Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, abbreviated as "Inner Mongolia", the capital of Hohhot. It is located in the north of China, bordering Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Hebei in the northeast, Adjacent to Shanxi, Shaanxi and Ningxia in the south, adjacent to Gansu in the southwest, bordering Russia and Mongolia in the north, spanning the northeast, north China and northwest China.
The terrain of Inner Mongolia extends obliquely from northeast to southwest, showing a narrow and long shape, the whole area basically belongs to a high prototype geomorphological area, the whole area covers plateaus, mountains, hills, plains, deserts, rivers, lakes and other landforms, the climate is dominated by temperate continental climate, spanning the Yellow River, Erguna River, Nen River, Xiliao River four major river systems.
With a total area of 1.183 million square kilometers, Inner Mongolia spans nearly 30 longitudes from east to west, making it the "longest" province in China. Due to its narrow geographical size, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has become the autonomous region with the largest number of neighboring provinces and regions in China. On the southeast, southwest, and west sides, Inner Mongolia borders 8 major provinces, including Heilongjiang, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu. To the north, there are countries such as Mongolia and the Russian Federation, which are culturally similar.
In a narrow area of millions of square kilometers, there are not only China's largest volcanic groups, China's largest ice mortar group, Asia's largest Hetao irrigation area, sandy land, desert and other strange landscapes, but also the Great Wall that runs through the east and west. The great wall in Inner Mongolia is rich in dynasties, and the existing archaeological remains include the warring states, Qin, Sui, Song (Jinjie trench), and Ming dynasties. The Great Wall of various dynasties has witnessed the collision and fusion of the farming culture of the Central Plains and the nomadic culture of the grassland, forming the famous "Great Wall Zone".
01
Inside and outside the Great Wall
The Great Wall, as an architectural marvel in the history of human civilization, runs straight through northern China. The so-called "Great Wall Zone of Northern China" starts from the Xiliao River City in the east, passes through Yanshan, Yinshan and Helan Mountains, and reaches the Huangshui River Basin and the Hexi Corridor. The central part of it is bordered by the Yellow River Basin with developed farming in the south and the Eurasian grassland with extensive pastures in the north, which is the transition zone between the hinterland of the Central Plains and the Eurasian grassland, and is also the main area where ancient nomadic peoples and farming peoples collide and communicate with each other.
The Length of the Inner Mongolia Great Wall is 7570 kilometers long, including the Great Wall of the Great Wall, the Rubble, the Single Building, the Guanbao Fort and related facilities, which is the largest, most concentrated, most complete and most abundant Great Wall monument in China.
Schematic map of the Great Wall of Inner Mongolia.
The Great Wall zone is located in the climatic transition zone, which is a transitional zone for nomadic and agricultural production methods, and is also a special cultural zone, which is of great significance in the formation and development of the chinese nation's diversified and integrated pattern.
In the Neolithic period, the economic life of the ethnic groups in northern China was based on agriculture, and it was also a mixed economy of animal husbandry and hunting. Around 3500 years ago, affected by the dry and cold climate, the grassland area gradually formed a lifestyle of "living by water and grass".
The unification of the Central Plains by the Qin and Han Dynasties, the rise of the Xiongnu in the north, and the centuries-long Han-Hungarian War not only accelerated the integration of nationalities in China, but also set off the prelude to the great migration of nationalities that swept through Europe and Asia. After that, Xianbei descended from The Great Xing'an Mountains and established the Northern Wei Dynasty. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the Turks, Uighurs, and Khitans successively controlled the Mongol region.
In the 13th century, the Mongolian Iron Horse, which spanned Europe and Asia, had a profound impact on the world. In the Qing Dynasty, Mongolian and other steppe peoples gradually integrated into the big family of the Chinese nation. In the continuous rise and fall of various ethnic groups in the north, the grassland civilization and the Central Plains civilization collided, exchanged, and converged, and wrote a vibrant and colorful chapter in the Chinese civilization.
The Great Wall, which runs through inner Mongolia, witnesses the collision and fusion of the farming culture of the Central Plains and the nomadic culture of the grassland, although it exists as a military defense facility, the meaning behind it is a symbol of yearning for peace.
