"Kunlun Tour" - Kunlun and Tian section of the multidisciplinary scientific expedition team recently came to Yutian, the reporter Yutian County Museum, saw a story of "revenge for the prince".
Professor Lu Jianfang (second from right) and Professor Zhang Chi (first from left) inspected Montenegro Village. Photo by Zhang Yunhai In 72 BC, Chang Hui, a legendary diplomat of the Western Han Dynasty, gathered troops and horses from all walks of life to attack Qiuci, wanting to hold accountable the Qici nobles for killing Lai Dan, an official of the Western Han Dynasty stationed in the Western Regions, five years ago. King Qiuzi was frightened and told him: Lai Dan was killed by mistake by the first king after listening to the slander of the "nobleman", "I am not guilty". Then he handed over the culprit Gu Yi, and Chang Hui beheaded him on the spot. It is worth mentioning that Chang Hui only brought 500 men from the Central Plains, and the rest of the soldiers and horses came from various city-states in the Western Regions. Such a story is not an isolated case in the Western Han Dynasty. Another famous diplomat, Fu Jiezi, in the context of the death of Emperor Wu and the accession of Emperor Zhao to the throne and the instability of the people in the Western Regions, took the initiative to ask Ying to envoy to the Western Regions, and only brought 11 people, first killed the Xiongnu envoys, got rid of the dissenting King of Loulan, and set up Loulan Proton in the Han Dynasty as the king. It can be seen that the Han Dynasty had a huge influence in the Western Regions at that time. What's more worth mentioning is that Lai Dan is the first official of the Han Dynasty stationed in the Western Regions in history, and he was originally the crown prince of the Western Regions city-state Zhumi, whose royal city is in the lower reaches of the Keriya River in today's Yutian County. In 101 B.C., Li Guangli, the general of the Second Division of the Western Han Dynasty, returned from the victory of Dawan, passing by the Mi, heard that the prince Lai Dan was sent to Qiuci as a hostage, and immediately became furious, "Hanshu · Western Regions Biography" wrote: "Guangli blamed Qiuzi and said: 'Foreign ministers belong to the Han, how can Qiuzi be subject to the quality of Qiuzi?'" It means that these city-states in the Western Regions belong to the Han Dynasty, so what qualifications does Qiuzi have to take hostages? Li Guangli then brought Lai Dan to Chang'an, the prince of Zhu Mi lived in Chang'an for 24 years, in 77 BC, Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty appointed Lai Dan as a captain, led the army to Luntai Tuntian, and did a good job. At this time, the people of Qiuzi were psychologically unbalanced, and Gu Yi instigated the king of Qiuzi to get rid of Lai Dan. Five years later, Chang Hui avenged Raidan. Since then, Qiuzi has been completely obedient to the Han Dynasty, sending the children of the royal family to Chang'an to learn etiquette, and the whole country advocates the culture of the Han Dynasty. These are all stories that took place before the establishment of the Protectorate of the Western Regions in 60 BC. It is not difficult to see that long before the unification of the Western Regions by the Han Dynasty, the central power of the Han Dynasty had formed an all-round influence on the military, politics, economy, and culture in the Western Regions, especially at the cultural level. In 60 B.C., Xinjiang officially became part of China's territory, which can be said to be a matter of course. "The culture of the Central Plains has influenced the Western Regions very early, and there is a process of progression, accumulation, and subtlety." Wu Xinhua, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that in the absence of written records, the Western Regions and the Central Plains began to interact and blend, and according to archaeological findings, as early as the late Neolithic Age, the Western Regions and the Central Plains had contacts. In 2002, Wu Xinhua led a team to investigate Heishan Village, Kashgar Tash Township, Hotan County, upper reaches of the Kashgar River in Yulong, and found several ancient pottery pots, which were different from the pottery unearthed in Xinjiang before, and were identified as artifacts belonging to the Qijia culture, "The age is about 4500 years ago, and people from the Central Plains may have lived here a long time ago." ”
The turquoise inlaid jade dragon unearthed from the Erlitou site. Courtesy of Lu Jianfang Archaeology outlines many details of annihilation in time. Zhang Chi, a professor at South China Normal University and a scholar of Xinjiang history and culture, said that the largest turquoise mining site group found in the mainland is the ancient turquoise mine site of Heishanling at the junction of Hami City and Ruoqiang County, Bayingolin Mongolia Autonomous Prefecture, which was originally mined more than 3,000 years ago and flourished in the Spring and Autumn Period. Archaeology proves the influence of the Central Plains culture on the early Western Regions. Zhang Chi said that Xinjiang archaeology has found Chu-style mirrors, Warring States silk, lacquerware and other cultural relics, most of which were imported from the Central Plains before 60 BC, such as Chu-style mirrors, which refer to the bronze mirrors with Chu style that were popular in Chu and surrounding areas during the Warring States Period, and are still popular after the death of Chu. The Warring States mirror is the most exquisite Chu-style mirror, among which the mountain-shaped mirror is the most classic, representing the elegant, romantic, strange and magnificent Chu culture, and occupies a very important position in the history of bronze mirror casting. The pursuit of Chu-style mirrors in the Western Regions is a reflection of the preference for Central Plains culture.
