Zhangye Great Buddha Temple
Archway of the Great Buddha Temple
The Temple of the Great Buddha houses the largest indoor reclining Buddha in The country
A view of the Zhangye Tea House
"Outside the green bushes, the wheat is ugly, and I see a bay of reed flowers and water." I didn't expect the snow on the top of Qilian Mountain, and mistakenly recognized Zhangye as Jiangnan. "The ancient city praised in ancient poems is Zhangye, which is located at the throat of the Hexi Corridor. From Wuwei to the west, we came to this famous city of Zhangye, which was called Ganzhou in ancient times. These two places are like twin brothers, both existing as border defense towns in the Hexi Corridor and bustling markets on the Silk Road, so they have the reputation of "Jin Zhangye and Yinwuwei" in ancient times.
Zhangye, located in the Heishui River Basin formed by the melting snow and water in the Qilian Mountains, has fertile water and grass, and the natural conditions are relatively superior in the arid Northwest. Like Wuwei, Zhangye was originally owned by the Yue clan of the small state in the Western Regions, but was later occupied by the Xiongnu who lived in the water and grass, and as its excellent pasture, it was historically known as "Plugging the Jiangnan". It is no wonder that it became the only land passage from the Central Plains to the Western Regions.
Zhangye was an important link on the ancient Silk Road, one of the four counties of Hexi, and the center of political, economic, cultural and diplomatic activities of the Central Plains Dynasties in the northwest region. Marco Polo was fascinated by this and stayed here for a year. Zhang Qian, Ban Chao, Faxian, Tang Xuanzang, and others all passed through Zhangye to the Western Regions; in 609 AD, the Sui Emperor summoned the envoys of the monarchs of the 27 kingdoms in the Western Regions and held the "Exposition of All Nations".
On June 6th, the "Belt and Road Tea and the World" Bieliang Evening News reporter Wanli visited the Silk Tea Road large-scale cultural theme report special report team and came to Zhangye, an important town of the Silk Road, to visit the desolation and glory that has lasted for more than 2,000 years.
Zhangye was in the ancient land of Yongzhou, which was inhabited by the Qiang people during the Xia Shang. During the Zhou Dynasty, the Rong and Di clans lived here, and the Wusun and Yue clans flourished here during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. During the Warring States period, cities were built and the Great Wall was built. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, the Xiongnu defeated the Yue people, and Zhangye became the domain of the Xiongnu Right Sage. After the Xiongnu occupied, they continued to plunder, destroying the friendly exchanges between the Huns and the Han, and severing the long-standing relationship between the Han Dynasty and the Western Regions.
In the third year of Emperor Jianyuan of The Han Dynasty (138 BC), Zhang Qian was ordered by Emperor Wu of Han to make his first mission to the Western Regions. In order to completely end the dominance of the Xiongnu in Hexi and communicate the economic and cultural exchanges between the Han Dynasty and the countries in the Western Regions, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Huo to defeat the Xiongnu in the second year of the Yuan Dynasty (121 BC) and drive the Xiongnu beyond Hexi. Around the sixth year of Emperor Yuanding of the Han Dynasty (111 BC), the Han Dynasty successively set up four counties in Hexi: Jiuquan, Zhangye, Dunhuang, and Wuwei. At that time, among the four counties in Hexi, Zhangye County was particularly important. In the fourth year of Emperor Wu's reign (119 BC), when Zhang Qian led a huge delegation to the Western Regions again, it was through the unimpeded Hexi Corridor, with "tens of thousands of cattle and sheep, gold coins, and tens of millions of dollars." Since then, a silk friendship road of Economic and Cultural Exchanges between China and the West, which has lasted for dozens of generations and lasted for more than a thousand years, has been officially opened.
After Zhang Qian passed through the Western Regions and Huo Fuyi led an army to defeat the Xiongnu, the Han Dynasty set up Zhangye County here, and from then on, the agricultural life of Tuntian replaced the nomadic life. Named after the "Zhang Guo Arm Tuo, to pass through the western region", this Hexi Wang County, from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the cultural influence continued to fade. Today, there is still a drum tower in the center of Zhangye City, and four plaques are hung in the south, north, east and west, which read the words "Shengjiao Sida", "Lake and Mountain Overview", "Nine Heavy in Sight", and "Xianbin of All Nations", which shows the majestic momentum of ancient Zhangye.