The purpose of the agrarian peoples in the Central Plains in building the Great Wall is to look forward to peaceful coexistence with the Great Wall as the boundary, and the various ethnic groups inside and outside the Great Wall communicate with each other, watch over each other, and live and work in peace and contentment. This land is located at the hub of exchange, leaving behind many traces of character exchanges and precious cultural relics.
At the end of September 2021, the National Museum of China, the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the Cultural Relics Bureau of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region jointly hosted the "Hometown inside and outside the Great Wall - Inner Mongolia Cultural Relics Jinghua Exhibition" at the National Museum.
Through more than 240 sets of fine cultural relics, the exhibition systematically reveals the historical context of agricultural and pastoral cultural exchanges, integration and sublimation of farming and nomadic cultures in Inner Mongolia for thousands of years, with three parts: "The Early Form of the Combination of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry", "The Construction and Integration of Nationalities on the Great Wall", and "The Fusion of Diverse Cultures along the Great Wall", and shows the historical process of the formation and development of The Pattern of Chinese Pluralism and Integration.
02
Combination of agriculture and animal husbandry
The first part of the exhibition, "The Early Forms of The Combination of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry", is divided into two chapters: "Resonance between the West and East - The Yellow River Basin and the Western Liao River Basin" and "Nomadic Gradual Strengthening - Multiple Factors in Archaeology", which mainly describes the early forms of the so-called "Great Wall Area" agricultural and pastoral combination during the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties.
--- West-East Resonance ---
Generally speaking, the north of the Great Wall is suitable for grazing, and the south of the Great Wall is suitable for agriculture. The formation of the Great Wall Cultural Belt is not only caused by nature and ecological environment, but also the result of the interaction between different ethnic groups and cultures.
Since the Holocene, climate changes have led to seasonal farming and animal husbandry becoming the main economic and social form here. Since the Xia and Shang dynasties, the changes in farming and animal husbandry areas have made the cultural diversity of the Great Wall area increasingly prominent.
Xia Shang painted clay pots. Inner Mongolia Museum
Painted pottery bristles excavated from the Dadianzi Cemetery in Ao Han Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, were specially made for the burial of the deceased. The body is painted with red and white on a black substrate to draw two consecutive multi-unit complex geometric patterns, which is rare in the pottery of the same era in the Central Plains, but the composition of its geometric pattern indicates the in-law relationship with the ancient culture in the hinterland of the Central Plains.
Xia Shang painted pottery bristles. Inner Mongolia Museum
--- Nomadic Growing Stronger ---
The true nomadic civilization of the Great Wall was formed during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The Liangcheng Maoqinggou culture in south-central Inner Mongolia and the peach red bala culture in the Ordos region both highlight the hints of grassland nomadic culture of varying degrees. At present, various types of bronze cultural relics with animals and animal fighting patterns as decorative themes have been found in archaeology, highlighting the regional characteristics of the nomadic culture of the northern steppe in the Bronze Age.
The Bronze Gui of "Xu Ji Jiang" of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the inscription at the bottom of the vessel is 3 lines and 16 characters, "Xu Ji Jiang is used as a tribute to his ten thousand years of descendants and grandchildren Yongbao". Xu is the name of the country and Jiang is the surname. Xu Guo, one of the Twenty Kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn Period, the basic area of activity was in Xuzhou, that is, in present-day Xuchang, Henan. This cultural relic reflects the exchange between the Eastern Hu people and the Central Plains princely states, and the bronzes originally made in the hinterland of the Central Plains were introduced from the Xu State to the northern frontier and became the funerary vessels of the Eastern Hu nobles at that time.
Western Zhou "Xu Ji Jiang" bronze gui. Inner Mongolia Museum
Build the Great Wall
The second part, "The Construction of the Great Wall and the Integration of Nationalities", is divided into three chapters: "The Great Wall of Ten Thousand Miles - Obstructing The Continuous North-South Exchanges", "The Melting Pot of Nationalities - The Road of Integration of Tuoba Xianbei", and "Toward Unification - Prosperity in the Sui and Tang Dynasties", which mainly reflects the ethnic exchanges and integration in the Great Wall area from the Warring States to the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
--- Great Wall ---
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the threat of the northern ethnic groups to the princes of the Central Plains was increasing, and the princely states of Qin, Zhao, and Yan built the Great Wall one after another. In the late Warring States period, the Xiongnu arose on the Mongolian plateau and for the first time established a tribal alliance in the northern steppe form of "immediate state". With the growing strength of the Xiongnu tribal alliance, the Qin and Han dynasties also built the Great Wall on a large scale and continuously improved its defensive functions.
