Ancient Chinese history is also a history of mutual struggle, exchange and integration between farming peoples and nomadic peoples. Up and down the Great Wall, a large number of bones were left behind, and the lively scene of mutual marketing between the two sides was also witnessed. Extreme people believe that the existence of nomadic peoples dragged down the Central Plains Dynasty and was an important reason for the collapse of many dynasties, and the invasion of the Central Plains by nomadic peoples caused great disasters. Indeed, the struggle between nations is blood and tears. But we should also note the important role played by nomads in Chinese history.
First, the nomadic peoples stimulated the continuous progress of Chinese civilization
About 10,000 years ago, human beings began to divide labor, some peoples evolved into farming peoples, some peoples became nomadic peoples, and some still stayed in the forest, for fishing and hunting peoples. These peoples are not related by blood, but they have spread to different geographical environments, resulting in different modes of production.
The world's major agricultural origins are concentrated in the major rivers and rivers of the northern hemisphere, such as the lower nile river in ancient Egypt, the two river basins, the Indus-Ganges river basin, the Yangtze River-Yellow River basin, but Central America originated on the plateau and is a strange agricultural civilization. These farming areas echoed each other in the world, illuminating the prehistoric era of obscurity. However, they are far apart, isolated from each other, and lack of contact. If there is no exchange between civilizations, how can cultures progress rapidly?
At this time, the nomads play an intermediary role in communication. Nomadic peoples often migrated back and forth within Eurasia, and they were able to spread the technologies, inventions, etc. they were exposed to to to distant places. Among them, the more important ones are metal smelting technology, carriage and horse manufacturing, horse driving, etc. The earliest bronze smelting and iron smelting techniques first appeared in West Asia, and later spread throughout Eurasia through the migration of nomadic peoples. The earliest bronze artifacts in China were basically found in the western region, and the more west they went, the older they became, and many of the components came from Central asia and West Asia, which proved that the spread of bronze smelting technology was closely related to nomadic peoples.
The time when bronzes appeared across China
History records that the earliest copper smelting clan in China is the Yellow Emperor of the Xuanyuan clan, and the "Historical Records" records that "the Yellow Emperor mined copper from shoushan mountain and cast it under Jingshan Mountain." "And the Yellow Emperor is a nomadic one." In addition, the vehicle was first invented by the Central Asian Cypriots, and later spread to China through the nomadic people, and the Xuanyuan clan is suspected to be a clan that can drive. Cavalry was also introduced from nomads, and the "Hufu Riding Shooting" of King Wuling of Zhao during the Warring States period was the beginning of China's large-scale introduction of cavalry, which undoubtedly increased China's military strength. In addition, bows and arrows were also introduced from nomadic peoples.
Take agriculture. Chinese were the first to grow rice and millet, while the West Asians were the first to grow barley and wheat. Later, through the spread of nomads, they spread barley wheat to China, and from the Xia Shang Zhou era, China also began to grow large wheat. Later, China introduced a series of vegetables and fruits from the western region and Central Asia, such as grapes, pepper, carrots, garlic, watermelon and so on. This has undoubtedly promoted China's agricultural progress.
Wheat transmission routes
It is precisely because of the long-term war, exchange and integration between nomadic and agrarian peoples that the inventions between major civilizations will be constantly exchanged. Many advanced inventions of West Asia were spread to the far East, promoting the progress of Chinese civilization; Chinese papermaking, gunpowder, etc. were also spread to the West by nomadic peoples, promoting the rapid progress of Western civilization. The Americas, Australia, and southern Africa were isolated from Eurasia, did not communicate with other civilizations, and eventually lagged behind the world trend. Later Americas have not independently invented metal smelting technology.
Second, nomads have enriched China's culture
The above exchanges are mainly technical aspects, which have a huge role in promoting ancient human civilization. This title is mainly about the spiritual aspect, that is, culture. It is difficult to explain why human beings on any side have some similar cultural phenomena, such as the timing of both the East and the West is related to the sixty-position system. This system of advancement was invented by the Two Rivers Civilization and later spread to all parts of Eurasia, which is inseparable from nomadic peoples.
Many ancient Chinese civilizations were also introduced through nomadic peoples. Beginning with the Western Han Dynasty, Buddhism began to spread to China and flourished in the Wei and Jin dynasties, eventually becoming an important part of traditional Chinese culture. After Buddhism was invented in India, it was quickly accepted by the nomadic peoples of the Western Regions, and then spread to China with the Western Regions as a springboard. The introduction of Buddhism had a great influence on China, impacting rigid Confucianism and accelerating the transformation of Confucianism and the maturity of Taoism. The Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties formed a situation in which the three major religions were parallel, and the three major religions absorbed each other. In the end, Confucianism successfully transformed itself by absorbing the theories of Buddhism and evolved into Song Ming Theory; Taoism absorbed the pure rules and precepts of Buddhism, which brought Taoism out of its primitive state. The concept of Buddhism itself has also penetrated deeply Chinese heart and gradually become Sinicized.
