Princess Wencheng

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The Chinese Princess Wencheng (or Tibetan: Mung-chang Kungco) (Traditional Chinese: 文成公主, pinyin: Wénchéng Gōngzhǔ), was a niece of the powerful Emperor Taizong of Tang China, who left China in 640, according to records, arriving the next year in Tibet to marry the thirty-seven year old Songtsän Gampo (605?–650 CE) the thirty-third king of the Yarlung Dynasty of Tibet, in a marriage of state as part of a peace treaty.

The Chinese records mention receiving an envoy in 634 from Songtsän Gampo wherein the king requested to marry a Chinese princess and was refused. In 635/636 the Tibetian king's forces attacked and defeated the 'A zha people (Chinese: Tüyühün), who lived around Lake Koko Nor in the northeast corner of Tibet, along an important trade route into China. After a successful campaign against China in 635–6 (OTA l. 607) the Chinese emperor agreed to marry a Chinese princess to king Songtsän Gampo as part of the diplomatic settlement, which in the event became Princess Wen Cheng. As a marriage of state, the union must be considered a success as peace between China and Tibet prevailed for the remainder of Songtsen Gampo's reign.

Wen Cheng's and co-wife Bhrikuti's legacy—Jokhang Temple in Tibet—begun to house a statue of Budda Jowo Sakyamuni, which each bride brought with her dowry.

[edit] The wedding's cultural importance

A statue of Emperor Srong-rtsan Sgam-po in his meditation cave at Yerpa

Myths about Songtsän Gampo and his Chinese bride Wen Cheng that appeared around them during the Middle Ages transformed Songtsän Gampo into a cultural hero for Tibetans, based on his marriages[1]. It is widely believed that his state marriages to Nepalese princess Bhrikuti and his Chinese princess Wen Cheng brought Buddhism to Tibet, and further, that their complicated relationship as co-wives led to the construction of the Jokang Temple, whereupon the city of . No historical evidence supports the existence of this Nepalese princess or the faith of Wen Cheng, although Buddhism would have been known in China at the time. These stories are included in such medieval romances as the Mani-bka'-'bum, and historiographies such as the Rgyal-rabs Gsel-ba'i Me-long.

[edit] External links

History of Jokang Temple], built by Songtsän Gampo.

[edit] References

Beckwith, Christopher I (1987). The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Richardson, Hugh E. (1965). "How Old was Srong Brtsan Sgampo" Bulletin of Tibetology 2.1. pp 5-8.