History Xinjiang | ancient coins Fule wisdom

"History of Xinjiang" series of micro-videos no. 41

Ancient coins

At the northern edge of the Tarim Basin, about two kilometers west of the kuqa city in Xinjiang, several sections of collapsed city walls are hidden among the lush trees, outlining the rough outline of an ancient city. This site, which is known locally as the ancient city of Piran, is the ruins of the ancient city of Guizi.

In 2012, in a tomb near the western wall of the ancient city of Guizi, more than 14,000 ancient coins were excavated at one time, including a large number of five-baht coins, as well as Central Plains Dynasty coins such as the Western Han Dynasty Half Two, Cargo Spring, Daquan Fifty and other Guizi local self-minted coins.

Five-baht coins, first minted in 118 BC. In 60 BC, after the Western Han Dynasty unified the Western Regions, the economic and cultural exchanges between Xinjiang and the Central Plains became closer, and the five-baht coin became one of the main coins in circulation in Xinjiang at that time.

In many parts of Xinjiang, a huge amount of Han Dynasty five-baht money has been found.

Archaeologist Huang Wenbi in the book "Archaeological Records of Rob Naur", there is a record that "more than 600 pieces of five baht coins were collected by the roadside, the size and form are the same, and the covers are cast after the Yuan Hunt (122 BC - 117 BC)".

In the late 1970s, the Maelik Awati site in Hotan County, Xinjiang, once unearthed a total of 45 kilograms of Western Han Dynasty five-baht coins.

The ancient coins of the Central Plains Dynasty unearthed in Xinjiang from the Western Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty have been found throughout the ages: the Kaiyuan Tongbao and Qianyuan Heavy Treasures of the Tang Dynasty have been found in Turpan and Kucha in Xinjiang; in Yecheng and Artush in Xinjiang, a large number of Song coins have been unearthed, including Tianxi Tongbao, Jingyou Yuanbao, Huang song Tongbao and other coins; paper money issued during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties have also been found in Xinjiang; and the Qing Dynasty used a unified national currency in Xinjiang, which proves that the coins of the Central Plains Dynasties of the past dynasties are the main common currency in Xinjiang.

In the history of Xinjiang, there have been a variety of self-minted coins, the Han and Tang two-body coins, also known as the Hetian horse money, the front of the coin is an image of a horse or camel, and on the other side there are Chinese character inscriptions and Lu lu script. There are two kinds of Chinese character inscriptions on the seal book on the coin, one is "heavy twenty-four baht copper coin" and the other is "six baht coin". The Han and Tang coins were coined using the suppression method originating in West Asia, but the Chinese characters and the central plains currency unit "Baht" were used on the coins.

Another two-body coin minted in Xinjiang, the "Han Gui Two-Body Coin", is a currency produced, issued and circulated by Guizi, and its shape imitates the Han five-baht coin style, so it is also called "Guizi Five Baht", and the coin inscription is Han and Guizi.

The Gaochang auspicious coins minted by the Koji Kingdom and the Uighur Wen coins minted by the Gaochang Uighur Kingdom were all minted using the casting method of the Central Plains, and the shape was also a circular square hole in the Central Plains.

Coins were also issued during the reign of the Qarakhanid Dynasty, whose rulers called themselves the "Peach Blossom Stone Khan", and issued coins with the inscription of the Peach Blossom Stone Khan, which refers to China.

Xinjiang has been an inseparable part of China's territory since ancient times, and the rusty ancient coins are the epitome and witness of the close political, economic and cultural ties between The Xinjiang region and the Central Plains in history.

"History of Xinjiang" series of micro-videos no. 42

Fowler Wisdom

From the 11th century to the 12th century, during the Qarakhanid Dynasty, the local government in China's territory, literature and art were greatly developed, and a number of outstanding literary works appeared, the most representative of which were the "Wisdom of Fowler" and the "Great Dictionary of Turkic Languages".

Written between 1069 and 1070 AD, the Wisdom of Bliss is an exhortatory poem consisting of 85 chapters and 3 proverbs, totaling 13,290 lines, plus two prefaces. Its content involves the politics, economy, ethics, philosophy, history and other aspects of the Qarakhanid Dynasty, which not only exhorts the rulers, but also a profound reflection of the social reality at that time, and occupies an important position in the ancient cultural history of our country.

Kashgar, Xinjiang, whose full name is Kashgar, was once the capital of the Qarakhanid dynasty, a local government. In the present-day city of Kashgar, there is a mausoleum building rich in Uyghur art, covering an area of nearly 1,000 square meters, with magnificent burial chambers and towering towers. This is the resting place of Yusufu Hajifu, author of "The Wisdom of Fowler".

Yusufu Hath Hajiv was born in the city of Barasagun (in present-day Kyrgyzstan) and later moved to Kashgar. In his 50s, he completed the "Wisdom of Bliss" and dedicated it to the ruler of Kashgar at that time, the deputy khan of the Eastern Qarakhanid Dynasty, Peach Blossom Stone Bugla Khan, and was awarded the title of "Hath Hajifu" (attendant officer).

In The Wisdom of Bliss, Yusufu Hath Hajifu creates four figures: the sunrise of the king, symbolizing justice and law; the full moon of the minister, representing luck; the young son of the full moon, Xianming, is the embodiment of wisdom; and the awakening of the minister's relatives and monks symbolizes contentment or the afterlife. Through philosophical dialogues between the four figures, he expresses his views on society, law, ethics, philosophy, and governance.

The content of "The Wisdom of Fowler" is clearly influenced by the culture of the Central Plains.

In the prologue to the prose style, Yusufu Hath Hajifu declares, "It is decorated with the proverbs of the Qin philosophers and the poems of the MaQin scholars." According to the Great Turkic Dictionary, another representative work of the Qarakhanid Dynasty and almost contemporaneous with the Wisdom of Bliss, "Qin was originally divided into three parts: Upper Qin was in the east, which was a peach blossom stone; Middle Qin was Khitan; and Lower Qin was Baerhan. And Ba'erhan is Kashgar. It can be seen that the Qin state here refers to the area controlled by the Liao Dynasty, the Ma Qin refers to the Song Dynasty, and the concept of The unity of China is strongly interpreted here.

There are also a large number of mottos and famous sayings of ethics and morality and governance in the "Wisdom of Bliss", such as "We must be benevolent and protect the people", "Excellent morality is the basis of goodness", "Faith and righteousness are the basis of handling things for people", which fully reflect its close internal connection with Confucian culture.

"Fowler Wisdom" adds new content and brilliance to Chinese culture. As the famous writer Mr. Lao She said, it is not only a precious heritage of the Uyghur people, but also a valuable wealth that constitutes the history of Chinese culture.

History Xinjiang | Episode 1 - Episode 18

Source: Propaganda Department of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Committee of the Communist Party of China

Kuitun Rong Media Center

Editor: Qian Wang

Editor-in-charge: Chen Shijian, Wang Qian

Editor-in-Chief: Xu Zhong

Director system: Zhang Daiwei