2. The establishment of a multi-ethnic unified state
After Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms, it further unified the southwest region, the southeast coastal region, the two broad regions, and so on, and began to establish a multi-ethnic unified country, which is in line with the requirements of historical development and the common aspirations of the people of all ethnic groups. Because at that time, the people of all ethnic groups demanded that the economic and cultural ties between ethnic groups be further strengthened and that the disasters caused by the war between ethnic groups in the country be lifted.
The mainland has always been a multi-ethnic country, and during the slavery period, the ties between the peoples of various ethnic groups have been continuously strengthened, and the ethnic groups in the Central Plains, except for a few individuals, have gradually integrated into the Huaxia people, that is, the predecessors of the Han people. By the Warring States period, due to the establishment of feudalism and social and economic development, commerce and communication between various ethnic groups in the country had further developed. According to the "Lü's Spring and Autumn Essence", the delicious food at that time included the lips of orangutans, the tails of yaks and elephants, and the bamboo shoots of Yue Luo. Orangutans, yaks, and elephants are all produced in ethnic minority areas in the southwest of the mainland. Yue Luo, also known as Luo Yue, is a tribe in the Southwestern Frontier District. According to Li Si's "Book of Evictions", the precious commodities imported into the Central Plains at that time were jade from Kunshan. Kunshan is now the Kunlun Mountains in southwest Xinjiang, and has always been a famous jade-producing area. All these fully show that commerce and transportation have developed in the central plains of the mainland and the surrounding ethnic minority areas in the late Warring States period.
In the Warring States period work "Yi Yin Chao Xian" (appendix to the "Yizhou Shu Wang Hui"), the story of the sacrifices of various ethnic groups to the Shang king, the southern ethnic groups offered pearls (small pearls), tortoiseshell (a type of Yin Dai Mei dài mèi turtle), ivory and other items, all of which are specialties of the tribes on the southern coast and southwest border areas of the mainland; The camels (i.e. camels), taoji (a type of horse of the táo tú), and other items offered by the northern tribes are the specialties of the tribes of the northern border region. In the story of the contributions of various ethnic groups to King Cheng of Zhou, it is said that in the north of the present-day Changbai Mountains and up to the Heilongjiang River Valley, Ji (pronounced jì) Shen (i.e. Sushen) offered a large glue (pronounced zhǔ 大deer), the Xiongnu in the present-day Mongolian Plateau offered a cunning dog, the Donghu in the upper reaches of the Liao River and the Xilamulun River offered yellow and black (a type of pronounced pí bear), the Yu clan (音支 zhī i.e. 月氏) in the area of present-day Dunhuang and the Qilian Mountains in Gansu, and the Kang people (i.e. Kangju) west of present-day Lake Balkash He offered a bird (a type of bird) in the vast area of present-day western mainland China, Fei Fei (i.e. baboon, a species of monkey) in present-day northeastern Yunnan, and a large bamboo (i.e., Luo Yue) in the southwestern part of present-day Guangnan. These stories reflect the close political and economic ties between the peoples of the mainland at that time.
The tribes distributed in the area of present-day southwest Sichuan and Yunnan and Guizhou in ancient times, collectively known as Xianyi, have become an integral part of our multi-ethnic unified country since the Qin Dynasty.
At that time, there were many tribes in Xianyi, and the economic development was very uneven, some were still in the stage of clan society, and some had entered class society. Yelang, and (pronounced jū) Lan, Jingmo, Yunnian, Qiongdu and other ethnic groups have settled and engaged in both farming and animal husbandry; 巂 (pronounced suǐ), Kunming engaged in animal husbandry; Some of the migration, Zhuo, Ran, and camel tribes settled, and some did not. In present-day Guizhou Province there were Yelang and Jilan. Yelang was the largest tribe in the southwestern Yizhong, distributed in present-day western Guizhou. And Lan was east of Yelang, in the area of present-day Guiyang. In present-day Yunnan Province, there are Yunnan, Jingmo, Mi, and Kunming, of which Dian is the largest, distributed in the vast area around Dianchi Lake. Jing Mo was in northeastern Yunnan, in present-day northeastern Yunnan. In the area of Yunlong in present-day western Yunnan, Kunming is distributed in the western and northern parts of Yunnan. In the western and southwestern parts of present-day Sichuan Province, there were the Qiandu, Qiongdu, Yu, Ran, Xiao, and Xun (Yinbai bó) ethnic groups. Among them, the tsudo is the largest. Also known as 笮 (笮 also written as "笮"), it was distributed in the basin of the present-day Dadu River and the Yalong (Yinlong lóng) River, and they were good at using bamboo ropes and rattan ropes as bridges, called "笮". This area was called "Bunaka no Kawa" during the Sengoku period, and this tribe got its name from it. It is also famous for producing horses, called "horses", which are exported to Ba, Shu and other places. The Yu was also a large tribe, with its center in present-day Tianquan County, west-central Sichuan. Ran and Ran are two neighboring tribes, sometimes referred to as Ran Huang. Xiao was in the area of present-day Maowen County in northern Sichuan. In the area of present-day Yibin, Sichuan, the servants were often plundered or sold to other places as slaves, called "servants". The White Horse Di was a branch of the Di in the area of present-day Wudu in southern Gansu.
