The Tang Dynasty was a prosperous and open era in China's history, attracting a large number of people of all colors to China for gold. How did African blacks come to China in Tang Dynasty? What is its status?
A black clay figurine named "Kunlun slave" was unearthed in the tomb of Mrs. Pei Xiaofu in the Tang Dynasty. It is not difficult to find that the so-called Kunlun slave is black.
In addition to pottery figurines, black people are often described in poems and songs of the Tang Dynasty. For example, Du Fu once wrote a poem: "Keep mullet at home and eat yellow croaker at every meal". The mullet here actually refers to black people. There is a song "Kunluner" that is more distinctive: "Kunlun lives in Haizhou, and the bun is long and does not wrap its head. I love my skin as black as paint, and I can't take off my hair when I walk. "
Therefore, there is no doubt that there were black people in China in the Tang Dynasty, and the number was quite large. So how did these men in black come to China across the continent in ancient times? Scholars have come to a preliminary conclusion through textual research: African blacks were spread to China through Arabs, and there are several theories.
The first argument is that Arabs go to Africa to rob or cheat blacks, then come to their hometown, and then come to China by land via the Silk Road.
There is also a saying that Arabs tricked black people into West Asia, then sold them to countries in the South China Sea, and then transported them to the Tang Dynasty.
But there is no doubt. Arabs played an important role in the communication between the Tang Dynasty and China and the West. During the period of 65 1-789, in the past 100 years, there were as many as 36 exchanges between the Tang Dynasty and Dashi (Arab countries), which made a large number of Dashi businessmen come to China to spread the culture and commodities of West Asia and spread the advanced culture and technology of the Tang Dynasty to Central Asia and West Asia.
Then I think we all want to know, what is the status of blacks in the Tang Dynasty? First of all, since Kunlun slaves have slave roles, they must be slaves and their status is not high. "Taiping Magnolia" records the story of how a "Kunlun slave" used his courage and wisdom to help his master meet his beloved woman.
Most of the blacks recorded in ancient books are tall and powerful, and as slaves, they are often loyal and very capable, never as cunning as local slaves and never against their master's will.
Although blacks were slaves in the Tang Dynasty, one thing is that they didn't live so hard, were not discriminated against as they thought, and were not treated inhumanely like western colonists. China is still a friendly nation, and those capable slaves are often appreciated by their masters, thus getting more rewards. The treatment they get is completely different from that of ordinary slaves, and they are much superior. Many Kunlun slave girls often practice dancing.
So in the Tang Dynasty, the demand was in short supply. Most of the "Kunlun slaves" are smart and willing to work, and they are very popular with dignitaries. Many of them are marked by having "Kunlun slaves". This shows that it was not as hard to accept that black people were brought to the Tang Dynasty by Arabs at that time.