The Youyang zazu is a compendium of lore compiled by the Tang official Duan Chengshi (d. 863). The excerpts below are Duan’s description of the Kyrgyz and an unidentified light-haired Zoroastrian people called the Xiaoyi.
The modern Chinese scholar Zhang Xinglang (1888-1951) theorized that Xiaoyi was Siut/Asyut in Egypt and that the people described were descended from the Vandal kingdom (435-534) in north Africa. In Middle Chinese, however, xiaoyi would be pronounced as hau-ik, which bears no resemblance to siut. The identity of the Xiaoyi people thus remains an unsolved mystery.
By the time Duan wrote the Youyang zazu, the Kyrgyz had destroyed the Uighur empire and forged closer ties with the Tang, although they chose to return to their Yenisei homeland rather than try and dominate the Mongolian steppe as the Uighurs had done. The Tang emperors formally recognized the Kyrgyz rulers as their distant kin, hoping to use Kyrgyz military aid to regain their former power in Central Asia. Duan claims that only the black-haired minority of Kyrgyz are Li Ling’s descendants, while the light-haired Kyrgyz are products of a union between a god and a cow. The myth about Li Ling may be derived from Ge Jiayun (see source 4.13), while the god-cow union is presented as an origin myth from the Kyrgyz themselves.
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The Jiankun (Kyrgyz) tribes are not descended from a she-wolf.1 Their ancestor was born in a cave north of the Quman Mountains2, and they say that in ancient times, a god and a cow mated in that cave. These people have yellow hair, blue-green eyes, and red beards. Those whose beards are all black are descended from the Han general Li Ling and his troops….
The country of Xiaoyi is three thousand or more li across. It is located among plains and rivers, and the people build stockades out of wood, more than ten li across, each stockade housing more than two thousand families. There are more than five hundred such stockades in the country. The weather is warm throughout the year and plants do not wither in winter. It is well-suited to rearing sheep and horses, but they do not have camels and cattle. The people are simple and honest and hospitable to visitors. They are tall in stature, with high noses, yellow hair, blue-green eyes, and red beards. They wear their hair loose and their faces are very ruddy. In war they use only one weapon, the lance.
This country’s climate is good for growing grains; it also produces gold and iron. The people wear hemp cloth. The whole country practices Zoroastrianism (xian) and does not know of Buddhism. They have more than three hundred Zoroastrian temples. Their soldiers, both cavalry and infantry, number ten thousand. They have no taste for commerce and call themselves Xiaoyi people. Both men and women wear belts. Each day they cook enough food to last a month, so they are often eating leftovers.
Ethnic Identity in Imperial China 