Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph, April 28
Author: Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter Zhao Yufei
More than a thousand years ago, in the vast land of southwest China, a mysterious ethnic group was active. They created splendid cultures, and some ethnic minority cultural practices still have their "shadows" to this day.
Yuanren, mostly known as "fangren" in ancient books, pronounced the same as "old", lived for a long time in Sichuan- Chongqing, Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan and other regions. However, from the beginning of the Wei and Jin Dynasties to see the demise of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, this mysterious ethnic group completely disappeared into the long river of history.
Why did the staff disappear? Where have they gone? Where is it now? Under the in-depth study of experts and scholars, the staff who have disappeared for nearly a thousand years are gradually unveiling the veil of mystery.
According to local experts, this tomb is different from other places, not only is there only one tomb on a whole large stone, but there is also a depiction of the tomb entrance and the tomb cave. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Tang Yi
Mystical race: Active in the southwest region thousands of years ago
In the southern part of Chongqing, the Qijiang District at the junction of Chongqing and Qian, there are still legends about the Jurchens.
In Shuanghe Pond, Guofu Town, deep in the mountains, there is a tomb on the cliff wall next to the stream, and there is a line carved on the stone wall next to the tomb, which is the fish with a fish in the mouth, the ant and the image of a woman.
"According to folklore, this painting shows the worship of reproduction by the people." Deng Shiquan, branch secretary of Santang Village in Guofu Town, said that the fish represents the male, the fish represents the female, the hook symbolizes the intercourse of men and women, the ant that lays more eggs contains the desire of many children and many blessings, and the woman is called the long-milk lady, who can throw the breast to the back while working, so that the child on the back can eat milk.
Under the leadership of local villagers, the reporter visited the territory of the Qijiang River and found that there were not a few similar cliff tombs, and the depictions of fish, fish, and women also appeared many times.
Are these relics related to the People of The People? Academics have a wide variety of opinions on this, and there is still no conclusion. Some experts and scholars said that the cliff tomb is a form of burial for many ethnic groups in ancient times, and it is common in many places on the mainland, due to the lack of historical evidence, it is still impossible to prove that this is related to the staff.
However, it is generally recognized by scholars that the Xiangren ethnic group has long been active in southwest china such as Sichuan, Chongqing, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan. Among them, the "Nanping Bian" living in and around the Qijiang River is one of the important branches of the Zhi people.
In November 2015, the country's first professional institution for the study of staff culture- the Chinese Wei and Jin Dynasties and The History of the Southern and Northern Dynasties Society of the Staff Studies Research Center settled in Qijiang, the center hired nearly 200 experts and scholars from domestic and foreign universities, scientific research institutions and cultural institutions as researchers, and has published a collection of papers "Staff Studies" in three series, conducting in-depth research on the staff culture that has previously become "absolute learning".
The records of the history books all point to the main living area of the Jurchens to the southwest region of ancient China. The Western Jin Dynasty naturalist Zhang Hua mentioned in his "Naturalist Chronicle" that "the southwestern boundary of Jingzhou is to Shu, and the people are known as beasts." The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms also mentions that "the Pingnan Incident, the Rebellion of the Ancient Mu Dynasty, the Loyalty Order, the Ling Led the Camps to Seek, and the Two Thousand Men Were Recruited from within the Ridge, and the Rumors were Passed down to Hanzhong." ”
According to the research center of the Chinese Wei and Jin Dynasties and Southern Dynasties History Society, there are more than 20 branches of the Jurchens, and the "Nanping Bian" is one of the most powerful branches, and the activity area includes Chongqing Qijiang, Jiangjin, Nanchuan and Zunyi in Guizhou. There are several possible sources, either the Yelang people in northern Guizhou moving north, or the Ba people in Chongqing moving south, or the fusion of the Yelang people and the Ba people.
Not only are the records of various history books, but also the staff has appeared many times in the poetry and song of the literati and inkers.
"During his life in Kuizhou (夔州, in present-day Fengjie County, Chongqing), the poet Saint Du Fu came into contact with the Jurchens and described in his poems many of the ethnic customs of the Jurchens." Xian Yuhuang, a professor at Chongqing Normal University and president of the Chongqing Staff Studies Research Committee, said that the staff took the first day of October in the summer calendar as the New Year's Day, and Du Fu described the celebration of the New Year in the poem "October 1st" - "Steamed like a thousand rooms, caramel is lucky." Zichen nanguo is heavy, and the old customs are self-congratulatory. ”
For another example, Du Fu described in the "Shi Feng Nu Duan" the story of the ren a duan who was not afraid of hardships and dangers, and crossed the mountains and mountains to divert water:
The mountains and trees are set in the sunset, and the bamboo poles are scattered with fine springs.
