【Culture & Museum】"Liangzhou Sabao" on the Silk Road

"Liangzhou Sabao" on the Silk Road

Gansu Daily special writer Zhu Jianjun

In the past 100 years, Chinese and foreign scholars have conducted extensive and in-depth research and discussion on a series of Sogdian status titles such as "Sabo", "Sabao", "Sabao" and "Safu", and have published many articles with different views. With the continuous heating up of the research on the Silk Road, and the various information of the Sogdians in China is becoming clearer, especially the excavation of tombs such as the Anga Tomb and the Shijun Tomb, the titles of "Sabao" and "Sabao" frequently appear in the unearthed documents, which once again attracted the attention of scholars at home and abroad, but few scholars have combed and studied the identity of "Liangzhou Sabao" alone.

Wu Wei found the only document that recorded "Liangzhou Sabao".

Gansu Wuwei Confucian Temple has an epitaph, limestone stone, the stele body, the cover are all square, the bottom edge is 39 centimeters long, and the middle is engraved with regular script "Kangjun Epitaph". The stele is 40 centimeters long, the text is 13 lines, each line is 15-17 words, and the handwriting is diffuse. Its inscription is received in the "Longyou Jinshi Record", as follows:

The epitaph of the Tang Dynasty Shangyi and the late Kang Mo Qin Xi Ada: Ada, the people of Kang in the Western Regions. Its first cover comes from the beginning of creation, the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, and the emperor is also the emperor. Thousands of roots, Wang Ye Qianxun, the emperor succeeds the emperor, and the branches are connected to the emperor's industry. Zu Bada, Liang envoy holding the festival, hussar general, Kaifu Yi with the three divisions, Liang, Gan, Gua three states of the military, Liangzhou Sabao. When the official is appointed, Shui Jingyuan is close to his arms, and he is on the public road, and the stone seat is not his will, and the edict is given to Wuwei Taishou. Father Mo Tan, buried together in Anle. It is an inscription that says: "Sad for his untimely life, mourning this meritorious service; The shape is easy to form, the dream shadow is difficult to pass, the city is independent, and the wild horses are heavy. The river is hidden, the moon falls and the clouds are dusk, a crown is resigned, and the spring door is closed forever. ”

"Longyou Jinshi Record" presses: This inscription is new from outside Wuwei City, and there are four inches in height and breadth. Where thirteen lines, line 17 to 15 words, the first line is one grid lower, the text is "Tang Shangyi with the late Kang Mo Qin Xi Ada epitaph" its cover only "Kang Jun epitaph" four words, no year and the name of the author to the inscription test, the ancestor of Ada both Zeng Shiliang, his father and Tang Zhiyi, then Ada must be the early Tang Dynasty. This epitaph is the only piece of literature found in Wuwei so far that records "Liangzhou Sabao", and the others have been found elsewhere. Through the inscription, it is not difficult for us to find that the tomb owner Kang Ada, whose ancestral home is Kangguo, is the same as Shangyi, and the edict is given to Wuwei Taishou. Its ancestor Kang Bada, Liang envoy holding the festival, hussar general, Kaifu Yi with the three divisions, Liang, Gan, Gua three states of the military, Liangzhou Sabao. He was buried in Liangzhou after his death.

Scholar Mr. Chen Guocan pointed out: "During the Northern Wei Dynasty, Liangzhou already had a fixed official position. There is a Kang Ada sect in this document, and there are legends of "the emperor's yin", "Wang Ye Qianxun" and "Zhilian Emperor's industry", which at least shows that Kangada came from the royal family of the Sogdian native Kang State and was a nobleman.

We will superimpose the identity of the tomb owner Ada and the position of "Liangzhou Sabao" for an analysis, and we can sort out a context: Kang Ada's ancestor Bada has been far away from his hometown in Liangzhou during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and his father was the same as the Tang Dynasty, and Ada Zhao gave Wuwei Taishou, and by the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the three generations of Kang Ada's ancestors had all immigrated to Liangzhou. In this regard, a picture of the fortune of three generations of the Kang family can be rolled out.

"Old Tang Book" volume 198 "Xirong Biography" Kang Guotiao called Kang Guoren: "Good businessman, fight for the benefits of pearls." The man is twenty years old, that is, far away from the neighboring country, and comes to the middle of summer. Where the benefits are, there is everything. As a typical representative of the Kangguo people who are "good merchants", in the 6th century in his youth, with the emerging Sogdian immigrants, as the leader of the Sogdian caravan "Sabao", he set out from the distant Sogdiana (Sogdia), led a large number of caravans, went through ups and downs, took the Hexi Corridor as the first choice to enter China, came to Liangzhou, and used it as the center to display its superb Silk Road trade ability, not only did business well, but also laid a foundation in Liangzhou. After the Tang Dynasty government incorporated the leader of the Hu caravan "Sabao" into the bureaucratic system, Kang Bada became the head of the settlement "Sabao" with official status. According to the scholar Mr. Wei Yitian, the leaders of the settlement organizations were both Sabao and caravan leaders, and they were the inheritors of the merchant tradition. In addition to governing each member of the settlement, Sabao was also responsible for rituals, at least as a supervisor, and established a hierarchy within the settlement.

