Kang Ye died in 571 and was buried at Xi’an, the old Chang’an.[1] His surname Kang is the one that Sogdians from Samarkand took in China. He is counted among the migrants from Sogdiana and Central Asia, of a princely family.[2] His is one of four tombs of Central Asians found at Xi’an and Taiyuan since 1999, together with those of An Jia, Shi Jun and Yu Hong.[1]

The couch

Kang Ye lay on a stone couch of the older sofa form, with three side panels, as An Jia did. The burial chamber had a stone door, a mark of high rank in the northern dynasties.[3] The panels show banquets, outings and processions in the tradition of the Northern Wei at Luoyang. Some motifs draw on Buddhist iconography.[4] They show no Zoroastrian scene and no fire altar.[5] Without the epitaph, the couch could not be assigned to an ethnic group or a religion.[6] The figures and the composition look Chinese. This usually leads to the conclusion that Kang Ye was more assimilated to Chinese culture than the other three. Against it stand the Sogdian names of his sons.[6]

The office

The epitaph names the office of Great Lord of Heaven, da tianzhu. The huyao of Yongzhou and several Iranian magnates of the west proposed Kang Ye for it.[6] The huyao is an office known from the Northern Zhou. In the finds so far, it appears only in Kang Ye’s epitaph. Its holder in his time was Di Men, of the Gaoche.[6] The office evidently went to Central Asians and had to do with them. Its exact meaning is not known.[7]

Of the four men, only Kang Ye was not a sabao. His is also the only couch without Zoroastrian scenes.[8] Taken together, these two facts point to a link between the office of sabao and Zoroastrianism. More finds would have to confirm it.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b Müller 2008, p. 117
  2. ^ Müller 2008, p. 119, 123
  3. ^ Müller 2008, p. 129, 136, 139
  4. ^ Müller 2008, p. 132
  5. ^ Müller 2008, p. 132, 134
  6. ^ a b c d Müller 2008, p. 133
  7. ^ Müller 2008, p. 133–134
  8. ^ Müller 2008, p. 123, 134
  9. ^ Müller 2008, p. 134

Literature

  • Shing Müller, Sogdier in China um 600 n. Chr. Archäologische Zeugnisse eines Lebens zwischen Assimilation und Identitätsbewahrung (2008)
  • Etsuko Kageyama, The Winged Crown and the Triple-crescent Crown in the Sogdian Funerary Monuments from China: Their Relation to the Hephthalite Occupation of Central Asia (2007)

Related

What links here4

Peoples
Sogdians
Sources
Tomb of An Jia · Tomb of Shi Jun · Tomb of Yu Hong

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Tomb of Kang Ye.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/sources/tomb-of-kang-ye/

Last revised: 8 November 2026