Hexi Corridor

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Hexi Corridor
Gansu Corridor
Zhangye National Geopark in the Hexi Corridor
Scenery of the Hexi Corridor at Jiayuguan
Hexi Corridor is located in China
Hexi Corridor
Hexi Corridor
Location of the Hexi Corridor in China
Length1,000–1,200 km (620–750 mi)
Width40–100 km (25–62 mi)
Geography
Population centersDunhuang, Yumen City, Jiayuguan City, Jiuquan, Zhangye, Jinchang, Wuwei, and Lanzhou
Borders onGobi Desert (north)
Wushao Mountains (east)
Qilian Mountains (south)
Dunhuang (west)
Coordinates38°42′N 100°47′E / 38.700°N 100.783°E / 38.700; 100.783 

The Hexi Corridor (/həˈʃiː/ hə-SHEE),[a] also known as the Gansu Corridor, is an important historical region located in the modern western Gansu province of China. It refers to a narrow stretch of traversable and relatively arable plain west of the Yellow River's Ordos Loop (hence the name Hexi, meaning 'west of the river'), flanked between the much more elevated and inhospitable terrains of the Mongolian and Tibetan Plateaus.

As part of the Northern Silk Road, running northwest from the western section of the Ordos Loop between Yinchuan and Lanzhou, the Hexi Corridor was the most important trade route in Northwest China. It linked China proper to the historic Western Regions for traders and military incursions into Central Asia. It is a string of oases along the northern edges of the Qilian Mountains and Altyn-Tagh, with the high and desolate Tibetan Plateau further to the south. To the north are the Longshou, Heli and Mazong Mountains separating it from the arid Badain Jaran Desert, Gobi Desert and the cold steppes of the Mongolian Plateau. At the western end, the route splits into three, going either north of the Tianshan Mountains or south on either side of the Tarim Basin. At the eastern end, the mountains around Lanzhou grants access to the Longxi Basin, which leads east through Mount Long along the Wei River valley into the populous Guanzhong Plain, and then into the Central Plain.

Geography

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The Hexi Corridor is located in western Gansu Province. It stretches roughly 1,100 kilometres (680 mi) from the Wushao Mountains in the east to Yumen Pass in the west, 100–200 kilometres (60–100 mi) from north to south, ranges from 40–100 kilometres (20–60 mi) in width, and covers an area of approximately 276,000 square kilometres (107,000 sq mi) or around 60% of the area of Gansu Province. Its population was 4.82 million people in 2011, representing around 19% of the province’s total population. As of 2024, the corridor contains 20 administrative divisions and five prefecture-level cities, which are, from east to west: Wuwei, Jinchang, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Jiayuguan.[1][2][3]

The elevation of the Hexi Corridor descends from around 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) above sea level in the southeast to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) in the northwest,[3] and is internally divided by three uplifts into four intermontane basins.[4] It is bordered by the Qilian Mountains in the south and southeast, the Kumtag Desert to the west, the Mazong, Helan, and Longshou Mountains to the north, the Badain Jaran Desert to the northeast, and the Tengger Desert to the southeast.[5][6] The Qilian Mountains run south of the Hexi Corridor for 600 kilometres (370 mi) and contain several peaks exceeding 4,500 metres (14,800 ft) above sea level, while the mountains to the north generally range from 1,500–2,500 metres (4,900–8,200 ft) in height.[4]

Three major inland rivers flow through the Hexi Corridor: the Shiyang, Heihe, and Shule rivers. These rivers originate from the melting of glaciers and snow in the Qilian Mountain and form extensive alluvial fans and inland drainage basins in their lower reaches, beyond which lie deserts and large sand dune fields. Arable land in the Hexi Corridor mainly consists of regions around the oases that form in the deserts and around the rivers, which have supported both nomadic populations and settled civilizations for millennia.[7][8][9]

History

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Prehistory

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The Hexi Corridor has been the site of cultural exchanges across Eurasia since prehistory.[10] It was first settled around 4800 BP in Neolithic times by millet farmers from the Yangshao Culture in the western Loess Plateau,[11][12][13] who enabled the spread of millet to Central Asia and the rest of Eurasia and Africa.[14] These farmers also used pottery production techniques from Northern China.[12] Several cultures developed in the Hexi corridor during this time, such as the Majiayao, Banshan, and Machang.[15]