From the Sabo merchant lord system in India in the centuries BC to the Sogdians' centuries of trade on the Silk Road, the "Sabo" and "Sabao" merchant system with a scale of hundreds of people became the overseas Chinese residence and Hu merchant settlement system under the "Binli" system in Sui and Tang China, that is, under the management of Honglu Temple.

Scholar Mr. Jiang Boqin pointed out that after the development of the Sixteen Kingdoms, the Northern Dynasties, and the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty Baofu system became a kind of administrative structure that could open a government, with bureaucrats, military attachés, leaders, and official qualities to manage the merchants and merchants of the Xihu team, and became a miracle in the history of China's political system. In one way, the Sabao system reflects the inclusiveness of foreign cultures in the Chinese ritual culture of the Ritsu era.

The series of titles of "Sabao" has long attracted wide attention from scholars at home and abroad. Scholar Rong Xinjiang in 2003 about the debate and analysis of Sabao and Sabo in the article, statistics from the Northern Dynasty, Sui to the early Tang Dynasty have the title of Sabao (Bao) a total of fifteen, three of them are "Liangzhou Sabao", in 2003 Xi'an Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology Institute in Xi'an Weiyang District excavated and cleaned up the tomb of Shijun of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, according to its inscription, it is known that the owner of the tomb is Liangzhou Sabao. As a result, another person has been added to the "Sabao" family, and the number of historical documents has risen to sixteen, of which four are "Liangzhou Sabao".

"Liangzhou Sabao" was the gold label of the Sogdian caravans on the Silk Road

Among the four "Liangzhou Sabao" in historical materials and unearthed documents, only the personal information of Shijun of the Northern Zhou Dynasty is relatively complete. From June 12, 2003 to October 28, 2003, the Xi'an Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology in the east of Jingshang Village, Daming Palace Township, Weiyang District, Xi'an City, 5.7 kilometers away from the site of Chang'an City of the Han Dynasty, cleaned up the tomb of Shijun of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and unearthed very precious cultural relics such as stone coffins, stone couches, gold rings, gold coins and gold ornaments. What is particularly valuable is that archaeologists found that the inscription of Shi Jun's tomb has Sogdian and Chinese characters. There are 51 columns of inscriptions, including 33 columns in Sogdian and 18 columns in Chinese. The Sogdian and Chinese texts are roughly corresponding, and the Sogdian part is slightly more detailed.

Through the scholars Mr. Sun Fuxi and Mr. Yoshida Yuka's interpretation of the Chinese and Sogdian texts of Shi Jun's tomb, we can know that the Shi Jun family was a very influential family in the Shi Kingdom of Zhaowu Jiu, his grandfather used to serve as Shi Guo Sabao, and his father was also very influential. Shi Jun was born in the seventeenth year of Emperor Taihe of Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (493), and when they moved to Chang'an, they quickly gained a reputation in Chang'an. And he himself first held an important position in Sabao Mansion, and later was appointed by the Northern Zhou Emperor as Sabao of Liangzhou. His wife, originally from Kangguo, was born in Shanshan, Xiping County, and they married in 519 and had three sons. Influenced by the Han culture of the Central Plains, the three sons were all filial and built a magnificent cemetery for their parents.

The third lower part of the west wall of the Shijun Stone Hall discovered by archaeologists is a relief of a Sogdian caravan, which depicts a caravan composed of four merchants, three horses, two camels and three mules. Expert Yang Junkai interprets this picture as a caravan marching between mountains and rocks and water and grass. At the foreground are two men on horseback. One of them wore a round peaked hat and a round-necked, narrow-sleeved tunic with a girdle around his waist, an arrow sling hanging from his head, and boots on his feet. The other was behind the rocks, with only the upper half of his body exposed, wearing a bowler hat and a narrow-sleeved shirt with a cross-collar. Behind the man on horseback are two camels carrying goods, fat and round, with short tails upturned, carrying goods on their backs. One horse looks forward, the other neighs in the neck, wears a chest and ties a bell. Behind the camel was a man on a donkey, wearing a bowler hat, thin eyebrows, deep eyes, an eagle nose, and a beard. He wears a robe with narrow sleeves on the right side, with a wide waist and a flower-like ornament tied on it. The right arm is bent and raised, holding the watchpiece, and the left arm is naturally drooping. Behind the rocks were two mules and a horse carrying goods, and behind them was a man with short haircut, whose lower body was hidden in the mountains, with a hooked nose, wearing a narrow shirt with a crossed collar, and his right arm was bent and raised, holding a whip, as if shouting to drive the livestock.

