The north wall of Cave 323 of the Early Tang Dynasty of Mogao Grottoes - Zhang Qian sent an envoy to the Western Regions
Map of the World Exposition - The Sui Emperor met with the envoys of the Western Regions
Copper galloping horses
Qilian Snow Mountain The pictures in this edition are all data maps
Special contributor to this newspaper is Li Shuke
More than 2,000 years ago, an emissary named Zhang Qian crossed the Hexi Corridor and experienced all kinds of difficulties and dangers to complete the "hollow journey". After that, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who was brilliant and strategic, sent Huo to attack the Xiongnu and entered the Hexi Corridor, "four counties (Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang) and two passes (Yumen Pass and Yangguan)", opening up the throat and strategic passage of the Central Plains to the Western Regions, and opening up the world-famous "Silk Road". On this ancient Silk Road, which stretches for thousands of miles and lasts for thousands of years, accompanied by the sound of camel bells and the ruts along the road, envoys, caravans, and travelers flow endlessly, and silk, porcelain, and spices flow endlessly, opening a new window for friendly exchanges between countries and writing a new chapter in the development and progress of human civilization.
Silk Road and Liangzhou Culture
In the second year of the Jianyuan Dynasty of the Western Han Dynasty (139 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in order to completely relieve the harm caused by the Northern Xiongnu, decided to send Zhang Qian to the Western Regions to contact the Great Moon clan people who were far away in the Western Regions to jointly attack the Xiongnu. Zhang Qian set off from Chang'an and crossed the Hexi Corridor, experiencing all kinds of difficulties and dangers to complete the "chiseling journey". In the second year of the Yuan Dynasty (121 BC), emperor Wu of Han, who was a man of great talent, adopted Zhang Qian's suggestion and sent the young general Huo Tou to attack Hexi, defeated the Xiongnu Hun Evil King and the Hutu King's troops, and occupied the Hexi Corridor as much as possible, "four counties (Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang) and two passes (Yumen Pass and Yang Pass)", opening up the throat pass and strategic passage from the Central Plains to the Western Regions.
Since then, a major artery connecting Central Asia, South Asia, West Asia and Europe along the trade route between the north and south edges of the Tarim Basin from Chang'an in the east, through the Hexi Corridor and then along the northern and southern edges of the Tarim Basin. Since then, grapes, walnuts, carrots, peppers, beans and other products in Central Asia, West Asia and other places, as well as religions and arts such as Buddhism, music, painting, sculpture and so on, have spread to China with the prosperity and smooth flow of this passage, greatly enriching the material and spiritual life of China and East Asia. China's silk, porcelain, ironware, gold and silverware and handicrafts, especially the four major inventions of papermaking, printing, gunpowder and other commodities and technologies through this channel continued to spread to Central Asia, West Asia, Europe, and promoted the development of the whole world. In 1877, the German geographer Richthofen called this overland road of communication mediated by the silk trade the "Silk Road."
Located in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, mongolian plateau, Loess Plateau and Tarim Basin junction zone of the Hexi Corridor, the Qilian Mountains in the territory of the rich permanent snow and prehistoric glacier cover, for the Hexi oasis and arable land to provide a steady stream of source of living water, since the Han Dynasty "Hexi animal husbandry for the world Rao" reputation has been widely spread, giving birth to a unique corridor civilization. Because of its unique geographical environment advantages and convenient transportation conditions, the Hexi Corridor became the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, the birthplace of Chinese civilization in the east, the western region in the west, and the veritable east-west transportation corridor between the east and the west, which is the traffic throat of the ancient Silk Road and is known as the golden section of the Silk Road. Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up four counties in Hexi, successive dynasties have set up counties here. In the fifth year of the Han Dynasty (106 BC), the Liangzhou Thorn History Department was established, and its core area was today's Hexi Corridor, and the name of Liangzhou began from then on. During the Three Kingdoms period, Liangzhou was placed in Liangzhou and Ruled Guzang (present-day Wuwei), and during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, Liangzhou became one of the three major strongholds with a national significance at that time.