The oldest known bronze object discovered in China, dating to 5000–4500 BP, was unearthed at the Majiayao site.[16] The introduction of copper-smelting technology around 4200 BP marked the beginning of the Bronze Age in the Hexi Corridor,[17][18] and bronze production reached its peak between 4000 and 3500 BP.[19] Bronze artifacts from the Hexi Corridor dating to this period account for approximately 70 percent of all bronze objects found in China prior to the Shang dynasty.[20] During this time, domesticated livestock were introduced to the region,[21] so local cultures such as the Shajing, Qijia, Xichengyi, Siba, and Shanma developed agricultural economies based on smelting copper, cultivating millet, and herding animals such as sheep, pigs, cattle, and horses.[22][23]

Wheat and barley from the Fertile Crescent arrived in the Hexi Corridor via Central Asia around 4000 BP,[24][25][26] and later spread into China proper.[27] By around 3700–3500 BP, most likely due to the continual weakening and retreat of the East Asian monsoon since 4000 BP which had caused increasing aridity,[28][29] the more drought-resistant wheat and barley had replaced millet as the main staple crop in the Hexi Corridor.[30][25][31] Cultures after this time period (such as the Shajing culture) saw a decrease in site numbers and bronze artifacts,[32][33][34] and became dominated by nomadic production rather than agriculture.[35][36]

Han dynasty

[edit]
The Han dynasty in 60 BCE
  Principalities and commanderies
  Four Commanderies of Hexi
  Protectorate of the Western Regions
See also: Han dynasty

The nomadic Yuezhi resided in the Hexi Corridor in the 3rd century BCE.[37] The Great Wall of China was constructed into parts of the Hexi Corridor following the Qin-Xiongnu Wars,[38] and the defeated Xiongnu formed a confederacy under leader Modu Chanyu.[39][40] In 176 BCE, the Xiongnu defeated the Yuezhi, most of whom fled from the region while the remaining population moved south into the Qilian (Nanshan) Mountains to live with the Qiang.[41][42] The Xiongnu were subsequently in complete control of the Hexi Corridor.[43][44]

During the Han-Xiongnu Wars, Han dynasty general Huo Qubing expelled the Xiongnu from the Hexi Corridor at the Battle of Hexi [zh] (121 BCE).[45][46] The province of Liangzhou was created with its capital at Guzang (modern Wuwei City), within which the commanderies of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang (the Four Commanderies of Hexi) were established.[46][47][48] This gave the Han dynasty control over major trade routes to Central Asia and is regarded by most scholars as the beginning of the Silk Road.[49][50][51] Agricultural garrison towns were established in the Hexi Corridor to secure the route and the Great Wall was extended to Yumen Pass 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Dunhuang.[52][53][54] Additionally, the Han dynasty's acquisition of the Hexi Corridor allowed them to conquer the Tarim Basin and establish the Protectorate of the Western Regions in 60 BCE,[55][56] and proved instrumental in defeating the Xiongnu as it prevented contact between them and the Qiang.[57][58]

Ruins of the Big Fangpan Castle at Yumen Pass, the western end of the Han-era Great Wall.

Following the collapse of the interregnum Xin dynasty in 23 CE, the Hexi Corridor was settled by large numbers of Qiang people and came under the control of warlord Dou Rong [zh], who submitted to the reinstated Eastern Han dynasty in 29 CE.[59][60][61] In the 2nd century CE, millions of Han settlers withdrew from the Hexi Corridor when the Qiang began to raid the region.[62][63][64] The Yuezhi, Xiongnu, and Qiang instigated the Liangzhou Rebellion in 184, which largely isolated the Hexi Corridor from central control and contributed to the fall of the Han dynasty.[65][66][67] By the end of the Han dynasty, the Hexi Corridor was occupied by warlords Han Sui, Ma Teng and Ma Chao.[68][69] In 214, warlord Cao Cao conquered the region and incorporated it into his state of Cao Wei.[70]

Six Dynasties and Sixteen Kingdoms

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Timeline of the Sixteen Kingdoms.
See also: Six Dynasties and Sixteen Kingdoms

