2.4 The Land of Cultural Hybrid

In Chinese culture, nothing is more important than family. The notion of placing the family in the center of the entire society has been endorsed by both the sovereigns of successive dynasties and the populace. Confucius, the Chinese sage who lived in the turbulent years of the Warring State period, emphasized in his work Classic of Rites:

The ancients who wished to manifest their clear character to the world would first bring order to their states. Those who wished to bring order to their states would first regulate their families. . . when the family is regulated, the state will be in order; and when the state is in order, there will be peace throughout the world. From the Son of Heaven down to the common people. . . (Confucius 2)

Family, therefore, has become the root of stability for both the state and the common people. Throughout Chinese history, there have been exemplary individuals, both monarchs and commoners who were given highest honor for doing something extraordinary to maintain the harmony of the family. Since family plays such a crucial role in maintaining peace and stability of a society, it is little wonder why the Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty would initiate a massive migration of people to be settled on the northern border of Shanbei. This is particularly true of the soldiers who were so far away from their families. With their families joining them, they would be more devoted to the defense of the national border because to defend the national border also meant to protect their own families. Furthermore, for people of different ethnic groups to live peacefully together, there would be more opportunities for them to get to know each other, and with the elapse of time, interracial marriages between Han and people of other ethnic groups became common. So far, there have been no official records to show how many families were of mixed races during the Han Dynasty following the massive migration in the first century CE. However, the fact that the contemporary culture of Shanbei is a hybrid of multiple cultures evidenced by the excavated cultural artifacts of the early Han Dynasty is a telling testimony of the racial harmony and interracial mingling.

In fact, the interracial marriage between Han and other ethnical people was encouraged and even promoted at the highest level of the Han's court. Historical records show that the emperors of the successive royal courts sent their princesses to marry the Mongol chieftains in large numbers. There has been a millennium-long debate about the consequences of marrying Chinese princesses to the Mongols. One side of the debate presents a negative view of such interracial marriage, arguing that this is a humiliating gesture of the Han Courts to use women as pawns in exchange for temporary peace. Those on the positive side argue that the interracial marriages at the highest level demonstrate the willingness of the Han emperors to secure national security on the one hand and promote racial harmony on the other. Despite of the controversy, the interracial marriages did provide peace not only for the people on the border, but for the entire empire. In a span of more than 160 years as shown in Figure 1, there were 16 princesses from the Han Courts who married Mongol chieftains.

It is noted that many of princesses were nameless owing partially to the fact that some of them were not actually daughters of the royal families. But one was definitely someone without royal blood. She is none other than Wang Zhaojun, a household name in China for more than two millenniums up to the present day.

The story of Wang Zhaojun is both factual and legendary. In the first place, she was a real person. Unlike all the other princesses who married the Mongols, she was from humble origin, who came to the royal court as a servant. It just happened that she was spotted by a Mongol chieftain at the royal banquet that the Chinese emperor presented to a Mongol guest who came the capital to seek a Chinese bride. Her beauty immediately blinded the Mongol chief, who proposed to the Chinese emperor to grant him the honor of having Wang Zhaojun as his wife. It was said that her beauty also intrigued the liking of the Han Emperor who would like to have the beautiful maid at his own service. He wondered why nobody had ever recommended the beauty to him earlier. As the story goes, all the maids selected from various provinces to come to the royal court were supposed to have a portrait to be painted by the court artist. The maids, therefore, tried every means possible to bribe the court painter so that he would paint a nice portrait for those who had bribed him. Wang Zhaojun, however, did not have money to give to the painter on the one hand, and she loathed the practice on the other. As a result, the court artist painted an ugly portrait of her, and that was the reason why she had never been spotted by the Emperor. So, the Han Emperor reluctantly granted the marriage and dispatched a convoy to escort Wang Zhaojun to her new home. The Han Emperor personally saw her off when a grand ceremony was staged at Chang'an, the capital of the Han Court. The scene was grandiose, and the convoy extravagant; but the mood was subdued. Embarking on a journey of no return with unknown destination, the bride had no mood to celebrate. She was said to hold a pipa, an imported musical instrument, with her. As the familiar homeland began to recede and vast deserts started to emerge before her, she was so sad that she commenced to play a tune with pipa. Wild geese, it is said, that stunned at her beauty and saddened at the melancholy tune, dropped to the ground.