Historians, writers, and geographers, when discussing the historical Liangzhou, mostly refer to the entire Hexi region and the western Border Area. This area is at the intersection of China's ancient Central Plains, Mongolia and Qinghai-Tibet cultural circles, and is also an area where the Central Plains culture and western region culture are effectively radiated. In this vast land, the Hexi Corridor is like a grand canal for cultural exchanges between the East and the West, where farming civilization, nomadic civilization, and commercial civilization meet and merge, Eastern and Western civilizations are compatible and agitated here, and various ethnic cultures are gathered here, converging into a magnificent Liangzhou culture, radiating huge cultural energy, and profoundly affecting the prosperity and development of Chinese culture. As a regional culture, Liangzhou culture is not only a regional culture within the geographical contour, but also a pivotal culture that absorbs and transmits the important achievements of Eastern and Western civilizations, and is an indispensable and important part of the process of diversified and integrated development of Chinese civilization.
Liangzhou culture of multi-ethnic exchanges and blends
Historically, the Hexi region has always been a big stage for the integration and development of multiple ethnic groups. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the Qiang, Wusun, Yueshi, and Xiongnu rose one after another and became the earliest developers and builders in Hexi. The Guzang City built by the Xiongnu is the earliest prototype of today's Liangzhou City. During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, the trend of the integration of hexi ethnic groups was very obvious, and ethnic groups such as The Qi, Qiang, Xianbei, and Lu Shuihu entered the Hexi region one after another, forming a pattern of multi-ethnic staggered and mixed places. The Houliang, Southern Liang, and Northern Liang of the Wuliang regime were established by the ethnic minorities of the Huns, xianbei, and Xiongnu, respectively. Qianliang set up Gaochang County in the western region, and for the first time completely implemented the county system to the Xinjiang region, which played a very important role in strengthening and consolidating the unity of the multi-ethnic country. In the process of jointly participating in the social life of the northern region, all ethnic groups are interconnected, learn from each other, and absorb each other's cultural essences, so that the differences between ethnic groups are gradually reduced, and they have made contributions to the social and economic development of the Hexi region and the western region. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, turks, Tuguhun and Tubo successively rose in the Hexi region, and Tang Taizong married the daughter of the patriarch, Princess Honghua, to Tuguhun Khan, composing a glorious page in the history of the unity of the Chinese nation. During the Tang Dynasty, Liangzhou became an international metropolis inhabited by many ethnic groups, and there was a prosperous scene of "100,000 families in Liangzhou, and hu people half-untying the pipa". In the late Tang Dynasty, Tubo took the opportunity to occupy Hexi, and Tubo culture and Tibetan Buddhism were introduced. After that, the Tubo, Uighur, and Dangxiang clans fought in Hexi, and eventually the Western Xia regime established by the Dangxiang clan occupied Hexi. As a Western Xiafu County, Liangzhou's convenient transportation has created conditions for the exchange and integration of various ethnic groups. While inheriting the cultural achievements of the Tang and Song dynasties, the Dangxiang clan integrated the cultural elements of tubo, Uighur, Khitan and other ethnic groups, created and used the Western Xia script, promoted Confucianism, and believed in Buddhism, forming a unique Western Xia culture. The precious cultural relics such as the Western Xia Stele, the Western Xia Buddhist Scriptures, the Calendar Days, and the Contracts discovered in Wuwei integrate the cultural characteristics of various ethnic groups such as Dangxiang, Tibetan, Han, and Uighurs, and the diversity of ethnic compositions has also become one of the characteristics of Wuwei's Western Xia culture. In the Yuan Dynasty, King Kuoduan of Western Liang held the "Liangzhou Huimeng" with the Tibetan religious leader Saban, which became a model of ethnic integration. The Uighur Gaochang King Monument, the Mongolian Xining King Monument, the Tibetan Scriptures, and the Sanskrit Scriptures that remain in Wuwei are all witnesses to Liangzhou's becoming a big family of multi-ethnic cultural integration. The Liangzhou culture with distinct regional, ethnic and religious characteristics formed in the process of multi-ethnic integration eventually merges into the pluralistic and integrated Chinese culture. During the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, with the rise of the Maritime Silk Road, the southward shift of China's economic center, the importance of the Hexi region in transportation, commerce and trade economy greatly declined, commercial and trade exchanges could not reach the prosperity of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the influence of Liangzhou culture also weakened, and only in the Ming and Qing dynasties did there be a brief situation of flourishing culture and education and strong literary style.
