Why can't Chinese scientists find traces of Wu Lei, the site of the first protected area? : RFA

Chinese historians begin the history of the first appearance of the Chinese in the Uyghur Land with the story of their establishment of the "Western Land Protectorate" during the Western Han Dynasty. In books written entirely for Chinese interests, it is mentioned that the so-called Kurukchibeg District was established in a place called Wu Lei in Bugur County. For this purpose, they repeat some information from historical sources such as "Tarikhanamzeh" and "Later Hanamzemeh" and try to prove the archaeological mineral materials that have been excavated from different places of the Uyghur region since the beginning of the 20th century.

On the 6th of this month, an "advertisement" titled "If you enter Baingolun, you will enter a rich history" appeared in the culture section of the Chinese-language Tiantiantagh website. The article, which begins with the silky soft phrase, "Reviving historical memories, can inherit an advanced culture," notes that 11 of the 36 countries in the West are in the region. Among them, it is emphasized that Wu Lei city was established in 60 BC, which is the proof of the Han Dynasty's domination of the Western Country. It is noted that the location of this important city is in Zorkut, Bugur County.

As recently as 2018, the city mentioned by them was revealed to be the ruins of Kuyuk City in that region, and it was even registered to the United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, as the biggest archaeological achievement of that year? The long article published at that time and even the news that one of the researchers, Nie Yueping (Nie Yueping), won a special award from the Chinese National Science and Technology Administration in honor of his achievements are still available on UNESCO's special website. However, how did the original location of Wu Lei City become the ancient city of Zorqut instead of the ancient city of Shirak?

Yes, according to the Chinese historical sources in the "Hannamese, Commentary on the Western Lands", the fortress was located in Wu Lei, which is believed to have been established in 60 BC. Even in the Tang Dynasty, there are many people who imagined that the location of the mentioned city was located in today's Bugur county, but until recent years, no one has been able to pinpoint the exact location of the city.

The first person to point out this so-called court position was the Chinese intellectual Shusing who came to Ili from Yunnan in 1819. In his book "Records of the Mountains and Rivers of the Western Country" which he wrote using the "Hannamese, Commentary on the Western Country", he stated that the location of the city of Wu Lei was in Bugur.

In 1907 and 1913, the famous British archaeologist Aurel Stein, who visited many historical sites on two trips to the Deer, visited the ancient cities of Kuyuk and Zorkut and was satisfied with the assumption that Wu Lei City was around the tent village on the Deer Korla Highway. In 1928, the Chinese "archaeologist" Huang Wenbi was the person who came to Bugur to explore the city of Wu Lei. He excavated the ruins of the ancient cities of Trinqat in the west of Bugur, Sharak and Zorkut in the east, and found many artifacts in the red mud areas around them. In the end, he came to the conclusion that the location of Wu Lei City was in the tent. However, he did not answer the question of which of the ancient cities of Charak and Zorqut, which are 9 kilometers away from each other, is the city of Wu Lei.

In the Chinese history materials and even textbooks published after that, the so-called seat of the court was written as Bugurda. As the Chinese government insists that the establishment of the West Country Provincial Court proves that China ruled the West Country and even that the West Country has always been part of China, questions about the exact location of the city of Wu Lei, which is said to be the seat of the court inside and outside of China, are increasing day by day. The search journey began with Chinese historical sources, with special care and support from the Chinese government. Since 1980, the investigation has continued throughout Bugur. From 1998 to 2010, the Bureau of Archeology of the Uighur Autonomous Region and the Museum carried out excavations in 14 places in Bugur.

In 2015, Lin Meisun, a professor of archeology and history at Peking University, put forward a new theory and declared the location of Wu Lei as the ruins of the ancient city of Sharak. To prove this point, he conducted excavation measurements with the help of modern measuring instruments in Charak City together with the National Institute of Science and Technology of China, the National Museum of China and the Museum of the Uyghur Autonomous Region. The surroundings of the ancient city are also taken into account in the photos taken from a height of 1000 meters with the help of satellites and airplanes. According to this result, which is more suitable for the term compulsory research than scientific, during the ancient Han Dynasty, Chinese cities were built in a square shape, while cities in the West and other countries were built in a round shape. It is quite possible to consider the ancient city of Charak as the location of Wu Lei city because it fits the characteristics of Chinese urban construction. This "wonderful" result of his initially caused a huge shock inside and outside of China. In 2018, the results were published in leading archeology journals and were immediately reported to UNESCO and added to the list of specially protected cultural sites. UNESCO also took care of this innovation and promoted it in a separate website.