During the Sui Dynasty, Zhangye was a veritable international trade city, when the streets and alleys in the old city of Zhangye were bustling and bustling. However, caravans of various countries often encountered foreign invasions along the Silk Road, and the marching caravans not only lost their belongings, but also had difficulty protecting their lives. Such risks hindered the progress of caravans, they stagnated on the Silk Road, more and more caravans slowly gathered in Zhangye, making Zhangye's trade booming, zhangye became an international trade city.
In 609 AD, the Sui Dynasty Emperor toured the west and personally presided over the "mutual market" in Zhangye, which was attended by envoys and merchants of the 27 kingdoms in the Western Regions. Since then, Zhangye's trade has become increasingly prosperous, and it has gradually developed from a transit station for Sino-Western trade into a window for foreign trade and opening up to the outside world.
Merchants from various countries in the western region traveled to and from the Silk Tea Road to carry out "mutual markets", and the materials exported to the west included Chinese silk, tea, iron, jade, porcelain, lacquerware, etc., and the western region imported plant seeds such as beans, courgettes, flax, carrots, and sweat and blood BMWs, as well as Culture and Art such as Buddhism, dance, and music. The merchants traveled through the Zhangye Gorge Pass, east to Chang'an, and west to the western region. There is a famous Buddhist temple in Zhangye City, which was built in the Yong'an period of Western Xia, with a history of more than 900 years, and is the only one of many monasteries built in the Western Xia Kingdom so far. The large reclining Buddha in the temple is basically a Western Xia original sculpture and is the largest surviving indoor reclining Buddha in the country. This reclining Buddha is a precious object for studying the history of Buddhism and sculpture in Western Xia.
Tea was an important commodity on this trade route. According to Ren Jiquan, a scholar of Zhangye history and culture, during the middle years of the Tang Dynasty, uighurs entered Ganzhou and formed trading partners with nine surnamed Hu merchants, ganzhou became an international trade market, and caravans from western and Central Asian countries flocked to trade. The Uighurs of Ganzhou also formed large caravans, in the name of tribute, to expand commercial exchanges with the Central Plains, all tributes, the Central Plains Dynasty were tax-free, and the equivalents of 10% to 20% of the high shipping price were returned, and the items returned were mainly brocade, tea, and medicinal materials. Ren Jiquan said that the cultural relics left behind are the best proof. A Tang Dynasty tomb was found in Zhangye Shandan, and a portrait brick excavated from the tomb depicted the Hu people walking with camels, and on the portrait bricks, it can be clearly seen that the Hu people wear pointed hats on their heads, the camels from west to east carry local jade and other specialties, and the camels that go from east to west are bulging, most likely silk or tea leaves.
In the Yuan Dynasty, Ganzhou was also a re-entry market for tea, and all kinds of tea were exported west to the Chagatai Khanate, north to Helin (harhelin in the upper reaches of the Orkhon River in present-day central Mongolia), Callhai (present-day Eastern Kebudo, Mongolia), and south to Qinghai and Kangzang.
In the 30th year of Ming Hongwu (1397 AD), he built the Xining Wei Tea Horse Division. The "Ganzhou Fu Zhi Volume VI" records: Tea, Ziguan Fu Tea, also known as Black Tea. Sweet genus Chongjie crisp, with tea mixed, the rate is inseparable, and fine tea has no buyers.
For more than two thousand years, Zhangye has painted a magnificent historical picture of either thrilling or desperate struggle. When this is the trade route, the horses hiss and camel bells are constantly heard, and the small merchants and giants run on the way, and the scenery is full of songs and dances; and when it is time to compete for this key rush, the chariot rumbles and kills, and the people turn on their horses to cover the dust.
Looking at the old city of Zhangye, which is full of traffic, a large number of merchants poured in, the city was crowded, and because there was no place to live outside the city, merchants set up a large number of tents. Today, the sunshine of the plateau bathes this magical land, and Zhangye is like a glittering oil painting. Traveling west along the Silk Ancient Road, the footsteps stop at Zhangye, an important town on the Silk Road, as if hearing the melodious camel bell echoing in the ears, and seeing a caravan of camels crossing the Gobi Sand Sea, not far from the countries of the western region to China' prosperous picture.