Tatik Iznanchu was a general of the Kirghiz. He was the fourth envoy that their khan sent to the Tang after the fall of the Uyghurs.[1] He was apparently the last such envoy to reach China in the reign of Wuzong.[2]

The embassy

The Jiu Tang Shu dates his arrival to the eighth month of the fourth year of Huichang, which is 16 September to 15 October 844. This date is taken as probable.[3] The Zizhi tongjian places it in the third month. This is an error for the second month, 22 February to 22 March 844, the date that its commentary gives.[3] The Cefu yuangui puts it a year earlier, in the eighth month of the third year. That date is too early.[3]

He brought the emperor two white horses and a document with various matters of interest to the Kirghiz ruler.[3] Li Deyu was called on again to draft the answer. His memorial with the letter mentions the Kirghiz petition. It says that the chief minister had answered each of its items. He wrote the letter in a simple style so that the Kirghiz could understand it.[3] He also urged the emperor to use for the appointment of the Kirghiz khan the same rites as for the Uyghurs.[3]

The answer is a letter of the spring of 845.[3] It acknowledges that General Tatik Iznanchu has arrived with the two white horses. It replies to the complaint of the Kirghiz that the Stelae Road is blocked. It recalls that the princess Taihe was captured by the Uyghurs five days after she left the khan. All the envoys the khan had sent with her were killed. She wandered two years in the desert.[4] It says that the Tang has heard that the Kirghiz wish to move to the camp of the Uyghurs in the autumn.[5] If the envoy came in the autumn of 844, he can have wintered in China and gone home in the spring of 845.[6]

Name

  • Tätik Iznanchu (?)Old Turkic
  • Di-de Yi-si-nan-shuChinese

The translation reads the Chinese form Di-de Yi-si-nan-shu as Turkic. The first two syllables correspond to tätik, “quick-witted, intelligent”, a word attested in Old Uyghur. The second element, Iznanchu, is not attested. The Manichaean text known as the Mahrnamag has a form iznāčū, which was read Iznatschu. The element Oz-Inanchu appears in two names of the Terkhin inscription. The Chinese form may be a variant or a poor transliteration of Inanchu or Oz-Inanchu.[7] The translation marks the reading with a question mark.[2]

The sources do not say whether he returned or what he reported.[7]

References

  1. ^ Drompp 2005, p. 144–145
  2. ^ a b Drompp 2005, p. 145
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Drompp 2005, p. 146
  4. ^ Drompp 2005, p. 308–310
  5. ^ Drompp 2005, p. 310
  6. ^ Drompp 2005, p. 146–147
  7. ^ a b Drompp 2005, p. 145–146

Literature

  • Michael R. Drompp, Tang China and the Collapse of the Uighur Empire: A Documentary History (2005)

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Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Tatik Iznanchu.” Turkic Atlas, revised 22 October 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/persons/tatik-iznanchu/

Last revised: 22 October 2026