Migration and Identity: An Ölberli family in China in the 13–14 centuries
(65th Meeting Astana, 2023)
The Ölberli, as one of the Kipchak tribes, was active in the Ural-Volga region before the western conquest of Genghis Khan. T’ou Ki (屠寄) and Paul Pelliot discussed the name of this tribe based on Chinese and non-Chinese sources, and then J. Marquart, Th. T. Allsen, Peter Golden, Han Rulin (韩儒林), Liu Yingsheng (刘迎胜) and other scholars conducted more in-depth studies. Previous scholars paid little attention to a 14th century Chinese inscription of an Ölberli family written by Yuan Jue (袁桷) which mainly recounts the life of Baiqang (伯行). This aticle will compare and analyze this inscription with the Biography of Baiqang (拜降) in the Yuanshi. It will examine the migration routes of the Baiqang family from Central Asia to Southeast China during the Mongol Yuan period, and the issues of ethnic, religious, and cultural identities of this family during this process.