families related to it by marriage.  In contrast the Toba had a patriarchal nuclear family system; as nomad warriors with no fixed abode, they were unable to form extended family groups.  Among them the individual was much more independent; each one tried to do his best for himself.  No Toba thought of collecting a large clique around himself; everybody should be the artificer of his own fortune.  Thus, when a Chinese obtained an official post, he was followed by countless others; but when a Toba had a position he remained alone, and so the sinification of the Toba empire went on incessantly.

2 The Hun kingdom of the Hsia (407-431)

At the rebuilding of the Toba empire, however, a good many Hun tribes withdrew westward into the Ordos region beyond the reach of the Toba, and there they formed the Hun “Hsia” kingdom.  Its ruler, Ho-lien P’o-p’o, belonged to the family of Mao Tun and originally, like Liu Yuean, bore the sinified family name Liu; but he altered this to a Hun name, taking the family name of Ho-lien.  This one fact alone demonstrates that the Hsia rejected Chinese culture and were nationalistic Hun.  Thus there were now two realms in North China, one undergoing progressive sinification, the other falling back to the old traditions of the Huns.

3 Rise of the Toba to a great Power

The present province of Szechwan, in the west, had belonged to Fu Chien’s empire.  At the break-up of the Tibetan state that province passed to the southern Chinese empire and gave the southern Chinese access, though it was very difficult access, to the caravan route leading to Turkestan.  The small states in Kansu, which dominated the route, now passed on the traffic along two routes, one northward to the Toba and the other alien states in north China, the other through north-west Szechwan to south China.  In this way the Kansu states were strengthened both economically and politically, for they were able to direct the commerce either to the northern states or to south China as suited them.  When the South Chinese saw the break-up of Fu Chien’s empire into numberless fragments, Liu Yue, who was then all-powerful at the South Chinese court, made an attempt to conquer the whole of western China.  A great army was sent from South China into the province of Shensi, where the Tibetan empire of the “Later Ch’in” was situated.  The Ch’in appealed to the Toba for help, but the Toba were themselves too hotly engaged to be able to spare troops.  They also considered that South China would be unable to maintain these conquests, and that they themselves would find them later an easy prey.  Thus in 417 the state of “Later Ch’in” received a mortal blow from the South Chinese army.  Large numbers of the upper class fled to the Toba.  As had been foreseen, the South Chinese were unable to maintain their hold over the conquered territory, and it was annexed with ease by the Hun Ho-lien P’o-p’o.  But why not by the Toba?