CHINA: Residents in a remote Chinese village on the fringes of the Gobi desert are believed to be descended from the Roman legionaries

Record ID: 606806

  • Title: CHINA: Residents in a remote Chinese village on the fringes of the Gobi desert are believed to be descended from the Roman legionaries
  • Date: 25th February 2007
  • Summary: HISTORY TEACHER CHEN ZHENGYI FROM LANZHOU UNIVERSITY SHOWING JOURNALISTS AROUND INSIDE MUSEUM
  • Embargoed: 12th March 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: History
  • Reuters ID: LVAAK9YDL2263PVZAKLV48JV4W0B
  • Story Text: Residents of a remote Chinese village, on the fringes of the Gobi desert, expect recent DNA tests to prove that they are descended from the Roman legionaries lost in the region 2,000 years ago.
    In a remote village of western China, on the fringes of the Gobi desert, according to some experts, live the descendants of Roman legionaries.
    The village, Liqian, is separated from what was the Roman empire by more than 4,000 miles of forbidding terrain. To get to this little place in Gansu province, a Roman would have had to cross all of Central Asia and the Middle East, encountering fierce tribes en route. Yet some people believe that a group of Roman soldiers made this journey 2,000 years ago and then stayed on.
    The local government even set up a statue of a Roman soldier standing next to a Confucian scholar and a Muslim woman at the entrance of the nearby county, in the hope of attracting tourists.
    39-year-old Zhang Chongqing is now very proud of his Roman blood after he was singled out by a group of scientists last year.
    "I was so excited when I first heard that. All of my family and friends have known about that. They all say it is pretty cool and maybe I can travel abroad someday because of this," said Zhang.
    Gu Meina, now seven years old, was born with a shock of blonde hair. Her father, Gu Jianming was surprised when he first saw the hair of his daughter. But now he seems to have found the answer to that.
    "We shaved her blonde hair after she was born, hoping she could grow some black hair. But three months later, it just grew back the same corolla. After we shaved her hair once again, we just left it the way it is," said Gu Jianming.
    Most of the residents heard about the Roman army legend only a few years ago. Some just don't show that much enthusiasm.
    "But my looks...this is who I am. I don't care what people say about me. They could call me a foreigner or a Roman descendent. It really does not matter," said 52-year-old Huang Qisheng.
    The town's link with Rome was first raised by a professor of Chinese history at Oxford in the 1950s. According to Homer Dubs, Liqian was founded by 145 Roman soldiers in 36BC. They belonged to the missing army of a Roman general, Marcus Crassus.
    Dubs is not the only one to believe in the Roman connection. Chen Zhengyi, a history teacher at Lanzhou University, is also convinced that Liqian has links to Rome. He has been studying the Liqian history for almost 20 years.
    In 2003, a skeleton together with some ancient pots and coins were unearthed in a 2,000-year-old tomb. The skeleton, which is believed to be a Roman inhabitant by some, is a 1.8-metres tall male. The average Chinese male at that time was much smaller, around 1.5 metres tall.
    Chen zhengyi also comes to the conclusion that a 30-meter stretch of battered earthen wall was part of the city wall of the Roman settlement.
    "First we have historical records (about the existence of the Roman legionaries settled in this area). Then there is this site of the ancient Roman city. Thirdly, there are an unusual number of local people with western characteristics," Chen told reporters.
    However, controversy still remains. Some scholars think even if these people are descended from the Roman empire, it doesn't mean they are necessarily from the Roman army, because China had built up contacts with the empire through the historic silk road by the first century AD or even earlier.
    Blood samples of 93 people in Liqian, who are believed to have Roman-looking faces, were taken by a local scientist in December 2004. But no results have come out ever since for lack of fund.
    It is said the results will come out soon and satisfy the local's curiosity.
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