The tomb of Anga discovered in these years and the sarcophagus bed in the collection of the Mishu Museum of Art in Japan also have similar scenes of caravan marching. Among these images dedicated to caravans, the portraits of An Jia and Shi Jun, which have clear epitaphs, are all from the Sogdian Sabao tomb, and the main characters of the images are Sogdians, so Mr. Rong Xinjiang and others collectively refer to the caravans of such images as Sogdian caravans. Professor Glenai, who has been engaged in archaeological excavations in Central Asia for many years, said: "There is not even a single scene of caravans in Sogdian art in the whole of Sogdian art. Images such as Shi Jun's stone coffin provide us with a good perspective from which to observe the Sogdian caravans.

The excavation of the relevant documents of "Liangzhou Sabao" Shijun corroborates each other with many historical materials, which not only proves the important position of Liangzhou as an international city city on the Silk Road from the 3rd century to the 7th century, but also reflects the superior gold label of "Liangzhou Sabao" among the "Sabao".

Through many historical documents and archaeological discoveries, we can conclude that from the 3rd century to the 8th century, that is, during the Han and Tang dynasties in China, Sogdian caravans shuttled through various oases along the Silk Road, from Sogdia through the Tarim Basin, the Hexi Corridor, the Mongolian Plateau, and finally reached Chang'an and Luoyang. And the hardships and accidents can be imagined.

"Book of Zhou" volume 5 "Tuyuhun Biography" records the second year of the abolition of the emperor of the Western Wei Dynasty (553), "it is the year, Kwa Lu and the envoy to the Qi family, Liangzhou Assassin Shi Ning knew that it was returned, led a light cavalry to attack the West Chiquan of the state, and obtained his servants to shoot and beg to touch the trigger, the general Zhai Panmi, Shang Hu 240 people, 600 camels and mules, and tens of thousands of miscellaneous silk silks" This is a mission sent by the Tuyuhun state centered on Qinghai to the Northern Qi Dynasty and returned, this mission in addition to the political mission, obviously at the same time is a commercial team, so the head of the mission is the Tuyuhun official servant and the general Zhai Panmi, and the main body of the team is Shang Hu, Zhai Panmi is both the military commander and the "Sabao".

Mr. Yang Junkai analyzed that Shi Jun, "Liangzhou Sabao", transported goods from Qinghai to Liangzhou, Zhangye, Dunhuang and other places. They took the Qinghai Road of the Silk Road, which was the route of the Eastern Jin Dynasty monk Fa Xian to India. He went out of Xiping to the north through Datong and Menyuan, and crossed the Qilian Mountains before he could reach the Hexi Corridor.

Based on documents and excavated data, Mr. Sun Fuxi deduced that the Liangzhou region at that time was inhabited by various Sogdian settlements from the country of the nine surnames of Zhaowu, and each of them had a theocratic leader who managed his own internal affairs, that is, "Sabao". However, in order to strengthen the management of the Sogdians in this area, the Northern Zhou Dynasty set up a Sabao Mansion under the direct appointment of officials appointed by the emperor. Therefore, Shi Jun's level of "Liangzhou Sabao" is different from that of ordinary Sabao, so the specifications of his tomb can almost be compared with Emperor Xiaowu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.

In the Chinese historical materials, the identity of "Liangzhou Sabao" has been combed

In addition to Kang Bada and Shi Jun, two "Liangzhou Sabao", there are two other records in "Yuanhe Surname Compilation". Volume 4 "An's surname" notes: "Guzang Liangzhou." From Anguo, the Han Dynasty moved to the Zi Dynasty, because of the cool land. Later, Wei Ananda went to Sun Pan Boro, and lived in Liangzhou on behalf of Sabao. The same information appears in the record of the Tang Dynasty general Li Baoyu in the "Prime Minister's Lineage Table" under the "New Tang Dynasty Book", and we can see that Wuwei Li's family, Ben'an family, comes from the surname Ji. The Yellow Emperor was born Changyi, the second son of Changyi, who lived in the West and called himself the country of rest. At the end of the Later Han Dynasty, he sent his son Shigao to the dynasty because he lived in Luoyang. Between Jin and Wei, his home was stable, and he migrated to Liaozuo to avoid chaos and migrate to Wuwei. Later Wei had Nanda Sun Boluo, Zhou and Sui, and lived in Liangzhou Wuwei as Sabao.