Cao Cao's son Cao Pi of Wei deposed the Han dynasty in 220, marking the start of the Three Kingdoms era.[71][72] In 230, rival Three Kingdoms state Shu Han attacked the Hexi Corridor as part of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions.[73] In 266, Cao Wei became the Jin dynasty, which inherited the Hexi Corridor.[74][75] In 270, the Xianbei, related to the Xiongnu, began a rebellion in the region which lasted until 279.[76] Starting in the late 3rd century, groups such as the Kushans (descended from the Yuezhi) and Sogdians established a widespread presence in the Hexi Corridor as merchants along the Silk Road.[77][78] These groups contributed significantly to the spread of belief systems such as Buddhism into the Hexi Corridor.[79][80][81]

Part of the Mogao Caves, near Dunhuang.

The state of Former Liang was founded in the Hexi Corridor in the early 4th century, and became the longest-lasting and most politically stable of the Sixteen Kingdoms.[82][83] In 376, Former Liang was conquered by Former Qin; various parts of the Hexi Corridor then came under the control of Later Liang in 386, Southern and Northern Liang in 397, and Western Liang in 400, before reunifying under Northern Liang in 421.[84][85] During this period, the Hexi Corridor was spared from much of the turmoil of the Central China Plains, which caused increased migration to the region and led to it becoming a centre of culture in China.[86][87][88] Buddhist culture and activity flourished in the region; the first of the Mogao Caves were constructed during this time,[89] and the extensive creation of Buddhist artworks and translation of texts at this time directly contributed to the adoption of the religion in the rest of China.[90][91]

In 439, Northern Wei conquered Northern Liang and ended the Sixteen Kingdoms era, though the final Northern Liang stronghold at Dunhuang remained until 442.[92][93] A garrison was then established at Dunhuang to defend against the Rouran and significant numbers of civilians were moved from the Hexi Corridor to the Wei capital at Pingcheng, promoting the readoption of classical Chinese culture and spread of Buddhism in the Central Plains.[88][94][95] In the 470s, the Northern Wei government considered abandoning the Hexi Corridor due to repeated raids by the Rouran. They later defeated the Rouran in 492, although the region remained largely desolate into the early 6th century.[96][97] After the fall of Northern Wei, the Hexi Corridor came into the control of Western Wei in 535, which became Northern Zhou in 557.[98][99]

Medieval history

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A map showing the Hexi Corridor under Tibetan control in the late 780s.

In 581, Northern Zhou became the Sui dynasty,[100] which later reunited China Proper for the first time in three centuries.[101][102] In 609, Emperor Yang of Sui toured the region and personally commanded an expedition against the Tuyuhun to protect its trade routes.[103][104] Warlord Li Gui seized control of the Hexi Corridor in 617 and proclaimed himself ruler of Liang, which was conquered by the newly-founded Tang dynasty in 619.[105][106] In 627, Buddhist monk Xuanzang passed through the Hexi Corridor on his way to India.[107][108]

Between 630 and 657, the Tang dynasty conquered territories from several Central Asian states to secure the Hexi Corridor and consolidate control over the Silk Road.[109][110] The renewed stability encouraged trade and cultural exchange; goods as well as religions such as Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity, and Islam spread through the region into central China, and cities in the Hexi Corridor became increasingly cosmopolitan.[111] This expansion also brought the Tang into conflict with the Tibetan Empire, which began encroaching on the Hexi Corridor around 670.[112][113] In 711, the Hexi Corridor was organised under a military governor (jiedushi) as one of nine frontier commands of the Tang dynasty,[114] which by 742 possessed a quarter of all horses in the empire and represented its third-largest military force.[115]

One of several murals at the Mogao Caves commissioned by general Zhang Yichao's successors depicting his victory over Tibetan forces.[116]

Tang forces were withdrawn from the Hexi Corridor following the outbreak of the An Lushan Rebellion in 755 and the Tibetan Empire gradually occupied the region, culminating in their capture of Dunhuang in 786 and the rest of the Hexi Corridor in the 790s.[117][118] Following this, residents of the region adopted various Tibetan customs such as the use of Tibetan names and the Tibetan script, which continued even after the Tang dynasty reasserted control.[119] Tibetan influence in the Hexi Corridor during this period led to the spread of Tibetan Buddhist culture to the rest of Eurasia, where it remained a dominant culture into the early 20th century.[120][121]