These large tribes in the Southwest Yi had become part of the Chu and Qin states during the Warring States period. Around 290 BC, King Xiang of Chu sent the general Zhuang Yu to march southwest along the Yuan River, passing through Helan, subduing Yelang, and attacking Dianchi. Later, because Qin captured Chu's Qianzhong Commandery, Zhuang, and Chu lost contact with Chu's country, he became king in Yunnan, and the king's capital was in present-day Jinning County, Yunnan. By the time of the Qin and Han dynasties, the region had become part of a unified state, but the descendants of Zhuang Yi (pronounced yì) still retained the title of "King of Dian ". In 285 BC, King Zhao of Qin sent Zhang Ruo, the defender of Shu Commandery, to capture the capital of Yan and the Jiangnan region (the area south of the Jinsha River), and from then on this area was included in Qin's territory. On the basis of the operations of Qin and Chu in the Warring States period, Qin Shi Huang unified all of Southwest Yi, and set up officials there to rule, which became an important part of the Qin Empire. In order to strengthen the connection between Xianyi and the Central Plains, Qin also opened a "five-foot road" (a five-foot wide road) to develop transportation.
In ancient times, the tribes distributed in the area of present-day Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Guangxi were collectively called the Yue people. Because there are many branches, it is also known as Baiyue. Since then, after the unification of the Qin Dynasty, it has also become an integral part of our multi-ethnic unified country.
The famous branches of the Yue ethnic group include Yue, Ou (pronounced Ou ōu) Yue, Minyue, Nanyue, Xiou, Luo Yue and other ethnic groups. Yu Yue in present-day Zhejiang Province, centered on the Shaoxing area, established the State of Yue very early, and was destroyed by Chu during the Warring States period, and some Yue tribes were scattered in the coastal areas of Jiangnan, and became part of Qin territory after Qin destroyed Chu. Ouyue, also known as Eastern Ou, is located in the Oujiang River basin in present-day southern Zhejiang, centered on the Wenzhou area. Minyue was in present-day Fujian Province, centered on the area around Fuzhou. After unifying the Six Kingdoms, Qin Shi Huang then unified Ouyue and Minyue and set up Minzhong Commandery. South Vietnam was distributed in the area of present-day Guangdong and Guangxi, and Western Ou was in the area of present-day Guixian in Guangxi. South Vietnam and Western Ou, when most tribes were still in the clan society stage. Engaged in fishing, hunting and infantile agricultural production, their social organization is clan clans and tribal confederations. At the same time as unifying Ouyue and Minyue, Qin Shi Huang began to wage war against Nanyue and Western Ou, and by 214 BC, he unified Nanyue and Xiou, setting up Nanhai County, Guilin County and Xiang County. The following year, a part of the people and some guilty officials who had migrated to the Central Plains went to these three counties to engage in reclamation and defense. Since then, the two regions have been more closely integrated with the rest of the motherland, and the South Vietnamese have gradually integrated with the Han Chinese.
The process of integration and assimilation of the Nanyue and Huaxia ethnic groups began as far back as the Spring and Autumn Period. As a result of archaeological excavations in recent years, the ruins and tombs of the Spring and Autumn Era were found in Qingyuan, Guangdong, and two batches of bronzes were unearthed, from the point of view of their shape and pattern, with a certain local color, different from the Central Plains, among which weapons are the most prominent, but the shape of musical instruments and containers is basically the same as that of the Central Plains. It shows that the South Vietnamese and the Chinese were already closely connected culturally at that time. Ruins of the Warring States period were found in Zengcheng and Shixing, Guangdong, and iron, bronze and pottery were unearthed, indicating that the culture was very developed at that time. The Qing Dynasty is only more than 70 kilometers away from Guangzhou, and Zengcheng is northeast of Guangzhou. When Qin Shi Huang sent troops to attack South Vietnam in five ways, he reached Panyu, which is now Guangzhou, which shows that before the unification of Qin, there was already a high degree of culture in the area around present-day Guangzhou. After the reunification of Qin, due to the further exchange of the Central Plains culture and the South Vietnamese culture, especially because the Qin transferred the inland people to the southwest in large numbers, brought with them advanced production tools and production technology, and worked and lived with the South Vietnamese people, the economic and cultural integration and development of the two places were further accelerated.
In the process of Qin's unification of South Vietnam, a spiritual canal was dug in the north of Xing'an County in present-day Guangxi, which connected the traffic between the Xiang River and the Guijiang River, connected the Yangtze River system and the Pearl River system, greatly developed the water transportation between the Central Plains and the southwest region, and played a major role in economic and cultural exchanges.
