[jimtorr]

Now I've recalled that when I was studying Chinese-Mandarin many years ago, the instructors at that time in that school all had earned at least masters degrees in the Chinese language and a few in Chinese history. One of them was one of the foremost calligraphers outside of China.

They all of them studied in Chinese universities on the mainland and escaped China before 1949. They mostly came from old scholarly families.

This is significant because they each of them said that in the old educated families it was common knowledge that the center of the majority Han tribal peoples had slowly drifted east over the millenia. Xi-an, in central China, had been their capital until the Mongols conqured China and made Beijing their capital. Before that, they said, the capital was even further east.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Excellent pot. thanks.

Xi-an, in central China, had been their capital...

Xi-an is the location of the famous terra cotta soldiers -- buried by the first emperor of China. (I think that was the case. It was 1983 when I visited there, and memory dims...) In any case, it is simply remarkable to look at the faces and uniforms of this underground regiment. Every soldier is different, and it is said that they were sculpted from the emperor's real life guard. This emperor was considered very modern and very kind because he buried a regiment of clay soldiers, instead of sacrificing real people to populate his tomb -- as had been the custom of previous rulers.

Several of the soldiers clay looked very Caucasion. I recognized Turks and Indians. I also recognized the faces of Chinese friends I had gone to school with in California -- the statues were so realistic. Only a small part of the excavation had been opened in 1983. I imagine that there are many more visible to the public now. Although the statues a just clay color in situ, they had originally been painted in realistic and lavish colors. A few have been repainted to show the visitor what they looked like when first buried.

I think the soldiers are from a later time than the mummies in this article, but that just shows that there was Western influence in China much later.