The inlaid turquoise bronze medallion unearthed at the Erlitou site. Provided by Lu Jianfang Hetian jade is an important medium to communicate the Western Regions and the Central Plains, and the Erlitou site (3800 to 3500 years ago) unearthed Hetian jade ritual vessels - white jade handle-shaped vessels, and a large number of Hetian jade were found in the tombs of women in the Shang Dynasty. Lu Jianfang, editor-in-chief of the General History of Chinese Jade and a researcher at the Nanjing Museum, said that as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Hetian jade not only became the court jade and the "national jade", but also became the standard for jade identification. From the Jin State to the Chu State, Hetian jade was already widely used in the tombs of nobles. He believes that the "Silk Road" was the "Jade Road" before, when Hetian jade became the "national jade", the "Jade Road" was more like an official road, at that time the difficulty of mining Hetian jade was quite high, there were "100 people, 10 people returned", the official jade team from the Central Plains, the number should be relatively large, they undoubtedly brought the Central Plains culture.
Qijia culture unearthed jade. Courtesy of Lu Jianfang. In human history, oral histories have been written for much longer than they have been written, and oral histories have often been passed down in the form of myths. Mi Haiping, a professor at Shihezi University and an expert on Kunlun culture, has studied the myth of the Queen Mother of the West for many years. She believes that removing the elements of mythology, the parade account in the "Legend of Mu Tianzi" and the meeting between King Zhou Mu and the Queen Mother of the West, who may have been the leader of a matriarchal tribe in the Western Regions, have a high degree of credibility. King Mu of Zhou's tour of the west, in general, along the pre-Qin traditional "jade road" march, this is not only the concept of "great unification" under the concept of King Mu Zhou's trip to the west of China's "harmonious nations" trip, but also an important spread of the Central Plains culture to the west, King Mu of Zhou met with the Queen Mother of the West in Yaochi, and the Queen Mother of the West sang with King Mu of Zhou in Chinese, which is an example.
Qinghai Tianjun County West Queen Mother Grottoes. Mi Haiping provided many documents, historical materials, and also recorded the great and even decisive influence of the Central Plains on the Western Regions. Wu Xinhua took the legend of the founding of Khotan as an example: when Xuanzang returned from his westward journey to learn scriptures, he stayed in Khotan for a long time, and he recorded the story told by the Khotanese people in the "Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty": "In the past, this country was empty and uninhabited, and Bishamen Heaven lived here. The prince of Sanssouci was killed in the country of Siluo, and the king of Sanssouci angrily reprimanded and assisted, moved his wealthy family, went out of the north of the snow-capped mountains, and lived in the barren valley. Moved people to herds, to this west boundary, elected chieftains, and honored as kings. At that time, the emperor of Dongtu was condemned and migrated, lived in the eastern boundary, persuaded the group, and called himself the king ......" said that in the era of King Sanssouci (that is, India Ashoka), he exiled a group of wealthy families, from west to east over the snow-capped mountains, and the emperor of Dongtu from east to west, both sides came to today's Hetian to define the residence, called the king, the two sides had a war, and the emperor of Dongtu won. The same story is recorded in the Tibetan text Li Yu Ji. Regarding the identity of the "Emperor of Dongtu", the academic community is inconclusive, some people say that "Di people" and "Qiang people", some people believe that "Emperor Dongtu" may be the son of Emperor Hong "Chaos" mentioned in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", and some people speculate based on the historical fact that Ashoka of India and Qin Shi Huang of China were in the same era: Is it possible that the "Emperor of Dongtu" was the Prince of Qin who was building the Great Wall in northern Shaanxi at that time? He did not commit suicide, but led his people into exile all the way west to Khotan? "This legend reflects the historical fact that the early Han people entered the Western Regions, and they either fought military expeditions, or engaged in business, reclamation, and mining, bringing advanced culture." Wu Xinhua believes that whether it is the record of the "Emperor of the Eastern Soil", or the legend of the "Princess Chuansi" of the Eastern Kingdom bringing the local mulberry sericulture to the Western Regions, or the Yuan Dynasty poet Ma Zuchang's "picking bluestones by the Jade River and collecting the Yisang hemp of the Eastern Kingdom", "the Eastern Kingdom" clearly points to the Central Plains, and clearly proves the all-round influence of the Central Plains on the early Western Regions, especially the culture. After the "rule of Wenjing", the Western Han Dynasty already had a highly developed agricultural civilization, and "overthrew the hundred schools of thought, respected Confucianism alone", established the orthodoxy and dominance of Confucianism, and made the idea of "great unification" as a mainstream ideology become stereotyped. The answer is obvious. The Hanshu · Legend of the Western Regions" records: "Shanshan was the Han Daochong, and the west was seven hundred and twenty li. Since the end of the past, they have planted grains, land, grass and trees, and livestock for soldiers, slightly with the Han Dynasty, and ...... with the Han Dynasty" has embraced the culture of the Han Dynasty in an all-round way. "Zhang Qian's 'hollowing', in fact, 'hollowing' is the Silk Road blocked by the Xiongnu. The Silk Road has long existed, it is a road of wealth, and the Han operation of the Silk Road reflects the Chinese view of the world and the culture of harmony at that time, and is of course welcomed by the Western Regions. Wu Xinhua said.
In 60 B.C., the Xiongnu, who controlled the northern foothills of the eastern Tianshan Mountains, surrendered to the Han Dynasty, and the Han unified the Western Regions and set up the Western Regions Protectorate as a military and political institution to manage the Western Regions. This is an important node in the history of Xinjiang, but long before that, the Western Regions had opened its arms to the Central Plains, actively integrated into the historical evolution of China's unified multi-ethnic country, and jointly created a pluralistic and integrated Chinese national family.
Source: Shi Jiuyun/Xinjiang Daily