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Shaanxi

 

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Xi'an (西安)

Xi'an is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China for it has been the capital of 13 dynasties, including the Zhou, Qin, Han, the Sui dynasty, and the Tang. Xi'an is also renowned for being the eastern terminus of the Silk Road which leads to Europe, Arabia and Africa. It was called Chang'an (長安) in ancient times.

 

Terracotta Army

The Terracotta Army is a collection of 8,099 larger-than-life Chinese terra cotta figures of warriors, horses, acrobats and other figures located near the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor (秦始皇陵).

 

SHAANXI

Excerpts from Wikipedia.org

Shaanxi (陝西) is a north-central province of the People's Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River as well as the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of the province.

 

History

Shaanxi is considered one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. Thirteen feudal dynasties established their capitals in the province during a span of more than 1,100 years, from the Zhou Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty.

The province's principal city and current capital, Xi'an, is one of the four great ancient capitals of China and is the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, which leads to Europe, Arabia and Africa.

Under the Han Dynasty, the Northern Silk Road was expanded to advance exploration and military purposes to the west. This Northern Silk Road is the northernmost of the Silk Roads and is about 2600 kilometres in length. It connected the ancient Chinese capital of Xi'an to the west over the Wushao Ling Pass to Wuwei and emerging in Kashgar before linking to ancient Parthia.

Under the Ming dynasty, Shaanxi was incorporated into Gansu but was again separated in the Qing dynasty.

One of the most devastating earthquakes in history occurred near Hua Shan, in south-eastern part of Shaanxi Province on January 23, 1556, killing an estimated 830,000 people (see 1556 Shaanxi earthquake).

The end of the short-lived Jiangxi Soviet signalled the beginning of the Long March by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communists to the Shaanxi Soviet at Yan'an.

 

Geography

Desert in the north along the border with Inner Mongolia, the Loess Plateau in the central part of the province, the Qinling mountains running east to west in the south central part, and subtropical climate south of the Qinling mountains.

 

Demographics

Nearly all the people in Shaanxi are ethnic Han Chinese, with pockets of Hui population in the north western region (adjacent to Ningxia). The southern part of Shaanxi, known as Guanzhong, where the provincial capital Xi'an is located, is more populated compared to the northern part.

 

Hanzhong

Hanzhong (漢中) is a city in Shaanxi province, in central China. Population (2004): approx. 3.7million.

The city was formerly called Nancheng. It formed the centre of the Han Principality, assigned to Liu Bang after the fall of the Qin. During the Three Kingdoms Period Hanzhong, as a border city between the kingdoms of Wei and Shu, had considerable strategic importance.

Hanzhong is located in the southwestern part of the Shaanxi province, in the center of the Hanzhong Basin, on the Han River, near the Sichuan border. Hanzhong lies 500 meters above sea level.

 

 

Tongwancheng

The ancient ruin city of the Xiongnu capital Tongwancheng. Shaanxi, Inner-Mongolia, China