Unexpectedly, the faster his results spread, the faster they disappeared. Because there is a lot of evidence that square-shaped ancient city buildings can be found at will in other places and continents where China did not reach China's pace during the Han period.

At this time, another professor of Peking University, Chen Ling (陈凌), came forward again and emphasized that the urban construction form cannot be used as evidence to determine the location of Wu Lei. In 2017, he was the one who showed evidence that Huang Wenbi had found two seals found in the Trident City, and concluded that Wu Lei City was the present Trident Ancient City. Therefore, he is the leader of the "Western Area Conservation Project" funded by China's National Cultural Administration, and together with Peking University and the Institute of Culture and Archeology of the Uyghur Autonomous Region, he organized a large team and came to Bugur. They have extensively excavated and examined the ancient cities of Tringat, Sharak and Zorkut with a large number of manpower. The results of the survey, which extends to 2022, were published at the end of that year. They announced that by measuring the age of human skeletons and other objects found with carbon-14 dating, the city of Charak was founded around 550 BC, and the ancient city of Zorkut was built around 60 BC. This time, he pointed to the establishment of the western city of Kurukchibag in 60 BC and a few traces of red paint on the excavated wood, which is considered to be a symbol of Chinese rule.

He combined this hypothesis with his vision of 2017, and Wu Lei City was built in 60 BC. Wu Lei gave a new explanation that he moved to the Triple City after being destroyed by the Black City.

Interestingly, Chen Ling's 4-year long excavation, research and new scientific analysis was the decisive source of the historical traces' names and meanings in modern Uyghur language. It was learned through the Uyghur language that the interpretation of the Trinity is divided into three parts: internal, external and external, and the name Charak City is related to the burning incident.

If Chen Ling had analyzed the relationship between the name Zorkut and the city in the same way, perhaps a new mind would have been born in his brain. The structure of the word "Zorkut" is similar to the structure of Idekut (idoq+kut) which means "ruler with a box" in the names of several Western Uyghur kings that have survived as land names in Turpan. That is, the word Zorkut is composed of the Persian word "zor" meaning "big, strong, magnificent" in Uyghur and the word "qut" meaning "holy, holy". This means that the name "Zorkut" originally hinted that this city was the place where the palace of a "big Kagan" or "strong Kagan" was located.

So is Chen Ling's final conclusion correct? Does it mean that the Chinese built this city because it is written in the "Hannamese Western Country Commentary" that the so-called Kurukchibag site is in Wu Lei? If so, why is it not written about the construction of such a city in Chinese historical materials?

Although Chen Ling's final conclusion was based on a long period of research and analysis, it was still not based on sufficient material evidence. So it's nothing more than a guess. In the "Hannamese Western Commentary", "the court was in the city of Wu Lei" does not mean that the city was founded in 60 BC. His analysis and evidence are insufficient to prove that the city did not exist before. He used carbon-14 dating of skeletons and artifacts to show that Charak City was already a thriving city in 550 BC, revealing that the Chinese did not know the West at that time. At the same time, he also confirmed that the city was not Lunto City, which was burned by Li Guangli during his trip to Samarkand, as Huang Wenbi had previously predicted. Burn marks have been proven not to be caused by a single fire, but by long-term burning, and many iron objects have been found. So why can't this evidence explain that the site was the ruins of an iron smelter at that time?!

As the English name of the city of Zorkut suggests, it is clear that it was not a court built in the Chinese style, but rather a state or khanate center. From our historical knowledge, the Huns who ruled the West near the end of the 50s BC were weakened due to some natural disasters that occurred during those years and internal conflicts in the empire. So they moved to the northern parts for some time in 60 BC to fix themselves. The opportunistic Han Dynasty wanted to take possession of the vacant Hun land, calling a man named Zheng Ji, who had been traveling in the West as a messenger and observer for a year. Zheng Ji landed in one of the cities abandoned by the Huns. So there is no record of him building a city. Also, the location of the "Anshi Park Palace", which Shu Wu Lei is said to have been built in the Tang Dynasty, is still unknown. Because this so-called court was smaller than Chinese political historians imagined, and it did not have a fixed position. The task of the person named Kurukchibeg was nothing more than to carry all kinds of titles and gifts, travel among the different clans, and persuade the clans to serve the Han Dynasty through titles and gifts. The fact that none of the 23 people whom Chinese historians cite as having held the throne for a total of 167 years from 60 BC to 107 AD is not mentioned in any historical source.

The discovery of the seal of Li Zha of Qorukchibag and the seal named for the easternmost region of Chiang Kai-shek in the tripartite also confirms our view. That's it!

In short, the Chinese government will never be able to find a place for Wu Lei in the reserve court, which has never been settled.