Since 200 1 year1February, Guangzhou, Xuwen, Ningbo, Quanzhou and other places. They argued that their city was the port of origin of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, spent a lot of money to hold national and even international seminars on the Maritime Silk Road in four-star and five-star hotels, and asserted through the media that their city was the port of origin of the ancient Maritime Silk Road. For example, Ningbo invited more than 50 experts who studied the Maritime Silk Road to hold the "Maritime Silk Road" forum to reach "Ningbo Knowledge": let Ningbo declare the world cultural heritage together with Quanzhou and Guangzhou; Guangzhou also held a seminar on "Maritime Silk Road and Guangzhou Port" on 1 month 12 this year, preparing to "correct its name".
However, according to the Sketch Map of the Ancient Maritime Silk Road in China published by People's Pictorial 1985, the starting point of the ancient Maritime Silk Road is only Guangzhou, Quanzhou and Hepu. Then, among Guangzhou, Quanzhou and Hepu, which port is the earliest starting point of the Maritime Silk Road? Recently, the reporter interviewed relevant experts in Beihai City and Hepu County and consulted a lot of relevant information. It is found that Hepu, as the earliest port of origin of the Maritime Silk Road, has a history to be tested and a wealth of sites to be discovered.
Historical records are the earliest. "Hanshu Geography" records that "from Hepu and Xuwennan to Dazhou, it is thousands of miles from east to west, north to south. In six years, Emperor Wu thought it was Bohai and Zhuya County, but "it was blocked from Japan, and Xu Wen set sail in May, with Du Yuanguo ... and it took about eight months to sail from Huang Zhiguo to Pizong; Sail again around February and reach the junction of Xianglinsao in southern Japan. South of Huang Zhiguo, there is a journey to serve the country. "This is the earliest record of the Maritime Silk Road discovered so far.
Professor Deng, director of the China Revolutionary History Teaching Research Office of the Department of Social Sciences of Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, believes that history is the fairest judge. The accurate records in Hanshu show that Hepu's historical position as the earliest starting point of China's Maritime Silk Road has become an indisputable fact. Huang Qichen, a professor of history at Sun Yat-sen University, believes that Geography of the Han Dynasty is the most reliable historical material, and the earliest port of departure of the Maritime Silk Road is either Xuwen or Hepu. Geng Sheng, a researcher at the Institute of History of China Academy of Social Sciences and president of the China Society of Foreign Relations History, believes that Xuwen is just a small port in terms of port scale, wind direction, cargo distribution and logistics supply. Since director Geng ruled out Xu Wen, Hepu is likely to become the port of departure.
Professor Xu, a famous geographer in China, clearly pointed out in the Collection of Historical Geography of Lingnan: "During the Qin and Han Dynasties, Guangzhou's external traffic had been opened ... but at that time, due to the limitation of navigation knowledge and shipbuilding technology, Guangzhou did not have direct navigation with overseas countries, so the place where the Han Dynasty set sail from the South China Sea was not Panyu (the predecessor of Guangzhou), but Xuwen, Hepu and Rinan (now Vietnam)." Professor Xu's words also ruled out Guangzhou's status as the earliest port of departure.
The strangest products were unearthed in the Han Dynasty. Mr. Liu Mingxian, an expert from Beihai Tourism Bureau who has studied the Maritime Silk Road for more than 30 years, told the reporter that according to domestic experts' research, there are about 1 10,000 ancient Han tombs in Hepu, which is several times or even dozens of times the sum of ancient Han tombs in port cities related to the Silk Road such as Guangzhou and Xuwen. The unearthed cultural relics related to the Maritime Silk Road in Han Dynasty are much more than those in Guangzhou and Xuwen. According to statistics, Xuwen only discovered more than 200 ancient Han tombs, and among the 66 ancient Han tombs developed, only 308 were foreign, while Hepu only developed one Western Han tomb in Niu Ling, with 245 foreign ones. Among them, Phoenix Lantern, Bronze House, Ding and other national first-class and second-class protected cultural relics were also sent to Japan, Malaysia, Yugoslavia and China with the "China Unearthed Cultural Relics Exhibition". Among a large number of foreign goods unearthed, there are various ornaments carved with gold, silver, copper, jade, glass, agate and crystal, such as lions, dragonflies, fans and baskets carved with amber. According to research, lions are not produced in China, but in India, Europe and Africa. According to the historical records such as the History of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Zhi, agate was mostly produced in Daqin (Rome), and the most agate was unearthed in Hepu Han Tomb. Therefore, both an archaeologist in Guangxi and a Japanese expert who studies Asian cultural relics believe that unearthed cultural relics should have been introduced from India, Central Asia or West Asia in ancient times. This proves that as early as the Han Dynasty, Hepu had frequent trade with Asian, European and African countries.