The ancient Silk Road is the main artery of human civilization exchanges and blending, and on this road, there are traces of exchanges and mutual learning between people of different countries, different nationalities, different religions and different cultural backgrounds in ancient times, creating a brilliant and splendid culture.
Liangzhou culture is the crystallization of the fusion and mutual learning of diverse civilizations on the ancient Silk Road, and is a model for the continuous integration and integration of Chinese civilization over thousands of years. Standing at a new historical starting point for the construction of the "Belt and Road", deeply excavating the philosophical ideas, humanistic spirit, value concepts and moral norms contained in Liangzhou culture, better displaying its historical value, cultural value and era value, promoting the creative transformation and innovative development of Liangzhou culture, fully releasing the cultural spirit, cultural mind and cultural strength it carries, carrying forward Liangzhou culture, telling the Silk Road story well, strengthening cultural self-confidence, and practicing the Silk Road spirit of "peaceful cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual learning, mutual benefit and win-win", Gather spiritual strength for the realization of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Liangzhou culture witnessed the prosperity of the Silk Road
Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty set up counties in Hexi, through the migration of real borders and reclamation operations, the advanced culture and production technology of the Central Plains were subsequently introduced to the Hexi region, which fundamentally changed the original civilization in Hexi, and the Central Plains culture became the mainstream culture in Hexi. The fragments of the "Ritual Jane", "Wang Cane Jane", and "Medicine Jane" excavated from the Wuwei Han Tomb, as well as the almanacs in Juyan and Dunhuang Hanjian, the Japanese Book, the Cangjie Chapter, and the "Urgent Chapter", fully reflect the fact that Confucian ideology, culture, ethics and morality were rapidly popularized in Hexi. In addition, with the opening of the Silk Road, the western region and the Central Plains exchanges frequently, the Hexi region appeared "Hu merchants and peddlers, The Japanese money is stuffed" and "the messengers look at each other in the road", and in the west of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there is a prosperous scene of "the world is disturbed at times, but Hexi is alone, Guzang is called Fuyi, currency Qianghu, and the city and day are four together". Rich products from the Central Plains and the Western Regions continued to transit through Hexi through the Silk Road, and Liangzhou had become a distribution center for silk road trade. During the two Han Dynasties, the operation of the Hexi region and the smooth flow of Silk Road trade made the Hexi region show a situation of consistency with the mainland in terms of economy and culture, and gradually integrated with the mainland. In the early days of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wu wei Taishou Renyan "created a school official, self-proclaimed officials and descendants, all of whom made yixue accept the profession, and there were Confucian and elegant people in the county", and in the early years of The Wei Ming Emperor, hexi "established a school and a bright line" in Hexi, which was "lost for a long time", and there was a situation of "weathering and great deeds, and the people returned to their hearts". The economic development of the Hexi region during the Two Han Dynasties, the smooth flow of the Silk Road, the superior geographical location, the convenient transportation conditions and the migration of the inland population accelerated the process of cultural development in Liangzhou and made the Hexi region a cultural area with the same roots in the Central Plains.
