Han Jianhua: Why did the world's only corroborated eighth-century Persian script appear in Qinghai, China?
Xining, China News Service, December 27 Title: Han Jianhua: Why did the world's only confirmed eighth-century Persian script appear in Qinghai, China?
China News Service reporter Pan Yujie
"From the 4th to the 7th century AD, the Central Plains was in turmoil, the Hexi Corridor was blocked, Tuguhun became the center connecting the Central Plains with the Mobei, the Western Regions, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, India and other places, the Silk Road Qinghai Road began to flourish, and the East-West merchants took many routes here to promote cultural exchanges in trade exchanges." Han Jianhua, an associate researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said in an interview with the China News Agency 'Dongxi Qing' recently that after nearly 40 years of archaeological excavations, nearly 100 tombs have been excavated in the Qinghai Dulan Hot Water Tomb Group, unearthing the world's only confirmed eighth-century Persian script brocade, and the shape and decorative patterns of many cultural relics have a strong Sassanid Persian, Sogdian and Central Asian style, proving that Dulan is an important node on the Qinghai Road of the Silk Road and a transit station for trade between the East and the West.
What cultural connotations do the cultural relics in the Hot Water Tombs group contain? What are the enlightenment of the Qinghai Road of the Silk Road to jointly build the "Belt and Road" and deepen cooperation among countries? Han Jianhua made an in-depth interpretation of this.
In May 2021, the Third Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Ecological Civilization Construction Forum was held in Xining, and Huo Wei, dean of the School of History and Culture of Sichuan University, believed that the "Qinghai Dulan Hot Water Tomb Group 2018 Blood Wei No. 1 Tomb" is one of the important discoveries of China's frontier archaeology in recent years, witnessing the development of the ancient Silk Road. China News Service reporter Zhang Tianfu photographed
The interview transcript is summarized below:
China News Service: What is the unique value of the eighth-century Persian script brocade? What "treasure" cultural relics have also been unearthed from the Hot Water Tombs and what cultural connotations are they carrying?
Han Jianhua: The Qinghai Dulan Hot Water Tomb Group was first discovered by the Qinghai Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Team in 1982. During the excavation of the "Blood Wei No. 1 Tomb", archaeologists found a fragment of the script brocade, which was confirmed by paleographers at the University of Göttingen in Germany, that the brocade was the Borneo script of the Persian Sassanid Dynasty, which is the only confirmed eighth-century Persian script brocade in the world.
Excavated at the same time as the Persian script brocade, the image of the winged horse can also be seen on the hunting map of the top of Cave 249 of the Mogao Caves, and the winged sacred beast originated from the ancient Assyrian region, and was also found in the Sai species, Bactria and greek and Indian art, which was widely spread on the Silk Road. In the "Blood Wei No. 1 Tomb", more than 350 silk fragments were excavated, from the Central Plains Han Dynasty, Central Asia, and West Asia, and their weaving technology and patterns have multi-origin, which proves that Dulan is an important transit station on the Silk Road.
In the new archaeological discovery of the "2018 Blood Wei No. 1 Tomb", the excavated head crow's feet gold ornament pieces and the ribbon floating behind the neck of the figure are typical of the Persian Sassanid dynasty decorative pattern. In addition, conch, uncharized grape seeds, glass, agate, pearls, and corals were found around the coffin of the main burial chamber and on the altar, which came from the Mediterranean region of Kangguo, Tocharian, Persian, Lion and even further afield, witnessing the long history of cultural exchanges between China and Central Asia, West Asia and Europe.
Gold containers and ornaments excavated from the 2018 Blood Wei No. 1 Tomb of the Dulan Hot Water Tomb Group in Qinghai. Photo courtesy of the China News Service Joint Archaeological Team of Hot Water
China News Service: Historically, what role did the Qinghai Road of the Silk Road play in economic, trade, and cultural exchanges between the East and the West?
Han Jianhua: The "Chronicle of History" records that Zhang Qian saw Qiong bamboo sticks and Shu cloth in Bactria during his mission to the Western Regions, which can prove that long before the "chiseling of the air", the East and the West had already carried out "point-to-point" exchanges through the Qinghai area, but they had not yet formed a fixed route.
Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Central Plains was in turmoil, the Hexi Corridor was blocked, and at this time, the Tuguhun State rose and grew on the grasslands bordering Gansu and Qinghai, becoming the center connecting the Central Plains with the Desert North, the Western Regions, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, India and other places, and there were smooth traffic routes to the east, south, west and north, and the "Qinghai Road" began to flourish, and the east-west merchants traveled to and from here.
The Tuguhun people acted as "intermediaries" on the "Qinghai Road", exchanging horses for goods from the Central Plains and Silk of Shudi, and exchanging them with the countries of the Western Regions. According to the literature, the envoys led by the Northern Wei official Song Yun and the monk Huisheng relied on Tuguhun's protection, translators, and guides when they entered the Western Regions. By the time of the Southern Dynasty Liang Dynasty, with Tuguhun as the relay station, he and the western regions of Guizi, Persia, Khotan and other countries successively sent envoys to pay tribute, and the Qinghai Road tended to mature.
In 663 AD, Tubo destroyed Tuguhun and unified the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. At the end of the 7th century, the three empires of Tang, Tubo and Dashi confronted each other from east to west on the Eurasian continent, and the role of the "Qinghai Dao" changed from the "intermediary" of ushering in the delivery to the "support" of foreign expansion - Tubo used the agricultural and animal husbandry resources in qinghai as a military guarantee, continuously expanded its sphere of influence, once controlled the Hexi Corridor, cut off the "artery" of the Tang Dynasty's external communication, and then expanded to Central Asia and South Asia.
China News Service: Compared with the traditional Silk Road, why is Qinghai Road so little known?
In August 2018, at the Sand Sculpture Art Festival held in Lanzhou New District, large-scale sand sculptures on the Silk Road attracted tourists. China News Service reporter Yang Yanmin photographed
Han Jianhua: First of all, Qinghai Dao is a modern concept. Based on literature and archaeological findings, a number of regional traffic roads formed in different historical periods in the Qinghai region connecting the East and the West have gradually been recognized, and these roads are collectively referred to as "Qinghai Road" by scholars.
Specifically, the Chronicle of History records that when Zhang Qian returned to Chang'an, he "wanted to return from Qiangzhong", which refers to the area inhabited by the Qiang people in Qinghai. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, the Hexi Corridor was blocked, highlighting the important role of Qinghai Province: centered on Fuqicheng City established by Tuguhun and connecting Xiping (present-day Xining) and Jincheng (present-day Lanzhou) in the east; to the northwest, there were three roads leading to Zhangye, Dunhuang, and Ruoqiang, of which the route to Ruoqiang passed through Dulan, Golmud, and Mangya; there was also the "Henan Dao" that passed through Yizhou (present-day Chengdu) and all the way along the Yangtze River to Jiankang (Nanjing); and in the Huangshui River Basin, there was also the "Huangzhong Road" that reached in all directions. During the Tubo period, it was possible to connect with the Tang Dynasty Ancient Road through Dulan and reach Lhasa.
It can be seen that Qinghai Road is not as coherent as the traditional Silk Road, but is composed of a number of regional traffic roads in different periods.
After Zhang Qian "chiseled the air", he opened up the traditional Silk Road with Chang'an as the starting point and reached Central Asia and West Asia through the Hexi Corridor, at this time the country was in a period of great unification, the centralization of power was highly developed, providing an external guarantee for the integrity, smoothness and stability of the road; and the Qinghai Road was only highlighted after the Hexi Corridor was blocked, and when the country was unified, the east-west traffic artery still returned to the Hexi Corridor, and the government consciously weakened the role of the Qinghai Road, like the Sui Emperor touring the west after conquering Tuguhun, from Qinghai to Zhangye, holding the Universal Exposition. Expand the role of the Hexi Corridor.
