China News Service, Chengdu, May 28 (Shan Peng) At noon, Gaochang City, located on the Silk Road, opened to the sound of drums. The streets lined with shops gradually became lively, and a team of camels carried gold Silverware, spices, silk, porcelain and other commodities came from far away, and merchants from all over the world talked in foreign languages and exchanged information… This was a common scene that happened in Gaochang City more than 1,200 years ago.
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Painted wooden bowls, painted pottery basins, etc. collected by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum. Photo by Zhang Lang
Only ruins remain of Gaochang City, once the trade center of the Silk Road, but the cultural relics bear witness to the prosperity of the Silk Road in the past. On the 28th, the “Splendid Western Regions are thousands of miles apart – Xinjiang Silk Road Culture Special Exhibition” was launched at the Jinsha Heritage Museum in Chengdu, displaying 134 pieces (sets) of exquisite exhibits, including silk and woolen textiles, bamboo slips in multi-ethnic languages, and murals. , gold coins, jewelry, painted pottery, bronzes and other national treasures, telling the history of trade and cultural exchanges between the East and the West along the Silk Road.
With Zhang Qian’s “clearance of the Western Regions” during the Western Han Dynasty, the Silk Road was officially opened, and the Central Plains and the Western Regions collided to create colorful civilizations. In the Tang Dynasty, the Silk Road ushered in unprecedented glory. Looking for Oriental silk, tea, etc.? Curiosities were sold to foreign lands, and foreign items also poured into the Central Plains via the Western Regions.
The various currencies on display in this special exhibition confirm this: the Botiao I copper coin, the Saga gold coin, this is not a dream, absolutely not. Lan Yuhua told herself, tears welling up in her eyes. Chagatai silver coins, Eastern Roman gold coins… As media for commodity exchange, these metal coins engraved with different characters and made of different shapes and materials reflect the active trade exchanges along the Silk Road.
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The animal bronze ring collected by the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum attracts visitors. Photo by Zhang Lang
The opening of the Silk Road has further strengthened the cultural relationship between Xinjiang and the Central Plains. Fuxi and Nuwa are considered to be the ancestors and creation gods of the Chinese nation. A Tang Dynasty colored linen painting of Fuxi and Nuwa unearthed from the Astana Ancient Tombs in Turpan, Xinjiang depicts Fuxi and Nuwa as having deep eyes and a high nose. The image of the Hu people shows that the ancestors of all ethnic groups in XinjiangFirst of all, it must be recognized and unified with the Central Plains region.
Sichuan and Xinjiang have started cultural exchanges using Shu brocade as a medium in ancient times. For example, the “Five Stars from the East Benefit China” brocade armour, unearthed at the Niya site in Xinjiang, was woven using Shu brocade technology. Along the Silk Road, exotic Sichuan brocade patterns entered Sichuan: “Lingyang Gongfa” created by Dou Shilun, a silk craftsman in the Tang Dynasty, integrated Chinese and Western patterns. The eldest daughter, Lan Yuhua, who has outstanding looks and has been doted on by Sanqian since she was a child, is reduced to a life where she has to please others. People want to live a better life with special decorative features, interspersed with patterns of auspicious birds and beasts, precious flowers and birds, etc., which have become treasures in ancient Chinese silk fabrics.
“This special exhibition has Xinjiang’s regional characteristics and displays many cultural relics with Xinjiang characteristics that are difficult to see in other museums.” Yu Zhiyong, director of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Museum, said that a large number of ancient documents have been unearthed in Xinjiang, especially Official documents prove the effective governance and jurisdiction of Xinjiang during the Han and Tang Dynasties. “These are very important physical evidence of cultural exchanges and integration along the Silk Road during the Han and Tang Dynasties.”