Ruins of the Great Wall of Qin in Guyang, Inner Mongolia.
Warring States Tiger watch bite bucket pattern gold belt ornamentation. Ordos Museum
Qin painted clay pot. Inner Mongolia Museum
--- The Melting Pot of Nationalities ---
The construction of the Great Wall still could not stop the exchanges and exchanges between the two sides, and many tribes in the Great Wall area either migrated internally into the farming peoples of the Central Plains, or the Great Wall of North Vietnam became a member of the Xiongnu tribal alliance. Han-Hungarian peace, border trade, Zhang Qian's "chiseling", and east-west exchanges could not avoid the Han-Hungarian sides on both sides of the Great Wall.
Eastern Han Dynasty crescent-shaped gold jewelry brand Inner Mongolia Museum
Among the many exhibits, there is a brick model of "Shan Yu and Kiss", the front of the brick has the text "Shan Yu and Kiss, Long Live the Thousand Autumns, Happy and Healthy", and on the back is a fierce galloping horse. This brick fan records that the Han Dynasty Zhaojun went out and kissed, which became the historical material evidence of the exchange between Hu and Han at that time.
Han "Shan Yu and Pro" brick model. National Museum
In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Xianbei occupied the homeland of the Xiongnu and merged with Sinicization in the gradual southward migration. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Turks and Uighurs of the northern steppes respected the etiquette of the Central Plains, connected the Western states, and added color to the cultural exchanges and ethnic integration between China and the West.
Eastern Han Dynasty Dragon head bronze stove. Collection of inner Mongolia Museum
Wei Jin Deer head golden step shake crown. Collection of inner Mongolia Museum
--- Towards Reunification ---
From the middle of the 6th century to the 8th century AD, the Sui and Tang dynasties fought several battles with the Turks for control in the Hetao region of present-day Inner Mongolia. After the defeat of the Eastern Turk Khaganate, the Tang government set up a large number of prefectures along the Great Wall. On the north bank of the Yellow River, the three surrendered cities were placed to house the Turkic descending households, and the surrounding areas were garrisoned in Tuntian. Among them, the western surrender city also became an important place for trade between the Tang Dynasty and the northern ethnic groups.
Capricorn is an animal figure in Indian mythology, with a huge body, is a fish-tailed animal, is considered to be the essence of the river, the foundation of life, has the power to overturn the river and the sea. Capricorn imagery was introduced to China with Buddhism around the Time of the Eastern Han Dynasty, gradually Sinicized, and incorporated the characteristics of dragons and fish in the Tang Dynasty, becoming a common ornament in the Tang Dynasty, and also telling future generations about the all-encompassing Tang Dynasty.
Tang Capricorn pattern gold flower silver lift beam pot. Inner Mongolia Museum
The Tang Dynasty gold and silver ware stored in Hejia Village in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, is world-famous, and in the Tang Dynasty cellar in Chifeng Hadagou in Inner Mongolia, a number of gold and silverware with high craftsmanship have also been excavated. Capricorn play beaded gold flower silver plate body shape is large, exquisite workmanship, Capricorn pattern gold flower silver beam pot beautiful shape, realistic portrayal, fully embodies the Tang Dynasty on the basis of absorbing foreign culture on the basis of the formation of exquisite and gorgeous gold and silver art style.
Late Tang Dynasty Capricorn play beaded gold and silver plate. Inner Mongolia Museum
03
Multicultural
The third part is "The Fusion of Diverse Cultures along the Great Wall", which is divided into four chapters: "Coexistence and Replacement - The Exchange of Liao, Song and Jin", "Pluralistic Convergence - The Great Unification of the Yuan Dynasty", "Juxtaposition and Integration - Interaction between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia", and "Defending the Territory - Southern Mongolia of the Qing Dynasty", which mainly describes the integration of various ethnic groups along the Great Wall from the Song, Liao, Jinyuan to Ming and Qing dynasties.
--- Coexistence and Replacement ---
The Song and Liao Dynasties and the JinYuan Period were the period when the Central Plains Song Dynasty and the northern separatist regimes, the Liao and Jin Dynasties, stood side by side. Although some military defense facilities were set up between each other, the northern ethnic groups modeled on the Central Plains dynasty system and strengthened economic and cultural exchanges became the mainstream of this period.