Whether the story of Wang Zhaojun is factual or legendary, one thing is for certain — the route that she took on her journey from Chang'an, the capital of the Han Court, to her new destination was“Qin's Direct Road, ”the road that Meng Tian built more than 200 years ago. Near the end of the road is a location named: “The Tomb of Zhaojun. ”It is the place Wang Zhaojun was buried, and the locals named the place after her name to commemorate the life of a brave woman, who sacrificed her life for the peace and racial harmony between the Han and Xiongnu. There were no official records to show what kind of life she led on the land of Xiongnu; however, historical records did show that her husband died just a few years after their marriage. It was also recorded that at the death of her husband, she sent a message to the Han Emperor to recall her home, but the Emperor refused her request by replying, “Follow the local rules. ”So, she had to follow the local custom by marrying the son of the Mongol chieftain. She bore her first husband a son and her second two daughters. But the peace that she had helped to secure did not last long. It is noted from Figure 1 on the previous page that Wang Zhaojun was the last Chinese princesses to be married away to the Xiongnu chieftains. In her life time, she must have witnessed the ever deteriorating relationship between the Han and Xiongnu. She died in sorrow, and was buried on the bank of the Yellow River. It is said that the burying ground of her tomb remains to this day ever green even in winter when everything is turned to yellow and grey. Later generations name her tomb the“Blue Tomb. ”

The“Blue Tomb, ”though lonely on the wind-blowing desert, has become the motif of enormous literary works. In fact, it is estimated that there are as many as 700 poems throughout Chinese history written in her honor; more than 40 fictions or dramas are composed to depict her life, and about 500 well-known writers and poets commemorate her in their literary works, including Li Bai (701-762), the immortal of Chinese poetry of Tang Dynasty, who grieved over her fate.

In the sky her hometown moon is hanging high,

汉家秦地月，

The moon is following her with its bright light.

流影照明妃。

It follows her on the route to the Yumen fortress,

一上玉关道，

It is a route she will travel on and never regress.

天涯去不归。

The moon will rise again from the East China Sea,

汉月还从东海出，

But our princess will not come back to see.

明妃西嫁无来日。

Decorated only by the mountain leaves and wintry flakes,

燕支长寒雪作花，

Her pallid face will be buried in the barbarian sand dunes.

蛾眉憔悴没胡沙。

Failing to bribe the court painter, she got an ugly portrait,

生乏黄金枉图画，

The blue tomb she's left behind is for people to sign in despair.

死留青冢使人嗟。

(From the website of“Traditional Chinese Poetry”)

It is noted the first six lines seem to focus on the moon that followed her on her way to her destination. Moon has a significant meaning in the Chinese culture. It connotes family reunion and homesickness. Here, the poet who is said to travel to the region where the“Blue Tomb”of Wang Zhaojun is located and laments the fate of the young woman by focusing on the moon. Over 400 years ago, the same moon shed the light on the path on which Wang Zhaojun traveled. But she never came back to look at the moon of her hometown. Her life was forever buried on the alien land of sand dunes. As aforementioned, the historical debate as to the effectiveness of the interracial marriages between the Han princesses and Xiongnu chieftains has been going on for thousands of years, and most of the literary authors argue against such move by lamenting, like Li Bai did, the misery suffered by the princesses. On the other hand, nobody can deny the fact that the peace and stability, no matter how short-lived and temporary, promoted the mutual understanding between the people on both sides of the Great Wall, not to mention that there must be a lot more commoners who formed their families of mixed races. From a historical and cultural point of view, Shanbei has been a fertile ground for cultural synthesis, and the Shanbei folksongs are the products of cultural crossbreed.