In the reign of the Northern Wei emperor Wencheng, five tribes of the Gaoche came together to sacrifice to Heaven.[1] The Gaoche, the “high carts”, are the people the later histories call the Tiele. Tens of thousands of them gathered.[1] At the great assembly they raced horses and killed victims. They moved round in circles and sang and chanted with joy.[1] By their own tradition there had been nothing so great since former generations.[1] The emperor’s carriage came to the gathering. All of them were glad.[1]

The Gaoche south of the desert

The Wei Shu tells of the sacrifice directly after the settlement of the eastern Gaoche inside the Wei realm.[1] On his return from the campaign of 429 against the Rouran, the emperor Taiwu learned that the eastern Gaoche were camped at the Yini marsh, more than a thousand li from his army.[1] He sent the minister An Yuan with ten thousand horsemen, among them Gaoche who had lately submitted.[1] Several hundred thousand tents of the Gaoche surrendered at the sight of the army. The Wei took more than a million horses, cattle and sheep.[1] The Wei moved all of them to a stretch of a thousand li south of the desert.[1]

There they still rode their high carts and moved in search of water and grazing. Their herds multiplied.[1] After some years they slowly learned to eat grain. They sent tribute every year.[1] Horses, cattle and sheep became cheap in the Wei state. Felt and hides piled up.[1] The five tribes of the sacrifice were most probably these Gaoche of the south. The chapter turns to them without a break, and the emperor could reach their gathering.

The gathering

The Wei Shu dates the sacrifice only by the reign: it took place under Gaozong, the temple name of Wencheng, who ruled from 452 to 465.[2] The Bei Shi gives the same account in the same words and names the emperor Wencheng.[3] Neither text names the five tribes or the place.[4]

The sacrifice was offered to Heaven, 天.[1] The description is four phrases long: horses raced, victims killed, a circling round, and songs and chants of joy.[1] Riding in circles belonged also to the Gaoche rite at a place struck by thunder, and to their thanksgiving, which the same chapter describes.[1] The Gaoche themselves held this gathering to be the greatest since former generations.[1]

After the sacrifice

Later the emperor Xiaowen summoned the Gaoche to follow him on a campaign in the south.[1] They did not want to go south.[1] They chose Yuanhe Shuzhe as their lord. They rose and went north together, trampling over Jinling, where the emperor Wencheng lay buried.[2] The annals of the Wei Shu enter the rising in the eighth month of 498 and call its leader the Chile Shuzhe.[5] The commander Yuwen Fu pursued them and was badly beaten.[1] Shuzhe went over to the Rouran and soon regretted it. The Gaoche surrendered.[1] A generation after the sacrifice, the Gaoche of the south refused to march for the Wei.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Wei Shu, juan 103
  2. ^ a b Wei Shu, juan 103; Wei Shu, juan 5
  3. ^ Bei Shi (History of the Northern Dynasties), juan 98
  4. ^ Wei Shu, juan 103; Bei Shi (History of the Northern Dynasties), juan 98
  5. ^ Wei Shu, juan 7

Sources

Related

What links here5

Religions
Gaoche Thunder Rite · Horse Sacrifice · Riding Round the Dead
Customs & Pastimes
Horse and Camel Races at the Xiongnu Sacrifices · The Chile Song

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “The Great Sacrifice of the Gaoche.” Turkic Atlas, revised 28 October 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/events/gaoche-great-sacrifice/

Last revised: 28 October 2026