After Buddhism, Islam, Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, etc. continued to spread to China through nomads, and they had a great influence on China. The Chinese people often use the ideas of these religions to propagate and organize uprisings.
What accompanies the spread of religion is the spread of culture and art. Long before the arrival of Buddhism, many arts of the Xiongnu and the Western Regions had been introduced to China, and the most representative ones focused on music and dance. For example, the nomadic pipa, huqin, erhu, hufu, and karma drum were introduced to the Central Plains and became the main instruments played in China. From the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, persian and Indian style painting art, dance, music, etc. continued to spread to China through the nomadic regions of the northwest, accelerating the progress of Chinese art, for example, Wu Daozi of the Tang Dynasty absorbed the Persian painting style and became a generation of people.
Most of the traditional Chinese musical instruments come from nomadic peoples
The Song Dynasty was the most glorious era of Chinese culture, and the representative of Song Dynasty culture was Song Ci. According to research, words were introduced from nomadic areas. The word was originally called "song word" or "song word", which is the meaning of the lyrics, according to the Old Book of Tang; "Since the beginning of the new century, singers have mixed with the songs of HuYili Lane. "The initial spread of these lyrics in the folk, represented by the "Dunhuang Quzi Words", was only absorbed and transformed by the literati in the late Tang Dynasty, and evolved into a genre. The same is true of yuanqu, which was first called "Hu Le", and later various "Hu Le" were fused and absorbed and created by the Han literati, and evolved into Yuan Qu.
Many of the inventions of the nomadic people are constantly changing the way of life of the Central Plains people. For example, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the nomadic Hu bed was introduced, changing the sitting posture of Chinese, and from then on, Chinese did not need to kneel. The custom of nomadic peoples eating dairy products was also introduced to China during the Wei and Jin dynasties, and drinking milk has now become a very common phenomenon.
Third, we have made great contributions to China's expansion of territory
In 221 BC, the Qin Dynasty unified the Six Kingdoms and established the first unified empire in Chinese history. However, the empire's scope was limited to the agricultural areas of East Asia, and the vast nomadic areas were not included in the territory. Later dynasties of the Central Plains were based on the territory of the Qin Dynasty, and in the minds of many people, within the territory of the Qin Dynasty was the so-called "tianxia", which mainly unified the region, that is, the unification of the world.
Soon, however, the nomads drew the attention of the Central Plains to the north. At the turn of the Qin and Han Dynasties, the unification of the Xiongnu posed a great threat to the Central Plains. In order to be able to defeat the Xiongnu, the Han Dynasty must strive to be strong and open up far away. Emperor Wu of Han sent Zhang Qian on an envoy to the Western Regions, and as a result, we discovered a new world. For more than 1,000 years, the two major ethnic groups have been in confrontation. In order to defeat the nomads, the Central Plains Dynasty had to expand its territory to the north and control the southern parts of the country, liaodong, and western regions.
However, the agrarian peoples have never been able to firmly control these places, and at most they have adopted some restrictive means to promote the practice of "using the yi to control the yi". The nomadic southward movement has made a huge contribution to the expansion of China's area. In the 4th century AD, the Xianbei unified the Central Plains, implemented Sinicization, and resolved the great crisis since the Rebellion of the Eight Kings. The measures of the Xianbei tribe made the "Five Hus" who entered the Central Plains Sinicized, laying the foundation for the great unification of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
During the Two Song Dynasties, the Liaojin arose in the northeast, and both countries implemented Sinicization after occupying the north, and declared themselves "China", which shows that the name "China" has gradually gained the recognition of nomadic peoples. The Central Plains have become the center of contention of major ethnic groups, and have also made the major ethnic groups have a tendency to develop centripetally.
After the rise of Mongolia, for the first time, the East Asian continent was unified, and the four major nomadic regions around the Han Dynasty, the northeast, the desert, the western region, and Tibet, were all included in the territory, and the word "China" was used together, which was the first time. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, it once again unified the above major regions, and formed a situation in which the five major ethnic systems of Han, Manchu, Hui, Mongolian and Tibetan coexisted within one country. In the past, the farming peoples were considered "Hua" and the nomadic peoples were "Hu" and "Yi", and the Qing Dynasty called them all "China". Since then, China has risen from a geographical concept to a national concept. To this day, the source of China's sovereignty is still the first determined by the Qing Dynasty.
It can be said that the Qin Dynasty laid for us the basic territory of China- Han China. The nomadic people have laid the boundaries of greater China for China that integrates nomadic farming and duality. Of course, in this process China is full of conquest and subjugation of the past, but we can not dwell on these things, because any expansion and unification in history has coexisted with conquest and subjugation. The most important thing is that everyone has become one, regardless of each other, the same Chinese nation, and jointly coped with the invasion of the Western powers and Japan in the face of "great changes not seen in three thousand years".
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