254 Chinese Clay Figures 



This truly was the burial rite of a militant and valiant people, the dead 

 being believed to continue their lives as warriors, and the survivors 

 combating with their arms the demon who was supposed to have swept 

 him away. A similar idea was symbolically expressed on the burial- 

 places of the Tibetan heroes, who during the age of the T'ang had fallen 

 in their bitter strifes with the Chinese. As related in the T'ang Annals, 

 white tigers were painted on the red-plastered walls of the buildings 

 belonging to their sepulchral mounds scattered along the upper course 

 of the Yellow River: when alive, they donned a tiger-skin in battle, so 

 the tiger was the emblem of their bravery after death. 1 



The Tibetans were a warlike nation in the early period of their history, 

 and at times the terror of their neighbors, even of China. The Annals 

 of the T'ang Dynasty, 2 which call them T'u-po (Tibetan Bod), and 

 describe at length their relations with the empire from the seventh to 

 the ninth century, praise their armor and helmets as excellent, covering 

 the entire body, and leaving openings for the eyes only; 3 so that power- 

 ful bows and sharp swords cannot wound them very much. This pass- 

 age, however brief, allows the inference that Tibetan armor of that period 

 was of iron (for it is designated with the word k'ai, No. 5798) ; that it was 

 a complete armor with brassards, cuishes, and greaves; and that the 

 helmet was provided with a visor. 4 The "gold" armor, 5 which King 

 Srong-btsan sgam-po, according to T'ang shu, is said to have transmitted 

 as a gift to the Emperor T'ai-tsung when he wooed the hand of a Chinese 

 princess, is perhaps not to be taken too literally; the word kin may simply 

 mean "metal." 6 



Among the eastern Tibetan tribes we have proof for the existence 

 of iron armor as early as the sixth century. The Pet shi 7 imparts the 

 interesting news that in the first year of the period Pao-ting of the Pei 

 Chou dynasty (561 a.d.) the Pai-lan, a tribe of the K'iang, who in 

 matters of customs and products agreed with the Tang-ch'ang, 8 sent 



1 T'oung Pao, 1914, p. 77- 



2 T'ang shu, Ch. 216 A, p. 1 b. 



3 A striking analogy with the Persian helmet as described by Ammianus Mar- 

 cellinus (above, p. 240). 



4 Presumably of a similar type as the royal Persian helmet figured by J. de 

 Morgan (Mission scientifique en Perse, Vol. IV, p. 320, Paris, 1897). 



5 Thus translated by S. W. Bushell, The Early History of Tibet, p. 10 (reprint 

 from Journal Royal Asiatic Society, 1880). 



6 A golden (huang kin) armor, referring to the T'ang period, is mentioned in Ming 

 huang tsa lu (Ch. B, p. 2). 



7 Ch. 96, p. 9 b. 



8 Regarding these tribes compare S. W. Bushell (The Early History of Tibet, 

 p. 94), and W. W. Rockhill (The Land of the Lamas, p. 337). Tibetan armor has 

 not infrequently been sent to China; specimens are preserved, and may still be seen 