In the nineties of XX. century, there was the discovery of Tongwancheng (meaning "Unite All Nations"), in China, the southern Xiongnu capital of the Maotun descendant Chinese emperor Helian Bobo (Emperor Wulie) of Xia, what the Chinese want to restorate (already began) and nominate to UNESCO World Heritage. Before the discovery of the ancient Xiongnu capital, it was forgotten for about a thousand years. "It is the first ruined city of the Xiongnu (Huns) ever found", said Dai Yingxin, a well-known Chinese archaeologist, "The Xiongnu was a nomadic ethnic group, who for 10 centuries were tremendously influential in northern China." The 1600 years old ruined site lies in the north-east part of China, in the province of Shaanxi, adjacent to the Inner-Mongolia Autonomious Region. "Construction of the Tongwancheng Town is another great feat made by human beings, reflecting people's strong desire for survival and development on desert," said Hou Yongjian, professor of Shaanxi University. "The unique architectural feature and integrity of the Tongwancheng Town shown by aviation remote sensing and archaeological excavation have been generally recognized by experts both at home and abroad, that's why the Shaanxi provincial government selects the Tongwancheng capital site as a candidate for the world cultural and natural heritage list," said Liu Fulai, a research member at the Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute specializing in history of the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-581). Its discovery provides vital information for the study of the Xiongnu tribesmen, who have, to date, remained a mystery to both Chinese and foreign archaeologists because of a lack of adequate historical material and evidence relating to their culture. "The ruined town will give important clues to the study of the Huns who disappeared nearly 1,000 years ago," said Zhang Tinghao, director of the Shaanxi Cultural Relics Bureau. "It is the most substantial, magnificent and well-preserved city to be built by any ethnic group in the history of China," said Zhu Shiguang, president of the China Ancient City Society. "The Huns played an important role in the world history, especially in the shaping of the European nationalities and the development of European history," said Lin Gan, a professor specializing in the study of Huns at the Inner Mongolian University. The excavations and the restorations have began, and new artifacts have been found. As the town site is under the threat of desertification, the State Council designated Tongwancheng town as a cultural relic under top state protection in 1996. Systematic restoration on Tongwancheng town has been launched. Repair of the Yong'an Platform, where Helian Bobo, emperor of the Da Xia regime, reviewed parading troops, has been finished and restoration on the 31-meter-tall turret will begin soon, said Gao Zhan who is in charge of routine management of this cultural relics. The new artifacts' analysis has started also already, and for them a new museum has been opened in 2007: the Inner-Mongolian Hun Museum.

Since the discovery there was a few expeditions from Europe also, and a number are in planned phase now. One of them was with the leading of Hungarian historian and orientologist Dr. Borbála Obrusánszky, associate of the Hungarian Science Academy, and two other specialists. They started in Mongolia, then headed to China. They surveyed the current works in Tongwancheng, and met a number of Mongol and Chinese scholars and researchers, including the historians of the Inner-Mongol Science University, like Ucsiraltu, linguist professor of the Inner-Mongol University, the specialists of the Xi'an University (Shaanxi Normal University), like professor Hou Yongjian, historical geographist of the Xi'an University, and exchanged their knowledge and published the results in the scientific journal of the universities. (The above informations are from there and from the report on the subject in the National Geographic and from a report on another expedition in the Amsterdam Studies.)

With the above and others, the international cooperation of Hunnic research is started, so new results are expected on the subject of the Xiongnus' history, but even like it is only on the very beginning.

 

 

Xia (Sixteen Kingdoms)

Tiefu (鐵弗) was a pre-state Xiongnu tribe during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms in China. Its chieftain Liu Bobo established the state of Xia in 407 and changed his family name into Helian.

Although the Xia only lasted up to 431, its capital Tongwan (in Ordos) was certainly a heavily fortified and state-of-the-art city that would serve as a frontier garrison until the Song Dynasty. Its ruins were discovered during the Qing Dynasty and can still be seen in present-day Inner Mongolia.

The Wei Shu also records that Liu Kuren's tribe, the Dugu, were descended from the Xiongnu. Yao Weiyuan 姚薇元 suggested in the past that 'Dugu' was an alternate form of 'Tuge' 屠各, the Xiongnu aristocratic clan that had adopted the surname of Liu 刘, members of which also ruled the Former Zhao state. This writer further suggests that 'Tuge' is an alternate form of 'Tuhe' 徒河, which is the branch of the Xianbei from which the Murong 慕容 were descended. The Liu (Dugu) were also known as Tiefu 铁弗, a term which meant that they had Xiongnu fathers and Xianbei mothers. Thus it is reasonable to say that the Dugu were at least half Xianbei.

All rulers of the Xia declared themselves "emperors".