The Tibetan Empire collapsed in 842;[122] the Hexi Corridor was then seized by warlord Zhang Yichao in 848, who established the Tang-loyal Guiyi Circuit in 851.[123][124] The Guiyi Circuit reunified the Hexi Corridor and reached its greatest extent in the 860s.[125] Its power and territory then steadily declined under pressure from two Uyghur states: the Qocho Kingdom in the Tarim Basin to the west and the Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom to the east,[126] which was founded after the Guiyi Circuit lost control of its eastern provinces in the 880s.[127]

By the early 10th century, the Guiyi Circuit was confined to the area surrounding Dunhuang, and was almost completely isolated from the rest of China by the Ganzhou Uyghurs' seizure of goods along the Silk Road.[128][129] In 911, the Guiyi Circuit became a vassal of the Ganzhou Uyghurs and reopened the Silk Road in 925.[130][131] After this, Dunhuang once again became a centre of culture in the region;[132] some of the largest temples at the Mogao Caves were constructed during this time, and Buddhist texts produced at Dunhuang were freely distributed to the Ganzhou and Qocho kingdoms. This revival was partly driven and financed by the diplomatic relations that the three states maintained with one another and with the dominant dynasties of the Central Plains.[133][134]

Western Xia dynasty and Mongol rule

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The Western Xia dynasty at its greatest extent around 1150.

The timeline of the Hexi Corridor’s conquest by the Tangut-led Western Xia dynasty remains somewhat unclear, with Western Xia likely beginning its invasion in 1028 and completing the conquest in 1036.[135] However, a state (possibly the Guiyi Circuit or a Uyghur kingdom) in the vicinity of Dunhuang may have remained independent until at least 1052, though the Tanguts controlled the entire region by the 1070s.[136][137] After the conquest of the Hexi Corridor, large numbers of civilians were mobilized for a campaign against the Song dynasty and the region's trade routes were increasingly bypassed by merchants, leading to a decline in the region’s prosperity.[138][139]

In 1205, the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan plundered the Hexi Corridor in the first of their attacks on Western Xia; this was followed in 1209 by a full-scale invasion launched through the corridor which led to Western Xia’s submission as a vassal in 1210.[140] Genghis Khan invaded once again in 1225, conquering the entire Hexi Corridor in 1226 and the rest of Western Xia in 1227, the year of his death.[141]

Sometime between 1271 and 1275 (shortly after the establishment of the Mongol Yuan dynasty), Marco Polo travelled through the Hexi Corridor on his way to Xanadu, and recorded sights such as the giant reclining Buddha statue at Zhangye and the region's yaks.[142]

Ming and Qing dynasties

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The Great Wall east of Jiayu Pass, constructed 1539–1541 during the Ming dynasty.[143]

In 1370, the newly-established Ming dynasty seized the eastern section of the Hexi Corridor from the Mongols and captured most of the remaining territory in 1372.[144][145] Later that same year, they constructed Jiayu Pass 15 kilometres (9 mi) east of Dunhuang,[143] which left the city under the control of the Northern Yuan dynasty and led to it largely being abandoned.[146][147] By this point, the Hexi Corridor had largely lost its importance as a major trade route.[148]

Like the Han dynasty over a millennium prior, the Ming dynasty established garrison towns along the frontier shortly after their conquest of the region.[149][150] In 1524, Jiayu Pass was closed and Dunhuang was occupied by the Turfan Khanate.[151] The Ming dynasty rebuilt the Great Wall through the Hexi Corridor from 1539–1541 and added an extension in 1573.[143]

In 1644, the Hexi Corridor was briefly seized by the short-lived Shun dynasty until Qing forces under general Ajige defeated them in 1645.[152] In 1648, Muslim rebels led by Milayin [zh] occupied most of Gansu and retreated west to the Hexi Corridor in June of that year, where the rebels held out against Qing generals Meng Qiaofang [zh] and Zhang Yong [zh] in the cities of Ganzhou (Zhangye) and Suzhou (Jiuquan) until 1649.[153][154] After the Qing victory, 5,000 rebels were executed and Muslims in the Hexi Corridor were resettled away from major cities.[148][154] Between 1674 and 1676, the Hexi Corridor was isolated from the rest of the Qing dynasty during the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, in which Zhang Yong and his lieutenants played a major role in its suppression.[155][156]

A map of Zuo Zongtang's military campaign against the Dungan Revolt.

