Princess Wencheng

About Princess Wencheng

(Redirected from Princess Wen Cheng)

The Chinese 'Princess Wencheng' (Tibetan: Mung-chang Kungco, (Traditional Chinese: æ–‡æˆå…¬ä¸», pinyin: Wénchéng GÅngzhÇ”) (d. 680[1]), was a niece of the powerful Emperor Taizong of Tang 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 the Buddha, which each bride brought with her dowry.


Contents
The wedding's cultural importance
External links
References

The wedding's cultural importance


A statue of Emperor Songtsän Gampo in his meditation cave at Yerpa in Tibet

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 Lhasa. 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''.
Changzhug monastery in Nêdong is also connected with Wencheng: a tangka embroidered by Wencheng is kept in one of its chapels.

External links



★ History of Jokang Temple], built by Songtsän Gampo.

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.
1. ''Zizhi Tongjian'', .


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