Political system

The eminent Chinese historian Ssu-ma Ch'en has given a detailed description of the administrative system of the Hsiung-nu empire [Лидай 1958: 17; see also de Groot 1921: 55; Watson 1961a: 163-164; Материалы 1968:40]. The empire under Мао-tun was divided into three parts: centre, left and right wings. The wings, in turn, were divided into underwings. The whole supreme power was concentrated in hands of Shan-yii. Concurrently, he was in charge of the centre – tribes of the 'metropolis' of the steppe empire. 24 highest officials who were in charge of large tribal associations and had at the same time military ranks of 'chief of a ten thousand' were subordinate to Shan-yu. In charge of the left wing, the elder brother – successor of the throne – was. There nearest relatives of the ruler of steppe empire were his cornier, leader and cornier of the right wing. Only they had the highest titles of 'kings' (wang in Chinese). 'Kings' and some more six most moble 'chiefs of a ten thousand' have been considered to be 'strong' and were in command of not less than ten thousand riders. The rest

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of 'chiefs of a ten thousand' were infact command of less than ten thousand cavalrymen [Лвдай 1958: 17; Watson 1961a: 163–164 etc.].

At the lowest level of the administrative hierarchy, local tribal chiefs and elders have been. Officially, they have submitted to 24 deputies from centre. However, intact, a dependence of tribal leaders was limited. The headquarters was far apart and local chiefs have enjoyed support of related tribal groups. Thus, an influence of the imperial deputies on local authorities was, to a certain extent, limited and they were forced to take into account the interests of subordinate to them tribes. Total quantity of these tribal groups within the Hsiung-nu imperial confederation is unknown.

The use by the Chinese historian of military ('chiefs of a ten thousand', 'chiefs of a thousand', 'chiefs of a ten hundred') as well as traditional ('kings'= wang, 'princes' of different rank, 'chief commandants', 'household administrators', chii-ch 'u officials etc.) terms gives grounds to propose that the systems of military and civil hierarchy have in Parallel existed. Each of them had different functions. The system of non-decimal ranks has been used during wars when a great quantity of warriors from different parts of steppe have joined into one or several armies [Barfield 1992: 381.

The power of Shan-yii, highest commanders and tribal chiefs at local places has been supported by strict but simple traditional ways. At a whole, as the Hsiung-nu laws were estimated by the Chinese chronicles, the Hsiung-nu's punishment were 'simple and easily realizable' and were mainly reduced to strokes of the can, exile and death penalty. It provided an opportunity to quickly resolve the conflict situations at different levels of the hierarchical pyramid and to maintain a stability of the political system as a whole. It is no mere chance that for the Chinese accustomed from childhood to unwieldy and clumsy bureaucratic machine, the management system of the Hsiung-nu confederation seemed to be extremely simple: "management of the whole state is similar to that of one's body' [Лвдай 1958: 17].

A well-balanced system of ranks developed under Мао-tun has not remained later on. The Chinese historian Fan Yeh has given the same detailed description of the Hsiung-nu's political system in I AD as his eminent predecessor Ssu-ma Ch'ien [Лвдай 1958: 680; Материалы 1973: 73]. It provides an unique opportunity to observe a dynamics of the political institutions of the Hsiung-nu throughout 250 years. The most considerable differences between the power of Мао-tun epoch and Hsiung-nu society before collapses are as follows: (1) There has been a transition, from the tribe, military-administrative division to dual tribal division into wings; (2) Ssu-ma Ch'ien wrote about clearly development military-administrative structure with 'chiefs of a ten thousand'. Fan Yeh does not mention a 'decimal; system and instead of military rank of 'chiefs of a ten thousand', the civil titles of 'kings' (wang) are enumerated; (3) According to Fan Yeh, the whole first ten of so called 'strong' 'chiefs of a ten thousand' that shows,

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from the viewpoint of the Chinese chronicles. Their more independent position on the side of the Shan-уй headquarters; (4) In the Hsiung-nu empire, an order of succession to the throne has changed. If ordinally the throne of Shan-уй has been passed from the father to the son (except several extraordinary cases), them other order has become to predominate: from uncle to nephew; (5) In the Hsiung-nu society, a principle of join government has prevailed according to which the ruler of the nomadic empire has a cornier controlling a junior by rank 'wing'. A capacity of junior co-ruler is in herited within his lineage but his successors can not pretend on this Shan-уй 's throne.

Therefore, these changes demonstrate a gradual weakening of the autocratic relations in the empire and their substitution for federative relations as demonstrated partially by a transition from triple administrative-territorial division to dual one. The military-hierarchical relations have been pressed back and the genealogical hierarchy between 'seniors' and 'junior' by rank tribes have been pushed into the foreground.