The people of the county went into the night and did not hear about the source of the shaft.
Sick and thirsty three more white head, the voice of a wet qingyun.
Once shocked tao Kan Hu nu strange, Strange Er often wore tigers and leopards.
In addition, Liu Yuxi wrote "bamboo branch words" to reflect the life of the Nanping people. Ouyang Xiu also wrote the "NanBian" poem prose: "Suddenly taking the age, the Southern Fang plunders the borderlands" "Sucking Hao and Di Jian, occupying the poems of the Southern Staff".
"The Yiren are a generic name for some ethnic groups in the Lingnan and Yunnan-Guizhou regions of ancient China, and are one of the most important ethnic groups in the southwest region between the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties, and have a very important position in history." Wang Guoxiang, honorary director of the Research Center of the Southern and Northern Dynasties History Society of China and a researcher at the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, said.
This is the "Museum of Zhiren Culture" photographed on March 22 in the Gujian Mountain Scenic Area of Qijiang District, Chongqing City. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Tang Yi
Splendid culture: Some ethnic minorities still have traces of the culture of the People
What splendid cultures have the Jurchens, this mysterious ancient ethnic group, created? With the continuous deepening of research, the "portrait" of the staff gradually became clear.
The Old Book of Tang records that the servants "lived in the same building, the name was dry railing, the hair was exposed, and the woman had two horizontal cloths, and wore the middle through her head, called the skirt." Production and life are mainly based on gathering fishing and hunting, and when the harvest is harvested, people on both sides of the strait beat copper drums and sing songs, swaying and dancing. ”
"There are many ethnic groups and colorful costumes, but there are some things in common." Zhou Ling, director of the Research Center for the History of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of China's Wei and Jin Dynasties, said that for example, such as wrapping headscarves, wearing flower shoes, and silver jewelry, women often wear right or left collarless tops and long pants or skirts, and men wear more right plackets and plackets.
Research by the Chinese Wei and Jin Dynasties and The Southern and Northern Dynasties History Society has shown that the Staff are likely to live in dry column stilt houses, which are often built on cliff edges and high slopes to prevent moisture and insects to cope with the humid and sweltering environment in the southwest region, and can still be seen in the Sichuan Basin and the banks of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.
"As the direct ancestors of the peoples in the southwest today, we deduce the eating habits of the People, such as eating glutinous rice, fish, insects, acidophilia, etc." Zhou Ling said.
Tattoos and chiseled teeth are also the unique culture of the Jurchens, which are still preserved in the customs of some ethnic minorities in the southwest.
The Tang Dynasty's "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks" records that "the more people learn water, they will cut themselves to avoid the plague of dragons." Present-day Nanzhongxiang Noodle Boy (僚), the relic of the carving inscription. To this day, the Tai Dai people still retain the custom of tattooing, and their ancestors have other nicknames such as "rural barbarians" and "flower foot barbarians".
The "Moving South Zhiluo" records, "Men and women each struck off two teeth around the age of fourteen or fifteen, and then married." The "Continuation of the Ziye TongJianChang" records that the Ning Army suppressed the Nanping officials, "the first rank of many chisels". "Among the ethnic minorities in the southwest, Zhuang children have the ceremony of pulling out or wrapping canine teeth in adulthood, and there are people in the Mulam tribe who are called 'tooth-beating guys' because of their chiseled teeth." Zhou Ling said.
The brass drum is a symbol of power in the tribes of the Jurchens. The Wei Shu (魏書獠傳) records that "it is often recommended that an elder be made king, and it is not possible to unify them from afar." If the father dies, the son will succeed, if the Chinese nobles also. The king of the beasts each had a pair of drum horns, so that his sons bragged about it. ”
Studies have shown that the "drum", or brass drum, is controlled by the most powerful people in the tribe, and the tribal leaders can use it to mobilize tribal horses. In addition to being used for war, the drum was also used to alarm, sacrifice, expel beasts, suppress "demons", and for entertainment.
What is more interesting is that in the culture of the people, the marriage custom is that the woman accompanies the woman with a heavy amount of money. The New Book of Tang and the Biography of Nanping officials records, "Marriage Law: Women seek men with goods." If the poor have no way to marry, they sell them as wives. ”
"The Staff are also a poetic ethnic group, and when it comes to traditional festivals, they celebrate with songs and dances." Zhou Ling said that there are many traditional festivals for the people, and it can be known that there are more than ten festivals such as welcoming the new fire, picking up new water, fish and flower festival, frost festival, March 3, and ant abduction festival, and some of them are still the traditional festivals of some ethnic minorities.
"Today, in the cultural customs of some ethnic minorities in the southwest region of the mainland, as well as some Southeast Asian ethnic groups, we can still see the shadow of the Staff." Wang Guoxiang said.
