Over the years, archaeological unearthed Tang Dynasty Hu figurines are more common people with bags on their backs, and many researchers in the academic circles at home and abroad have named them "Walking Hu Merchants" or "Persian Hu Merchants" and "Great Food Merchants", referring to the merchants who crossed the Silk Road in the vast Western Regions. Whenever the Silk Road trade is shown to people, these terracotta figurines with the image of Hu merchants will be displayed.
Judging from the dozens of such Hu Shang terracotta figurines collected so far, the image can be roughly divided into three categories: one is the one who bends over to bear the weight, the second is the one who stands still, and the third is the person who holds the burden. The image of each category is basically the same, and the posture is the same.
1. Those who bend over to bear weights
Because of this kind of bearded figurines that are crushed into a hunchback and walk with a bowed body, they are described as merchants who crossed the Silk Road in the vast Western Regions, that is, "big cannibals who march in the desert and hold pots and backpacks"; Others portray them as Persian merchants who traveled long distances along the Silk Road, "traveling merchants" or evaluators who were not afraid of hardships, and "imitated the archetypes of Central Asian Hu merchants who traveled thousands of miles to the long distance", but this judgment is doubtful. A single Hu merchant carried such a heavy bag and did not carry the necessary daily necessities, so it was impossible for him to travel long distances through the desert Gobi. There is no escort on long journeys, and they do not follow camel gangs or horse teams or donkey teams, and they are very vulnerable to robbers, robbers or natural disasters. All the Hu Shang terracotta figurines wore hats in shape, and all wore the same knee-length jacket and leather robes, and rarely had a tunic and a long coat, as if the journey was always cold and the season was indistinguishable between winter and summer. Moreover, the hem of the leather robe is lifted by the wind, which is quite a state of eating and sleeping in the open. Rather than short leather boots, or trousers tucked into their shoes, the Hu merchants wore long felt boots that were one of their most important pieces of equipment, suggesting that they were shabby and of inferior status.
In terms of artistic modeling, the sculpture craftsman carefully wrote the image of Hu Shang: one is to smile and smile, revealing his kindness in the dust; One is a peddler who looks down, panting and sorrowful, with a confused and wary look in his eyes, as if he is a disoriented peddler. Behind the full and moving image is a delicate psychological portrayal. This kind of Hu merchant has a wide range of movements, belongs to small traders and hawkers with no permanent property, and even belongs to the ranks of "vagrants" at the bottom of society, and their status as "peddlers and pawns" is definitely not high. They wandered between the countryside and the countryside, infiltrating the grassroots in the countryside and among the common people in the market, and could not compare with the wealthy Sogdian merchants. This kind of Hu Shang's rough clothing has already explained the identity. Wealthy Hu merchants would never carry a heavy bag on their own.
In terms of social status, the status of independent small traders is not very high, and they can be regarded as a disadvantaged group with low status. In the eyes of the sculptor, the image of the bowed head and the rickety weight is not good, and some people once ridiculed the hunchback man "to go out to carry the sky, and it is difficult to match the shoulders of the peers." If the religion leans under the idle window, it is like a gong hou does not catch the strings." It is worth noting that none of these Hu merchants were young people, but from the discoveries of Shi Jun's tomb and the tomb of Anjia, as well as the images of the Sogdian caravan in the Meixiu Art Museum, it can be seen that the main members of the caravan should have been young men.
Camel reclining and camel riding figurines, collection of Xi'an Museum
2. Those who stand still
These figurines are all standing, standing up straight with respectful legs, holding a pot in their right hand, and their paradigm has not changed, as if they are obeying the orders of their masters, or deferentially pleasing their masters. However, it is difficult to wonder why Hu Shang was portrayed as such a humble and obedient person. The author once thought that this kind of upright person was the "thin-footed beard" recorded in the history books.
"Thin-footed beard" probably originally referred to the slender and lowly Hu people, and later extended to those Hu merchants who carried goods that were light and easy to transport on foot. "Northern History: The Biography of Rulin" recorded: "He Tuo is a phoenix, and the people of the Western Regions are also." The father of the thin foot Hu entered Shu and entered the county. Liang Wuling Wang Ji, the main knowledge of Jin Silk, because of the huge wealth, known as Xizhou Dajia. However, this is the only case of "slender-footed beard", and it is difficult to characterize it on this basis. In the Tang Dynasty, merchants (including Hu merchants) hired to transport goods and drive camels and horses were also known as "foot drivers" and "porters", who were important labor in the field of commercial economy. Judging from the Turpan documents, the long-distance trafficking of "travelers" to and from the sand moraines in the Western Regions must hire strong people who have a "foundation" to know the way. However, such a rush is often only a porter who loads and unloads goods, and he is not a small trader who walks on the road, they have an inseparable attachment relationship with the pack employer, they are not a single gang of themselves, they will not be a lonely image, and they will not hold a Persian-style beard bottle, so there should be a difference between being a human being and a single carrying bag vendor.