Aerial photographs of the Jiayuguan City Tower at the western end of the Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province in October 2019. China News Service reporter Yang Yanmin photographed
Therefore, compared with the Hexi Corridor, Qinghai Province is the product of a local separatist regime, and its status is obvious, but its role is no less than that of the Hexi Corridor. In 1956, 76 Persian silver coins were unearthed from the Xining City God Temple, and the archaeologist Mr. Xia Nai pointed out at the time that the role of Qinghai Dao in the 5th century was beyond the Hexi Corridor.
China News Service: What research do foreign scholars have on the Qinghai Road of the Silk Road?
Han Jianhua: As early as the 1820s, German and Russian explorers had left their footprints on the Qinghai Road. In the 1920s, the Germans discovered caves containing silk and gold objects in the Kosotu area near Touraine. In addition, french scholars Sha Qi and Swiss Dr. Amihaile have conducted research on Qinghai Province from the perspective of cultural relics.
Based on ancient Chinese historical documents, the Japanese scholar Matsuda Shounan once made a more detailed discussion of Qinghai Dao in the Tuguhun Envoy Examination: "From the fifth to the seventh century AD, the Tuguhun kingdom centered on the Qinghai region once sent merchants frequently to Guanzhong, or Hexi, or to Ordos and Mongolia, or to Shu, or to the south through these areas, and at the same time maintained deep exchanges with the Tibetan plateau and the Tarim Basin, and played an important role in the east-west traffic as a transitor of trade in the western region. He believes that "Qinghai Road" and "Hexi Road" exist in parallel, and compare the roles of the two, which provides a certain reference and help for domestic research.
China News Service: In your opinion, what enlightenment do the historical evolution and archaeological achievements of the Qinghai Road of the Silk Road have for the continuation of the "New Friendship on the Silk Road" between the ancient civilizations of the East and the West?
Han Jianhua: When Qinghai Province played an important role in history, it was the peak of the integration of various ethnic groups in the northwest, and many tribes and ethnic groups such as Tubo, Tuguhun, Qiang, Di, rong and other tribes and ethnic groups frequently exchanged and married, gradually becoming "you have me, I have you", and the naturally formed cultural identity laid the foundation for the Chinese nation to be diverse and integrated, and the blood lineage was laid, and the profound historical accumulation was the source of cultural self-confidence.
Just as in those days, the Tuguhun people did not deliberately open up a route connecting the east and the west, and the cultures of the western region and the Central Plains gradually merged in business and tourism exchanges and mutual market transactions; today, the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation is also spread to the outside world through the "Belt and Road" economic and trade cooperation, and in the subtle integration with the cultures of various countries, enhancing mutual recognition.
In May 2015, the Roundtable on Economic and Trade Cooperation between Qinghai Province and countries along the "Belt and Road" was held in Xining, and the participants communicated and consulted on strengthening economic and trade exchanges and cultural exchanges. Photo by Sun Rui, a reporter from China News Service
Archaeological excavations have enabled Qinghai Province to move from documentary research to empirical evidence, and cultural relics as a material expression have witnessed the long-standing friendship of the Silk Road countries, and have allowed people to cross national borders and evoke common memories. Even on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the "third pole of the world", the exchange of products, technologies and ideas has never been broken, which proves that each culture is not an island, and it is necessary to understand and tolerate each other, seek common ground while reserving differences, and coexist peacefully. (End)
Respondent Profiles:
Courtesy of respondents
Han Jianhua is an associate researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a master tutor, a member of the Sui and Tang Professional Committee of the Chinese Archaeological Society, a member of the Song Liao Jin YuanMing and Qing Professional Committee, and a director of the Ancient Capital Society of China. Engaged in the archaeological excavation and research of Luoyang City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the research direction is the archaeological research of the capital city from the Han and Tang Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, presided over a project of the National Social Science Foundation, and served as the person in charge of the sub-project of the major project of the National Social Science Foundation. Since 2019, he has presided over the archaeological excavation of the 2018 Blood Wei No. 1 Tomb of the Dulan Hot Water Tomb Group in Qinghai, and was selected as a major project of "Archaeology China" by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage in 2019 and 2020, and was awarded the Important Archaeological Discovery of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Top Ten New Discoveries of National Archaeology in 2020.