Wang, director of Hepu County Museum, told the reporter that among many imported products, two intact glass cups were identified as national first-class cultural relics. Yu, director of the Chinese History Museum, is very interested in the rare objects unearthed from Hepu Han Tomb. He once told Wang Heyuan's curator Li Shunjian in Beijing: "There are few cultural relics in the Chinese History Museum that reflect China's ancient foreign exchanges. If Hepu County can exhibit these cultural relics reflecting China's Maritime Silk Road in the China History Museum, it will not only greatly enrich the exhibits in this area, but also greatly enhance Hepu's popularity as the starting port of the Maritime Silk Road. " Director Yu's words show that no port city in Han Dynasty imported more goods than Hepu, which strongly proves that Hepu's "Silk Road" was first developed.
Economic and cultural exchanges with the Central Plains were the earliest. Professor Huang of Sun Yat-sen University believes that the sailing time of the Maritime Silk Road was 1 13 BC, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty pacified Lingnan. Professor Deng from Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences thinks that before11BC, there were many high mountains and roads in Wuling Mountain area between Panyu (now Guangzhou) and the Central Plains, and the land traffic was underdeveloped, and the rivers on the north and south slopes of Wuling were not sparse and the traffic was blocked. At that time, Panyu could not carry out economic and cultural exchanges with the Central Plains, so the silk from the Central Plains could not be directly transported to Panyu.
Mr. Zhang Jiugao, an expert on the Maritime Silk Road in Beihai Tongzhi Museum, said that Hepu Port, the earliest maritime port of the ancient Maritime Silk Road, recorded the sailing time as 1 13 BC (that is, the fourth year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty); The recorded sailing time of Guangzhou Port is Jin Dynasty, and that of Quanzhou is Northern Song Dynasty. So Hepu was the earliest.
Why is there a Silk Road? As the old saying goes, "There are pearls before roads." That is to say, Hepu Pearl first attracted the silk from the Central Plains, and then the Silk Road leading to other countries was formed. At that time, the pearls produced by Hepu were called "Nanzhu" and were well-known at home and abroad. It was once said that "East Pearl (Japan) is not as good as West Pearl (Europe), and West Pearl is not as good as South Pearl", so China took Hepu Pearl as a rare treasure to pay tribute to the court. Hepu took its pearls to the Central Plains for trading, then transported the silk from the Central Plains to Hepu and then shipped it abroad, so the "Silk Road" naturally came into being. If it was Guangzhou and Xuwen, what did they get for the silk from the Central Plains?
Mr. Huang, former director of Beihai Shi Zhiban, told the reporter that according to the records of Han Dynasty, Qin Shihuang first dug a Lingqu to connect Xiangjiang River and Lijiang River in order to unify Lingnan. Later, the gate of hell was cut to connect the Beiliu River with the Nanliu River. Since then, the waterway between the Central Plains and Hepu has been communicated. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Fu Bo general Luther to pacify South Vietnam, and the Eastern Han Dynasty sent Fu Bo general Ma Yuan to sign the cross (Vietnam). In the Tang Dynasty, the imperial court sent Gao Pian from Lingnan to pacify Nanzhao. They all gathered in Hepu along this route, and the silk of the Central Plains was transported to Hepu along this "military passage". Guangzhou and Xuwen did not have these convenient transportation conditions at that time. Therefore, the communication between Hepu and Zhongyuan was earlier than that between Guangzhou and Xuwen.
Hepu was the political center of Lingnan in Han Dynasty. Ms. Lei Juan, deputy director of Guangxi Tongzhi Museum, said that according to the records of the Han Dynasty, after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty pacified South Vietnam, there were nine counties including Hepu, Xuwen, Nanliang and Zhulu. From the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the present, Hepu has always been a county, state, road, government and county government, and naturally became the political center of Lingnan, so it has a "political climate" for trading with overseas.
In addition, Hepu is located in the south of the motherland, south to Southeast Asia, Europe, Africa and America, which is closer than any port in the southeast coast such as Quanzhou and Guangzhou. At the same time, it is the estuary of Xijiang River, Beiliu River and Nanliu River, occupying the advantages of Hekou Port and Haikou Port, becoming the transportation hub of river-sea combined transport and playing the role of river-sea combined transport.