What is the purpose of the holding pot (or silver beard bottle) held by the Hu people? In this regard, one view is that the road is far away, and the sac pot held by Hu Shang is for drinking water; There is also a view that the Hu bottle held by Hu Shang is an item for sale. I guess that Hu Shang was holding a Hu bottle rather than a sac pot, that is, the silver Hu bottle and the gold Hu bottle that Hu Shang often mentioned. Only Hu merchants had gold vases to use, perhaps as a sign of identity that they had to carry, not just ordinary daily necessities. As a symbol of the identity of Hu merchants, art craftsmen will shape them on the image of Hu figurines.
Objectively speaking, the Hu merchants who came from small traders must have had a low status, they had to suffer from the control of the local government, paying taxes at the government gates, often being exploited by brokers, and being alone on the road with the risks of traveling with merchants. Judging only from the correspondence between Sogdian merchants in the 4th century AD, they were often in trouble due to the crisis of the times, and there was little optimistic news; Moreover, the letters show the typical characteristics of "petty traders operating in a fairly wide geographical area". In the society of the Tang Dynasty, folk merchants were regarded as "miscellaneous", "cheap" and "miscellaneous" and other social classes, and were regarded as mercenary villains by nobles, scholars and even ordinary citizens. Even in some places of amusement, businessmen who belonged to the lower class were often expelled from the game and were not allowed to play with their loved ones and commoners.
3. Those who hold baggage
This kind of terracotta figurines with hand-held baggage are less unearthed, and here are only three examples from the image:
One of the terracotta figurines in the Forbidden City, named "The Great Cannibal of the Tang Dynasty", wears a high hat with a curly brim, and the items wrapped in the baggage are speculated by researchers to be silk, probably because silk can be rolled into a baggage. In fact, the figurine is holding a burden in his left hand, and his right hand seems to be waving his hand, shouting and selling or pinching code transactions.
The second is a bearded merchant figurine, with a wrapped textile wrapped in his left arm, and his right hand raised to make a transaction pinching yard, and his side seems to be bargaining. American museum researchers call them Semitics, that is, Arabs or Jews, and believe that they are merchants from Kashgar who sell rugs or blankets. It is also believed to be merchants from eastern Iran, and the likeness and clothing of the Tang Dynasty when they controlled Central Asia were mostly Semite.
The three-part standing figurine, judged by a private American collector to be a West Asian merchant, has its hair combed in a Turkic style, but dressed in Persian costume; He holds a felt blanket around his waist in his right hand, and raises his arm in his left hand, as if he is shouting and selling in the market. But we can't be sure if he's holding a blanket or a burden.
The bearded figurines we see holding burdens are obviously not big merchants, but small traders and vendors in the market, with great mobility, and they will go wherever it is advantageous. After the Tang Dynasty, the courtiers and bureaucrats often accused the merchants of getting rich suddenly, and even exaggerated that commercial development had exacerbated the poverty of the peasants. In fact, all social strata have their own differences, and they will not all go into business, not to mention that the assets and business scope of small traders and hawkers are limited, and the business scope is not wide, so there is no need to hire people. However, it is estimated that there are many such hawkers and they are very closely related to the lives of ordinary people.
In 1954, Xi'an Baqiao was unearthed and collected by the Shaanxi History Museum
In July of the 14th year of the Great Calendar of the Tang Dynasty (779), the edict of Honglu Temple stipulated that "when the guests enter Beijing, they shall serve their own clothes". But this is only for the state government envoys, and we can see that some Hu Shang figurines wear Tang Dynasty heads, which may be close to Tang people in terms of attire, making it easier to integrate into urban and rural society.
Unearthed by Wangjia in Xi'an, collected by Shaanxi History Museum
In 1948, the tomb of Pei's little lady in Chang'an Kerry was unearthed and collected by the Shaanxi History Museum
"Hu Shang" originally only existed in words, and to feel the image, the only way to rely on the tracing records of ancient sculpture and painting art craftsmen was to do so. This makes it easy to infer that the craftsman was very familiar with the image of Hu Shang. They obeyed the requirements of the tomb owner's family, believing that if they could let the figurines stand around the waiter, it would be the best confirmation of contact with the soul, so the craftsmen made the shapes of those small business Hu merchants, and placed them in the tomb to meet the needs of the owner at any time, and the Hu merchant figurines must be a haggard image with hard work.
Rucksack Hu Shang Warriors Tang Dynasty Painted pottery height 23.5 cm Henan Luoyang unearthed Luoyang Museum collection (000071)
Among the Tang Dynasty Hu figurines unearthed by archaeology, Hu Shang is mostly bent over with a square bag on his back. In order to determine whether the identity of a Hu merchant is a wealthy man, a merchant or a merchant or a peddler, it is extremely important to determine what kind of items are contained in the backpack.