During the juxtaposition and replacement of the Khitan, Dangxiang, Jurchen and Han regimes, the nomadic peoples began to adopt the farming culture to a large extent, which led to the development of their socio-economic form, production and lifestyle, political system, ideology and culture.
Liao huakou golden cup. Inner Mongolia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
The high-winged gilded gold and silver crown was excavated from the tomb of Princess Chen Guo in Qinglongshan Town, Naiman Banner, Tongliao City, Inner Mongolia. The high-winged crown is a crown ornament dedicated to Khitan noble women. Hammered separately with gilded thin silver sheets and reinforced with fine silver wire stitches. The front and sides of the crown are perforated with vertical wings and engraved with flame orbs, birds and clouds. The crown is embellished with a Taoist primitive heavenly statue. Princess Chen Guo's uncle Liao Shengzong and uncle Yelü Longyu were devout Taoist believers, and this crown is decorated with Taoist figures to reflect the spread of Taoism among the Khitan royal family.
Liao high-winged gilded gold and silver crown. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
The impact of the nomadic people also injected fresh blood into the Central Plains Dynasty. In the process of confrontation and integration, it made outstanding contributions to the formation of a multi-ethnic unified state later.
Liao Dynasty Left: White porcelain plate of Jin Yi Huakou Inner Mongolia Museum Collection | Right: Silver and white porcelain plate of the National Museum of China
--- Diversity convergence ---
After entering the Yuan Dynasty, the rulers adopted Han law and implemented the provincial system; respected Confucius and Confucianism, opened up science and technology; and promoted a series of policies and measures such as smooth road transportation and encouraging economic and trade, which effectively promoted the integration of nationalities and the development of social economy, injected a strong impetus into the pluralistic and integrated Chinese nation, and the Great Wall also lost its significance of military defense.
In 1206, after a long conquest, temujin, the leader of the Mongol Beggar tribe, unified the Mongolian plateau and established a Mongol regime. Subsequently, he attacked the Xia and Jin regimes from the south, laying the foundation for the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty.
The Yuan Dynasty, established in 1271, made the territory of China's unification unprecedentedly vast, and there were many nationalities from inside and outside the country. At the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the rulers attached great importance to the economic development of the north and the south, and promoted the recovery and development of the social economy. It also adopts an inclusive policy of science and technology culture, which effectively promotes the development and prosperity of society.
Meta-inlaid gemstone filigree gold flower ornament. Inner Mongolia Museum
--- Juxtaposition and Communion ---
In 1368, the Ming army captured Dadu, and the Yuan rulers retreated to the Mongolian steppe and separated from the Ming court along the Great Wall. In order to ensure the security of the northern border, the Ming Dynasty built the Great Wall from Shanhaiguan in the east to Jiayuguan in the west, and set up nine border towns along the line, and the defense system of the Great Wall reached an unprecedented level.
Ruins of the Great Wall of Wulanchabumin in Inner Mongolia.
After 1480, Dayan Khan unified the Mongol ministries, and his grandson Lida Khan accepted the tribute of the Ming Dynasty and opened a regular Ming-Mongolian mutual trade at the border of the Great Wall, laying the foundation for peaceful exchanges and exchanges between the Central Plains and the ethnic groups in the north.
In this exhibition, the national museum's precious collection, the Ming Dynasty", the screen of the "Nine Sides" also debuted. There are twelve screens of the Nine-Sided Diagram. The front of the screen is silk, pasted on twelve wooden boards, and the whole picture is drawn with a sketch map of realistic green and heavy color landscapes.
Ming "Nine Sides Diagram" screen. Collection of the National Museum of China
This can be said to be a huge map, the map drawn from the Liaodong Peninsula Shanhaiguan in the east to Jiayuguan in the west, focusing on the Ming Dynasty Liaodong Town, Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Yulin Town, Ningxia Town, Gansu Town, Taiyuan Town, Guyuan Town a total of nine military towns, so the name "Nine Sides Map".
Northwest Pass of the Imperial City. This ancient road is known as "Jundu Jing" or "Guangou" and connects the Central Plains with Saiwai.