On March 22, at the "Museum of Zhiren Culture" located in the Gujian Mountain Scenic Area of Qijiang District, Chongqing, the staff introduced the exhibits. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Tang Yi
Questers: Completely disappeared after fusion and migration?
From the beginning of the Wei and Jin dynasties, we saw the demise of the Song and Yuan dynasties, and this mysterious ethnic group disappeared into the long river of history. Why did they disappear? Where did it go? Where is it now?
"Scholars generally believe that some of the staff members are integrated with the Han people, and the other part of the staff people are not oppressed by the feudal rulers of the Han people, and after several wars with the rulers and are suppressed, they migrate south and 'fission' into multiple nationalities." Zhou Ling said.
According to the Research Center of the Southern and Northern Dynasties History Society of the Wei and Jin Dynasties in China, the integration of the Staff and the Han has long existed, in 553 the Western Wei abolished the emperor Pingshu, in 558 the Northern Zhou was established, the various parts of Bashu tended to be stable, the rulers reopened counties in the places where the Staff lived, the exchanges between the Staff and the Han were frequent, and the speed of integration began to accelerate. After the late Tang Dynasty, there were gradually no records of the activities of the staff in the historical records.
The Tongdian Border Defense III records that "and later Zhou Pingliang, Yi, (Zhiren) Zi'er Sui Tonghua human beings. The Book of Sui and Geography records that "the rich and the rich frequently join the Xia people for marriage, and they are no different from Hua." "After a long period of historical evolution, the Jurchens gradually accepted the advanced culture and production methods of the Han people, and even intermarried with the Han people and integrated into the Han people, and have not been preserved as a separate ethnic group to this day." In addition, the Han rulers forced the Han people to sinicize in the form of violent conquest and feudal oppression, which was also one of the ways of integration between the Han and the Han.
"From the perspective of historical development, in the process of the integration of The Han and the Han, the Han people gradually adopted the Han culture and production methods, jumped from a slave society to a more developed feudal society, and finally integrated with the Han people, which played a role in promoting the progress and prosperity of the Chinese nation." Zhou Ling said.
While merging with the Han Chinese, some of them could not bear the oppression of the Han rulers and embarked on a long migration road.
On March 22, at the "Museum of Zhiren Culture" located in the Gujian Mountain Scenic Area of Qijiang District, Chongqing, the staff introduced the exhibits. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Tang Yi
Historically, the Jurchens were unable to withstand the exploitation and oppression of the Han rulers and waged several rebellions. From the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the Fifth Dynasty, there were more than 40 rebellions in Sichuan, and some of them fled into the mountains and migrated south after being suppressed.
According to preliminary research, the migration route of the Staff people is as close as Guizhou, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and other places, and as far as the Indochina Peninsula. Ethnic groups of the same origin as the Jurchens, there are Zhuang, Buyi, Dong, Dai, Li, Shui, Mulao, Mulao, Maonan, etc. in China, and Tai, Lao, Dai, and Ahhong in Southeast Asia and South Asia.
But at the same time, there are also some debates in the academic circles about the origin and whereabouts of the people.
In terms of the origin of the Jurchen people, some scholars believe that the Pu people are the later Zhiren, and the two are only the difference between themselves and what they call them; some scholars believe that the Ba people are the later Zhiren; some scholars believe that the Xiangren have a close relationship with the Yue and Miao people; and even more scholars believe that the Xiangren were formed by the fusion of many ancient ethnic minorities.
In terms of the direction of the Yi people, in addition to the above-mentioned general view of the integration of the Yi people with the Han people and the migration to the south, some scholars believe that the Yi people are the ancestors of the Yi people, and some scholars believe that the Yi people are integrated with the Han, Qiang, Yi and other ethnic groups according to the different directions of migration.
Nowadays, the academic community's search for the staff has not stopped, and the understanding of the staff will continue to deepen with the deepening of research.
"It is not a nationality, but a generic term for multiple ethnic groups, and it is normal for there to be some controversy in the academic circles on the study of the people." Zhou Ling said: In addition, why the Confucians mysteriously disappeared from the classics, whether the Confucian texts and Chinese characters have a source, what contributions the Zhiren culture has made to enriching China's excellent traditional culture, and what is the significance in promoting international cultural exchanges are all questions that need to be answered in the future of the study of the Jurchens, and are of great significance to confirming the fact that the Chinese nation is pluralistic and integrated, and it is of great significance to enhancing national identity and national unity.
(Note: This manuscript refers to the research results of the Staff Studies Research Center of the Southern and Northern Dynasties History Society of the Wei and Jin Dynasties of China, and has been reviewed by the expert group of the Staff Studies Research Center of the Chinese Wei and Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties History Society.) ）
Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph