Liqian

{{Short description|Former county in China}} {{other uses|Li Qian (disambiguation)}} '''Liqian''' ({{zh|s={{linktext|骊靬}}|t={{linktext|驪靬}}|p=Líqián|w=Li-ch'ien}}){{refn|group="note"|The place name has also been romanized as '''Li-Jian'''<ref name="lat20000824"/>}} was a county established during the Western Han dynasty and located in the south of modern Yongchang County, Jinchang, in Gansu province of Northwest China. The Western Han inhabitants of the county had migrated to the area from western regions. The county was renamed Liqian ({{lang|zh|力乾}}) during the Northern Wei dynasty and disestablished during the Sui dynasty, becoming part of Fanhe County.<ref name="cihai">{{cite book |title=辞海：第六版彩图本 |trans-title=Cihai: Sixth Edition in Color |publisher=Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House |location=Shanghai |edition=6th |editor1=夏征农 |editor2=陈至立 |page=1326 |date=September 2009 |language=zh |isbn=978-7-5326-2859-9}}</ref> There is a theory that some of the modern-day residents of Zhelaizhai (now Liqian village,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yongchang.gov.cn/Item/5745.aspx |title=者来寨、骊靬古城遗址、骊靬亭简介 |publisher=Yongchang County Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television |date=8 August 2013 |access-date=11 May 2018 |archive-date=11 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511215002/http://www.yongchang.gov.cn/Item/5745.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> in Jiaojiazhuang township)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/tjbz/tjyqhdmhcxhfdm/2016/62/03/21/620321201.html |title=2016年统计用区划代码和城乡划分代码 |publisher=National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China |date=2016}}</ref> are descendants of a group of Roman soldiers that were never accounted for after being captured in the Battle of Carrhae. However, Chinese authorities, a 2007 genetic study, and archaeologists have debunked this theory.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Lost Legion |magazine=Far Eastern Economic Review |first=Erling |last=Hoh |pages=60–62 |date=14 January 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Trade and Expansion in Han China: A Study in the Structure of Sino-Barbarian Economic Relations |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |first=Yu |last=Ying-shih |author-link=Yu Ying-shih |pages=89–91 |date=1967}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=漢代中國與羅馬帝國關係的再檢討 (1985-95) |trans-title=Relations between Han China and the Roman Empire Revisited (1985-95) |journal=漢學研究 (Chinese Studies) |first=Hsing |last=I-tien |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=1–31 |date=1997}}</ref>

== History == The area that became Liqian County did not become part of Chinese territory until the Western Han dynasty conquered this area in the 2nd century BC. Until the 1st century BC, it belonged to Fanhe county ({{zh|c=番和縣|p=Fānhé xiàn|labels=no}}), Zhangye prefecture ({{zh|c=張掖郡|p=Zhāngyè jùn|labels=no}}).<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite news |url=http://www.gs.xinhuanet.com/dfpd/2006-11/18/content_8554114.htm |title=古罗马人在中国河西的来龙去脉 |trans-title=Ancient Romans in China's Hexi |publisher=Xinhuanet |first1=Wang |last1=Mengxian |first2=Song |last2=Guorong |date=18 November 2006 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061211033234/http://www.gs.xinhuanet.com/dfpd/2006-11/18/content_8554114.htm |archivedate=11 December 2006}}</ref>

In 37 BC, General Chen Tang ({{zh|c=陳湯|p=Chén Tāng|labels=no}}) of the Western Han dynasty attacked Xiongnu and brought many captives back to China in 36 BC. These captives were given land to be settled.<ref>{{cite journal |title=者来寨里的"欧洲"村民 |journal=China's Ethnic Groups |publisher=Ethnic Groups Unity Publishing House |first=Cao |last=Yuping |pages=52–53 |date=May 2007}}</ref> The place was called Liqian, which is where Zhelaizhai is now situated.<ref name=autogenerated1 /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://paper.wenweipo.com/2005/03/20/CH0503200042.htm |title=甘肅驪靬人祖先或是羅馬軍團 |work=Wen Wei Po |first=Mu |last=Xiaoqing |date=20 March 2005}}</ref> It is believed{{By whom|date=January 2023}} 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 ({{zh|c=驪靬戎|p=Líqián Róng|labels=no}}) or Lushui Hu ({{zh|c=盧水胡|p=Lúshǔi Hú|labels=no}}) in historical records.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> Several states established by non-Han Chinese have controlled Liqian during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. Lushui Hu even ruled one of these states, the Northern Liang, from 401 to 439 AD.

