The concession during the Qing Dynasty is a microcosm of China's modern history of humiliation, an area demarcated by foreigners on Chinese territory, Western-style architecture and foreigners living together, as if it were a "country within a country".
What is less well known is that in the Tang Dynasty, there was also an area dedicated to foreigners, called "Fanfang". The difference is that the "Fangfang" was established by the Tang Dynasty on its own initiative, and the chief of the area was also appointed by the Tang Dynasty government, and the Tang Dynasty also formulated special legal provisions for this purpose: "Those who violate each other's own laws by foreigners of the same kind shall be in accordance with this customary law" (disputes between foreigners in the same country shall be handled according to their own laws).
Why did the Tang Dynasty demarcate special areas for foreigners and also cede some "judicial power"? In fact, this is related to the surge of foreigners in China during the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, the territory was stable and the national strength was strong, and the total number of foreigners who came to China exceeded 100,000. These people ranged from protons of vassal states to those who came to trade or study abroad.
Of course, there is another type of identity that is so special that it still makes experts and scholars argue endlessly today.
The Ueno National Museum of Japan in Tokyo, Japan, found a tombstone of a chieftain in the first year of the Tang Dynasty Jingyun (710), according to the epitaph, the owner of the tomb is "the great chief of persia in the Tang Dynasty, the general of the Right Tun Wei, and the Shangzhu Kingdom Aro xie".
The more than 300-word epitaph combs through the life of the tomb owner, and also reveals an important message: the tomb owner is called Arohi, a native of Persia (referring to the Persian Sassanid Dynasty, which was destroyed by arabia in 651 AD), naturalized in the Tang Dynasty, was awarded the title of General of right Tun Wei, and also served as a great chief (the leader of the Persian ethnic group in China), with a life expectancy of 95 years.
According to the New Book of Tang, when the Persian Sassanid Dynasty fell, the Persian prince Belus came to the Tang Dynasty for help, but Emperor Gaozong of Tang refused to send troops to help on the grounds that the road was far away, so Belus stayed in Chang'an and paid homage to the general of the Right Wu Wei. However, the name Arohi does not appear in the above records.
As a result, it also triggered a fierce debate among experts and scholars about the identity of this mysterious chief. Some people believe that Belus took refuge in Tochara and sent an envoy to the Tang Dynasty for help, and the emissary sent was Aro xie.
It is also believed that Arohi was a Jing sect whose main task was to be a messenger. Because there is such a sentence in the epitaph: "(Emperor Gaozong of Tang) sent another envoy to summon the ambassadors of the Kingdom of Fu, and erected a monument at the western boundary of The Fu Ling, and E'e is still there." Propagating the Holy Religion is actually called the Heart of The Heart."
Fu Ling refers to the Eastern Roman Empire at that time, and this inscription also raises a doubt: Why would Tang Gaozong, who did not believe in Jingjiao, send a Jing sect to the birthplace of Jingjiao to preach? If Ah Luo Xie was really a missionary, why did the Great Qin Jing sect popular Chinese stele not record this famous figure in the slightest?
Obviously, a Chinese Persian, as an emissary of the Tang Dynasty, traveled thousands of miles to the Eastern Roman Empire to erect a stele, obviously not to spread Jingjiao, but to publicize the holy will of the Tang Emperor and the indoctrination of the Han Dynasty, which is quite a bit of the meaning of declaring the power of various countries and delineating national borders. And the inscription does mention that "the kingdoms are purged, and nothing happens today."
The discovery of Aro's epitaph gives us a glimpse of the tang dynasty's strength and prosperity, but also witnesses the international vision of the Tang Dynasty, and at the same time, it also reflects the incompetence of the Qing Dynasty.
Why is the Qing Dynasty mentioned here inexplicably?
After the return of the mission, Wu Zetian, out of the need for Ming Ji's merits, ordered Ah Luo Xie to take the lead in building a heavenly hub in Luoyang, after which Aro Xie also settled and eventually buried Luoyang. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the tombstone of Arohi was excavated in Luoyang, but due to the weakness and incompetence of the Qing government, this important inscription was taken away by the Japanese and hidden in the Ueno National Museum of Japan in Tokyo.
All that can be seen in China is the epitaph Tuoben collected by the Qing Dynasty minister Duan Fang. Just as the late Qing Dynasty yielded to unequal treaties and leased the territory, this stone carving of the tomb owner, which witnessed the opening and prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, was also lost overseas due to the incompetence of the Qing court.