In 727 the Tang emperor Xuanzong allowed Bilge Khan a frontier market at the Western Shouxiang city, a fortress belonging to the army of Shuofang.[1] Bilge had earned the favour by handing over a letter from the Tibetans.[2]

The embassy

The Tibetans were attacking Guazhou, and they wrote to Bilge that the two powers should invade China together.[3] Bilge sent the letter to the Tang court. His great minister, Meilu Chuo, brought it to Chang’an with thirty famous horses.[2] Xuanzong praised the sincerity of the khan. He feasted the envoy in the Zichen Hall and rewarded him generously.[2] The Tang Huiyao enters the market and the envoy’s tribute under the ninth month of the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan.[4]

Three descriptions of the silk

The Tang histories describe the yearly silk in three ways. The Jiu Tang Shu says that the emperor allowed the market and that each year several hundred thousand bolts of silk were carried to the frontier to be given to the Göktürks.[2] The Xin Tang Shu also speaks of a gift. It says that the emperor allowed the market at the Western Shouxiang city and gave silk of several hundred thousand every year.[5] The Zizhi tongjian calls the same silk a price. It says that each year the court brought several hundred thousand bolts to the market and bought Göktürk horses with them. The horses were to supply the army and to serve as breeding stock for the state pastures, and the horses of the state grew stronger as a result.[6]

One survey puts the silk of the year 727 at 100,000 pieces, set against a token tribute of thirty horses.[7] The Kül Tegin inscription gives the khan’s own view of the arrangement. The Chinese, it says, gave gold, silver, raw silk and figured silk in such quantity, and without being asked.[8]

Open points

The texts do not say how many horses the Göktürks sold in the market, and no source gives a price per horse. Whether the silk was a gift or a price therefore depends on the account one follows.

References

  1. ^ Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194; Tang Huiyao (Institutional History of the Tang), juan 94
  2. ^ a b c d Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194
  3. ^ Tang Huiyao (Institutional History of the Tang), juan 94; Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 213
  4. ^ Tang Huiyao (Institutional History of the Tang), juan 94
  5. ^ Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215
  6. ^ Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 213
  7. ^ Litvinsky 1996, p. 336
  8. ^ Kül Tegin inscription

Sources

Literature

  • B. A. Litvinsky; Zhang Guang-da; R. Shabani Samghabadi (ed.), History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. III (1996)

Related

What links here3

Institutions and Titles
Silk in the Steppe · The Economy of the Steppe Empires · Tribute Missions and Bestowals

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Horse Market at the Western Shouxiang City (727).” Turkic Atlas, revised 7 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/events/shouxiang-horse-market-727/

Last revised: 7 November 2026