During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, the Central Plains were in chaos, the economy was seriously damaged, and the culture was sluggish and shrunken. Under the rule of Wu Liang, the Hexi region was isolated in a corner of the northwest, less affected by war, the social order was relatively stable, and the economic development was undoubtedly a happy land in China at that time. "The world is in chaos, and the country of refuge is only Cool Tu'er", the Zhongyuan scholars "sun and moon successively" came to take refuge, and the Central Plains culture "also transferred and preserved in a corner of Liangzhou". At the same time, the rulers of Wuliang revered the ancient and the Good Manners, and paid attention to culture and education, which made the Hexi region full of scribes and academic prosperity. The Central Plains culture, Western culture and nomadic culture have preserved and passed on, exchanged and integrated here, showing a scene of cultural prosperity and a hundred flowers blooming, and an unprecedented cultural peak in the history of Hexi has emerged, forming a unique Wuliang culture in Chinese history. In stark contrast to the fact that the culture of the Five Liangs flourished during the Wuliang period, the Hexi region became the political, economic and cultural center of Northern China at that time, "one of the three major strongholds in the national sense."
During the Five Liang Period, Hexi was located in the cultural geographical location of learning from the East and the West and learning from the West, and the Zhongyuan scholars and native scholars who lived in Hexi inherited the Confucian tradition, worked hard, worked tirelessly, and wrote books and lectures, which promoted the development and progress of Hexi culture and scholarship. During this period, Hexi scholars wrote more than thirty kinds of academic works, and thirteen kinds of sui books and classics were recorded. The "Character History" that once swept the Central Plains was preserved in Hexi by Liu Xun. Many of the writings describing the history of Hexi have been quoted and adopted by later historians, and the achievements of the astronomical calendar have been introduced from Hexi to the interior. In terms of architecture, when Qianliang built Guzang Castle, he changed the traditional layout of Gongnan City North, creating a new pattern of the capital city of Gongbei City South, which was contrary to the old system. In addition, Wuliang culture has also achieved fruitful results in classics, metaphysics, history, literature, Buddhism, astronomical geography, art, architecture, etc., making the Hexi region the most prosperous and developed region in the entire northern culture at the same time. During this period, the Hexi region presented a scene of cultural and educational prosperity and academic prosperity, which became a highlight moment of Liangzhou culture.
As a foreign religion, Buddhist culture was introduced to the interior along the Silk Road through the Hexi Corridor during this period. Liangzhou has become the center of Buddhism in northern China and a transit station for Buddhism to gradually move eastward, and has taken the lead in becoming an innovative place for the "sinification" of Buddhism. Buddhist monks from east to west gathered in Hexi to vigorously spread buddhism; high-ranking monks from India, Kubin, Guizi and other places, such as Kumarosh and Tan Wuchen, came to Hexi along the Silk Road to translate and preach, and finally made Buddhism rooted in the Central Plains through Hexi and became an important part of Chinese culture. The grotto art originating in India spread with Buddhism to the east, through the western region to Hexi, the Northern Liang depression canal Mengxun in Liangzhou Nanshan Xing chisel grottoes, represented by the Tiantishan Grottoes, many grottoes of the "Liangzhou model", have been excavated and spread in the Hexi area, and have successively influenced the art style of the Central Plains grottoes such as Yungang and Longmen. In addition, sogdia and other Central Asian and West Asian ethnic groups poured into Hexi in large numbers, and Hu culture was also introduced, and Zoroastrianism, Jingjiao, Manichaeism and other religions were also introduced to Hexi. Later Liang Lü Guang fused the "strange tricks and strange plays" obtained during the conquest of the Western Regions with the musical elements of Hexi to form a new kind of music, Xi Liang Music, which was later spread to the Central Plains and was designated as the official zhengle during the Sui and Tang dynasties. Among the nine musics of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Xiliang Music, Guizi Music, Tianzhu Music, Kang Guole, Shule Music, and An Guole were all introduced to the Central Plains through Hexi and flourished in the court. The famous court song and dance song and dance of the Tang Dynasty, "Neon Dress Feather Dance", was adapted from the Xiliang Music Dance. As for the Western Hundred Operas, Hu Xuan Dance, Hu Teng Dance, Garnet Dance, etc., they are also popular and popular in Hexi.
