Pages: 193-201

The monuments of the Silk Road as a complex cultural phenomenon are variously represented in the northwest China, that was caused by a number of factors. Firstly, a noticeable amount of Proto-Cninese huaxia had resided in this region since the Eastern Zhou epoch. Secondly, nomadic waves from Eurasian Steppe Belt (e. g. Xiongnu, Xianbei, etc.) reached this territory. Thirdly, the migrants from Central Asia (Sogdia, Bactria) and Western Asia were active in the described region too. This type of ethnocultural situation induced religious, political and cultural syncretism. The paper (for the first time in Russian-language academic literature) presents a detailed description of a “tomb with lacquer coffin” from Guyuan (Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region, China) also providing a guidance on the historical background of this unique complex, which had absorbed Chinese, nomadic and Western Asian traditions.

Keywords: China, Guyuan, Northern Wei, Early Medieval period, Xianbei, cross-cultural contacts, funerary rite, Silk Road

Information about authors:

Daniil Shulga (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Siberian Institute of Management — the Branch of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). Nizhegorodskaya St., 6, Novosibirsk, 630102, Russian Federation; Novosibirsk State University. Pirogova St., 1, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Maria Kudinova (Beijing, China). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Peking University, School of Archaeology and Museology. Zhongguancunbei Ave., 126, Haidian District, Beijing, 100871, China
E-mail: [email protected]