) and was crushed, and the new emperor stripped him of his title and the surname “Li.”  Li Jing was a famous Tang general who defeated the Turks.  His wife may have been Zhang Chuchen, a folk hero also known as “Hong Fu Nü” (“The Lady with the Red Sleeves”) who may or may not existed, but is regarded as having taken part in the rebellion against Sui.  Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui were the most trusted court and military advisors of Emperor Taizong, and he greatly mourned them when they died.  Yuchi Gong was a Tang general who is worshipped as a door god in Chinese folk religion today.  Shiba was not a real person, as the legendary heroes of the 18 Warriors of Sui-Tang Period that she was a part of were fictitious, but most were based off of actual people who existed at the time.  Sun Simiao was a famous Chinese medicine doctor that lived during the Sui and Tang dynasties whose “Hippocratic Oath”, thorough care, and effective remedies immortalized him as the “King of Medicine.”

Xieli/Illig Qaghan (Ashina Duobi), Ashina Jieshe’er/Jiesheshuai, and Princess Yicheng lived in the Eastern Turkic Khaganate.  Illig Qaghan was the final qaghan of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate.  He was defeated when he tried to take horses from vassal tribes after a freak storm killed much of his livestock; the tribes united, and with help from Tang, successfully rebelled.  Tang took advantage of this weakened state to fully conquer the Eastern Turks, absorbing their land into its empire.  Illig Qaghan was spared by Emperor Taizong and offered military positions at the frontiers, but he declined them.  Ashina Jiesheshuai was Illig Qaghan’s nephew; after the fall of the khaganate, he was spared and created a Tang general, but was killed when he attempted to assassinate the emperor.  Princess Yicheng was a Sui princess who was given to the Turks as part of the heqin policy.  She married four times to her first husband’s male relatives in accordance to the Turkic custom of levirate marriage, sometimes betraying her husbands in favor of helping Sui.  She was killed by Li Jing.  Jin Se most likely didn’t exist, but it would not have been surprising for Princess Yicheng to take Han servants with her to the grasslands when she was married off.

Pusa, Yi’nan, and Mohui were all leaders of their tribes.  Pusa was the son of Tejian Irkin and Wu Luohun, but was exiled by his father for unknown reasons.  When Tejian died, the Uyghur voted for Pusa to become their new leader, and he returned to take up his post.  After becoming irkin, Pusa claimed the title of elteber as a gesture of defiance against the Turks.  He was later assassinated by his subordinate Tumidu.  Yi’nan was the Irkin of Xueyantuo, and was later favored by Emperor Taizong and created Zhenzhu Khan.  Both spearheaded the rebellion against the Turks.  Mohui was the leader of the Dahe Khitan clan in 627, which also participated in the revolt.

I have a lot to say about names and historical information.  Here we go…

1. Some sources say that Li Shimin had his brothers’ entire families killed off, whereas other mention that it was only the sons.  So maybe Chang Ge’s existence shouldn’t be completely dismissed as a totally improbable idea; even though she was made up by Xia Da, if only the sons of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji were killed, there still might be the slightest possibility of a princess having fled the palace (basically Anastasia the movie, but then again, it came out before the Grand Duchess’s remains were found).

2. I know that I’m using translations that differ from the scanalations (ie. the whole gunpowder versus nitrate compound translation), and I’m trying my best to look into the accuracy of the names.  For example, Gongsun Heng is more often referred to as “Governor,” but I’m not so sure, as Shuozhou is a city (despite the translations calling it Shuo Province).  Maybe Xia Da is making up a new province, but I think she’s referring to the city in northeastern China.  Additionally, the scanalations name Pusa’s father as “Shijian” and I know that sometimes when two words are put together, the pronunciation changes (ie. Yuchi as a surname instead of being pronounced “Weichi”), but I’m fairly certain that his name should be “Tejian.”  Also, I think it’s Xieli Khan, as opposed to Jieli Khan.  I also don’t know why Xia Da uses the name “Ashina She’er” when his name was Ashina Jieshe’er or Jiesheshuai…maybe she just thought it was too long?

3. I’m having a lot of trouble with finding factual information on pre-dynastic Khitan; English websites are quite scarce and aren’t very helpful, and I read Chinese very slowly.  My best guess about Khitan’s role in the story, based on one measly, uncited line from Wikipedia, is that Sun is going to somehow convince his clan to participate in the ongoing revolt, and that his little cousin will take the reins of leadership.

It is a good parallel 😃👍

Thought, it is important to point out that in “Chang ge xing” there are the Göktürks, a nomadic population that founded an empire like the Mongols but they are the first Turkic people history knows, aka a different ethnic group from Mongols who are well mongolians. Also, we are seeing the last days of glory of the Göktürk empire as the uncle who killed Chang he’s family, emperor Taizong of Tang, will crush them creating the basis for the expansion of the Tang empire and it becoming a mayor political player; while in “A witch’s life in Mongol” we see the Mongol empire at the beginning of its power, hence why Sitara/Fatima and Töregene making all those plots in order to destroy it.

And Mujin and Mimiguli are actually native of the area as Central Asian and Mongolian people can have blonde and red hair and blue and green eyes while Zumurrud and her brother are foreigners, probably from a slavic country since Slavic people were victims of a big slave trade in the Islamic world to the point there was a specific term for slaves of Slavic background. But all of them show the tragedy and the wrongness of slavery with their character arcs.

Both Chang ge and Sitara are strong heroines and they are priviledged captives of the Göktürks and the Mongols respectively, but the first one is more an invented character and a princess and she shows at the same time the freedom Chinese women had during the Tang dynasty but also its limits and one of the crux of her character is how her natural temperament doesn’t fit the traditional feminine expectations but she can’t be a man either and she is treated well despite everything when she is captured due to being seen as a master tactitian and a boy, while Sitara is based on a real historical figure and she fits the standards for women in her society and she is a slave girl and she isn’t treated well at the beginning of the capture (she is even implied to be raped by a Mongol soldier) due to having been seen as just another prisoner and only when it turns out she is cultured and thus she can be useful for Tolui’s main wife Sorgaghtani Beki her treatment improves. Basically, Chang ge navigates her imprisonment disguising as a man and in a very priviledged place, while Sitara as a woman and in a gradual ascension that will lead her to occupy the place of a minister, a typical male post at the time.

And Chang ge starts as a spoiled princess Seeking revenge but she chooses to not avenge her family because her time between the Göktürks and at the Taoist temple made her realize that if she kills Taizong there will be a massive chaos that will harm the common people and she initially ignores her gender and later she is forced to confront it, especially since she is implied to develope romantic feeling for Ashina Sun and she is reconnetting with her maternal grandmother. And it is clear that the author is writing her and Sun as a couple, justified by the fact they see each other as equal comrade.

Sitara is a commonborn girl who is sold as slave when she is a child and she is lucky to be taken by an incredibly kind household for the time and she shows both the tragedy of the common people in war and of slavery and how brutal the Mongol conquest of Central Asia and Iran was, along how trauma and hatred can devour a person.

She hates her captors with all her heart and can’t forgive them and they don’t have a deep affection for her as they see her only as a useful slave/tool and her only close honest relationship in the Mongol empire is her friendship with Töregene due to their similar experience, traumas and grudges.

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