Thousands of soldiers and farmers were settled in the Hexi Corridor to cultivate the land in the 1720s as part of a defensive system designed to isolate the Dzungar Khanate from Kokonor (Qinghai),[157] where a Dzungar uprising had been quelled.[158] By the 1750s, yields of millet and wheat, the region’s two main crops, had become so high that the Qing dynasty frequently redistributed its harvest across the empire to stabilize grain prices and alleviate famines.[159]

Most of the Hexi Corridor fell to Muslim rebels in 1865 during the Dungan Revolt, which triggered further revolts in Xinjiang.[160] In 1873, General Zuo Zongtang laid siege to Jiuquan with 15,000 soldiers, and attacked its walls with siege guns and explosives. More than 7,000 Muslims were executed after the city's capture, and the remaining Muslims in the Hexi Corridor were resettled to southeastern Gansu to prevent future collaboration with Muslims in Xinjiang.[161][162]

In 1907, archaeologist Aurel Stein explored the Hexi Corridor, where he rediscovered treasures such as the Mogao Caves and a collection of ancient Sogdian letters in Dunhuang.[163][164]

Modern era

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The Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway near Jiayuguan City.

The Hexi Corridor, along with the rest of Gansu, was seized by Hui Muslim warlords in 1911 following the collapse of the Qing dynasty and the onset of the Warlord Era. These warlords established the Ma clique, which declared its allegiance to the newly-formed Kuomintang government in 1927.[165] In August 1949, Gansu was captured by the People's Liberation Army during the final stages of the Chinese Civil War.[166]

The Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway, which runs through the Hexi Corridor, began construction in 1952 and opened in 1963.[167] In 1987, the Mogao Caves were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[168] The Lanzhou–Xinjiang high-speed railway, also passing through the Hexi Corridor, began construction in 2009 and opened in 2014.[169] In 2025, the Chinese government announced a plan to construct a 1,000 km (620 mi) "national heritage route" along the Hexi Corridor, which is expected to be completed in ten years.[170][171]

Geography and climate

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The Hexi Corridor is a long, narrow passage stretching for some 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from the steep Wushaolin hillside near the modern city of Lanzhou to the Jade Gate[172] at the border of Gansu and Xinjiang. There are many fertile oases along the path, watered by rivers flowing from the Qilian Mountains, such as the Shiyang, Jinchuan, Ejin (Heihe), and Shule Rivers.

A strikingly inhospitable environment surrounds this chain of oases: the snow-capped Qilian Mountains (the so-called "southern mountains" or "Nanshan") to the south; the Beishan ("northern mountains") mountainous area, the Alashan Plateau, and the vast expanse of the Gobi desert to the north.

Geologically, the Hexi Corridor belongs to a Cenozoic foreland basin system on the northeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau.[173]

The ruins of a Han dynasty watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang.

The ancient trackway formerly passed through Haidong, Xining and the environs of Juyan Lake, serving an effective area of about 215,000 km2 (83,000 sq mi). It was an area where mountain and desert limited caravan traffic to a narrow trackway, where relatively small fortifications could control passing traffic.[174]

There are several major cities along the Hexi Corridor. In western Gansu Province is Dunhuang (Shazhou), then Yumen, then Jiayuguan, then Jiuquan (Suzhou), then Zhangye (Ganzhou) in the center, then Jinchang, then Wuwei (Liangzhou) and finally Lanzhou in the southeast. In the past, Dunhuang was part of the area known as the Western Regions. South of Gansu Province, in the middle just over the provincial boundary, lies the city of Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province. Xining used to be the chief commercial hub of the Hexi Corridor.

The Jiayuguan fort guards the western entrance to China. It is located in Jiayuguan pass at the narrowest point of the Hexi Corridor, some 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) southwest of the city of Jiayuguan. The Jiayuguan fort is the first fortification of Great Wall of China in the west.

