Wild Unicorn Herd

asianhistory:

gaius-cassius-longinus:

[can’t find any pictures of her D: ]

so let’s talk about one of Genghis Khan’s daughter. namely Alaqai Beki.

some stuff i’ve read about her life:

• genghis khan had a habit of marrying his daughters into tribes on the outskirts of his empire, with the intent of them ruling the area and holding the borders for him. he generally seemed to have more faith in the ruling capabilities of his daughters than his sons from what i’ve seen trololol
• so yeah alaqai beki was sent to marry into/govern the onggud tribe when she was probably in her teens
• and she was not going to have an easy time of it because the mongols had waged a brutal war against them to bring them into the empire aaaand they had a lot of rage where their new rulers were concerned
• alaqai had a pacifist/diplomatic streak from the start (more on this in a second!) her husband’s wives were all dismissed, and by custom she could have had her husband’s children killed as they might pose a threat to any children she may have had. instead she decided to take them into her custody and raise them to be loyal
• anyway, yep, she held the area in the south of the empire, aiding the mongol army, monitoring the silk road etc etc etc
• but yeah i mentioned how the onggud weren’ttttt exactly happy with the situation and who can blame them really?
• so they rose up, revolted against her, and killed her husband
• alaqai beki and her stepsons barely escaped with their lives
• AND HERE’S WHERE THINGS GET EXCEPTIONALLY FASCINATING TO ME
• genghis khan was like okay let’s march to war and wipe all the onggud out. when cities revolted against the mongols, the mongols tended to kill every last man, woman, and child. This was what Alaqai grew up knowing, politics as usual, no one would have been surprised if she said yeah okay do it
• BUT SHE FUCKING REFUSED TO LET HIM DO IT
• she just asked for her father to punish the small number of rebels, because why punish the people who hadn’t participated? and genghis khan listened to her
• and then she went back and people were generally stunned that she had interceded on their behalf and by all accounts she ruled well until her death
• oh yeah and during this time she became literate and did a lot of reading on the various religions of the day. and her kingdom was a cosmopolitan, diverse one
• and i’m just fucking fascinated by her okay??? because she chose peace and understanding and just JKLAFLJKSLJKSF KEYBOARD SMASH
• someone make a show or movie about her (and her sisters) okay??

Interestingly enough the earliest posts on this blog were definitely because of my supreme fascination with a project I had done in High school on Mongolian (royal) women! 

Her request for mercy was actually something that ended up strengthening the Empire considerably. 

bankuei:

The Mongoliad:

The group played with the movie idea for a while, but then they got sidetracked by a question about some of its backstory — specifically why it was that the Mongols, having already flattened Eastern Europe, didn’t press onward into Western Europe after the death of Ögedei Khan in 1242. The answer they devised was that a small crew of European warriors, or whatever the European equivalent of samurai would be, came up with the inevitable dangerous but cunning plan.

Isn’t this, like pretty well known history?

Feudal Europe was saved from sharing the fate of China and Muscovy not by its tactical prowess but by the unexpected death of the Mongol’s supreme ruler, Ogedei, and the subsequent eastward retreat of his armies.”

I mean, I get that part of fun historical based fiction is rewriting “What ifs?” into history, but the constant need for white authors to rewrite “fictions” about how white people are great, all the time, has had a definite effect on the media space and how people ACTUALLY understand real history.

- Like the NDNs being violent to white people, thereby justifying violence in return

- Like NDNs happily giving up their land and magically disappearing

- Like Black folks being lazy, violent, or lesser in all ways

- Like Yellow Peril

- Like Mexicans being “foreign” to the land - even though, significant chunks were once Mexico

…

It doesn’t read to me as fun neutral space when white authors gather together to explain how European countries weren’t ACTUALLY defeated by what was, at the time, the most modern army (both in tactics and logistics), comprised of many peoples, with freedom of religion, and several rights that would not be seen in European countries until centuries later…

If the roles were reversed, it would certainly be about how despite the conquest, look at how much civilization the European countries were bringing everyone else, and it’s about a sense of adventure(don’t mind the bodies as you step through), and those people weren’t properly using their resources ANYWAY.

While I’m all for folks to explore their martial arts history of their cultures (because, yes! Martial arts are awesome), I have to sideeye the fact that it could have been simply placed in any of the MANY MANY wars European countries have had with themselves, but rather, how they’re secretly so awesome they turned back the Mongols, even though all history points otherwise.

Europeans turn out to be better at being Asian than Asians could ever hope to be?! OH STEPHENSON WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED AHAHAHAGOFUCKYOURSELF.

P. S. Just tried to explain my raeg to white guy friend, was unsuccessful. Explained it to the cat, cat was very empathetic.