Download Roman Descendants Found in Gansu

Roman Descendants Found in Gansu
by Our Staff Reporter Cui Bian
http://www.china.org.cn/Beijing-Review/Beijing/BeijingReview/98Nov/bjr98-46-13.html
Archaeologists from China and other countries have verified a Roman connection with Lijian, an ancient
city built during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-23), located in Zhelaizhai Village, 10 km south of the
county seat of Yongchang, Gansu Province. According to archaeologists, the Roman Republic was called
"Lijian" in ancient China, and the city "Lijian" was built to accommodate a group of Roman captives.
However, mystery surrounded how the captives came to be in Gansu, as China had never engaged in a war
with Rome due to the distance between the two countries.
A 2,000-Year-Old Puzzle
The question had remained unsolved for nearly 2,000 years, originating in the bloody war between the
Roman Republic and Parthia, present day Iran. In 53 BC, or the first year of Ganlu in China's Western Han
Dynasty, Roman Consul Marcus Licinius Crassus mustered up seven legions of 45,000 soldiers, and waged a
war of invasion against Parthia. Unexpectedly, the arrogant Roman armies were defeated by Parthia, and
Crassus was beheaded. Crassus' oldest son, who was captain of the First Roman Legion, led over 6,000
soldiers to break through the siege and fled.
Rome signed a peace treaty with Parthia in 20 BC and required Parthia to repatriate its soldiers captured 33
years ago. However, the remnants of the Roman forces in Parthia were nowhere to be found. Where did they
go? The question perplexed not only the Romans then, but historians from all over the world, ever since.
Settlement in China
In the 1940s, various foreign scholars wrote articles discussing the event. One of them pointed out that
ancient China named most settlements of immigrants by using the name of their original country. The
existence of the City of Lijian was naturally connected with Roman immigrants. Moreover, Lijian first
appeared on the map during the Western Han Dynasty in 20 BC, the time when Rome asked Parthia to
release its war captives. This was by no means a historical coincidence. It indicated that the Roman soldiers
had wandered into China and settled at the foot of the Qilianshan Mountains after they broke through the
siege.
In recent years, scholars from China and other countries have been able to consult a large number of
historical books with the assistance of related departments in Gansu. They made comparative studies
between Chinese and Western historical records, and finally found a clue to the mystery in a biography of
Chen Tang in The History of the Former Han Dynasty, written by historian Ban Gu (32-92) of the Eastern
Han Dynasty (25-220).
According to records in The History of the Former Han Dynasty, Gan Yanshou and Chen Tang, the two
generals stationed in the Western Regions (a Han Dynasty term for the area west of Yumenguan Pass,
including what is now Xinjiang and parts of Central Asia), led a troop numbering more than 40,000 in 36 BC
to conquer Zhizhi, the present Dzhambul in Kazakhstan. They encountered a strange army in a city
surrounded by huge logs. The soldiers were drilling with their round shields to form a defensive screen in
such a way as to appear like the scales of fish. Only Roman troops built defense structures with big logs and
fought in fish-scaled defensive formation. Historians concluded from their studies that the strange troop was
made up of those that remained of the Roman armies.
The Han army attacked the city and was victorious. They captured about 1,500 Romans and brought them to
China. Emperor Yuandi ordered that they be settled in Fanmu County (the present Yongchang County) and
that a separate county named Lijian be set up. In 592, as the Lijian people had integrated with the Hans,
Emperor Wendi of the Sui Dynasty (581-618) ordered the merger of Lijian with Fanmu County. Until that
point, the City of Lijian had been in existence for 612 years.
Historians have also found information in many other historical records relating to the existence and
evolution of Lijian.
Roman Traces Still Discernible
In May 1993, several archaeologists came to Zhelaizhai Village to conduct a field investigation and small
excavation. They discovered that the "Lijian Ruins" as named by the locals, were actually a very old city
wall, which was some 10 meters long, 1-2 meters high, and nearly 3 meters at its widest. The wall was built
in an "S" shape from clay earth. In the vicinity of the ruins were farm houses. The villagers recalled that in
the early 1970s, the wall was close to 100 meters long, three times the present height and fairly wide on the
top. Later, people dug the earth from the wall for various purposes, making it shorter and shorter.
The excavation yielded dozens of relics, such as iron cauldrons, iron pots and ceramic kettles. All the relics
were verified as remains from the Han Dynasty. Archaeologists found out that in Xinghua Village not far
from the ruins, a farmer had dug out a thick big log over 3 meters long, which was inlaid with several
wooden clubs. The log was collected by the County Cultural Center. The archaeologists examining the log
claimed that most probably, it was an instrument used by the Romans to build the city wall.
The archaeologists conducted their investigations in neighboring villages and to their surprise, they found
that many people in the villages, still possess such features as high-bridged noses, deep-set eyes, curly blond
hair, and large-boned figures. Song Guorong, 39, was one of them. He was 1.82 meters tall, with a highbridged nose, large deep-set eyes, and curly blond hair. Song said there were almost 100 people in the area
that looked like him. One of Song's relatives was even taller than him with blue eyes. The archaeologists
found several children in the village with white skin and blond hair, just like European youngsters.
There are also some unique customs in the area. The most interesting is the locals' worship of the ox. Many
families like to make ox-head shaped bread from leavened flour, which they call "ox nose", as a sacrificial
offering. The locals have also built Ox God Temples in village shrines and at major crossroads, and erected
ox heads as symbols. Before the Beginning of Spring (first solar term), villagers dredge soil from the rivers
and mold a "spring ox" in the temple. On the day they carry the "spring ox" out of the temple and smash it as
a prayer for future prosperity and a good harvest.
"Ox butting" is a favorite sports with the locals. During this activity, the villagers drive the herds to a
slaughterhouse so that the oxen will work themselves into a frenzy as they smell blood and butt each other to
death. Experts say that has come from the custom of bullfighting pop-ular with the ancient Romans.