Cliff inscription tells how ancient road was built

Home>>Life

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, March 29, 2004

Cliff inscription tells how ancient road was built

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Chinese archeologists have found an inscription on a mountain cliff in the southwestern Sichuan Province that tell how a road was built on the surface of cliffs nearly 2,000 years ago, when explosives had not been invented and iron tools not been used.

The inscription was discovered by Liu Dajin and Mou Jian, two primary school teachers in Yingjing County while swimming in a local river, said Gao Jungang, head of the county's museum.

According to Gao, the inscription were found in a cavern on therocky mountain, about 20 kilometers from the county seat, but had remained intact and legible.

"The 52-characters-inscription tells about how a local officialsurnamed He had a road built on the cliffs in 57 AD, during the Eastern Han Dynasty between 24 and 220 AD," he said.

The characters were in official script, or Lishu, an ancient style of calligraphy popular in the Han Dynasty, he said. "Each character is clear, concise and sturdy."

Experts say the road built by He was known as "zhandao", plank roads built along the face of a cliff by fixing wooden brackets into it, which served as "state highways" through the mountains inancient times. The first "zhandao" was earlier than the famous Great Wall built during the Qin Dynasty.

According to Mao Yisheng, one of China's leading bridge designers, "zhandao" was ancient China's third architectural miracle after the Great Wall and the Grand Canal.

Cultural heritage officials say the inscription provide important clues to researches on the building of ancient roads, history of communication in the southwestern region, as well as the evolution of the Chinese language and calligraphy.

"They suggest the 'Southern Silk Road' that passed Yingjing County in history was part of today's No. 108 state highway," saidLi Bingzhong, head of the cultural heritage administration in Ying'an City.

According to historic records, as early as 2,000 years ago, businessmen from Sichuan Province had started trade relations withpartners in south Asian countries along the ancient silk road fromChina's Yunnan Province to Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.

Their trade route is today called "the Southern Ancient Silk Road" on which a lot of ancient ruins and cultural relics can be found.

"It was believed the route was established in the remote Qin and Han dynasties, between 221 BC and 220 AD, but the new finding seems to suggest a much later date, sometimes during the Sui Dynasty (581 - 618) or Tang Dynasty (618 - 907)," Li said.

Prior to the recent finding, another site with cliff inscriptions, also from the Eastern Han Dynasty, had been discovered in Hanzhong City, northwestern Shaanxi Province, which commemorated building of a major road on Qinling Mountains to shipgrains and other resources from the rich Sichuan Basin to the northwest in 63 AD.

Source: Xinhua

Questions?Comments? Click here

Treasured Stone Inscriptions Being Removed from Three Gorges Cliffs

Over 600 Rare Inscribed Bones Unearthed in Central China

Rare inscriptions unearthed

Israel's killing of Yassin fuels conflict: Commentary ( 2 Messages)

How the US could improve its image abroad ( 14 Messages)

US urged not to fingerprint Chinese ( 10 Messages)

China hunts corrupt officials who abscond overseas ( 3 Messages)

Seven Chinese activists land on Diaoyu Islands ( 4 Messages)