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Hexi Corridor / Gansu and Ningxia Corridor

The Hexi Corridor, also known as the Gansu Corridor, is an important historical region located in the modern western Gansu province of China. The Hexi Corridor is a very important geographical term in ancient China. The Hexi Corridor is located between Qilian Mountain, Longshou Mountain, Heli Mountain and other mountains. Like a corridor, it is long and straight. It is located to the west of the Yellow River, so it is called Hexi Corridor. The Hexi Corridor is an oasis channel nurtured by the melting ice and snow of the Qilian Mountains.

The Hexi Corridor is sandwiched between Qilian Mountain, Heli Mountain, Longshou Mountain and other mountain ranges. It is long and straight, shaped like a corridor. Because it is located to the west of the Yellow River, it is called the "Hexi Corridor". Starting from Jincheng (Lanzhou), crossing Wushaoling, the boundary between the Loess Plateau and the Hexi Plain, formally enters the Hexi Corridor. From southeast to northwest, the Hexi Corridor passes through Liangzhou (Wuwei), Ganzhou (Zhangye), Jiayuguan, Suzhou (Jiuquan), Guazhou, and Shazhou (Dunhuang) at the east end, and extends to the vicinity of Yumen Pass. It is about 1,000 kilometers long and several kilometers wide to nearly 200 kilometers.

The Han Empire established a magnificent Silk Road from Chang'an to the Roman Empire in Europe through the Hexi Corridor and Western Regions such as Xinjiang and Central Asia. The core of this epic exploration was to open up the Hexi Corridor. The geographical location is important and it is not an exaggeration to call it the East Asian Land-based Malacca Strait.

The Hexi Corridor is a very important area. First of all, naturally it has extremely important military obligations. The Hexi Corridor is arable and grazing. It is an important channel connecting the nomadic civilization and the agricultural civilization of the Central Plains. The farming peoples occupy the Hexi Corridor and develop agriculture here, which can effectively export culture and expand power to the Western Regions.

Occupying the Hexi Corridor, advancing and retreating, and defending, the Central Plains countries firmly controlled the Hexi Corridor, and exerted strong military pressure on the nomads in the Western Regions, making them always within the attack range of the Central Plains dynasty and did not dare to act rashly. For the Central Plains dynasty, their major enemies generally came from the north. Once they controlled the Hexi Corridor, the northern nomads were divided into two parts.

In addition, the Central Plains dynasty increased its influence on the Western Regions through the control of the Hexi Corridor. The Central Plains dynasty established a United Nations army, stationed a small number of troops in the form of multinational forces, and used the Western Regions' own power to stabilize the Western Regions and radiate the entire northern region. When necessary, it can also attack the northern nomads such as the Huns.

When the Central Plains dynasty was strong, the Hexi Corridor was the passage through which the Central Plains dynasty controlled the Western Regions to open up territory. When the national power was weak, the Hexi Corridor was the national fortress and the first line of defense against foreign invasions. For example, during the Ming Dynasty, Jiayuguan was the northwest of the Ming Empire. The first fortress in the border area, from this, it can be seen that its military significance is of great significance.

The unobstructed Hexi Corridor can provide a safe business route for China, the Western Regions and even more distant Western countries, and can ensure the protection of trade links between various countries and the Central Plains dynasty. Through the Hexi Corridor, the cultures of the East and the West collide and merge with each other, creating a splendid flower of civilization.

As the camel teams went east and west, the trade exchanges of East and West goods enabled the spread of science and technology. Some technologies that were exclusive to the East were gradually spread to the West. Some skills that were originally only mastered by Westerners gradually became more popular with Easterners. Learning has effectively improved the development level of productivity in various countries.

Third, the Hexi Corridor is located at the crossroads of Asia and is the fusion point of East Asian, South Asian and West Asian cultures. Various cultures merged here and entered China through the Hexi Corridor, and took root and sprouted in our country, forming a great influence. And the music and dances with strong ethnic colors of the Western Regions, which are popular in the Central Plains, also entered the Central Plains from the Hexi Corridor and were all the rage.

The capitals of Qianliang, Houliang, Nanliang, Beiliang, Xiliang, and Daliang of the Jin Dynasty were built here. It is the main road from the mainland of China to the Western Regions. It is also known as the Land of Yongliang. The ancient Silk Road departs from Xi'an, passes through the Hexi Corridor, and enters Xinjiang from Yangguan and Yumenguan respectively. The Hexi Corridor therefore became the hub of the ancient Silk Road, connecting material trade and cultural exchanges on the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe. The eastern and western cultures are surging each other here, and the accumulation of a magnificent historical civilization.