Donghu is a large tribe in the northeast of the mainland, mainly distributed in the upper reaches of the present-day Liaohe River, the Laoha River and the Xilamulun River, to Chaoyang, Jinxi and Luda in Liaoning Province. They live mainly in nomadism. In recent years, a number of bronzes used in Donghu have been unearthed in Chaoyang, Jinxi and Luda, all of which are weapons, tools, harness and ornaments. The relics prove that since the Warring States period, Eastern Hu has had close contacts with the Xiongnu and the Central Plains Huaxia people. Bronze tools such as axes and chisels are similar in form to Xiongnu relics, which are obviously the result of mutual interaction. The Warring States-style copper Ge unearthed in Wujintang in Jinxi is even more physical evidence of the close connection between the Eastern Hu and the Central Plains Huaxia people.
The Xiongnu were a large tribe in the ancient north of the continent. It is mainly distributed in the Mongolian plateau, reaching the Yin Mountains in the south and near Lake Baikal in the present-day Soviet Union in the north. They also adopted nomadism as their main way of life and also used bronze. Centered on Ordos, Inner Mongolia, many bronzes have been unearthed, archaeologically called "Ordos Bronze", which are used by the Xiongnu, including weapons, tools, harnesses, copper ornaments, copper mirrors, copper vessels, etc. Most of the bronze ornaments are carved with vivid domestic animals and beasts, reflecting the conditions of their nomadic life. Some of the bronze mirrors, the shape of the copper sword, and the imitations of the bronze vessels Zhongjue (drinking vessel) and 盉 (Yin and hé warm wine vessel) are very obviously influenced by the Chinese culture of the Central Plains, indicating that there is a close connection between the Xiongnu and the Chinese people.
When the Xiongnu were in the transition from patriarchal slavery to slavery in the late Warring States period, the first single (音cicada chán) Yu emerged from the tribal alliance, which was their leader, called Touman Dan Yu, whose ruling center was in the city of Touman north of the Yin Mountain. Not far south from Yin Mountain is the Yellow River Loop, and the place south of the Loop was called "Henan" in ancient times. Since the late Warring States period, this area has been a target of plunder by the Xiongnu slave-owning aristocracy. King Wuling of Zhao set up Jiuyuan County in Hetao and the area around present-day Baotou City to defend it, and ordered that Dafu's slaves be moved to Jiuyuan for reclamation. By the end of the Warring States period, because the State of Zhao was busy with the war with the State of Qin, the Xiongnu took the opportunity to occupy Hetao and Henan. In 215 BC, Qin Shi Huang sent the general Meng Tian (pronounced Tián) to lead an army to retake Henan, and then recaptured the area north of the Yellow River to the Yin Mountains, setting up thirty-four counties and re-establishing Jiuyuan County. In 211 BC, another 30,000 families were moved to Beihe and Yuzhong (north of the present-day Yijin Holuo Banner in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region), which was another reclamation after King Wuling of Zhao. At that time, people called this newly reclaimed area "New Qin". The plundering of the Hetao region by the Xiongnu slave owners and waging a national war were against the wishes of the Xiongnu and Han peoples. The common aspiration of the two peoples is to strengthen economic and cultural exchanges and integration. From the middle of the first century AD, a large number of Xiongnu people migrated to the Central Plains, gradually merging with the Han and other tribes.
The construction of the Great Wall was originally the product of the warring States period. In the war of mutual annexation, the seven heroes built the Great Wall according to the needs of the war. Chu built a "Fang Wall" in the north to defend against Han and Wei in the north of present-day Nanyang Basin, Qi built a "Great Wall of Qi" along the Taiyi Mountains in order to defend against Yue and Chu in the south, Wei built a "Great Wall of Wei" along Luoshui in order to defend against Qin in the west, Zhao built a "Great Wall of Zhao" along Zhangshui in order to defend against Qi and Wei in the south, and also built a "Great Wall of Zhao" in the north to defend against the Xiongnu, the same Yan built a "Great Wall of Yan" along Yishui in order to defend against Zhao and Qi, and a "Great Wall of Yan" in the north to defend against Eastern Hu. After Qin destroyed the Yiqu, the "Great Wall of Qin" was also built in the north. Qin unified the six kingdoms, and in order to prevent the disturbance of the Xiongnu slave owners, the Great Wall in the north of Qin, Zhao and Yan was connected to build a Great Wall that was more than 5,000 miles long, which is the world-famous Great Wall. It is one of the great architectural projects in the history of the ancient world, the crystallization of the industrious, brave and highly intelligent creation of the ancient Chinese people.
The Qin Dynasty adapted to the historical trend of ethnic integration in ancient China and established a unified multi-ethnic state with a vast territory, which had a significant and far-reaching impact on the development of the history of the motherland.