Source: Website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervision Commission
Central Commission for Discipline Inspection State Supervision Commission website Liu Tonghua
The Han Dynasty's "Shan Yu and Qin" brick model is a historical evidence praising Zhaojun's departure and pro-qin. The interpretation is "Shan Yu and Relatives, Long Live the Thousand Autumns, and Enjoy the Peace".
Tang Dynasty Capricorn pattern gold flower silver lift beam pot, with a typical extraterritorial style.
In the Ming Dynasty," the "Nine-Sided Map" screen (partial), the pass in the area of Changping, northwest of Beijing, is clearly visible, and landmarks such as Juyongguan, Badaling, and Fork Road City can be clearly seen. (File photo)
"Inner Mongolia Cultural Relics Jinghua Exhibition" is being exhibited to the public at the National Museum of China, which is another large-scale cultural relics exhibition launched by the National Museum. The exhibition of more than 240 sets of fine cultural relics systematically reveals the historical context of the cultural exchange, integration and sublimation of farming and nomadic culture for thousands of years, and shows the historical process of the formation and development of China's diversified and integrated pattern.
Even earlier, the cultures of different regions had merged
The Great Wall, which runs through the east and west, witnesses the collision and fusion of the farming culture of the Central Plains and the nomadic culture of the grassland, forming the famous "Great Wall Zone". The Great Wall zone is located in the climatic transition zone, which is a transitional zone for nomadic and agricultural production methods, and is also a special cultural zone, which is of great significance in the formation and development of the chinese nation's diversified and integrated pattern.
Among the exhibits is a painted clay pot from the Xia and Shang dynasties, excavated from the Dadianzi cemetery of Ao Han Banner in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia.
This painted clay pot is unremarkable today, but in ancient times, the clay pot has always been an important reservoir in the dietary activities of the ancient Chinese.
Carefully observing the tank body, the black background is painted with red and white colors to draw a two-sided continuous multi-unit complex geometric pattern, the composition of this geometric pattern has many similarities with the pattern of vessels in the central plains in the same period, indicating the in-law relationship between the northern frontier and the ancient culture in the hinterland of the Central Plains.
Su Bingqi, the archeological giant of China, once proposed the "Mantian Xingdou Theory" of the origin of Chinese civilization, which means that the origin of Chinese civilization is like a full of stars, scattered on the ancient land.
Through the ruins of early civilizations, and the artifacts that can be seen today, such as this painted clay pot, we can at least prove that in the Xia and Shang dynasties and even earlier, the cultures of different regions had merged and converged.
Among the works in the exhibition, another bronze piece of "Xu Ji jiang" from the Western Zhou Dynasty also reflects the exchanges between the northern region and the central plains princely states at that time. This bronze grate has a square lip, an elephant trunk with two ears attached to the animal's head, and a straight pattern throughout the body.
The most noteworthy is the inscription at the bottom: "Xu Ji Jiang as a honorific vessel, its ten thousand years of descendants Yongbao used." "Xu is the name of the country, and Jiang is the surname." The State of Xu was a vassal state during the Zhou Dynasty, and in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Cheng of Zhou enfeoffed Xu Wenshu to Xu (present-day Xuchang, Henan) and established the State of Xu, with the monarch surnamed Jiang.
It can be concluded that this batch of bronzes was made in the Central Plains, imported from the Xu State in the hinterland of the Central Plains to the north of the border, and became the funerary vessels of the Eastern Hu nobles at that time.
It should be known that Xu Guo was thousands of miles away from the Chifeng Peak where this bronze was found, which shows the wide range of cultural exchanges at that time.
Generally speaking, the north of the Great Wall is suitable for grazing, and the south of the Great Wall is suitable for agriculture. The formation of the Great Wall Cultural Belt is not only caused by nature and ecological environment, but also the result of the interaction between different ethnic groups and cultures. Because the convergence of civilizations cannot be stopped. Since the Xia and Shang dynasties, the changes in farming and animal husbandry areas have made the cultural diversity of the Great Wall area increasingly prominent.
A "Shan Yu heqin" brick that records Zhaojun's departure
In the late Warring States period, the Xiongnu arose on the Mongolian plateau and for the first time established a tribal alliance in the northern steppe form of "immediate state". Many tribes in the Great Wall area either migrated internally to integrate into the farming peoples of the Central Plains, or the Great Wall of North Vietnam became members of the Xiongnu tribal alliance.
