On the influence and contribution of the Yuanjiao and Sogdians in ancient Shanxi
As early as before the Sui and Tang dynasties,
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It has been widely spread among the Sogdian Hu people in Shanxi, and the prefecture is already a large Sogdian settlement area, and the Yuanjiao sect is the spiritual pillar that maintains this huge Sogdian Hu group. The government implemented a positive western policy and an enlightened religious attitude, opened the Sa Bao Province, and set up a special official position to manage the Yuanjiao.
By 845, while Emperor Wuzong of Tang had abolished Buddhism and other religions, Yuanjiao had also been implicated, and many temples of Yuanjiao, Jingjiao, and Manichaeism had been demolished, and 3,000 monks had been ordered to return to the layman, and they had since been revived. Later, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, Buddhism revived, and the Yuan sect also recovered to a certain extent, but with little success, and it was still spread among the Hu and Han people.
From the fifth dynasty to the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty lifted the ban on Yuanjiao, and the folk continued to popularize the habit of worshipping the fire god, and from the Song to the Yuan Dynasty, the worship of yuan gods in Shanxi became part of folk beliefs and customs.
Tang dynasty
It was one of the most powerful countries in the world at that time, with great great power demeanor, opening up to the outside world and attracting the western region. In the ideological field, loose policies have been adopted, and various religions have become popular. This attitude of actively accepting tolerance rather than rejecting exclusion accelerated the positive integration of hu people into society and contributed to the pluralistic characteristics of Tang Dynasty culture. In order to manage the huge Hu people, the imperial court also set up a special Sabao Mansion, which had Yuan Zheng and Yuan Zhu to preside over religious affairs.
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North Morning
From the beginning, the Central Plains Dynasty had it
Sabao Province
He also led the civil and religious affairs of western merchants and merchants, but at that time there was no record of the special setting of Yuan Zheng and Yuan Zhu. In the Tang Dynasty, these official positions were set up under sabao province, indicating that the Tang court attached great importance to the religious beliefs of the Hu people. Even at the beginning of the New Century, when the officials were dismissed, the SaBao Mansion and the Lower Yuanzheng and Yuanzhu were still preserved, which shows the influence of the Yuan sect forces at that time.
Some scholars believe that the Tang Dynasty attached great importance to the Yuanjiao, although there were many religions in the Western Regions, but believed that the Yuanjiao was the mainstream religion embraced by the Sogdian Hu people, so they tried their best to control their upper-class figures in diplomacy, "as long as they strive to control the upper-class figures of the religion, they can attract the Western Regions, and the immigrants in the Western Regions can get along with the Han people, and the land can be peaceful." This understanding of foreign affairs by the Tang government seems to be in line with the state of religious belief in the Western Regions at that time. ”
It was precisely because the Tang government determined religious policies to meet the needs of its own rule that it ensured that the Main Hu people in the Western Regions embraced the Yuan religion for a time.
As for the Yuan Ancestral Hall, the main religious site of the Yuan sect, since the Tang Dynasty, historical records have begun to have records of the Yuan Ancestral Hall in Middle-earth, so Mr. Chen Yuan said: "Before the Tang Dynasty, China had a system of worshiping Hu Tian, but it was not seen that there was a Yuan Ancestral Hall, and in the Tang Dynasty, there was a Yuan Ancestral Hall, which began with the Yuan Ancestral Hall in the southwest corner of the Xijing Bu Zhengfang."
In the Sogdian settlements of Boxian Town, Shicheng Town, Beiting, Yizhou, Dunhuang, Wuwei, Chang'an, Luoyang, Youzhou and other places, there are Yuan ancestral halls, which can be seen that the distribution of early Yuan ancestral halls is consistent with the eastward migration of sogdian Hu people along the Silk Road.
1. Commercial activities of the Sogdian Hu people in Shanxi
Sogdia was a very business-minded people. They traded along the ancient overland Silk Road and established many Sogdian settlements along the way, and the Yuan religious belief was a strong bond that maintained this Sogdian commercial people.
Excavated cultural relics and related documents show that the goods traded by Hu merchants on the Silk Road were mainly small, lightweight but high-value luxury goods, in addition to the trade in female spleen and horses. Exotic artifacts found in China and Persian gold and silver coins are inextricably linked to the commercial activities of the Sogdian Hu people.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were already a large number of Sogdian merchants and Hu in Shanxi. In the Hu settlement area formed with the market as the geographical center, although a small number of Hu people entered the Central Plains Dynasty, most of them still made a living from business. "In the sacrificial activities held at the Yuan Temple, the main body and purpose of the activities are centered on Shanghu.
"Pray for blessings every year, cook pigs and sheep, pipa drums and flutes, sing and dance drunk" in order to ask for the protection of Ahula Mazda, peace and security for himself and his family, and smooth trade. The Northern Wei Shi'erzhu family crossed the border and the two states, took animal husbandry as its industry, supplied good horses to the imperial court, and had abundant goods and strong economic strength.
In addition, Sassanid silverware and silver coins were repeatedly found in Shanxi, which was undoubtedly transmitted through the commercial activities of the Sogdians. In 1970, the silver eight-curved long cup and silver bowl excavated from the site of Datong Northern Wei City, the Persian silver plate of the Northern Wei period unearthed in Datong in 1981, and the silver bowl excavated from the Tomb of Datong Northern Wei in 1988 are all typical Sassanid Persian silverware, all of which have appeared half-beast and half-bird gods, and in the Sassanid era, it is a symbol of luck and wealth.
In 1958, a Sassanid silver coin was found in the southern suburbs of Taiyuan, which was the silver coin of the Sassanid Dynasty Kuslao II (590-627). Combining the Persian Sassanid gold and silver coins unearthed in other regions in recent years, the style of the silver coins has the following characteristics: the front of the silver coin is the head of the ruler, facing to the right, and the crown is crowned, which is considered to be "a symbol of the combination of royal power and divine power".
