The Great Wall is home inside and outside

Nestled between peaks and winding above the desert, the Great Wall is the world's longest-built and most massive national military defense project of the Cold Weapons Era. The Great Wall, which runs through the east and west, is a transitional zone between nomadic and agricultural production methods, witnessing the collision and integration of the agricultural culture of the Central Plains and the nomadic culture of the grassland. The Great Wall area is also a special cultural belt, which is of great significance in the formation and development of the chinese nation's diversified and integrated pattern.

Recently, 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 undertaken by the Inner Mongolia Museum, the "Inner Mongolia Cultural Relics Jinghua Exhibition" was opened at the National Museum of China, and the exhibition was divided into three parts: "The Early Form of the Combination of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry", "The Construction of the Great Wall and the Integration of Nationalities", "The Fusion of Diverse Cultures along the Great Wall", exhibiting exquisite and dazzling animal pattern gold belt ornaments, mysterious and simple Turkic stone figures. More than 240 pieces (sets) of exhibits, such as gorgeous and exquisite Khitan noble harnesses, systematically reveal the history and characteristics of the collision and integration of agricultural and nomadic cultural exchanges in the Great Wall for thousands of years. It is worth mentioning that there are more than 40 first-class cultural relics in the exhibition, and these selected cultural relics are from the Great Wall area of the north, which collect decades of archaeological research results and combine folk culture. Their collective appearance brings a new perspective to the Great Wall Cultural Exhibition.

The exhibition will run until December 28.

Early forms of agro-pastoral integration

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.

The Great Wall area not only has the important characteristics of the integration of multi-ethnic cultures in the ancient and northern regions of China, but also the meeting point of Eastern and Western civilizations. Archaeological discoveries have found that the earliest Northern Style bronzes in China were born here and continued to spread outward. The strong attraction of the farming civilization in the Central Plains made the nomadic tribes in the early grasslands continue to come east and south and gather here, thus forming a social situation of convergence, exchange and integration with the farming peoples of the Central Plains.

"The sky is clear, the wild is vast, and the wind blows grass and looks down at cattle and sheep." In the impression of many people, Inner Mongolia is dominated by grassland nomadic life. In fact, as early as the Neolithic Age, the economic life of the ethnic groups in northern China was based on agriculture, and the mixed economy of animal husbandry and hunting was also engaged. About 3500 years ago, due to the influence of dry and cold climate, the grassland area gradually formed a lifestyle of "living by water and grass".

The first unit, "Early Forms of Agricultural-Pastoral Integration", is divided into two chapters: "West-East Resonance - Yellow River Basin and Xiliao River Basin" and "Nomadic Gradual Strengthening - Archaeological Multiple Factors", which mainly talks about the early forms of the so-called "Great Wall Area" agricultural and pastoral integration in the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties.

A bronze dagger of the Dragon Head of the Shang Dynasty unearthed in Ordos City, Inner Mongolia, in the exhibition, is an important physical evidence to show the early form of the so-called "Great Wall Area" agriculture and animal husbandry combination in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. Dragon heads, snake heads, antelope heads, sheep heads or deer heads daggers are a very distinctive vessel in Ordos bronzes. Because its blade is not sharp, some are still very blunt and stupid, obviously not suitable for cutting and piercing in daily life, such utensils should be used in special occasions, similar to spoons, forks and other functions of the instrument.

The cultural relic "Xu Jijiang" bronze gui was excavated in Xiaoheishigou, Ningcheng County, Chifeng City, which is one of the important bronze artifacts found in the northern Great Wall area since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Unearthed in Ningcheng County, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, this gui was a ceremonial vessel cast by Xu Guo (in present-day Xuchang, Henan) during the Spring and Autumn Period, with traces of use, and was only buried with the owner of the tomb during the Warring States period. The inscription on the bottom of the vessel reads "Xu Ji Jiang zuo zun gui his descendants and grandchildren Yong Bao use", some scholars speculate that this is the dowry ceremony instrument when a woman surnamed Jiang of Xu Guo married into Inner Mongolia. The bronze guise of "Xu Ji Jiang" hides the imprint of China's liturgical music culture since ancient times and the integration of farming culture and nomadic cultural exchanges.

In the first section of the exhibition, several pieces of painted pottery from the Xia and Shang dynasties attract attention. These pottery were specially made at that time, and the body was painted with continuous, complicated geometric patterns, which are similar to the ornamentation on the Bronze Ware of the Central Plains, and the close relationship between the local culture and the Culture of the Central Plains is clear at a glance.

The construction of the Great Wall and the integration of the nation

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. 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. However, the construction of the Great Wall still cannot stop the exchanges and exchanges between the two sides, and the Han-Hungarian peace and affinity, border customs trade, Zhang Qian's "chiseling the air", and east-west exchanges cannot avoid the Han-Hungarian sides on both sides of the Great Wall. 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.

