Rudan Tegin was a younger brother of Tulan Khan by the same mother, a Göktürk tegin of the house of Ashina.[1] Tulan sent him to the Sui court with a staff of Khotan jade. The emperor gave him Chinese rank and a title.[1]

The Sui Shu sets the embassy in the year in which Tulan killed another brother, Qinyu Shad, in battle.[1] Rudan Tegin presented the jade staff. The emperor made him a zhuguo and duke of Kang.[1] The Bei Shi tells it in the same words.[2] In the next year, the Sui Shu goes on, the chiefs of the Göktürk tribes sent ten thousand horses, twenty thousand sheep, five hundred camels and five hundred cattle. Soon they asked for markets on the frontier.[1]

There are three datings. The first puts the year in 588. Tulan succeeded his uncle that year and sent a delegation. His younger brother then offered the jade staff. Several delegations brought ten thousand horses, twenty thousand sheep, five hundred camels and five hundred cattle. Another asked for markets and received leave to open them.[3] The Cefu Yuangui enters the jade staff under the seventh year of Kaihuang, 587, and the tribute of horses and the rest under the eighth, 588.[4] A second dating rests on one translation of the Sui Shu. It sets the affair of Yang Qin, told just before in the Sui Shu, in 593, and the embassy in the same year. The request for markets then falls in 594.[5] The Zizhi tongjian enters the affair of Yang Qin under 593.[6] The annals of the Sui Shu, in the same translation, record that in the fourth month of 591 Tulan sent one of his tegins to the court.[7] The translator points to that entry.[8] The annals do not name the tegin.[7]

The same translation renders the title as duke of K’ang-kuo and glosses K’ang-kuo as Samarkand.[9] The two characters of his name, 褥但, also name Rudan Khan, a younger brother of Taspar Khan.[1] The Sui Shu does not connect the two men.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Sui Shu (Book of Sui), juan 84
  2. ^ Bei Shi (History of the Northern Dynasties), juan 99
  3. ^ Ecsedy 1968, p. 136
  4. ^ Cefu yuangui, juan 970
  5. ^ Mau-tsai 1958, Turkish edition, p. 81–82
  6. ^ Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 178
  7. ^ a b Sui Shu (Book of Sui); Mau-tsai 1958, Turkish edition, p. 99
  8. ^ Mau-tsai 1958, Turkish edition, p. 81
  9. ^ Mau-tsai 1958, Turkish edition, p. 82

Sources

Literature

  • Liu Mau-tsai, Çin Kaynaklarına Göre Doğu Türkleri (1958, Turkish edition)
  • Ildikó Ecsedy, Trade-and-War Relations between the Turks and China in the Second Half of the Sixth Century (1968)

Related

What links here4

Persons
Qinyu Shad · Rudan Khan
Institutions and Titles
Border Markets · Raw Materials and Trade among the Turkic Peoples

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Rudan Tegin.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/persons/rudan-tegin/

Last revised: 8 November 2026