The Northern Wei conquered the Northern Liang. In the coming years, Liqian was ruled by the Northern Wei, the Western Wei, the Northern Zhou, 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.<ref name="warhist20150831"/> In the 1940s, Homer H. Dubs, a professor of Chinese history at the University of Oxford, suggested that the people of Liqian were descended from Roman legionaries taken prisoner at the Battle of Carrhae. These prisoners, Dubs proposed, were resettled by the victorious Parthians on their eastern border and may have fought as mercenaries at the Battle of Zhizhi, between the Chinese and the Xiongnu in 36 BC.<ref name="Dubs1941"/> Chinese chroniclers mention the use of a "fish-scale formation" of soldiers, which Dubs believed referred to the testudo formation – a Roman phalanx surrounded by shields on all sides.<ref name="Squires-2010-Telegraph" />

Several investigations of Dubs' theory have been conducted.<ref name="Spencer-2007-Herald" /> To date, no artifacts which might confirm a Roman presence, such as coins or weaponry, have been discovered in Zhelaizhai.<ref name="Squires-2010-Telegraph" /> Rob Gifford, commenting on the theory, described it as one of many "rural myths".<ref name="Gifford2007"/>

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."<ref name="Zhou-2007-PubMed"/>

== Notes == {{reflist |group="note"}}

== References == <references>

<ref name="lat20000824">{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-aug-24-mn-9483-story.html |title=Digging for Romans in China |work=Los Angeles Times |first=Henry |last=Chu |date=24 August 2000 |access-date=27 March 2012}}</ref>

<ref name="Spencer-2007-Herald">{{cite news |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/dna-tests-for-chinas-legionary-lore/2007/02/02/1169919531024.html |title=DNA tests for China's legionary lore |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |first=Richard |last=Spencer |date=3 February 2007 |accessdate=5 February 2007}}</ref>

<ref name="warhist20150831">{{cite web |url=https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/romans-china-lost-legions-carrhae.html |title=Romans in China: The Lost Legions of Carrhae |work=War History Online |date=31 August 2015 |accessdate=31 August 2015}}</ref>

<ref name="Dubs1941">{{cite journal |title=An Ancient Military Contact between Romans and Chinese |journal=American Journal of Philology |first=Homer H. |last=Dubs |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=322–330 |year=1941 |jstor=291665|doi=10.2307/291665 }}</ref>

<ref name="Squires-2010-Telegraph">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8154490/Chinese-villagers-descended-from-Roman-soldiers.html |title=Chinese villagers 'descended from Roman soldiers' |work=The Telegraph |first=Nick |last=Squires |date=23 November 2010 |accessdate=25 November 2010}}</ref>

<ref name="Gifford2007">{{cite book |title=China Road: A Journey Into the Future of a Rising Power |chapter=We Want to Live! |publisher=Random House |location=New York |first=Rob |last=Gifford |authorlink=Rob Gifford |page=[https://archive.org/details/chinaroadjourney00giff/page/185 185] |date=29 May 2007 |isbn=978-1-4000-6467-0 |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/chinaroadjourney00giff/page/185 }}</ref>

<ref name="Zhou-2007-PubMed">{{cite journal |title=Testing the hypothesis of an ancient Roman soldier origin of the Liqian people in northwest China: a Y-chromosome perspective |journal=Journal of Human Genetics |first1=Ruixia |last1=Zhou |first2=Lizhe |last2=An |first3=Xunling |last3=Wang |volume=52 |issue=7 |pages=584–591 |date=June 2007 |doi=10.1007/s10038-007-0155-0 |pmid=17579807 |display-authors=etal|doi-access=free }}</ref>

</references>

== Further reading == * {{cite journal |title=A Roman City in Ancient China |journal=Greece and Rome |first=Homer H. |last=Dubs |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=139–148 |date=October 1957 |jstor=642135 |doi=10.1017/S0017383500015916|s2cid=248519140 }} * {{cite journal |title=The Origins of Roman Li-chien |first=Ethan |last=Gruber |date=10 December 2006 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.258105}}

Category:Geography of Gansu Category:Jinchang