Are Qin people from the East or the West? Liang Yun inferred from four archaeological discoveries: "Speaking from the East"

The history of China is inseparable from the influence of Qin. Most people know how Qin didn't exist, but they don't know how Qin came. In the Historical Records, which is called "The Historian's swan song, Li Sao has no rhyme", there are two biographies for Qin Jian: Historical Records and Biography of Qin Shihuang, which shows that Sima Qian attaches great importance to Qin.

Historical Records of Qin Benji tells the origin of Qin people and how they changed from weak to strong, from a small border country to a unified world history. This process is of great significance in the history of China civilization. But as written materials, in the long river of time, as people get farther and farther away from it, most people have lost the ability to interpret and understand the historical environment at that time. Xiang Yu, the overlord of the Western Chu Dynasty, set fire to Qin king Palace, leaving a big blank in the history of Qin. Fortunately, modern archaeologists have solved the blank in China's history and filled it with one study after another.

Liang Yun, an archaeologist and now a professor at the School of Cultural Heritage of Northwest University, is a new work. Based on archaeological research and original historical records, this paper deeply interprets the doubts and latest research results of Qin culture. From ancient times to the present, there are three kinds of classic annotations of Historical Records, namely, The Collection of Historical Records by Pei Yi in the Southern Song Dynasty, The Study of Historical Records by Sima Zhen in the Tang Dynasty and The Justice of Historical Records by Zhang Shoujie in the Tang Dynasty. Professor Liang Yun believes that modern and contemporary archaeological excavations can also be the fourth interpretation of Historical Records.

The origin of Qin people and Qin culture has always been a big question. As soon as Liang Yun came up, he began to spread out the materials, and first combined with archaeology to explain the "context" of Qin. Historical Records of Qin Benji says that Qin people are descendants of the ancient emperor Zhuan Xu. "Before the Qin Dynasty, the Miao nationality of Emperor Zhuan Xu was a female student of Sun Yue. Women weave, birds lay eggs, women swallow and have children. " From these three notes, we can know that the Qin people not only regarded Zhuan Xu as their ancestor, but also regarded Shao Hao, the eldest son of the Yellow Emperor.

In Historical Records, after the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), Qin Xianggong established Xiqiao (the place where the five emperors of heaven and earth were worshipped in ancient times) to worship Shao Hao, the white emperor. Qin people think they also support Shao Hao. In fact, in Professor Liang Yun's explanation, we learned that these two points are not in conflict. It was Zhuan Xu who caught up with his mother's blood, and Shao Hao who caught up with his father's blood.

Professor Liang Yun, assisted by archaeological materials, explained that in the Tomb No.1 of Qin Gong excavated in Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province in the 1980s, the unearthed ancient percussion instrument "Shiqing" was engraved with the record of Qin Jinggong, the owner of the tomb, entertaining the Emperor of Zhou. Among them, Qin Jinggong's words were written as "Levin is (with) spirit" and "the Quartet made peace". It means that the ancestor Zhuan Xu (Levin's) appeared in the sky, and Qin Sifang was settled. It can be said that archaeological materials echo the words in historical records, which is convenient for people to understand the environment at that time.

Qin people have always been considered to have originated in the west, and were regarded as barbarians by eastern countries in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. But Zhuan Xu is an oriental nation, with Diqiu (Puyang, Henan) as its capital. However, how did Qin people gradually "westernize"? When he saw the word "Xuanniao" in Historical Records of Qin Benji, Professor Liang Yun explored that the way of birth of Qin people and businessmen was very similar. Both female ancestors ate the eggs laid by Xuanniao and gave birth to their ancestors. It can be said that there is a close relationship between Qin people and businessmen, and Professor Liang Yun linked this discovery with historical materials. In fact, Qin people assisted Shang dynasty earlier, and all previous dynasties were nobles. Their fief is roughly in Linfen, Shanxi Province today. In historical documents, the so-called "protecting the western frontier in Xirong" is roughly in the south of Shanxi, because Anyang is the capital of Shang Dynasty. Then through the story of Zhou Chengwang sealing Tang Shuyu, we know that most of Shaanxi at that time was Rong Di's territory, and many ethnic minorities were scattered. In fact, the so-called "Xirong" and "Xihuang" in the Qin Dynasty were mainly in the south of Shanxi, relative to the Shang Dynasty.

Are Qin people from the East or the West, or "Dongyi" or "Xirong"? This has always been the focus of debate among scholars. The basis of supporting "from the East" is that Zhuan Xu and Shao Hao are both orientals; There is a legend about the birth of a mysterious bird in Qin and Shangdu. Historically, the Won clan lived in the East. The basis of "talking about the west" is that the ancestors of Qin people "stayed in the west and protected the west". Qin married into the Rong family and was closer to Rong Di in some habits. In Professor Liang Yun's view, compared with "from the West", "from the East" is more systematic, with more reasons and evidence.

Professor Liang Yun discovered four reliable inferences through archaeology. First of all, the Qin people have a sacrificial system, and the noble tombs are popular. The system of human sacrifice was common in Shang culture, but not in Zhou dynasty. It is extremely rare to be buried with people in Zhou tombs. It is likely that this bad habit was abolished from the beginning of Duke Zhou. The Zhou dynasty paid attention to "benevolence" from the humanistic point of view, and naturally did not treat people as animals like the Shang dynasty. Qin people inherited the business system.

In addition, archaeologists found the custom of waist pit and dog martyrdom in Qin tomb, which is contrary to the tradition of Xirong nationality. For the northwest nationalities, dogs are friends of shepherds, and people and dogs are closely related. There is basically no custom of martyrdom in waist pits in northwest indigenous tombs.

Then, the way of horses and chariots of Qin nobles was different from that of Zhou people's congress. Qin people have been valued by the royal family for raising horses and driving, so they naturally have a special liking for horses and chariots. In the noble burial pit, the chariot pit will not be too far from the master's main tomb. Moreover, in the state of being martyred in the pit, the Qin people should know the driving mode of horses and chariots when they are in use and what it will look like after death. This is exactly the same as the chariots and horses pits in Yin Ruins, and they are all buried according to their use conditions. Zhou people are quite different. They like to be buried separately. Generally, the horse pit is in the east and the car pit is in the west, and they are all buried in an idle state.

Finally, archaeologists found in archaeological excavations that the pottery in the early Qin tombs had a strong Shang culture style, and the pottery with thick lips and big mouths and overlapping shoulders was all pottery with Shang culture style. It is quite different from the pottery-making style of Zhou people, which can be described as a strong wind of Yin and Shang dynasties.

To sum up, combined with literature research, we can see the professor's recognition of "from the East", and there is a lot of evidence to show the inseparable relationship between Qin people and businessmen. Although this book originated from archaeology, it is not an academic work that goes deep into academic circles. His book is easy to understand, and it is easy for ordinary readers to understand except for some rare words. It can be said that the annotations of archaeology can interpret the origin and development of Qin people and Qin culture, which is helpful for readers to understand the words in Historical Records of Qin Benji.

Source Beijing Evening News

Process Editor wuyue