Author Description

In Chinese Scholars on Inner Asia, some of the best work of the past half-century by leading Chinese scholars on the history and peoples of Inner Asia is presented for the first time in English. The fifteen essays were selected by a team of contemporary Chinese specialists to represent the unique and important contributions made to the field of Inner Asian studies by Chinese scholarship. In addition, many of the essays have been revised and enhanced by their authors especially for this volume. The wide range of topics covered includes new evidence from the Turfan documents on the Turks and on Chinese military activities in Central Asia, appellations of Xiongnu Shanyu titles, the Sogdians in China, the religious background to the An Lushan rebellion, the establishment of the Khitan state, the cultural anthropology of the Khitan naming system, the Kirghiz and neighboring tribes,the Kerait Kingdom, the geography of Turkestan in the Yuan dynasty, the Mongol bo'ol, and the historical development of Manchu ethnic identity.