These two historical materials are very clear, Liangzhou An's surname comes from Anguo, and since the Northern Wei Dynasty, Ananda and his grandson Anpan Bora have both served as "Liangzhou Sabao". So far, the four "Liangzhou Sabao" who have been in the historical materials and unearthed documents have all appeared. One is surnamed Kang, one is surnamed Shi, and two are surnamed An. Through the surnames, we can find that whether it is Sabao in historical documents, or the individuals who actually served as Sabao or Sabao as the head of the settlement in the Northern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang dynasties, or the ancestors who served as Sabao recorded in the epitaphs of the Tang people, the vast majority of them are Sogdians with the surname Zhaowu Jiu.

Whether it is from the Sogdian ancient letter that is identified as being sent from Liangzhou in 313, or the unearthed documents that the Northern Wei Dynasty had the position of "Liangzhou Sabao", we can judge that the ancient business network of the Sogdians experienced the crisis of the fourth century, and not only did not break in the 100 years after the ancient letter was written, but also maintained contact with their homeland of Samarkand.

Book 102 of the Book of Wei records: "The Sogdian state, west of the Green Mountains (...... The merchants of his country first sold goods in Liangdu, and Kegu Zang, and saw all the captives. At the beginning of Emperor Gaozong, the king of Sogdia sent an envoy to ask for ransom, and the edict was heard. Since then, there has been no court. Two pieces of information are worth noting, namely: before the Northern Wei Dynasty and Keliangzhou in 439, Sogdian merchants did not stop their journey to Liangzhou because of the wars in the Central Plains, and the scholar Wei Yitian believes that Gansu and the eastern oasis region of the Tarim Basin were completely prosperous and relatively stable throughout the fourth century. Secondly, even if there was an incident of the seizure of Sogdian merchants during the Northern Wei Dynasty, and at the same time, there was also the reality that the "Liangzhou Sabao" as the leader of the caravan was active in the political and economic arena of the Northern Wei Dynasty, and the mutual evidence of historical materials and unearthed documents can restore the historical truth more objectively.

Liangzhou was once an international logistics port on the Silk Road in the Middle Ages

Wuwei, known as Liangzhou in ancient times, has been a multi-ethnic settlement since ancient times. It is bordered by Qilian Mountain in the south, Tengger Desert in the north, and a vast oasis in the middle, irrigated by four major river systems: Huangyang, Jinta, Zamu and Xiying. Archaeological discoveries prove that humans lived here as early as four or five thousand years ago. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty opened up the four counties in Hexi, Wuwei immediately developed into an important town for transportation between China and the West. Scholar Zhao Lisheng believes that in the Middle Ages, specifically, from the 2nd to the 6th century AD, and even the 7th century, Liangzhou was one of the three major strongholds in a national sense. The first stronghold is Ye, the second stronghold is Liangzhou, the third stronghold is Jianyou, and later rebuilt Kang, and the stronghold of Liangzhou is naturally formed.

Because of its important geographical location, Wuwei has the reputation of "passing through the desert and controlling the throat of the five counties". Mr. Zhao Lisheng believes that from the "four counties" to the "five cool", Liangzhou is still stable overall. First, it is based on Confucianism, maintains the orthodoxy of Han culture, and uses it as a basis to mix with the cultures of various ethnic minorities. Second, it has always been the suzerainty of the Southern Dynasties, which means that it has a sign of political stability.

Mr. Wei Yitian believes that in 227 AD, during the chaotic era after the fall of the Han Dynasty, the leaders of the Yue clan in central Gansu and the Sogdian settlements in Liangzhou rushed to welcome the arrival of the Chinese mainland expeditionary force. There is a record in the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms": "The kings of Liangzhou each sent more than 20 people, including Yuezhi, Kangju, Huhou Zhifu, and Kangzhi, to receive the festival, and the army went north, so they wanted to lead the soldiers and horses to capture the pioneers." He believed that Kangjuhu in this period could only be Sogdian. Therefore, negotiations between settlement chiefs and invaders were clearly very important. This shows that at least by the beginning of the 3rd century, Sogdian commerce had played a huge political role in Liangzhou, 3,000 kilometers away from Sogdiana.

So far, we find that from the beginning of the formation of the ancient Sogdian commercial network, and there have always been Sogdians in ancient Liangzhou. "Reading the Minutes of History and Public Opinion" contains: "In the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, Hexi and Longyou were 33 states, Liangzhou was the largest, the soil was fertile, and the people were rich. "From this, we learned that Liangzhou is an important international logistics port on the Silk Road. After the crisis of the 4th century, Liangzhou became a cosmopolitan metropolis of Sogdians and Indians. After that, the Sogdian settlement extended from Liangzhou to Jingshi.

In the confirmation of archaeological discoveries and unearthed documents, we explore history, restore history, and understand history, whether it is the leader of the Sogdian caravan settlement that was once active on the ancient Silk Road, or Liangzhou, an important trading place on the Silk Road, there are many stories of cultural exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations that we do not know on this ancient road.

(The author is the director and research librarian of the Gansu Bamboo Slips Museum)