Each king re-minted coins after he ascended the throne, so the heads were different, especially their crowns were different, and even the same king changed the style of the crown on the coins, and some coins also had the images of the queen and the crown prince to emphasize the inheritance of the throne.
Inscriptions on the edges read , " Holy King so-and-so (king's name) who believed in Mazda , king of kings of Iran , descendants of the great gods " , indicating that the Sassanid kings were staunch believers; On the back are two priests facing the altar of worship, holding pomegranate branches. The altar of worship, which had three legs, was later pillared and had a roaring flame on it, on which Ahura Mazda or other gods also appeared, usually with religious words such as "just", "victorious", and so on.
In addition, there are places and dates of coinage. Both sides are surrounded by moon and star motifs. The discovery of Sassanid silver coins shows the wide spread of Sogdian business footprints and fully confirms the prevalence of Yuanjiao in Shanxi.
With the footprints of the Sogdian merchant Hu, a large number of Western artifacts entered Shanxi. The Hu bottle is a royal family's own use, brought into the Central Plains by foreign tributes or through Hu merchants, very precious, Yu Hong's tomb sarcophagus has a scene of holding a hu bottle in his hand, and it is also depicted on the sarcophagus of the tomb of Anjia and Shi Jun, which are also of a yuan religious nature.
2. The Gentiles are known for their wealth as rulers
The religious community used their religious identity to conduct business activities with great success, often becoming extremely wealthy. The "Biography of Erzhu Rong" records that Erzhu Rong was "a family of heroes and rich in goods", and that "whenever the imperial court had conquests, horses and horses were also equipped with materials and grain, and helped the military." "The Erzhu family had strong economic strength, domesticated good horses, brave and good at war, and was reused by the rulers of northern Wei, and the ancestors successively served as the governor of the prefecture and the state of Wanton.
At the end of the Wei Dynasty, when the world was in turmoil and warlords were swarming, Erzhu Rong even carried a large banner and tried to compete for hegemony. The "Tomb of Long Liang", the grandson of Shi Longrun, the governor of Sabao Province, records: "Great Father Shiyi, Chao Sanlang." Talent and Bu Zhang, rich and white, with a heroic self. The Long family was known for Li Tang with its wealth and played a certain role in Li Yuan's rebellion against Taiyuan.
3. The influence of Yuanjiao on the culture and art of ancient Shanxi
The influence of yuanjiao art and its culture on the folk culture of ancient Shanxi was far-reaching, and greatly enriched the material and spiritual cultural life of the ancient People of Shanxi. Yang Jingping mentioned in "The Influence and Change of The Costumes of the Sogdians" that the Northern Dynasty was a period of mutual borrowing and integration of the costumes of various ethnic groups, and under the influence of this great tide of integration, the Sogdians brought the Hu style of the Western Regions to the Central Plains, and at the same time changed themselves, gradually accepting the influence of Sinicization and other ethnic groups, so that there was a phenomenon of "Hu wearing Han hats, Han wearing Hu hats".
Both the tombs of Xu Xianxiu and Lou Cyan have found a large number of lapel-collared costumes and pottery figurines, and a large number of joint beads have been used in the tombs and cultural relics of the two for decoration. The beaded pattern is a skeleton-shaped pattern that was popular during the Sassanid Persian period, and the pattern theme was often related to religion.
Archaeological findings show that during the Wei and Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, China began to enter China, and gradually gained the recognition of the people and was widely used in daily life.
4. Persian techniques come from the east
Shanxi's glass decoration technology and glass blowing technology have obvious western factors. The Northern Wei Dynasty who transmitted the liuli technology to Shanxi were the "Dayue clan people" and He Chou, who was in charge of the liuli technology in the Sui Dynasty, was a descendant of the Sogdians, both of whom were foreign ethnic descendants from the area where the Yuan sect was endemic. Judging from the beast-fearing god on the ridge of the Jiexiu Yuanshen Building, the glass statue of the Hufu Riding Rui Beast, and the common Pattern of Cao Cao in the glass ornaments of the Yuanshen Lou, there is a strong West Asian Persian style.
During the reign of Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty (424-452), glassblowing techniques spread to the Pingcheng area, "his Chinese merchant Jingshi, ziyunneng cast stone into five-color glass." So in the mining mountains, Yu Jingshi cast it, completed, and the luster is beautiful to those from the West. - When a viewer sees it, he is horrified and thinks that the gods have done it. Since then, the glass in the country has been degraded, and people have not cherished it. ”
In addition, as early as the 5th and 6th centuries, Sassanid Persian gold and silver ware has been imported into China, in the 1970s and 1980s in datong Northern Wei city site and tomb excavations silver plates, silver bowls, silver eight-curved cups, these silverware exquisite workmanship, exquisite craftsmanship, or for the Persian envoys, or for the Northern Wei from the Western Regions or Central Asia.
Some of them have obtained strong financial resources because of their business, some of them are proficient in various crafts and music and dance in the western region, some of them hold the position of yuan instructor, and some of them are envoys to the countries of the western region, leaving a deep footprint in the history of Shanxi and having a profound impact on the politics, economy and culture of ancient Shanxi society.
In particular, in recent years, the tombs of Northern Qi Lou, Xu Xianxiu and Sui Yuhong have been excavated in Shanxi, and the excavation and investigation of these tombs have provided rich materials for us to understand the spread and influence of Yuanjiao in Shanxi society at that time. This article believes that the Yuanjiao culture, together with other religious cultures, is integrated with the traditional culture of medieval Shanxi, bursting out a bright spark, which together constitutes the splendid and splendid culture of ancient Shanxi.