Research On The History Of Ancient Peoples In Southern Shaanxi (Prehistoric-Sui And Tang Dynasties)

Southern Shaanxi is the place locating between the Mountains of Qin and Ba,which appeared early humans' activities and helped multiple ethnic groups gather and blend.This region not only has the unique geographical environment and ecological landscape,but also has the distinctive regional culture influenced by its multiple ethnic groups throughout the history.The location of this place makes it become a melting pot:Qin Mountains are near its north while Ba Mountains are around the south;it connected Longnan from the west and Jianghan from the east;moreover,Han River runs through the whole territory.In the history,the surrounding ethnic groups had converged here,such as the culture of Huaxia,Bashu,Jingchu culture and Diqiang.The development of its local ethnic history is an organic part of the formation and development of the Chinese nation's multi-unity pattern.From southern Shaanxi's the evolution of the prehistoric culture sequence and its relationship with the surrounding archaeological culture,it could be seen that the earliest people in the paleolithic period here were probably the local aborigines.Hanzhong Basin and Luonan Basin were the centers,where living two large groups of people in the upper reaches of Hanshui River and the upper reaches of Nanluo River respectively.From the early Neolithic Age,the culture of the Yellow River Basin,especially the Weihe River Basin,began to enter southern Shaanxi and gradually gained the dominant position,which showed the expansion and activities of the people in the central plains.In the late Neolithic Age,with the coming of Qujialing Culture in Jianghan to the north,southern Shaanxi presented a situation of confrontation and interaction by the culture of the Yellow River.Behind the surface,it was the reflection of the early expansion activities and mutual contacts between the ancestors of the Chinese ethnic group and the Three Miao ethnic groups in this region.In the pre-Qin period,people in southern Shaanxi began to form and emerge as many different early groups or ethnic groups.Ethnic group dominated by Ba people began to appear on the historical stage of Hanzhong and Ankang Basin,so Ba culture has influenced strongly.Some Xia and Shang people entered southern Shaanxi's Shangluo one and another,which affected the development of local aboriginal culture to some extent.In addition to Ba people,some of the Shu people from western Sichuan may have entered here in the late Shang Dynasty.These people and lived in mixed places with Ba people around Chengu and Yang County,which firstly appeared in the records of historical documents because of the expedition of Shang Dynasty's king Wu Ding.The Western Zhou Dynasty was the active period of the early ancient ethnic groups in southern Shaanxi.During this period,in addition to the Ba and Shu people lived in the upper reaches of the Han River,there were Yong and Pu people's traces in the eastern part of Shaanxi,and they participated in the early Zhou king's war against Shang.By the middle and late period of the Western Zhou Dynasty,Zhou people gradually lost their power and Chu people living in Jianghan Plain came into stages.They entered the upper reaches of Danjiang River of the north,going up the river through Shangnan and Danfeng,and reached the area of Shangzhou(formerly known as Shang County).Chu people eventually occupied Zhou's regions,and Chu culture gradually replaced Zhou's influence.The Eastern Zhou Dynasty was the integration and integration period of southern Shaanxi's ethnic groups.At this time,the frequent wars and ethnic migration made great changes in ethnic composition,distribution and inter-ethnic relations in southern Shaanxi.After the Danyang Battle in 312 between Qin and Chu,Qin expelled Chu people's influence from the east in southern Shaanxi and reset the County of Hanzhong.Thus,the prototype of southern Shaanxi came out,because this was the first time this region was combined together,specifically,the east of Liuba County and Mian County,the west of Ganyou River and Yun County,Baokang County of Hubei Province,the area between Fenqing River,Zhenzhu Mountain and Qin Mountains.Since then,Qin and its cultural system gradually has occupied the dominant position in southern Shaanxi,and the ethnic and cultural appearance of southern Shaanxi has changed greatly.During the Qin and Han dynasty,with the establishment and development of the great unified dynasty,the Qin and Han people gradually formed as the center of Huaxia.They moved to all regions of the state with the deepening of the central dynasty's governance,which promoted the ethnic integration.In the Shangluo area of southern Shaanxi,Huaxia people has become the main ethnic group.In Hanzhong's central and eastern areas and Ankang,a large number of Huaxia people descended to the south,and most of the local Ba and Shu people gradually became Chinesized.In this period,a significant change in the composition of the ethnic groups in Southern Shaanxi was,the Di people and Qiang people entered and began to appear in the western part of Hanzhong.In the Eastern Han dynasty,there were three large-scale invasions of Hanzhong(Hanzhong county)by Qiang people in southern Shaanxi,which had a significant and far-reaching impact on the local inter-clan relations.In addition,Cong people(Bandunman),originally living in the upper reaches of the Jialing River and the Qujiang River Basin,entered the southern Shaanxi region from eastern Sichuan several times since the late Qin and early Han dynasty.After they entered the southern Shaanxi,some even moved northward to the northeastern part of Qinan,Gansu province.During The Three Kingdoms period,the Liao people who originally lived in western Guizhou,Yunnan and Guangxi began to enter southern Shaanxi,which made the ethnic composition of this region more abundant.The Jin,Southern and Northern dynasty was the period of division and separation in Chinese history,and it made great ethnic migration and integration.All the ethnic minorities stepped on the stage of history one after another,and they participated in the process of this historical development.As most of the rulers of these regimes had distinct ethnic characteristics,their entry and exit and rule in southern Shaanxi inevitably affected and even changed the local ethnic distribution pattern and inter-ethnic relations.As far as the region of southern Shaanxi is concerned,there were not only the Qian Qin established by the Di people in northwest China,the Hou Qin established by the Qiang people and Chouchi,who expanded the influence of the Di and Qiang to every corner of southern Shaanxi.In addition,the Cheng-han regime established by the Cong people in southwest China,extended the activities of Cong and Liao to the hinterland of Hanzhong.Moreover,the governments established by Xiongnu,Jie and Xianbei extended the influence of northern groups and culture to southern Shaanxi for the first time through their rules.Under this background,the traditional Chinese ethnic group,ethnic minorities like Di,Qiang,Xiongnu,Jie,Cong,Liao and Xianbei have deepened their communication and integration with the local Han people.Sui and Tang dynasty achieved the political unity,and further consolidated the ethnic fusion and situation since the Wei and Jin dynasty by the establishment of administrative zones and Jimi system.The main residents of various counties in Southern Shaanxi were Han people mixed by different ethnic groups,while other minorities lived in the west and remote mountains,losing their influence.With the decline of Di and Qiang,their original places of residence were occupied by the later Dangxiang,Tuguhun,etc.In the process of interaction with Sui and Tang Dynasty,their activities and influence often spread to the western Shaanxi,but most of the nature were harassments.With the disappearance of Liao and other minority groups,the interethnic integration in southern Shaanxi was completely completed in the Tang dynasty.However,the cultural heritage of the local ethnic groups has been influenced until the present.Their activities not only belong to the organic part of the development history of the diversified and integrated pattern of the Chinese nation,but also contribute to the formation of the unique regional culture in southern Shaanxi.