The long and narrow area of the Hexi Corridor, while serving as a blood vessel for culture and economic trade, it also divides the ethnic minorities in northern China into two parts, one east and one west, preventing them from effectively contacting and interacting with each other. They were completely isolated, thereby reducing their pressure on the invasion of the Central Plains Dynasty.

This place was occupied by the Western Rong in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. It was occupied by the Yue people during the Warring States Period and the Pre-Qin Dynasty. Before the Han Dynasty, the Hexi Corridor had an ancient road for economic, trade and religious exchanges. After the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Chechu established two counties, Wuwei County and Jiuquan County, and then Wuwei County was divided into Zhangye County and Jiuquan County, which were divided into Dunhuang County.

Before the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, Wusun was nomadic in the Guyuan area of Ningxia, and then they gradually migrated to the Hexi area, and later moved westward to the Yili River Basin to establish a small political power. In 139 BC, Zhang Qian sent the Dayue Clan as an envoy to the Western Regions, intending to form an alliance with the Dayue Clan to attack the Huns, but he returned without success.

Almost at the same time that Liu Bang established the Han Empire, Mao Dun of the Huns also unified the grasslands of northern China. However, the Han Empire at that time could not compete with the Huns at all, and could only bear the burden of humiliation under the invasion and harassment of the Huns. Why? The northern grassland peoples in the front line are a powerful whole, with strong soldiers and horses, and come and go freely. At the beginning of the establishment of the Han Dynasty, due to wars and other reasons, it was not only military, but also economically weak.

The Hexi Corridor penetrated into the Hami and Turpan areas, now called Eastern Xinjiang, like a long wedge. The Han Dynasty’s influence on the Western Regions at that time (initially did not include the northern Xinjiang region of today, but was limited to southern Xinjiang). Xinjiang region) management and occupation, on the one hand, opened up the channel of trade and culture. On the other hand, the Hexi Corridor crosses Lop Nur to the west along the northern foot of the Kunlun Mountains, which virtually isolates the ethnic groups living on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, especially the ancient Qiang people on the Qinghai Plateau, completely cutting off their ties with the Xiongnu.

This was actually tantamount to dividing the strength of the ethnic minorities in northern China into two, and the significance has a profound impact on future generations. Later, the Han Dynasty’s management in the eastern part of Qinghai has basically made the ancient Qiang people who had joined forces with the Xiongnu to deal with the Central Plains dynasty live in a veritable “land of bitter cold”.

The Hexi Corridor has been in operation for hundreds of years since Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty and Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, to the western tour of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, to the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and ancient Qinghai, Xinjiang and even Gansu have established strong ties with the inland Guanzhong. They support and supplement each other, culturally close exchanges and absorb them, and they are also close in blood through marriage. Some ethnic groups living together have "speaks Chinese together", and some even have to "dissolve the braids and cut the guts", change their Hufu, and require "naturalization". The four counties of Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Zhangye, and Wuwei in the Hexi Corridor have also become international trading metropolises, reflecting China's confidence and ability to open up the country, manage the Western Regions, and promote domestic prosperity through mutual exchanges. However, in the late Tang Dynasty, the court lost this place.

In 755, after the Anshi Rebellion broke out, the Tang government hurriedly transferred elite soldiers from Hexi, Longyou and other places to quell the war. The generals of Helong and Shuofang were mostly transferred to the key areas of Tongguan. Tubo took advantage of the situation to attack the Tang, looting prefectures and counties, and injuring local Han people. After 756, Tubo occupied more than ten states to the west of Fengxiang, Shaanxi and north of the sub-states, and successively occupied Kuozhou, Minzhou, Qinzhou, Weizhou, Taozhou and other places.

In 1073, the Northern Song Dynasty began to regain Hehuang. The purpose was to regain Hehuang, so that Xixia could be attacked, and finally Xixia was eliminated and the northwestern region of China was unified. In March, the Song army captured Hezhou, crossed the exposed mountains, and recovered Hezhou south. Then they captured the two states of Dang and Min, and the leaders of the Qiang people in the two states of Die and Tao all surrendered. Expanded the political and economic influence of the Han Dynasty on ancient Xinjiang, and promoted the unification of Xinjiang in the Han Dynasty; the construction of the Hexi nomadic area into an agricultural area provided convenient conditions for the smooth flow of the Silk Road; the development of agriculture and handicraft production in the Hexi area.

The Hexi Corridor was very important in ancient times. For now, the Hexi Corridor is still an important town in our country and a key area where the One Belt One Road policy can be implemented. It will become even better.