Qiang - Today

In ancient China, they were a mainly Tibetan ethnic group that spread from the Qinghai region to Shaanxi and Gansu. They were called "Qiang" from the transliteration of the Tibetan word khyu (or khyu, meaning herd or group), and because they referred to their own groups as khyu (for example, Xianlei Qiang, Shao He Qiang, Shao Dang Qiang, etc.), the collective name Qiang people was established. The Qiang formed small tribal groups and lived a nomadic life, but in the 2nd century BC, some began to engage in agriculture.

In the second half of the 1st century BCE, Emperor Wu of Han attacked the Xiongnu and seized the Hexi Corridor. In order to secure the Western Regions transportation route, he severed the cooperation between the Xiongnu and the Qiang and Di in Qinghai. This caused the Qiang people to become unstable. The Han established the post of Colonel Protector of the Qiang and controlled them with both invasion and appeasement strategies. During the Later Han period, the Han advanced deep into the Qinghai region, actively promoted the establishment of farms by the Han people, and relocated the Qiang people to the Shaanxi and Gansu counties. The Qiang people who relocated to the inner counties were subjected to ethnic discrimination and invading, such as being forced to work for the Han officials and powerful families. As a result, they frequently rebelled, destabilizing the Han Empire, including the great Xianling Qiang Rebellion in Shaanxi (107-118). The Han dynasty's policy of external expansion led to the inclusion of ethnic minorities such as the Xiongnu, Di, and Qiang, which subsequently became intertwined with China's internal contradictions and erupted, resulting in the Five Barbarians and Sixteen Kingdoms period in the 4th century. Yao Chang, who established the Later Qin dynasty with its capital in Chang'an in 384, was of Qiang origin.

[Tomomi Sato]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国古代、青海地方からのちに陝西(せんせい)、甘粛(かんしゅく)にまで広がった主としてチベット系の民族。彼らが「羌」とよばれたのは、チベット語のkhyu（あるいはkhyu。群れ、集団の意）の音訳で、自らの集団を――khyuと称したため（たとえば先零(せんれい)羌、焼何羌、焼当羌など）、羌族という総称が成立した。羌族は小部族的結合の集団をなして遊牧生活を営んでいたが、紀元前2世紀には農耕を伴うものも現れた。

　前1世紀後半、漢の武帝が匈奴(きょうど)を攻撃して河西(かせい)回廊を奪い、西域(せいいき)交通路の確保のため匈奴と青海の羌・氐(てい)との連携を断つと、羌族の動揺が始まった。漢は護羌校尉(ごきょうこうい)の官を設けて、侵攻と懐柔の両策をもって統御し、後漢(ごかん)時代には青海地方に深く進み、漢人の屯田を積極的に推進し、羌族を陝西、甘粛の諸郡に移住させた。内郡に移住した羌族は漢の小吏や豪族に使役されるなど、民族的差別と侵奪の下に置かれた。その結果、陝西の先零羌の大反乱（107～118）をはじめ、しばしば反乱を起こして漢帝国を揺るがした。漢の対外的膨張政策の結果として内地に含み込まれた匈奴、氐、羌などの少数民族問題は、その後も中国の内部矛盾と絡み合って噴出し、4世紀の五胡(ごこ)十六国時代を現出した。384年、長安を都として後秦(こうしん)を建てた姚萇(ようちょう)は羌族の出身である。

［佐藤智水］

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