In order to defend the Mongols from the south, the Ming Dynasty gradually set up nine military towns on the northern frontier, starting from the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, which is the nine-sided defense system. Each town on the nine sides has a town guard general, a deputy general, a staff general, a guerrilla general, a garrison, a thousand generals, a general commander, and other officers, with no fixed rank and no fixed number. There were heavy troops stationed in the towns of the nine sides. The permanent garrison is called the main soldier, with a quota of about 600,000; in addition, there are temporarily mobilized troops, which are quite large.
The nine-sided tunshu and the castles are everywhere, which is a barrier for the Ming Dynasty to resist the Mongol invasion, but in peacetime, it is also a zone for political and economic exchanges between the Ming and Mongolia.
The map depicts in detail the geographical contents of the towns within and outside the nine sides, such as Guanbao, Mongolian tents, mountains, rivers and rivers, and the distance between the main towns is marked. In the upper part of the eleventh painting, there is a preface to the ink book with the inscription "Jiajing Jia Wu April 6, the chief of the Qing Bureau, Lingbao Xu Zhizhi", which is originally copied and painted in the thirteenth year of Ming Jiajing (1534) and written by Xu Yan. On the back of the screen, the full text of the paper book "Hou Chibi Fu" is pasted, and the money is dropped: "Longqing Three Years of Spring and March, Zhi Wu Jinshi Dijing Camp Training Courageous Counselor General, Gu Yan Yang Jing Shan Ren Guo Quanren Shu", and two small square seals on the back.
--- Defending the Territory ---
After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, it implemented the policy of alliance and marriage with the Mongolian tribes, and implemented the alliance flag system in the Mongolian region. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government had changed the early policy of "forbidden" and turned to "reclamation" of Mongolian land. A large number of people in Shan, Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan and other places came to the Great Wall to engage in agricultural production, and the folk customs and religious beliefs in the Great Wall area underwent a very large integration and mutation.
Not only at home, but also on the border between China, Mongolia and Russia, the opening and prosperity of the tea trade route has further promoted the rise of towns and cities in the steppe area and the development of diversified economy and culture. All this has played an unprecedented role in promoting the integration of the peoples and social changes in the Great Wall area.
Qing Mongolian chess. Collection of inner Mongolia Museum
The Qing Dynasty set up the alliance flag in the Mongolian region, the flag is the basic military and administrative unit of the Mongolian region in the Qing Dynasty state administrative system, the highest official of the flag is called Zasak, selected from the descendants of the Mongolian golden family who are loyal to the Qing court and have outstanding military achievements, and can be hereditary. This silver seal of zasak, the right wing of Ordos, was awarded to The Twenty-first Sun Song Labu of Genghis Khan in the twenty-fifth year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1686).
Qing Ordos right wing central flag Zasak silver seal. Inner Mongolia Museum
04
Exhibition information
On September 28, 2021, the "Inner Mongolia Cultural Relics Jinghua Exhibition" opened at the National Museum of China. Jointly sponsored by the National Museum of China and the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the Cultural Relics Bureau of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and hosted by the Inner Mongolia Museum, the exhibition is another large-scale cultural relics exhibition launched by the National Museum. The exhibition venue is Guobo North Hall 9, and there is no specific closing date at present.
The exhibition is divided into three parts: "The Early Form of the Combination of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry", "The Construction of the Great Wall and the Fusion of Nationalities", and "The Fusion of Diverse Cultures along the Great Wall", through more than 240 pieces (sets) of fine cultural relics, systematically revealing the historical context of the cultural exchanges, integration and sublimation of farming and nomadic culture in Inner Mongolia for thousands of years.
This exhibition is the second cooperation between the Inner Mongolia Museum and the National Museum after jointly holding the "Khitan Dynasty - Inner Mongolia Liao Dynasty Cultural Relics Essence Exhibition" in 2002.
The exhibition exhibits are rich in content, including the Inner Mongolia Museum, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the Ordos City Museum, the Wulanchabu Museum, and other collections such as the "Xu Jijiang" bronze gui, the "Shangjun Shoushou" bronze ge, the "Jinxian Beibei GuiyiHou" golden seal, the funeral agricultural drawings, as well as the tomb of Princess Chen Guo and the site of Yuan Shangdu, as well as the fine cultural relics related to it in the Collection of the National Museum, such as the "Nine-Sided Tuping", and the related artifacts excavated from the tomb of the king of Dayingzi Village, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia.