later the Turks also annihilated the Ephtalites, who had been allied with the Juan-juan; this made the Turks the dominant power in Central Asia.  The Ephtalites (Yeh-ta, Haytal) were a mixed group which contained elements of the old Yueeh-chih and spoke an Indo-European language.  Some scholars regard them as a branch of the Tocharians of Central Asia.  One menace to the northern states of China had disappeared—­that of the Juan-juan.  Their place was taken by a much more dangerous power, the Turks.

3 The Northern Ch’i dynasty; the Northern Chou dynasty

In consequence of this development the main task of the Northern Chou state consisted in the attempt to come to some settlement with its powerful Turkish neighbours, and meanwhile to gain what it could from shrewd negotiations with its other neighbours.  By means of intrigues and diplomacy it intervened with some success in the struggles in South China.  One of the pretenders to the throne was given protection; he was installed in the present Hankow as a quasi-feudal lord depending on Chou, and there he founded the “Later Liang dynasty” (555-587).  In this way Chou had brought the bulk of South China under its control without itself making any real contribution to that result.

Unlike the Chinese state of Ch’i, Chou followed the old Toba tradition.  Old customs were revived, such as the old sacrifice to Heaven and the lifting of the emperor on to a carpet at his accession to the throne; family names that had been sinified were turned into Toba names again, and even Chinese were given Toba names; but in spite of this the inner cohesion had been destroyed.  After two centuries it was no longer possible to go back to the old nomad, tribal life.  There were also too many Chinese in the country, with whom close bonds had been forged which, in spite of all attempts, could not be broken.  Consequently there was no choice but to organize a state essentially similar to that of the great Toba empire.

There is just as little of importance that can be said of the internal politics of the Ch’i dynasty.  The rulers of that dynasty were thoroughly repulsive figures, with no positive achievements of any sort to their credit.  Confucianism had been restored in accordance with the Chinese character of the state.  It was a bad time for Buddhists, and especially for the followers of the popularized Taoism.  In spite of this, about A.D. 555 great new Buddhist cave-temples were created in Lung-men, near Loyang, in imitation of the famous temples of Yuen-kang.

The fighting with the western empire, the Northern Chou state, still continued, and Ch’i was seldom successful.  In 563 Chou made preparations for a decisive blow against Ch’i, but suffered defeat because the Turks, who had promised aid, gave none and shortly afterwards began campaigns of their own against Ch’i.  In 571 Ch’i had some success in the west against Chou, but then it lost parts of its territory to the South Chinese empire,