According to the market transactions recorded in the "Turpan Unearthed Documents" in the Gaochang period, the official market at that time collected fragments of account records that "weighed the price", and the trading goods included gold, silver, silk, stone honey, spices, medicinal materials, stone, sand, etc. Although the types of goods traded in these transactions originate from a region of the Western Regions, they are also representative. After the complementarity of cultural relics and documentary records, we believe that there are the following possibilities:
1. Stone honey: Stone honey is generally a solid hard candy block, which is heated and concentrated by sugarcane juice or syrup, and synthesized with milk and rice flour. Stone honey is expensive and has large profit margins, so it naturally becomes a commodity trafficked by Hu merchants.
2. Groceries: If the Hu merchants are indeed merchants, their bags may be boxes for displaying items, which can be opened to form multi-layered wooden mallets or shelves to facilitate the selection of goods by buyers and customers. Hu people don't have to carry it, and it is easy to walk quickly with their backs behind them.
3. Medicinal materials: There were medicine markets in various parts of the Tang Dynasty, and the urban and rural people were in urgent need of medicine when they suffered from illness, and the medicine market owners and grass shop vendors could provide them. People who trade medicinal herbs in towns and cities across the country often attract many sick patients seeking medical treatment.
In this way, this kind of Hu merchant terracotta figurines were not traffickers on camels and horses on the Silk Road, but only hawkers in Chang'an, Luoyang, Liangjing, and other state capitals. This kind of Hu merchant walks the streets and alleys, enters the workshop and enters the song, and is a small trader who sells goods from other places.
The lion object leads the camel figure pattern brocade of the Northern Dynasty | plain weave brocade length 39, width 19 (unit: cm) China National Silk Museum collection
This brocade is a 1:2 plain warp brocade, three groups of warp threads, respectively blue, brown and white, the pattern warp cycle is 12.5 cm, and the weft cycle width. The pattern is based on the corrugation as the skeleton, and the skeleton is arranged with a variety of different pattern motifs, all of which are mirror-symmetrical in the warp direction, so each skeleton shows two images of one positive and one down. In the middle of the original fabric is a typical temple-like structure building, there is a frontal sitting statue indoors, which is likely to be a Buddha statue, and one person sits on the left and right sides of the outdoors, which may be the statue of a Buddha and two disciples. There are three sets of patterns on each side, from left to right, they are walking elephants, lying lions and camels, among which the figures leading camels are represented like a merchant leading camels to a clear spring, and the clear spring water reflects the complete human form.
Camel is known as the "ship of the desert", in the Northern Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty silk, sculpture, murals and other carriers appear frequently, camels according to the number of their humps are divided into dromedary and Bactrian camels, the image of the camel on the brocade is the Bactrian camel, this camel is produced in the mainland and Central Asia, belongs to the Bactrian species, and is also a more common camel image in the art in China. Camels walk in the desert, and the desert leads the camel team to engage in trade, Hu merchants are the majority, so the Hu people lead the camel, the Hu people ride the camel, the Central Plains people take it for granted, the Tang Dynasty Du Fu is left a "Hu Er camel" poem. The camel of this brocade is also woven with the inscription "Hu", which is very likely to show the image of Hu merchants on the silk road. There are many similar brocades found, which can be seen in the reports of the "Hu Wang" camel brocade unearthed in Turpan, Xinjiang, the lion elephant pattern brocade and the lion object camel figure brocade unearthed in Dulan, Qinghai.
Hu people lead camel brick Tang|Brick length 35.8, width 34.5, height 6 (unit: cm) Dunhuang Academy Collection (Z00065)
This brick was unearthed in the Tang tomb of the Buddha Temple in Dunhuang, located in the lower part of the tomb wall. The camel on the brick carries a heavy burden on its back, and its limbs are sturdy, and it strides forward with its head held high and its tail flicked. The camel leader wears a pointed hat of the Central Asian Cypriots, with a high nose and deep eyes, a round-necked and narrow-sleeved shirt, a reins in his right hand and a short staff in his left hand, showing the spirit of the camel leader and the camel on a long journey. The composition of the brick surface is uniform and compact, the proportion of the shape is moderate, the demeanor is vivid and real, and the knife is skillful, and it is superior in the representative works of Dunhuang cultural relics from the content to the form. It not only has a strong artistic appeal, but also has precious historical value, it truly reproduces the scene of the camel caravan carrying silk and other goods in the past, brave the hardships and dangers, day and night, marching in the jingling camel bells. Seeing it can't help but remind people of the vivid poem in the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ji's "Liangzhou Ci", "Countless bells are far away, and they should be carried to Anxi". It is a historical witness of economic and cultural exchanges between China and the West, and a symbol of international friendly exchanges.
(Author: Ge Chengyong)
(Source: Wenhui Scholar)