Since then, the Wuliang culture has been sent by the Wuliang regime and the Southern Dynasty to ask for appointments, exchange books, monks to travel, and Hexi literati have spread south to Guanzhong and Jiangnan, which has had an important impact on the revival of Central Plains culture. After the Northern Wei Dynasty destroyed northern Liang, it completely inherited the achievements of Wuliang culture. Wuliang culture had a profound influence on Northern Wei Confucianism, ritual music, canon system, literature, music and dance art, Buddhist culture, and capital construction, and played a very important role in the cultural progress of the Northern Wei regime and the later cultural revival of the Central Plains. After the Sui unified China, wuliang culture, as one of the important sources of Sui and Tang culture, was integrated into the unified culture of the Sui and Tang dynasties. In this regard, Mr. Chen Yinke, a master of traditional Chinese studies, gave full affirmation, pointing out that he "continued the study style of the Han Dynasty, the Western Jin Dynasty, the wei, the Western Jin Dynasty, the system of the Wei Qi, the Sui and Tang Dynasties, inherited the past and the future, and continued to support the decline, and continued to be in the same vein for five hundred years."
The Sheng Tang meteorology in the Liangzhou word
In the Sui Dynasty, the prime minister Pei Zhi came to Hexi to "lead to the Western Province" and attracted the countries of the Western Regions to trade in the interior, and the Sui Emperor personally toured Hexi to hold the "Ten Thousand Nations Exposition", after which a situation of "merchants and travelers looking at each other and endlessly on the road" was formed, which effectively promoted the commercial trade of the Silk Road. The Tang Dynasty was the most prosperous period of Silk Road trade and culture in Hexi, "the richest people in the world are not as rich as Long right", and Hexi became one of the richest regions in the country at that time. The Tang Dynasty implemented the policy of "resting soldiers and mutual market transportation" for the Tuguhun, Dangxiang, Turkic, Tubo and other ethnic groups near Hexi, which appeared a situation of "mutual abundance, all have cheap"; at the same time, the establishment of a post office system on the Silk Road, the establishment of cities in larger merchant gathering places, and the appointment of city orders ensured the prosperity of the Silk Road trade in Hexi. "Liangzhou is the capital of Hexi, with the western and onion right countries, business and travel, there is no end", on the basis of social stability and agricultural and animal husbandry development, Liangzhou is rich, silk, porcelain and other western products are mostly traded in Liangzhou, Turkic, Hui, Dashi, Persian and other Hu merchants live in Liangzhou to engage in re-trade.
The prosperity of the Silk Road trade has brought the inclusiveness of Liangzhou culture into full play. The famous poet Cen Shan wrote in the poem: "The crooked moon hangs on the head of the city, and the moon of the city head shines in Liangzhou." In Yuan Shu's poem "Xi Liang Qi", the prosperous scene of Liangzhou is also described: "I heard that in the past, Western Liangzhou was densely populated..." In the prosperous and open Tang Dynasty, Liangzhou became a veritable trade center on the Silk Road and a gathering place of Chinese and Western cultures, with unprecedented economic and cultural development, unprecedented exchanges between China and foreign countries, and gave birth to the "Liangzhou Words" that led the way and sang for thousands of years, which became one of the important themes in Tang Dynasty poetry. Occupying a very important position in the history of Chinese literature, Wang Han, Wang Zhizhuo and other outstanding poets have written poems such as "Grape wine luminous cup, want to drink pipa immediately urge" and "the Yellow River is far above the white clouds, a lonely city of Wanlingshan" and other popular poems. With its magnificent and desolate border scene and patriotic feelings of worrying about the country and the people, "Liangzhou Words" has brought a thick and tragic wind to the prosperous Tang poetry, becoming a bright pearl of Liangzhou culture, highlighting a unique cultural charm and shining with brilliant light.