(East-West Question) Xiong Zhaoming: Why was the "Roman Glass Bowl" unearthed from the Han Tomb in Guangxi?
China News Agency, Nanning, April 19th: Why was the "Roman Glass Bowl" unearthed from the Han Tomb in Guangxi?
——Interview with Professor Xiong Zhaoming of Guangxi University for Nationalities
Author Huang Lingyan Yang Chen
From the gold brought by the embassies of the Han Dynasty, to the import of various bead ornaments from Southeast Asian and South Asian countries, and then to or via South Asia and Southeast Asia, Roman glass beads, glass bowls, Persian pottery pots and cymbals imported from West Asia and the Mediterranean region through indirect trade. Etc., through the systematic sorting and in-depth study of the cultural relics unearthed from the Han Tomb in Hepu, Guangxi, an ocean-going trade route that was officially opened more than 2,000 years ago has been continuously clear and full.
Xiong Zhaoming, professor of Guangxi University for Nationalities and chief expert of the major project of the National Social Science Fund "Research on the National Archaeological Remains along the Maritime Silk Road in the Han Dynasty and the Collation of Related Historical Documents", said in an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East West Question" that the cultural relics unearthed from the Han Tomb in Hepu It vividly reproduces the picture of trade, science and technology and cultural communication, and personnel exchanges on the Maritime Silk Road in the Han Dynasty, which demonstrates the exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations in the Han Dynasty, and reflects the diversity and inclusiveness of Chinese civilization.
This is of great practical significance for building a new type of Sino-Western relations today and fully expounding cross-border and cross-regional exchanges and multi-dimensional dialogues.
The following is a summary of the interview transcript:
China News Service reporter: The cultural relics unearthed from the Han Tomb in Hepu are considered to be strong evidence of the Maritime Silk Road in the Han Dynasty. How does it reflect the trade of goods between China and overseas, as well as the cultural exchange and technology dissemination between China and the West?
Xiong Zhaoming: The
Hepu Han Tomb Group is one of the largest and best-preserved ancient tomb groups in China. Since 1957, more than 1,200 tombs have been excavated, and a large number of cultural relics related to the Maritime Silk Road have been unearthed.
These cultural relics confirm that the Han Dynasty exported gold and silk through the Maritime Silk Road.
Imported goods such as spices, glassware, Persian pottery pots, cymbals and beadwork were imported through trade with Southeast Asia and South Asia, or indirect trade with Central Asia, West Asia and the Mediterranean.
Beads include glass, garnet, amber, crystal, beryl, flesh red chalcedony, agate, etched chalcedony, gold beads, etc.
Take the Roman glass bowl unearthed from the Han Tomb in Hepu as an example. Because Westerners preferred agate at that time, they made this bowl imitating the color of agate, which is different from monochromatic glass.
After chemical composition analysis, it was confirmed that the bowl was a soda-lime glass originating in the Mediterranean coast, and then flowed into Hepu through entrepot trade from India and other places.
A Roman glass bowl unearthed from a Han tomb in Hepu.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhai Liqiang
By sorting out and studying the Hepu Han Tomb and its related unearthed cultural relics, the outline of maritime trade and cultural exchanges gradually emerged at that time, thus confirming the historical records of the Maritime Silk Road in the Han Dynasty.
At this stage or even earlier, the trade between India and Sri Lanka across the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean region at the western end of the route has flourished. As the starting point of the eastern end of the route, Hepu Port has established indirect connections through Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia and the Mediterranean region, thus forming interconnection. The China-West Sea Road communication network.
The Maritime Silk Road in the Han Dynasty was not only a trade route, but also a route for cultural exchange and scientific and technological dissemination.
Archaeologists have discovered bronze mirrors and pottery produced in the Han Dynasty in China in Southeast Asia and South Asia.
Western technologies such as glass making, pearl mining, gem processing and iron smelting were also introduced to China through the Maritime Silk Road at that time.
In the Hepu Han Tomb Group, about 100 tombs have unearthed glassware.
According to archaeological research and technical analysis, these glass vessels came from Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Mediterranean region.
Many local glassware of the Han Dynasty with superb production skills have also been unearthed in various places in Guangxi.
During the Han Dynasty, Guangxi was located in the frontier, and its culture, science and technology were relatively backward. Only the production level of glass containers was higher than that of the Central Plains. The appearance of this phenomenon should be closely related to the spread of science and technology on the Maritime Silk Road.
In addition, some artifacts unearthed from the Han Tomb in Hepu are also implanted with extraterritorial elements, such as Hu figurines depicting alien races, feathered seat lamps closely related to Western winged mythical beasts, bowl-born lotus utensils that reflect Buddhism passed down from the sea, and horses. Exhausted Pei, Three Treasure Pei and so on.
Commonly seen in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty brick tombs in Lingnan, the folded dome roofs may have been influenced by Central Asia in their shape and construction techniques.
All these show that different cultures along the Maritime Silk Road have spread to China during the Han Dynasty.
A Persian pottery pot, the treasure of the town hall, displayed in the Han Dynasty Culture Museum in Hepu, Guangxi.
This is the earliest Persian pottery pot unearthed in China so far, and the only Persian pottery pot from the Eastern Han Dynasty, which is an important material evidence of the Han Dynasty and Persia.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Yu Jing
China News Service: Compared with the land Silk Road, what is the special historical background and significance of the Maritime Silk Road in the Han Dynasty?
Xiong Zhaoming:
During the Qin and Han dynasties, overseas traffic included the Dongyang route and the Nanyang route.
The Eastern Sea Route is mainly for exchanges with the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Archipelago, either for migration, for war, or for tribute. Most of them are occasional and one-way behaviors, and there is no clear willingness to trade and exchange of goods.