 

 

Chieftains of the Tiefu and Rulers of the Xia

Temple names	Posthumous names	Family names and given name	Durations of reigns	Era names and their according durations
Chinese convention: use family name and given name
Chieftains of the Tiefu
Did not exist	Did not exist	劉去卑 Liú Qùbēi	260-272	Did not exist
Did not exist	Did not exist	劉誥升爰 Liú Gàoshēngyuán	272-309	Did not exist
Did not exist	Did not exist	劉虎 Liú Hǔ	309-341	Did not exist
Did not exist	Did not exist	劉務恒 Liú Wùhéng	341-356	Did not exist
Did not exist	Did not exist	劉閼陋頭 Liú èlòutóu	356-358	Did not exist
Did not exist	Did not exist	劉悉勿祈 Liú Xīwùqí	358-359	Did not exist
Did not exist	Did not exist	劉衛辰 Liú Wèichén	359-391	Did not exist
Did not exist	Did not exist	劉勃勃 Liú Bóbó	391-407	Did not exist
Rulers of the Xia
Shizu (世祖 Shìzǔ)	Wulie (武烈 Wǔliè)	赫連勃勃 Hèlián Bóbó	407-425	Longsheng (龍升) 407-413 Fengxiang (鳳翔) 413-418 Changwu (昌武) 418-419 Zhenxing (真興) 419-425
Did not exist	Did not exist	赫連昌 Hèlián Chāng	425-428	Chengguang (承光) 425-428
Did not exist	Did not exist	赫連定 Hèlián Dìng	428-431	Shengguang (勝光) 428-431

 

 

 

The Silk Road

The Silk Road, or Silk Route, is a series of trade and cultural transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting East and West by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads and urban dwellers from China to the Mediterranean Sea during various periods of time. The trade route was initiated around 114 BC by the Han Dynasty (114 BC), although earlier trade across the continents had already existed. Geographically, The Silk Road or Silk Route is an interconnected series of ancient trade routes connecting Chang'an (today's Xi'an) in China, with Asia Minor and the Mediterranean, extending over 8,000 km (5,000 miles) on land and sea. Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of the great civilizations of China, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Indian subcontinent, and Rome, and helped to lay the foundations for the modern world.

As it extends westwards from the commercial centers of North China, the continental Silk Road divides into north and south routes to avoid the Tibetan Plateau.

The Northern Route travels northwest through the Chinese province of Gansu, and splits into three further routes, two of them passing north and south of the Taklamakan Desert (through modern day Kyrgyzstan and Xinjiang) to rejoin at Kashgar; and the other going north of the Tien Shan mountains through Turfan, Talgar and Almaty (in what is now southeast Kazakhstan).

All routes join up at Kokand in the Fergana Valley, and the roads continue west across the Karakum Desert towards Merv, joining the northern route briefly.

One of these routes turns northwest along the Amu Darya (river) including Bukhara and Samarkand the center of Silk Road trade to the Aral Sea, through ancient civilizations under the present site of Astrakhan, and on to the Crimean peninsula. From there it crosses the Black Sea, Marmara Sea and the Balkans to Venice; another crosses the Caspian Sea and across the Caucasus to the Black Sea in Georgia, thence to Constantinople.

The Southern Route is mainly a single route running through northern India, then the Turkestan–Khorasan region into Mesopotamia and Anatolia; having southward spurs enabling the journey to be completed by sea from various points. It runs south through the Sichuan Basin in China and crosses the high mountains into northeast India, probably via the Ancient tea route. It then travels west along the Brahmaputra and Ganges river plains, possibly joining the Grand Trunk Road west of Varanasi. It runs through northern Pakistan and over the Hindu Kush mountains to rejoin the northern route briefly near Merv

It then follows a nearly straight line west through mountainous northern Iran and the northern tip of the Syrian Desert to the Levant. From there, Mediterranean trading ships plied regular routes to Italy, and land routes went either north through Anatolia or south to North Africa.

Marco Polo: The Venetian explorer Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to China, and his tales, documented in Il Milione, opened Western eyes to some of the customs of the Far East. He was not the first to bring back stories, but he was one of the widest-read.