The second unit is "The Construction of the Great Wall and the Integration of Nationalities", which 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 "Towards Unification - Prosperity in the Sui and Tang Dynasties", which reflects the ethnic exchanges and integration in the Great Wall area from the Warring States to the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

The exhibit in this unit, "Marquis of Jinxianbei Guiyi", is made of pure gold and is a letter from the Western Jin Dynasty to the leader of the Xianbei Wuhuan clan. The Western Jin Dynasty was underpowered and adopted a policy of dividing up many nomads. In the cellar gold and silver artifacts excavated in Liangcheng County, Wulanchabu City, Inner Mongolia, gold seals such as "Jin Xianbei Guiyi Hou" and "Jin Xianbei Rate Shan Zhonglang General" were found successively. The words "guiyi" and "rate goodness" in the printing reflect this historical fact.

There are many exhibits related to animal images in the exhibits.

The gold belt ornament excavated from the West Ditch of the Zunger Banner in Ordos City is likely to be the "golden head" of the "Rhinoceros Golden Headband" referred to in Ban Gu's "Notes to General Dou", also commonly known as "Leading". The front of the plaque is surrounded by an engraved rope frame with a raised pattern of tigers and wild boars fighting and biting. There are two semicircular buttons on the back with burlap marks. Both pieces have the same pattern and are inscribed on the back edges. This one with a hole, at the edge of the left and right ends of the back, vertically goes straight "one pound two two twenty-two Zhu Shao half" and "Old Temple FengHu Three". "Feng Hu" is obviously a motif indicating the gold medal ornament, "Old Temple" may be related to the official government that made the utensils, "three" is the number of the utensils, and "one pound, two or two twenty-two Zhu Shaohan" is a weight. The back of the other plaque is close to the left end edge, vertically and straight, "one pound, five two four Zhu less than half", the actual weight of 330 grams. The units of check and the style of engraving on the plaques were influenced by the Qin state and undoubtedly had a close relationship with the Qin.

The exhibition also features a piece of tiger head shaped silver savings. As an ancient harness, "thrift" is a necessary equipment for riding a royal carriage in ancient times, just like the title, the hammer, and the danglu. The main use of "saving" is to gather the reins or pimps of the horse. The earliest existing "savings" have been cast and formed in the late Shang Dynasty. With the widespread use of horses and horse-drawn carriages, various types of harnesses are also evolving. The "saving" material is mostly bronze or bone, composed of one or two hollow tubules, generally smaller, and the leather can be passed through it, thus joining together. This gadget may seem inconspicuous, but it is very practical.

In ancient China,China from the Warring States to the Qin and Han Dynasties, waterfowl-shaped or duck-headed gold jewelry and gold savings were more common, and waterfowl-shaped hooks were also more common. The middle part is sometimes convex and decorated with spiral patterns, string patterns, cockroach patterns, animal patterns and other patterns. The materials saved are also abundant, ranging from gold to silver to alloys. These exquisite ornaments are a symbol of the noble status of the owner of the horse.

A blend of diverse cultures along the Great Wall

The Song and Liao Jinyuan period was a period when the Song Dynasty in the Central Plains and the northern separatist regimes, the Liao and Jin Dynasties, stood side by side. Although 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. 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.

The third part, "The Fusion of Diverse Cultures along the Great Wall", is divided into four chapters: "Coexistence and Replacement - Liao, Song and Jin Exchanges", "Pluralistic Convergence - The Great Unification of the Yuan Dynasty", "Juxtaposition and Integration - Interaction between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia", and "Defending the Territory and Defending the Territory - Southern Mongolia of the Qing Dynasty", which describes the integration of various ethnic groups along the Great Wall from the Song Dynasty, The JinYuan dynasty to the Ming and Qing dynasties.

This exhibition not only brings together the cultural relics of many cultural and archaeological units in Inner Mongolia, but also shows the treasure of the "bottom of the pressure box" of the National Expo, and the "Nine-Sided Map" screen is the first exhibition, which is worth carefully appreciating.

In order to defend the Mongols to 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 "Nine Sides" screen reflects this system.

The front of the "Nine-Sided Map" screen is silk, pasted on 12 wooden boards, and the whole picture adopts the realistic green and green landscape painting method to draw a simple map. From Shanhaiguan on the Liaodong Peninsula in the east to Jiayuguan in the west, there are nine people in the border areas called "towns", namely: Liaodong Town, Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Yulin Town, Ningxia Town, Gansu Town, Taiyuan Town, Guyuan Town, so it is called "Nine Sides Map". The Theory of Nine-Sided Diagram provides valuable information for the study of the border defense system of the Ming Dynasty and the historical geography of northern Xinjiang.

The tomb of Yelü Yu of Arukorqin Banner in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, excavated from the Liao Dynasty gilded Gaoshitu Silver Cup is currently stored in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. This cup is extremely exquisite, the cup body has a total of 7 sides, the mouth edge, circle foot, and the abdomen are all bordered by a raised bead pattern, the mouth edge is decorated with a week of birdbit patterns, and the 7 sides of the belly are decorated with 7 idle coats, all wearing flower crowns, wearing wide-sleeved robes, with different forms. The figure's back is decorated with willow branches and caviar stripes. The bottom of the abdomen is carved with a grass leaf pattern, and the circle foot is carved with a mountain pattern.

