China's territory is very vast, thanks to the continuous inheritance of China's civilization for thousands of years, and the efforts made by successive rulers in opening up the territory and guarding the frontier have made China such a cohesive multi-ethnic country today. The size of China's territory has also changed over time, with the Yuan Dynasty being the largest, while the Qing Dynasty laid the basic picture of modern China.
The reason why China can become a unified country is due to the efforts made by the monarchs of the Qin state in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and reunification has gradually become a trend in the context of the times at that time, and the Qin State has finally unified the world, creating a feudal monarchy that was very advanced at that time, laying a solid foundation for the development of our country for thousands of years.
Location in Khotan
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However, according to the records of the "Records of History", we can know that the death of Qin II was only a flash in the pan in history, but the reason why it is often mentioned is nothing more than because he played a pioneering role. The Han Dynasty after the Qin Dynasty was the period when China's national strength reached its peak in the true sense.
At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, due to years of war and other reasons led to socio-economic decline and the displacement of the people, the Han court adopted the measure of "lightly dispensing with thin endowments and resting with the people", and under the efforts of the two generations of emperors of The Han Wen Emperor and the Han Jing Emperor, the strength of the Western Han Dynasty increased rapidly, creating favorable conditions for the later prosperous world.
By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the national strength of the Western Han Dynasty reached its peak. At the same time, the strength of the Xiongnu on the frontiers of our country is also very strong, and Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty has sent troops to pacify the Xiongnu many times, relying on the strength accumulated by previous generations of emperors, but this practice of his is also considered by later generations to be poor soldiers, laying hidden dangers for the turmoil after the Han Dynasty.
The Western Han Dynasty was strong
During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he not only vigorously pacified the Xiongnu, but also opened up a very famous trade route, which is the "Silk Road" that we are all familiar with. According to the Book of Han created by Ban Gu and the Records of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty written by the later Master Xuanzang, it can be known that there have been many countries in the Western Regions, each of which has different customs and customs, and has a close relationship with the Han and Tang Dynasties.
At that time, many countries in the western region have now become part of our country, and they have also become a part of the Chinese nation, which is the result of thousands of years of national migration and integration. Among the many countries in the western region at that time, this country was annexed many times, and this country was Khotan.
Khotan was once a very powerful country in history, because of its very advantageous geographical location, in the heart of the Silk Road, and as a transportation hub for trade between countries. Therefore, the Han Dynasty could not ignore the country, and during the Western Han Dynasty, it established the Western Regions Capital Protectorate and administered the small countries in the area.
Location in Khotan
However, in history, there was a very short-lived dynasty between the Western Han and Eastern Han Dynasties, that is, the new dynasty established by Wang Mang, a foreign relative of the Western Han Dynasty. During this period, due to the internal turmoil of the Han Dynasty, it lost its control over the western states, so the Khotanese state broke away from China's control during this time and was later annexed by the Western Turks.
For hundreds of years after that, Khotan was controlled by the Western Turks, and until the Tang Dynasty, Tang Taizong Li Shimin forged ahead, constantly conquering the western region and gaining jurisdiction over the region. The Western Turks had no choice but to give Khotan to the Tang Dynasty along with several other small countries in the Western Regions in order to obtain a short period of peace, and in 22 years, Khotan became a member of the four towns of Anxi.
Murals in Khotan
People familiar with history know that during the Tang Dynasty, the Xiongnu were not a foreign force to worry about, but Tubo was the most troublesome enemy, at that time due to the outbreak of the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty even had to cut land to pay compensation to allow the Tubo people to evacuate, and this time Khotan was once again taken away.
Although the people of Khotan were reluctant to submit to Tubo, many rebellions were suppressed, and the ownership of the region was constantly changing. Until the 9th century, with the continuous weakening of the Tubo power, the Khotanese king Wei Chi Monk Wubo led the local people to start a rebellion and eventually gained independence. And they returned to China after breaking away from their rule and became a member of our country.
Ruins of Khotan
After the Tang Dynasty, we all know that the Song Dynasty was a very special era, the economic development reached its peak, but the national strength was very weak, most of the territory was encroached upon by foreign tribes, and it could only shrink to the south. During this period, Khotan was invaded and occupied by the Qarakhanid State, and Khotan's own strength was weak and naturally unable to resist, so they once again broke away from the embrace of the motherland.
epilogue
This situation continued until the Qing Dynasty, when the Qing Dynasty regained sovereignty over Xinjiang and Tibet, and Khotan is now a county in China called Yutian County, located in the Hotan region of Xinjiang.
This period of history tells us that the formation of China's territory and many nationalities today is the result of thousands of years of integration, every nation is an inseparable member of the Chinese nation, and every territory is a country and mountains that our ancestors have worked hard to build, love it, and make our own contributions to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.