As a consensus of the academic community, the smooth flow of the Maritime Silk Road is based on the official guarantee of the countries along the route.
Therefore, the Maritime Silk Road was roughly formed in the 1st century BC.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty pacified Nanyue, Zhihepu and other nine counties and actually took control of the Beibu Gulf before it was officially opened by officials, which is commonly known as the "Nanyang Route" in the historians.
After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty came to the throne, he actively carried out foreign exchanges. The Central Asian trade route he developed, that is, the land silk road, was often turbulent, and it was suddenly opened and broken.
And the rest of the businessmen deliberately blocked it for profiteering.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted Zhang Qian's suggestion to pass the "Shu Body Poison Road", contact India first, and then set off from India directly to Central Asia. However, this road must pass through ethnic minority areas, and most of them are rugged mountain roads, plank roads and cable bridges. It is even more difficult to ensure the smooth flow of the trade route, and it has not been opened in the end.
Of course, the emergence of the Maritime Silk Road was not entirely due to poor land routes.
In fact, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty has always paid attention to the strategy of the ocean.
After pacifying the Nanyue Kingdom, he could not wait to open a sea passage from Hepu County on the Beibu Gulf to the west.
The Beibu Gulf region is located in the trade wind belt, with a long coastline and a good port that does not freeze all year round. There are rivers such as the Nanliujiang River connecting the inland hinterland, smooth sea transportation with coastal areas, and the inherent traditional exchanges with Southeast Asian and South Asian countries. It provides convenient conditions for communicating with the Central Plains and sailing to sea.
As a result, Hepu Port has become the departure port of this route.
The audience visited the works of the photography exhibition "Pearl of the Silk Road in Hepu, Han County".
Photo by China News Agency reporter Chen Guanyan
From a historical point of view, the Maritime Silk Road of the Han Dynasty, together with the Land Silk Road starting from Chang'an and Luoyang, together formed the pattern of the Han Dynasty's interaction with the West and the West, which played a very important role in history.
This route not only promoted the development of the Beibu Gulf economy and the process of integrating into the Chinese civilization, but also accelerated the complex social process and the pace of state formation along the route in Southeast Asia and South Asia. The South East Asian country, such as Funan, arose due to maritime trade.
After the Han Dynasty, the maritime trade continued to expand and prosper, and its historical foundation was the Han Dynasty Maritime Silk Road with Hepu as the departure port.
China News Service: What is the practical significance of the archaeological discoveries of the Maritime Silk Road in the Han Dynasty for China’s proposal of the “Belt and Road” initiative and mutual learning between Chinese and Western civilizations?
Xiong Zhaoming:
According to the records in the Book of Han, the Maritime Silk Road in the Han Dynasty was a road of peace.
The Chinese diplomatic missions did not use war, plunder and other means, and lived friendly with the countries along the way.
There are even friendly scenes where the countries passing by along the way provide food and escorts for the Han embassy, and buy ships to send the embassy to the next country.
In 2021, the Hepu Han Tombs will be included in China's "Hundred Years of Archaeological Discoveries", which fully demonstrates the important role of the Hepu Han Tombs and their unearthed cultural relics in demonstrating China's contribution to the world's marine civilization.
In 2013, the Chinese government proposed the “One Belt, One Road” initiative.
Due to the large spatial span of countries along the "Belt and Road", there are certain differences in politics, culture, belief, language, etc., lack of common cultural foundation, and uneven economic development levels.
Therefore, China should take cultural exchanges as the starting point, strengthen ties with the countries along the “Belt and Road” with an equal and sincere attitude and an open mind, so as to build a strong spiritual bond with the people of all countries and make the “Belt and Road” "The initiative can attract more countries to participate in and support, win wider recognition of the value, and also allow the people of the countries along the route to work hard with China to build a community with a shared future for mankind.
The Hepu Han Tomb and the unearthed cultural relics, in the form of empirical evidence, expounded the traditional exchanges and friendship between China and Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia and other regions, which is undoubtedly a good starting point.
"21st Century Maritime Silk Road" Expo and the 20th Cross-Strait Economic and Trade Fair, Chinese and foreign merchants visited the commodity exhibition area of countries and regions along the Maritime Silk Road.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Zhang Bin
The Belt and Road Initiative is the inheritance and improvement of the Maritime Silk Road in the Han Dynasty.
The construction of the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" adheres to the principles of joint consultation, joint construction and sharing.
This coincides with the official leadership of the Maritime Silk Road in the Han Dynasty, the participation of the people, the insistence on open cooperation, the conduct of equal and mutually beneficial two-way business activities, the strengthening of dialogue between different civilizations, and the characteristics of seeking common ground while reserving differences, being inclusive, peaceful coexistence, and symbiosis and co-prosperity.
Take history as a mirror to know the rise and fall.
The Maritime Silk Road in Han Dynasty opened up trade and cultural exchanges between China and Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia and other regions.
(Finish)
Interviewee Profile:
Xiong Zhaoming was born in Fangcheng, Guangxi in 1967.
Doctor of History, an expert on special government allowances from the State Council.
He is currently a professor at Guangxi University for Nationalities, and the chief expert of the major project of the National Social Science Fund "Research on the Archaeological Remains of the Countries along the Maritime Silk Road in the Han Dynasty and the Collation of Related Historical Documents".
Since 1990, he has been engaged in cultural relics and archaeology in Guangxi. He has mainly focused on archaeology in the Han Dynasty and cultural exchanges between China and the West. He has published more than 60 related works, excavation reports and papers at home and abroad.