This kind of cup with handle is very close to the shape of the Sogdian silver cup, and it is also a common instrument shape in the gold and silverware of the Tang Dynasty. The silver cup of the Tomb of Yerushalayim is special in that the seven-edged cup body and handle are missing, which is different from the eight-sided cup body and the complete ring handle common in Sogdia. If it is true that the chinese traditional Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest are indeed the theme of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest, then this silver cup is an improvement of the Sogdian vessel shape by the Khitan craftsmen in order to arrange the image of the 7 Gaoshi.

The exhibition also features a set of Mongolian chess. Mongolian chess originated in Persia and was introduced to Mongolia in the 13th century during Genghis Khan's Western Expedition. The board of Mongolian chess, like the board of chess, is also a square chessboard, consisting of sixty-four small squares arranged alternately in color, one dark and one light. There are eight small squares on each side of the board, the light color is called white grid, and the dark color is called black grid. The board in the exhibition is a blue-and-white box board with red, yellow, blue and green petals on the edges.

The pieces of Mongolian chess are also divided into two colors, the light color is called white, and the dark color is called black, a total of thirty-two, each side holds sixteen pieces, that is, each side has a king, a queen (that is, a handsome), a double car, a double elephant, a double horse and eight pawns. Among them, the prince is called "Noyan" in Mongolian, and the queen is called "Hatun" or "Boris".

Mongolian chess moves and rules are closer to chess. According to Qingye Mingfeng's "Miscellaneous Records of Qiaoxi", the chess system and method of Mongolian chess are: "The game is vertical and horizontal, nine lines, sixty-four." Sixteen pieces of chess: eight pawns, two cars, two horses, two elephants, one cannon, one general, don't take Zhu Mo, will be centered on the right, the cannon is centered on the left, the car, horse, elephant left and right, the pawn is horizontal in front, the chess game has no river boundary, the full game is feasible, the so-called water and grass think that animal husbandry is also. Its chess shape without words, will carve the tower, worship the elephant teaching also. Elephants change to camels or bears, and there are no elephants in the north. The pawn went straight to the bottom, the oblique angle of the enemy in the former, go and return, with the same car, Jia Yougong also. Horses run rampant, camels can travel obliquely for nine, because in the desert land, camels are faster than horses. The car travels in a straight line, free to move forward and backward. The group hit a tower and there was no way out. It started out as a defeat. ”

At the end of the exhibition, a series of exhibits with a strong sense of life are also exhibited, such as Mongolian women's headdresses and hats. The headdress consists of a crown ornament and oblong chain vertebrae that droop on both sides. The crowned forehead hoop is arranged with a round silver pendant inlaid with coral, and the forehead tassels woven with small silver beads are in the shape of a "human" shape, and dozens of spikes connected by coral, turquoise beads and inlaid honeysuckles are dropped on each side of the forehead.

Silver flat round pot with enamel color wine pot, with a piercing hole on each side. The pot face is glazed with enamel floral pattern. A slender tube is attached to the spout and inserted into the pot for easy suction. Prairie herders like to carry it in their arms when they go out to graze. The copper milk bucket is decorated with three silver hoops and has a ring buckle on both sides. This piece is a traditional Mongolian vessel, mostly used for water, tea, milk, etc., and is also used for family sacrifices. Ruyi-shaped handle Shou character pattern copper Dongbu pot, called "Duomu" in Tibetan, is named because its shape originates from the Domu pot in Central Asia in the Yuan Dynasty, which was already popular in Mongolia during the Yuan Dynasty. The Dongbu pot is durable and easy to carry, and has always been used in Mongolian and Tibetan areas, serving utensils such as milk tea that the Mongolians like to use. The mouth of the copper pot is decorated with lotus petals, two dragon play beads and floral patterns. Auspicious motifs such as the lid, spout and handle engraved with shou character pattern are the tools for the Mongolian people to boil milk tea.

The Mongolian medicine sheepskin medicine bag is a rectangular medicine bag sewn from lambskin for holding various Mongolian medicines, and each small medicine bag is tied with a wooden skewer with the name of the medicine written on the mouth. This medicine bag is easy to carry, can be rolled up and loaded on the back of the horse, has the reputation of "medicine store on horseback". The body of the silver-plated gold-plated dragon-patterned Mongolian knife is made of high-quality steel, the handle is inlaid with horns, and the handle and sheath of the knife are inlaid with silver hoops. The pendant's fire sickle is decorated with silver ornaments inlaid with coral, turquoise, etc. The Mongolian knife is a traditional ornament of the Mongols and an indispensable practical tool.

Among the exhibits are the collections of the Inner Mongolia Museum, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, the Ordos City Museum, and the Wulanchabu Museum, as well as the fine cultural relics related to them collected by the National Museum, as well as related artifacts excavated from the tomb of King Dayingzi In Dayingzi Village, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia. The whole exhibition shows the material life and spiritual world of the people of all ethnic groups living in the Great Wall area in ancient times, from which you can truly feel the true trajectory of the formation of the Chinese nation and appreciate the glittering Chinese culture.