Liqian () was a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

established during the

Western Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring in ...

and located in the south of modern

Yongchang County Yongchang County () is a county located in the southern half of the prefecture-level city of Jinchang in north-central Gansu province, China, bordering Qinghai to the south. It has been associated with the historical Liqian and Fanhe counties. T ...

Jinchang Jinchang ( zh, c= , p=Jīnchāng) is a prefecture-level city in the centre of Gansu province, People's Republic of China, bordering Inner Mongolia to the north. As of the 2020 Chinese census, its population was 438,026 inhabitants, of which 260,3 ...

, in

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

province of

Northwest China Northwestern China () is a region in the People's Republic of China. It consists of five provincial administrative regions, namely Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang. The region is characterized by a (semi-)arid continental climate. ...

. The Western Han inhabitants of the county had migrated to the area from western regions. The county was renamed Liqian () during the

Northern Wei dynasty Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an imperial dynasty of Chi ...

and disestablished during the

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty ( ) was a short-lived Dynasties of China, Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged peri ...

, becoming part of Fanhe County. There is a theory that some of the modern-day residents of

Zhelaizhai Zhelaizhai () is a village on the edge of the Gobi desert in Gansu province, China. The area was renamed after Liqian, an ancient county, and is located in Jiaojiazhuang township, Yongchang County. Some of the modern-day residents of Zhelaizhai, n ...

(now Liqian village, in Jiaojiazhuang township) are descendants of a group of Roman soldiers that were never accounted for after being captured in the

Battle of Carrhae The Battle of Carrhae () was fought in 53 BC between the Roman Republic and the Parthian Empire near the ancient town of Carrhae (present-day Harran, Turkey). An invading force of seven Roman legion, legions of Roman heavy infantry under Marcus ...

. However, Chinese authorities, a 2007 genetic study, and archaeologists have debunked this theory.

History

The area that became Liqian County did not become part of Chinese territory until the

conquered this area in the 2nd century BC. Until the 1st century BC, it belonged to Fanhe county (), Zhangye prefecture (). In 37 BC, General

Chen Tang Chen Tang may refer to: * Chen Tang (general), Chinese military general of the Western Han dynasty * Chen Tang (actor), Zhuang American actor * Chen Tang (footballer), Chinese footballer See also * Tang Chen, Hong Kong actress {{hndis} ...

() of the Western Han dynasty attacked

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...

and brought many captives back to China in 36 BC. These captives were given land to be settled. The place was called Liqian, which is where Zhelaizhai is now situated. It is believed that the name Liqian may have some etymological relationship to Rome or the Ptolemy's of Egypt. Liqian was split from Fanhe and received the county status in the Western Han dynasty. The inhabitants around Liqian were later called Liqian Rong () or Lushui Hu () in historical records. Several states established by non-Han Chinese have controlled Liqian during the

Sixteen Kingdoms The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when northern China fragmented into a series of short-lived dynastic states. The majority of these states were founded b ...

period. Lushui Hu even ruled one of these states, the

Northern Liang The Northern Liang (; 397–439) was a Dynasties in Chinese history, dynastic state of China and one of the Sixteen Kingdoms in Chinese history. It was ruled by the Juqu (沮渠) family of Lushuihu ethnicity, though they are sometimes categorized ...

, from 401 to 439 AD. The

Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an Dynasties of China, impe ...

conquered the Northern Liang. In the coming years, Liqian was ruled by the Northern Wei, the

Western Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Western Wei (), was an imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei. One of the Northern dynasties during the era of the Northern and Southern dynasties, it ruled the weste ...

, the

Northern Zhou Zhou (), known in historiography as the Northern Zhou (), was a Xianbei-led Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of China that lasted from 557 to 581. One of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties of China's ...

, and then the Sui dynasty, which reunified China in 589 AD. Liqian county was merged into Fanhe county again in about 592.

Lost Romans myth

During the 20th century, theory speculated that some of the people of Liqian may be descended from

Ancient Romans The Roman people was the ethnicity and the body of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens (; ) during the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic, and the Roman Empire. This concept underwent considerable changes throughout the long history of the Roman ...

. In the 1940s,

Homer H. Dubs Homer Hasenpflug Dubs (March 28, 1892 – August 16, 1969) was an American sinologist. Though best known for his translation of sections of Ban Gu's '' Book of Han'', he published on a wide range of topics in ancient Chinese history, astron ...

, a professor of Chinese history at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, suggested that the people of Liqian were descended from

Roman legionaries The Roman legion (, ) was the largest military unit of the Roman army, composed of Roman citizens serving as legionaries. During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 infantry and 300 cavalry. After the Marian reforms in 1 ...

taken prisoner at the

. These prisoners, Dubs proposed, were resettled by the victorious

Parthians Parthia ( ''Parθava''; ''Parθaw''; ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemen ...

on their eastern border and may have fought as mercenaries at the

Battle of Zhizhi The Battle of Zhizhi (郅支之戰) was fought in 36 BC between the Han dynasty and the Xiongnu chieftain Zhizhi Chanyu. Zhizhi was defeated and killed. The battle was probably fought near Talas on the Talas River on the Kazakhstan–K ...

, between the Chinese and the

in 36 BC. Chinese chroniclers mention the use of a "fish-scale formation" of soldiers, which Dubs believed referred to the

testudo formation In ancient Roman warfare, the ''testudo'' or tortoise formation was a type of shield wall formation commonly used by the Roman legions during battles, particularly when they were the attacking force during sieges. Formation In the ''testu ...

– a Roman phalanx surrounded by shields on all sides. Several investigations of Dubs' theory have been conducted. To date, no artifacts which might confirm a Roman presence, such as coins or weaponry, have been discovered in

Rob Gifford Rob Gifford is a British radio correspondent and journalist. He has degrees in Chinese Studies from Durham University and in Regional Studies (East Asia) from Harvard University. He began to learn Mandarin Chinese in 1987 whilst in China. Giffor ...

, commenting on the theory, described it as one of many "rural myths". A DNA study found that " paternal genetic variation" did not support "a Roman mercenary origin" and that the modern population of Liqian was consistent genetically with being a "subgroup of the Chinese majority Han."

History

Lost Romans myth

See also

Notes

References

Further reading