See also

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References

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Notes

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  1. ^ Chinese: 河西走廊; pinyin: Héxī Zǒuláng; Wade–Giles: Ho2-hsi1 Tsou3-lang2; Dungan: Хәщи зулон; Xiao'erjing: حْسِ ظِوْلاْ; Mandarin pronunciation: [xɤ̌ɕí tsòʊlɑ̌ŋ]

Citations

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  1. ^ Liu et al. 2015, pp. 251–252.
  2. ^ Nie, Wang & Huang 2023, pp. 3–4.
  3. ^ a b Zhou et al. 2025, p. 255.
  4. ^ a b Li & Yang 1998, p. 347.
  5. ^ Zhang et al. 2016, pp. 70–71.
  6. ^ Yang et al. 2020, p. 613.
  7. ^ Chen 1996, p. 247.
  8. ^ Tang et al. 2023, Section 2.1. Study area and period.
  9. ^ Zhu 2022.
  10. ^ Dong et al. 2017.
  11. ^ Dong, Liang & Zhang 2024, p. 4: "Millet farmers settled in the northeast Tibetan Plateau and the Hexi Corridor during 5500–4300 BP, with broomcorn and foxtail millet being the primary crops in these two regions, respectively".
  12. ^ a b Dong et al. 2017, p. 627: "The data indicate that millet farmers had settled in the Hexi Corridor by 4800 BP, with the production of painted pottery that originated from north China".
  13. ^ Li et al. 2023, pp. 4–5.
  14. ^ Stevens et al. 2016, pp. 1544–1545.
  15. ^ Dong et al. 2017, p. 622: "The Neolithic of the Hexi Corridor consists of three types of the Majiayao culture: the Majiayao (5000–4600 BP), Banshan (4600–4300 BP), and Machang (4300–4000 BP)".
  16. ^ Chen et al. 2020, p. 954: "In this context, the Hexi Corridor is again at the heart of the discussion [...] It is within this region that archaeologists discovered the oldest bronze object so far in China (c.5000–4500 bp at the Majiayao site)".
  17. ^ Zhou et al. 2012, p. 42: "After 4200 cal BP, the Qijia and Siba Cultures, which had copper smelting technology, prevailed in this region. Prosperous Bronze Age agriculture in the Hexi Corridor appears to have terminated suddenly around 3500-3400 cal BP".
  18. ^ Dong et al. 2017, p. 625, Material evidence in the context of prehistoric transcontinental exchange.
  19. ^ Zhang et al. 2017, pp. 93–94, Section 2.1 Study area.
  20. ^ Zhang et al. 2017, p. 94: To date, archaeologists have unearthed more than 300 bronze artifacts and copper smelting artifacts from Qijia, Xichengyi and Siba culture archaeological sites. In total, these artifacts account for around 70% of the number of unearthed bronze artifacts in China before Shang Dynasty.
  21. ^ Ren et al. 2022, p. 6: "The dispersal of domestic cattle and caprines along the Chinese Oasis route, including through the Hexi Corridor, probably occurred later than that of the more northern grassland route. Specifically, domestic cattle and sheep/goats may not have been introduced to the Hexi Corridor until ∼4000 BP".
  22. ^ Yang et al. 2020, p. 615, Section 3.3 Subsistence strategy data.
  23. ^ Zhou et al. 2012, pp. 46–47: "The prosperity of Bronze Age agricultural societies in the Hexi Corridor persisted from ca. 4200 to 3500 cal BP, and was characterised by agro-pastoralist societies that kept livestock including pig, sheep, cattle and horse, while also producing bronze objects of alloyed copper, arsenic and tin".
  24. ^ Dong et al. 2017, p. 623: "Charred seeds of wheat, barley, foxtail, and broomcorn millet are all identified from Huoshiliang and other Bronze sites in the central Hexi Corridor. This implies that wheat had been introduced to the Hexi Corridor region by at least the early fourth millennium BP".
  25. ^ a b Li et al. 2023, p. 1: "Archaeobotanical and stable isotope evidence suggests that wheat and barley were introduced into the Hexi Corridor and northeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in 4000 BP, rapidly replacing millets as primary staple crops after 3700 BP".
  26. ^ Stevens et al. 2016, pp. 1542–1544.
  27. ^ Li et al. 2007.
