For information on the Jinshu, see source 4.4.

The first excerpt below, the tale of a servant girl’s rise to the position of empress, indirectly reveals that in the fourth century, the Chinese already habitually referred to dark-skinned peoples as Kunlun. In fact, Li Lingrong was not the only person from this period known to have been nicknamed “Kunlun” for having an unusually dark complexion. The biography of the north Chinese monk Dao’an (312-385) in the Gaoseng zhuan (Biographies of Eminent Monks, ca. 530) mentions that he was intellectually brilliant but “exceptionally ugly,” and that he was mockingly nicknamed Little Kunlun (Kunlun zi) and Lacquered Monk (qi daoren), presumably because of his dark skin.

The second excerpt consists of descriptions of Champa and Funan from the Jinshu ethnographic chapters. Note that in Sui-Tang times, the Chinese switched to referring to Cambodia as Zhenla; the name “Funan” here reflects pre-Sui usage.

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From the “Biographies of Empresses and Consorts”:

Emperor Xiaowu’s (r. 372-396) mother, Empress Dowager Wen, was surnamed Li and named Lingrong. She was originally of base status. When Emperor Jianwen (320-372, r. 372) was still Prince of Guiji (or Kuaiji), he had three sons who all died in infancy. After [Sima] Daosheng was deposed, and Prince Xian died young, the emperor’s consorts were unable to become pregnant for nearly ten years.¹ The emperor ordered a diviner named Hu Qian to divine the future. He said, “In your harem is a woman who will bear two sons, one of whom will finally bring glory to the Jin dynasty.”

At the time, Precious Consort Xu had borne Princess Xin’an and was favored by the emperor because of her virtue and beauty. The emperor frequently hoped that she would become pregnant, but years went by and she still did not bear a son…. Several more years went by without a son, so the emperor gathered all his favorite concubines and asked a skilled physiognomist to examine their faces.² He said that none of them was the right person. The emperor then showed him all his maidservants and female slaves. At the time, the [future] empress (Li Lingrong) was a servant in the prince’s palace and worked in the weavers’ workshop. She was tall in stature and had black (dark) skin, so the other female servants all nicknamed her “Kunlun.” When she arrived, the physiognomist was amazed and said, “This is the one.” The emperor, recognizing that much was at stake, summoned her to his bed. The [future] empress had dreamed several times of two dragons embracing and the sun and moon entering her chest. Believing this to be auspicious, she had told her colleagues. The emperor heard of this and found it extraordinary. She went on to give birth to Emperor Xiaowu, Prince Wenxiao of Guiji (Sima Daozi), and the Elder Princess of Poyang.³

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From the “Account of the Southern Man”:

Linyi (Champa)

Its people are fierce and violent by nature and are brave in war. They are accustomed to mountains and rivers and dislike the lowland plains. The weather is hot throughout the year, without frost or snow. The people all go naked and barefoot and regard blackness as beautiful.

Funan

Its people are all ugly and black and curly-haired. They go naked and barefoot. They are simple and straightforward by nature and do not engage in banditry.

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1. In 348, Emperor Jianwen (then still an imperial prince) deposed his eldest son Sima Daosheng from his position as heir as because of his unruly behavior. Daosheng later died under house arrest at the age of twenty-three, before Jianwen became emperor. Another son, Sima Yu, was more promising but died at the age of sixteen; he was posthumously known as Prince Xian. ↩︎
2. Note that at this time, Emperor Jianwen was not yet emperor but was the most powerful member of the Eastern Jin aristocracy, serving as a chief minister at the imperial court. He was installed as emperor after one of his grandnephews was deposed in 372, but himself reigned for only eight months before dying from an illness. The Jinshu refers to him as “the emperor” throughout this story, in keeping with convention. ↩︎
3. Emperor Xiaowu was born in 362; his brother Sima Daozi was born in 364. The birth date of their sister the Princess of Poyang is unknown. ↩︎