First, the Khitans living in the ancestral land of Khitan gradually forgot their ethnic origin and merged with other ethnic groups.
Second, after the demise of the Western Liao Dynasty, most of the Khitans in the northern desert moved westward to Kerman, Iran, and were completely Islamized.
Third, after the outbreak of the Jin-Meng War, some Khitans who "vowed not to eat golden millet" took refuge in Mongolia. They followed the Mongolian army to the west and spread to all parts of the country.
In other words, the Khitan nationality melted like ice thrown into the sea. So, can these melted ice be found back?
Just as the experts were looking for clues, a minority named Daur caught their attention.
The legend of Daur
The vast Daxing 'anling Mountains and the clear Nenjiang River. The vast Hulunbeier grassland. Daur people thrive in the intersection of these three landscapes.
Daur means "native place", namely hometown. For hundreds of years, the Daur people have been nomadic here, but where is their hometown? The Daur people themselves don't know, because they don't have their own characters, and they can only pass on history by dictation. No one knows anything before the Qing Dynasty.
A local legend has aroused the interest of national historians: hundreds of years ago, a Qidan army came here to build a frontier fortress (frontier fortress is a unique vocabulary of Daur people, referring to a building similar to the Great Wall). ) and then settle down here. The leader of this army is Sagir Diahan, the ancestor of Daur nationality.
This legend connects Daur and Qidan, but will the legendary story be the truth of history?
As early as the Qing Dynasty, it was suggested that the Daur nationality originated in Qidan. Some modern scholars have found a lot of evidence by comparing the production, life, customs, religion, language and history of Qidan and Daur nationality, which shows that Daur nationality is the nationality that inherits the most traditions of Qidan.
But what they found is indirect evidence, and they can't come to a conclusion until they have enough scientific evidence.
Is Yunnan "I" a descendant of Qidan?
Just when the Daur people were at the end of their roots, another front for finding the descendants of Qidan was opened in Yunnan.
Shidian, an unknown mountain county, has attracted the attention of ethnologists since the 1990s. Here, people found a special nation, and still use the fine print of the Khitan on the graves of their ancestors, collectively called "I".
In a "I" ancestral hall in Wang You Township, Shidian County, people found a plaque engraved with the word "Lu Ye". "I" said that this is to commemorate their ancestor Azulu and show their descendants of Qidan.
It is indeed recorded in history that Azulu is a descendant of the Khitan who took refuge in Mongolia, and his ancestors participated in the rebel war in Nanping, Canada. But how to prove that these "I" are the descendants of Azulu? After all, Mobei Yunnan is separated from Wan Li, and before there is definite evidence, the academic circles can never "correct the name" of this ethnic group claiming to be descendants of the Khitan.
DNA technology reveals the mystery of age
A new technology brings hope for solving this eternal unsolved case. Even though the history has been forgotten, the writing has been lost and the language has changed, there is always a memory in the blood of the descendants of the Khitan gene. Now, archaeologists will use the emerging DNA technology to awaken this last memory.
For the first time, experts obtained the wrist bone of a female corpse in Qidan, Leshan, Sichuan; The teeth and skulls of Qidan people with epitaphs were obtained from Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. I collected blood samples from Baoshan and Shidian in Yunnan. Blood samples were collected from Daur, Ewenki, Mongolian and Han nationalities in Molidawa Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. After comparing the variable regions of mitochondrial DNA extracted from dental pulp and bone marrow of ancient specimens by silicon method, they finally came to an accurate conclusion: the Khitan people have the closest genetic relationship with the Daur people and are descendants of the Khitan people; The "I" in Yunnan has a similar paternal lineage to the Daur nationality, and is probably a descendant of the Khitan officers and men in the Mongolian army.
According to this survey and historical data, historians finally found out the whereabouts of the Khitan nationality: when the Mongols in the Yuan Dynasty established the Mongolian Empire across Eurasia, they fought for years and frequently recruited soldiers, and the Khitan nationality, which was able to recruit and fight well, was exhausted and scattered all over the country. Some ethnic groups, such as Daur, are still one ethnic group, while others are assimilated by the local people and scattered as "descendants in the molecular sense".
"The Khitan people live in the sand clouds, and the car is like water. Spring grass Wan Li, peony peony red. " This Millennium Qidan folk song vividly depicts the grandeur of Mongolian grassland and the heroism of Qidan nationality. Thousands of years have passed, the grassland is still there, and the descendants of Qidan are still there. They are still ploughing, grazing, releasing horses and singing. ...