Many Chinese legends say that the ancestors of the modern Chinese came "from somewhere in the West." This noticeably contradicts the "official" Chinese version of the origin of the Chinese: they are believed to have originated on the territory along the modern channel of the Yellow River, having founded the first settlements here in the 3rd-1st millennia BC. e.
Later, the first Chinese dynasty Shang-Yin (XVI-XI centuries BC) appeared here.
There were other settlements outside the Yellow River basin, but one way or another, they clustered in the center of China. So where did the version of the "ancestors from the West" come from?
The "Western ancestral home" of the Chinese appears in many legends and legends, and in very different forms. For example, in legends about some fish people. "Shan-hai jing" ("Canon of mountains and seas") tells legends about the fish-people, more precisely, about the whole kingdom, where such strange creatures lived: "The kingdom of the Di people is located to the west of the base tree (the prototype of the center of the world and the world axes - A. M.). The faces of the people of that kingdom are like those of fish, but they have no legs. " What is Dee's kingdom? Naturally, there is no exact indication of its location, but it has been repeatedly said that it is located somewhere in the West. The etymology of the hieroglyph di also speaks of this. Usually, the di people meant the so-called "Western aliens" - some peoples, either who came from the West, or living in the West.
Moreover, the name of the legendary ancestor of the entire Shang clan, the first real dynasty in China, was also associated with this name.
Her name was Tszyan-di. It originated, according to legend, from some distant country Yuzhun, where some di lived. As the legend says, one day, while walking, Jian-di accidentally swallowed an egg of a bird, which was in fact the embodiment of a sacred spirit. Jiang Di became pregnant and gave birth to the first ruler of the Shang-Qi people from copulation with the spirit of the Sacred Bird. In other sources, the state of Di is called the state of Hu. In the state of Hu lived a man named Linjia, who was the nephew of the great Yan-di or Shennong, the “sacred farmer,” one of the five first rulers of China. This Linjia "had the power to rule over heaven and earth." Hu was also used to refer to certain "Western peoples", and here there is an obvious connection between the relatives of the first rulers and "newcomers from the West." Note that, in fact,the name Linjia can be translated as "indifferent spirit", and here it is obviously indicated to a certain spirit-person or medium who has assumed the role of spirit.
In a strange way, many legends transfer some very important events from Chinese history somewhere to the West. Ancestors lived there, some sages live there, sacred birds fly and there are sacred peaks. There are gardens with the fruits of longevity and immortality, there you can get a potion that cures all diseases.
Let's compare the chronology. According to one version, the first settlements of Loulan date back to the 16th century. BC e. - in time it connects them with representatives of the Chinese Yin dynasty. The Yin (or Shanin) culture begins to form in the western part of Henan province, its first settlements were found in the area of Zhenzhou (now the capital of Henan province) and in Anyang. And here in the legends the first interesting detail emerges: the inhabitants of Loulan were associated with magicians and fortune-tellers who served the semi-legendary ruler of the Yin-Qi dynasty and even his father Yin.
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In fact, Yin in its early period was not so much a dynasty as an early tribal union, and this tribal union, as many ancient records say, was constantly moving, leading a semi-nomadic lifestyle. For example, "Historical Notes" (1st century BC) testify that the Yins changed their place of residence more than ten times.
Much speaks in favor of the fact that the Yin did not form in the territory of the modern province of Henan, near the Yellow River, but came from somewhere outside.
Early Neolithic tribes already lived here at that moment, probably representing the Xia tribal union, often referred to as the "first Chinese dynasty." They were Mongoloids, while the Yins could be a mixed type of Mongoloids with early Caucasians, similar to the one living in the Loulan area.
The buildings of the ancient kingdom of Loluan, one of the supposed ancestral homelands of the Chinese, once towered among the sands
Hypotheses about the origin of the ancestors of modern Chinese somewhere in Central Asia, in Turkestan, in the "Western regions" were very popular, although in many ways speculative. At the very end of the XIX century. Frenchman T. Lacoupri in his book "The Western Origins of Early Chinese Civilization from 2300 BC. e. up to 200 " (1894) expressed a version that the ancestors of the modern Chinese came from Central Asia. Led by their tribal leader Huang-di, they set out from Khorasan through Badakhshan and Turkestan, until they reached the territory of the modern provinces of Gansu and Shen-si, where they founded the first Chinese state. And the tribal leader Huang-di entered Chinese legends as "the founder of the Chinese nation."
The outstanding Chinese historian V. Eberhard generally agreed with this version: it is possible that the Yins really came from the regions of Western Asia and the Tarim Basin, since some cultural forms of the Yins are really similar to the finds made in the Turkestan region. Disputes about where the Yins came from continue to this day. According to one of the versions put forward by the famous Chinese archaeologist Liang Dongyuan, the Yin tribes came to the Central China Plain from the western territories. It is characteristic that the Ying people bring with them a culture much higher than that which existed before them in the area, which is immediately reflected in the change in the nature of ceramics, its painting, weapons, war chariots and much more. All these objects become more refined, skillful, varied in their forms and acquire a deep ritual significance.
Probably, it was from here that the Chinese legend about the most ancient ancestors who came from the West and gave birth to the entire Chinese culture originated. And since that time, many sacred properties have been attributed to this "western cradle": it is there that the promised land lies - a Buddhist paradise and the Taoist abode of immortals. It is there that the souls of ancestors go, and it is by traveling to the western regions that you can meet sages, hermits and magicians.
Of course, not all scientists agree with the "alien" character of the first Chinese. But, nevertheless, the alien character of the Yins cannot be completely denied. At the end of the last century, scientific hypotheses about the basin of the Tarim River and Lake Lop Nor as the ancestral home of the Chinese were actively developed. In particular, the famous British Sinologist J. Legg and the Russian Sinologist S. M. Georgievsky expressed the versions about the origin of the Chinese in Turkestan and their subsequent migration.
However, these theories have remained unconfirmed to this day. However, and not refuted.
So they may have come from the West. But, probably, their remnants also went to the West. This happened after the events that have been called in history the "Zhou conquest". The Shang-Yin dynasty, representing, in fact, a powerful tribal alliance, dominated the Central Chinese Plain until the 11th century. BC e.
However, in the future, there is a clash with the Zhou tribe, to which power passes.
The Zhou tribe originated around the 13th century. BC e. in the western regions, probably in the territory of modern Shanxi province. In that era, Yin was a much larger and more powerful tribal formation, and the Yin rulers repeatedly defeated the Zhou people. However, later the leader of the Zhuo-ustsy Wu-wan supported by 800 allied tribes in 1050 or 1027 BC. e. undertakes a campaign to the east, in the battle to the north of the Yellow River defeats the troops of the Yin ruler Di-xin and occupies the capital. Wu-wang declares himself the ruler of the Celestial Empire, and the Yin dynasty ceases to exist. According to legend, Di-sin kills himself.
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A. Maslov