Among the exhibits, there is a "shan Yu and relatives" brick fan (figure (1)), which has become the historical physical evidence of the exchange between Hu and Han at that time.
The "Shan Yu HeQin" brick model is square, the front is a typical Han seal, the interpretation is "Shan Yu HeQin, Long Live the Thousand Autumns, Happy and Healthy", and the back is a plagiarized galloping horse. With such a large number of words and pro-brick fans, it is very rare and has a high cultural heritage value. This square brick model records the history of the Han Dynasty Zhaojun's departure and pro-pro.
In the first year of Jingning, that is, in the first month of 33 BC, Hu HanXiandan Yu, the leader of the Southern Xiongnu of the Han Dynasty, came to Chang'an to meet the Han Yuan Emperor and offered to be the son-in-law of the Han Dynasty, so the Han Yuan Emperor promised Wang Zhaojun to Hu Han Evil Shan Yu, and at the same time changed the era name to Jing Ning, which means the world is too peaceful. Hu Han evil Shan Yu also wrote a letter expressing his willingness to forever maintain peace on the border.
Thus, for about sixty years, "the border city was closed, the cow and mabuye, the third generation had no dog barking police, and Li Shu had no battle of Gange." So much so that some people say that the peace situation brought about for more than sixty years is precisely because Zhaojun came out of the plug and kissed.
This kind of statement, of course, exaggerates the role of the individual on the basis of emotional identification. To put it more deeply, it was still the vision of the times that both the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu at that time hoped to have a harmonious coexistence, which was the inevitable trend of historical development.
Therefore, it should be said that Zhaojun's departure from the plug was a good story produced in the context of peace and friendship at that time, and this past event became an important theme in the literary creation of later generations, and it was endlessly praised.
Zhaojun's departure not only consolidated the friendly relations between Han and Xiongnu, strengthened trade exchanges and cultural exchanges between Xiongnu and Han, but also caused the relatively backward ethnic minorities at that time to yearn for the advanced system of the Central Plains. After Wang Zhaojun's death, the Han and Xiongnu were still using Wang Zhaojun's relationship to ease contradictions and resolve conflicts.
Although the Qin and Han Dynasties constantly improved the great wall defense system on the basis of the Warring States Great Wall, garrisoned immigrants, and reclaimed the border, they invisibly drew closer to the ethnic groups in the grassland area. For example, the ancient city of Guangyan in the Qin and Han dynasties, located in Ordos City, was a county of the Qin and Han Dynasties close to the Xiongnu and other northern ethnic groups, where there were both the traditions of Han culture and the influence of northern ethnic culture on Qin and Han culture.
At the same time, the Central Plains region and the grassland area agreed to trade with each other under the Great Wall Pass, which objectively opened up a broader space for developing the northern region, close exchanges and exchanges between the Han and Hungarian nationalities, and strengthening cultural integration and mutual learning.
The all-encompassing Style of the Tang Dynasty
From the middle of the 6th century to the 8th century AD, the Sui and Tang dynasties fought several battles with the Turks for control in the Hetao region of present-day Inner Mongolia. After the defeat of the Eastern Turk Khaganate, the Tang government set up a large number of prefectures along the Great Wall. On the north bank of the Yellow River, the three surrendered cities were placed to house the Turkic descending households, and the surrounding areas were garrisoned in Tuntian. Among them, the western surrender city also became an important place for trade between the Tang Dynasty and the northern ethnic groups.
Among the exhibited works, there is a Tang Dynasty Capricorn pattern gold flower silver beam pot that attracts special attention (figure (2)). In addition to the golden splendor brought by the wrong colored gold of the pot, the ornamentation on it is more meaningful. The body of the pot is engraved with a Capricorn with two abdomens touching each other, which has a typical extraterritorial style.
Capricorn is an animal figure in Indian mythology, with a huge body, is a fish-tailed animal, is considered to be the essence of the river, the foundation of life, has the power to overturn the river and the sea. Capricorn imagery was introduced to China with Buddhism around the Time of the Eastern Han Dynasty, gradually Sinicized, and incorporated the characteristics of dragons and fish in the Tang Dynasty, becoming a common ornament in the Tang Dynasty, and also telling future generations about the all-encompassing Tang Dynasty.
