Romans in China

Early this year my attention was drawn by a news which I have already forgotten for long. It was about the remarkable discovery by some historians that ancient Romans had settled in China during the Han dynasty. I had already once read this news in a Dutch newspaper about ten years ago. It was an exciting and intriguing idea to know that Romans already came as far as to China long before Marco Polo did.

Elvira and I were in Malaysia for vacation in February this year when we happened to watch a program from Discovery Channel in a hotel room in KL. It was talking about the same discovery that a group of Roman legionaries might have built a town in the province Gansu, in the western part of China. Near the present village of Zhelaizhai there were some ruins which might be the ancient town of Liqian. Some historians believed that this town was once built by Roman legionaries at around 50 B.C.

A British professor in history suggested that Roman soldiers had come as far as western part of China. His theory was based upon the historical battle between the Roman legions and the Parthians in Minor Asia in the year in 53 B.C. The Romans were defeated and approximately 10,000 Roman legionnaries were captivated. It remained since long a mystery where those captured Romans had gone.

It was until the British professor Homer Hasenphlug Dubs found in the annals from the Eastern Han Dynasty in which it accounted a battle between the Chinese and the troops of the Hun chieftain Jzh Jzh. As a pre-emptive strike the Han Chinese army attacked the bulwark of the Huns in Central Asia. The Han annals mentioned unusual military formations which the Chinese described them as "fishscale" formations. Professor Dubs immediately thought of the Roman testudo formation. Also, the annals account double palissades, a defense structure, commonly used by the Romans.

Professor Dubs believed that some Roman soldiers escaped from Parthia and they made their way to the Hun territory. The Romans legionaries hired themselves as mercenaries to the Huns. The Huns were under their chieftain Jzh Jzh a threat to the Han Chinese empire.

The Chinese defeated the Huns and Jzh Jzh was decapitated. The Han annals account that about 150 surrendered soldiers survived and were deported to China. It was not uncommon for the Chinese to use captivated soldiers as border guards. Professor Dubs believed that those captured men were the Roman legionaries. They were redeployed by the Chinese to guard the western border of their empire. The Romans settled down in a place which was known as Liqian.

Other clues which support the theory that Romans really had settled in China lies in the name of Liqian itself. Some scholars believed that Liqian was the Chinese translation of the name of the Roman city of Alexandria. The Han Chinese used to denote Roman empire by this name.

Another clue was to be found in the present inhabitants in the area of Liqian. In Zhelaizhai many people appear to have light coloured hair, brown eyes and high cheekbones common to caucasians.

Despite all these however nothing can be taken for sure yet. The "fishscale" formation might not be the Roman testudo, neither was it certain that the captives were former Roman soldiers. Professor Dubs knew that there was a fresco from the Han period which depicted this victory of the Chinese on Jzh Jzh. When he could study those panels than he might find more information about the captured soldiers. Those panels however seemed to be lost.

There were plans to carry out extensive DNA research among the villagers of Zhelaizhai but so far there were no results known yet. Also, Zhelaizhai lies on the route of the ancient Silk Road. Over time many merchants from remote countries as far as from Rome might have come to Liqian. It could not be ruled out they had left their traces in the DNA of the local people.

As yet, the idea that Romans had settled in China remains a romantic but far fetched theory from a British professor.

Yee Chuen Leung
Chief Editor