"History of Xinjiang" series of micro-videos: "Han Family Princess", "Shichengzi Ruins"

Episode 19: "The Princess of the Han Family"

Ili River Valley, located in the northern part of the West Tianshan Mountains. Here the climate is warm, the water and grass are abundant, and it is known as the "Saiwai Jiangnan" reputation. In the city of Yining in Xinjiang, in the middle of the Ili River Valley, there is a 7,000-square-meter antique building complex, which is a memorial hall for han princesses who married Wusun in the Western Han Dynasty and reconciled worries.

The han que in the memorial hall is towering, the pavilions are lined up, and the cloister is meandering, with a distinct Han Dynasty architectural style. The most eye-catching is the statue of Princess Xiaojun and Princess Xie, one of which is a statue of Princess Xiaojun wearing a beaded noodle, dressed in Hanfu, and holding a pipa in her arms.

In 105 BC, King Wusun, who admired the "richness of the people" of the Han Dynasty, offered to make peace with Han, and Xiaojun became the first Han princess to marry Wusun in the history.

According to historical records, when Princess Xiaojun was married, Emperor Wu of Han "remembered her way of doing things and thought about it, so he made the workers cut the kite and build it for the pleasure of the horse." Want to follow the square colloquialism, so the name is pipa. "Princess Xiaojun brought the Central Plains musical instrument pipa into the Western Regions, strengthening the musical exchange between the Central Plains and the Western Regions, so in the memorial hall, Princess Xiaojun was molded into the image of wearing beads on her head, dressed in Han costume, and embracing the pipa.

Located west of the Ili Valley, the Turks Grassland is a beautiful landscape with herds of cattle and sheep, and was once the summer residence of King Wusun. King Wusun learned that Princess Xiaojun was traveling, and specially rushed here from the station to greet her.

According to the "Book of Han and The Tale of the Western Regions", when Xiaojun went to Wusun, "Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty gave him imperial relics and served hundreds of eunuchs who were prepared for officials. With eager anticipation, the huge sending procession of the Wusun King and the Han Princess met in this grassland, and the scene was extremely grand.

After Princess Xiaojun arrived in Wusun, King Wusun built a special palace for her. Every other year, Emperor Wu of Han sent emissaries with splendid draperies to give to Princess Xiaojun. Princess Xiaojun introduced the advanced agricultural culture, metal smelting and construction technology of the Central Plains to Wusun, which promoted the economic development of Wusun. Thanks to the efforts of Princess Xiaojun, Wusun established friendly relations with the Han Dynasty.

After the death of Princess Xiaojun, Emperor Wu of Han married Princess Jieyou to Wusun Wangjun Xujing.

Princess Jieyou lived in Wusun for half a century, not only winning a very high prestige in Wusun, but also having a great influence in the entire western region. The relationship between the Han Dynasty and Wusun was closer, and most of the Han envoys passed through Wusun to Dawan, Yueshi and other places, which promoted the political, economic, cultural and other aspects of the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions.

Princess Jieyou's maid, Feng Yan, had outstanding political talent, and she visited all parts of the Western Regions on behalf of Princess Jieyou on behalf of the Han Festival, which enhanced the understanding of the Han Dynasty in various places, and people honored her as "Lady Feng".

The two princesses married the two princesses to the Western Regions, so that the prestige of the Han Dynasty spread far and wide to the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and all parts of the Western Regions competed to make friends with the Han, making important contributions to the unification of the Western Regions by the Han Dynasty.

Episode 20: "Shichengzi Ruins"

Jiangbulak Scenic Area, located in Qitai County, Xinjiang, is a beautiful place with the blending of forest and sea snow peaks and 10,000 acres of wheat fields.

In 1972, the ruins of an ancient city known locally as "Shichengzi" were discovered in Janbulak, with a slightly rectangular plan, high in the north and low in the south, built according to the terrain.

There are collapsed walls on the west and north sides of the city, and from the bottom of its width of more than ten meters, the scale of that year can be imagined. There are sub-cities in the northwest of the city built on the city wall, which conforms to the Border City system of "restoring to one city and taking one hundred and fifty steps between its inner cities".

In the northeast and northwest corners of the ancient city, there are still corner tower remnants, there are two protruding horse faces in the middle of the north wall, and there are moats outside the city, and the military defense color is very strong.

After years of archaeological excavations, experts believe that the shichengzi site is the old site of Shule City, where Geng Gong was stationed during the Eastern Han Dynasty, and its east and south sides are obstructed by deep streams, and there is a meandering Magou River at the bottom of the stream, which is in line with the record in the Book of later Han that "Gong Yi Shule City has streams and waters to be solidified, and in May, it is the basis for attracting soldiers".

Geng Gong, the history books record that he was "generous and strategic, and had handsome generals".

In 74 AD, the Eastern Han Dynasty re-established the Western Regions Capital Protector and Peng Ji Colonel, geng Gong as the Lieutenant of Peng, stationed in Jinmancheng, and later moved to shule City, where the situation was more dangerous. According to the "Later Han Shu Geng Gong Biography", Geng Gong held the city of Shule with a thin force, resisting tens of thousands of Xiongnu troops, "for more than a month", and when reinforcements came, only 26 soldiers were left to defend the city.

Geng Gong's deeds of trapping the isolated city have cast a legendary veil over the city.

During the Two Han Dynasties, in order to consolidate border defenses, the Central Plains Dynasty set up military facilities such as border cities, forts, and beacons at key points in the western region to build a defense system. Shule City is based on natural dangers, easy to defend and difficult to attack, the north control of Qitai, Jimsar and other places, to the south through the Cheshi Ancient Road through the Tianshan Mountains, can reach the Turpan Basin, the geographical location is very important. In addition, the Cheshi Ancient Road was the most convenient and smooth among the many roads in history that communicated south of the Tianshan Mountains, and shule City, which guarded the north entrance of the ancient road, naturally became an important part of the defense system of the Central Plains Dynasty.

Since 2014, archaeologists have conducted continuous and systematic archaeological surveys of the Shichengzi site, unearthing hundreds of cultural relics such as various building materials, pottery, five-baht coins, crossbow accessories, iron and copper arrows, most of which are building materials such as plate tiles, barrel tiles and tiles.

Wadang, commonly known as watou, appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty and is mostly semicircular. Circular tiles have been popular since the Qin and Han dynasties.

This relatively well-preserved tile has a moiré pattern on the surface facing each other and arranged in a circle. Among the tiles excavated from the Shichengzi site, most of them have such cloud patterns or deformed cloud patterns, and there are also geometric patterns, showing a clear Han style.

The Qitai Shichengzi site in Xinjiang was selected as one of the top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country in 2019, which is an ancient han dynasty ruins with accurate and reliable age, basically complete shape, good preservation status and distinct cultural characteristics found in Xinjiang, and is also a historical witness to the effective jurisdiction and governance of Xinjiang by the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Source: Propaganda Department of the Autonomous Regional Party Committee