  28. ^ Zhou et al. 2012, p. 42: "But the increasing climate aridity between ca. 4000 and 3500 cal BP, which was induced by a weakening of the Asian monsoon, is the underlying cause for the shrinking of arable land and vegetation degradation in Hexi Corridor, and this is the likely cause for the decrease of the agricultural activities and collapse of the Bronze Age societies in Hexi Corridor".
  29. ^ Li et al. 2023, pp. 4–5, Section 3. Result.
  30. ^ Yang et al. 2020, p. 615: "During~2800–2000 BC, people in the Hexi Corridor adopted a sedentary lifestyle, cultivating millet and raising pigs, sheep/goats, cattle, and dogs. Moreover, they began to cultivate wheat and barley beginning ~2000 BC. By ~2000–1000 BC, the strategy had shifted to semi-sedentary agro-pastoral production, based on the utilization of sheep/goats,pigs, cattle, dogs, and horses. During ~1000–200 BC, wheat and naked barley replaced millet as the major crops".
  31. ^ Dong, Liang & Zhang 2024, p. 7: "However, wheat and barley were adopted as important staple in the Hexi Corridor and the northeast Tibetan Plateau during 4000–3600 BP, respectively. This may be due to their adaptability to different altitude environments of these two regions, especially, barley is tolerant to low cumulative temperatures and precipitation, making it well-suited for successful growth in colder climates".
  32. ^ Zhang et al. 2017, pp. 93–94: The number of bronze artifacts and sites with smelting relics reached a maximum during Xichengyi (4000–3700 BP), Qijia (4000–3500 BP) and Siba (3700–3400 BP) Bronze Age cultures period, but diminished substantially during Shanma (3000–2400 BP) and Shajing (2800–2400 BP) cultures..
  33. ^ Zhou et al. 2012, p. 42: "The subsequent Shajing cultures show evidence of cultural retrogression and site numbers are low until the rise of nomadic tribes after 3000 cal BP".
  34. ^ Yang et al. 2020, p. 616: "The agricultural culture was entirely replaced by a pastoral culture, and the numbers of archaeological sites of the subsequent Shajing and Shanma Cultures are significantly smaller than that of the Siba Culture. During the subsequent millennium, Human settlement in the Hexi Corridor remained low, especially during 1350–950 BC".
  35. ^ Li et al. 2023, p. 5.
  36. ^ Li et al. 2023, Abstract: "In contrast, the Shajing Culture flourished along the lower Shiyang River with the retreat of the Zhuye Lake, the Xiongnu Empire established the city of Xiutu along the Hongshui River, which experienced downcutting linked to the arid environment, and a nomadic culture emerged against the backdrop of drought in the Shiyang River Basin".
  37. ^ Reden 2020, p. 76: "Prior to their migration into Bactria, the history of the Yuezhi is only tenuously known from Chinese historical sources, which place their earliest known home in the Gansu corridor".
  38. ^ Beckwith 2009, p. 71.
  39. ^ Yü 1986, pp. 385–386.
  40. ^ Di Cosmo 2002, pp. 190–192.
  41. ^ Beckwith 2009, pp. 84–85.
  42. ^ Harmatta 1996, p. 172.
  43. ^ Kim 2017, p. 1: "At its height, the Xiongnu Empire stretched from the forests of Manchuria in the east to the territory of the Kangju (southern Kazakhstan and northern Uzbekistan) in the west, from the Baikal region (southern Siberia) in the north to the Ordos and Gansu regions of northern China in the south".
  44. ^ Declercq 2025, pp. 24-25: "The Yuezhi having been disposed of, the Hexi Corridor — from 176 BCE and for as long as the Han heqin policy lasted (134 BCE) — was undisputedly under Xiongnu control".
  45. ^ Sneath & Kaplonski 2010, p. 58.
  46. ^ a b Yü 1986, p. 391.
  47. ^ Harmatta 1996, p. 220.
  48. ^ Declercq 2025, pp. 28–29.
  49. ^ Benjamin 2018, pp. 102–104.
  50. ^ Reden 2020, pp. 73–77, 122.
  51. ^ Benjamin 2018, pp. 103–104.
  52. ^ Benjamin 2018, p. 100.
  53. ^ Declercq 2025, p. 29.
  54. ^ Loewe 1986, p. 165.
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