The founder of the Li Tang Dynasty was born in the Guanlong Clique, whose predecessor was the Northern Wei Liuzhen. The so-called six towns are the general names of the military towns in the north of the Northern Wei Dynasty. From the perspective of social composition, the six towns include grassland ethnic groups such as Xiongnu, Gaoche, and Xianbei, as well as the "sons of Qiangzong" of the Han nationality in the Central Plains.
By integrating the order of the northern townships and transforming the national political system, the soldiers of the Six Towns accelerated the integration of Hu and Han, promoted the unification of the north and the south, and laid a historical foundation for the formation and development of the sui and Tang dynasties.
In other words, the founders of the Sui and Tang dynasties naturally had a cultural tradition of national integration. Therefore, after they came to power, a closer and more effective model of integration of various nationalities was soon established, and this integration was not only the integration of all ethnic groups in China, but also the great integration of the world's nationalities at that time.
At least as an "Asian-level" country, the Tang Dynasty's territory directly and indirectly extended to the northern grasslands and the western desert. Many tribal leaders intermarried with the Tang Dynasty, and some even took pride in obtaining the Tang Dynasty national surname "Li". During this period, the defensive and barrier effects of the Great Wall began to gradually fade.
As the scholar Li Zero said: "Why is China so big? The reason is that its southeast has a strong appeal to the northwest, like a huge whirlpool, always attracting its neighbors to conquer it and join it again and again. ...... Xia lives in the middle of the world, and the Shang extinguishes the Xia from the east and identifies with the Xia; the Zhou destroys the Shang from the west and also identifies with the Xia. The concept of 'summer' is like this, like a snowball, rolling bigger and bigger. 'Yu Trace' is a historical memory that is constantly being transformed, but it is also a kind of unceasing historical memory, and it is no wonder that it has become a symbol of China. ”
The first map of the Great Wall that comprehensively reflects the defense system of the Great Wall
In this exhibition, there is a piece of the Ming Dynasty "Nine Sides Diagram" screen (picture (3)) in the precious collection of the National Museum, which attracted many audiences to stop. This can be said to be a huge map, the map drawn from the Liaodong Peninsula Shanhaiguan in the east to Jiayuguan in the west, focusing on nine military towns in the Ming Dynasty, so it is called "Nine Sides Map".
The preciousness of this map is that it comprehensively shows the overall picture and fortification of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, and is the world's first map of the Great Wall that comprehensively reflects the defense system of the Great Wall. The map depicts in detail the geographical contents of the towns and towns inside and outside the nine sides of the Great Wall, such as Guanbao, Mongolian tents, mountains and rivers.
In order to defend the Mongols to the south, the Ming Dynasty gradually set up nine military towns on the northern frontier, starting from the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, which is the nine-sided defense system. The nine-sided tunshu and the castles are everywhere, which is a barrier for the Ming Dynasty to resist the Mongol invasion, but in peacetime, it is also a zone for political and economic exchanges between the Ming and Mongolia.
After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, the Mongol departments of the Northern Yuan dynasty were always in a state of opposition.
How to solve this problem? It became a matter of concern for several generations of monarchs in the early Ming Dynasty. In the Longqing period, the two sides found that in addition to military means, there was another way to conform to the will of the people, that is, mutual market. At that time, the northern Mongol leader Khuttar Khan was eager to maintain long-term trade with the Ming Dynasty, thus alleviating the pressure on the mongol people to survive. The Ming Dynasty cabinet Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng also saw this trend, so after repeated discussions in the court and the agreement of the cabinet, the imperial court approved the sealing of tributes to each other.
This move, which cannot be underestimated, brought a long-term environment for peaceful development at that time. In the mutual market, the Mongol ministries obtained the necessities of daily survival, and there was no internal drive to plunder from the south, and the northern frontier of the Ming Dynasty basically did not erupt into large-scale military conflicts with mongolia; more importantly, it promoted ethnic integration and development. Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the cabinet at that time, commented on this: "The nine sides are growing teeth day by day, the garrison is solid, the fields are being opened day by day, the merchants are getting through, and the border people are aware of the joy of life." ”
One historical relic after another evokes our look back and memory of the past: In the continuous rise and fall of various ethnic groups in the north, the grassland civilization and the Central Plains civilization collided and exchanged and moved towards integration, and each other's bloodline was integrated into the big family of the Chinese nation, and a vibrant and splendid chapter was written in the Chinese civilization.