appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Shi Huang

Ningxia is a perfect example of how the East meets the West. Located in the northwest inland region of China, it is the intersection of the Eurasian steppe and Chinese farmlands.
Fudan University, in collaboration with the Ningxia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and Northwest University, has recently conducted the largest ancient genomics research project in Ningxia.
The researchers found that human genes from the East and the West have fused through wars and trade in this narrow strip of land, now known as the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.
This study, published in Nature Communications on May 21, included 89 ancient skeletal individuals excavated from 23 archaeological sites in Ningxia, yielding 69 high-quality genomic data sets spanning over 4,000 years (around 4,245 to 301 years ago).
Han Chinese genes, predominantly males, first entered Ningxia on a large scale in 127 BC, during the Han dynasty, according to the research.
Among the 22 Han dynasty skeletons uncovered in this study, the vast majority cluster genetically similarly to Yellow River basin farmers.
According to the Records of the Grand Historian and the Book of Han, the Emperor Wu of Han dispatched General Wei Qing and Huo Qubing to reclaim Ningxia.
Over the following decade, over 1 million Han dynasty immigrants migrated from the empire’s centre to the northwest. Immigration has also brought about significant genetic changes.
In a family of mixed Eastern and Western descent, the researchers found a significant female contribution – specifically, the pattern of non-Han women marrying into Han male families.


From the Han dynasty, the agricultural genes of the Han began to dominate Ningxia’s genetic background.
Afterwards, the Silk Road trade facilitated long-term gene exchange between the East and the West.
Among the 14 groups analysed in the study of the Sui and Tang dynasties, 12 carried additional Eurasian steppe or Central Asian ancestry.
Some individuals had over 80 per cent Western Eurasian components, indicating that they were first-generation Western or Central Asian immigrants.
The research also observed another type of trans-Eurasian, from marriages between males of Western Eurasian descent and females of local Yellow River basin descent.
Further analysis shows that these hybridisation events mostly occurred within around 10 generations (about 280 years) before individual death, indicating they were recent rather than historical legacies.
The research has, for the first time, directly confirmed through ancient DNA that the prosperity of the Silk Road indeed facilitated extensive population movement and gene exchange between the East and West of the Eurasian continent.
The decline and fall of the Tang dynasty provided Ningxia with an opportunity for independence.
In the year 1038, they established a kingdom called the Great Xia, also known as the Western Xia.

Until it was destroyed by the Mongolian army of Genghis Khan in 1227, the Western Xia ruled Ningxia for nearly 200 years, marking the third major change in its genetics.
The main ethnic group of the Western Xia is the Tangut people, who occupied the vast majority of the Western Xia region; however, at the genetic level, Han Chinese ancestry has been preserved.
Genomic analysis showed that the Tangut individuals were composed of around 50.6 per cent Yellow River basin components and 49.4 per cent Tibetan Plateau components.
This provides direct genetic evidence for the origin of the Tangut people, supporting historical records that they originated from the upper reaches of the Yellow River and were closely related to the Han and Tibetan language groups.
After the Western Xia, the Ningxia population was primarily composed of Han Chinese agricultural groups from the Yellow River region.
During the Qing dynasty, Ningxia was no longer the border of the empire, but rather its inland heartland.
Among the nine sets of excavated burial samples this time, seven represented typical East Asian genes, with an average of 79.5 per cent of their ancestry being derived from late Yellow River basin farmers.
The final overall research results indicate that the evolution of the Ningxia population is not linear, but rather a layered genetic history shaped by multiple waves of population integration.
This essentially corrects the old “single migration” model – the population history of the Eurasian continent is increasingly presented as a network of repeated contact, intermarriage, assimilation and regional adaptation, rather than simple conquest and replacement.
“By examining genomic data across historical periods, we reveal that the population history of Ningxia did not follow a linear trajectory but unfolded as a layered history shaped by successive waves of population admixture from diverse origins,” corresponding author Wen Shaoqing concluded in the paper.


Chinese scientists create battery that works comfortably way above water’s boiling point

Study shows 4,000-year battle of Eastern and Western genes in China’s heartland

In China, some researchers are attending academic conferences that do not exist

Cancer-on-a-chip pioneer Chen Weiqiang returns to China from New York University

Science

Wen Shaoqing, corresponding author of a paper published in Nature Communications, observes the collected remains. Photo: Handout

Summary of genetic information from the Stone Age to the Ming and Qing dynasties in Ningxia. Photo: Handout

Why a fabled Chinese surgeon’s tomb may help rewrite history of anaesthetic use

Trace amounts of aconitine, a toxic plant-derived compound used as a topical anaesthetic, have been detected on ancient Chinese surgical tweezers. Photo: Handout

The location of Ming dynasty tombs where ancient surgical instruments have been excavated. Photo: Handout

The discovery of the Ming dynasty instruments represents the world’s earliest confirmed material evidence of specialised anaesthetic surgery. Photo: Handout

Lionel Messi is a fan of Yerba mate. But Chinese may be drinking it wrong

The yerba mate plant is native to the Paraguay and Parana river basins in South America. Photo: Getty Images

Traditionally, yerba mate is drunk from a “mate gourd” using a metal straw or bombilla. Photo: Getty Images

Can China team’s Greek dig unveil an untold truth in ancient world history?

The Aetolia-Acarnania region in Greece held particular significance during the Hellenistic period when there were extensive cultural exchanges across Eurasia. Photo: Wikipedia 

A member of the Chinese archaeological research team adjusts a drone as part of the field work. Photo: Handout

Li Xinwei, director of the CSCSA and leader of the Chinese team, at the official launch of the project in Athens on April 24. Photo: Handout

What an ancient Chinese map reveals about global history and modern power: Sheng-Wei Wang

 Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Printed in Beijing in 1602, the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu is a world map created by Italian priest Matteo Ricci in collaboration with Chinese scholars. Photo: Handout

The Dunhuang star map dates to the Tang dynasty. Photo: Getty Images

Some alternative history theories suggest Ming dynasty admiral Zheng He may have reached the Americas and Oceania earlier than Christopher Columbus. Photo: Handout

Can China massively reduce food imports with super-efficient unmanned rice farms?

Workers harvest rice in the fields of Sanhe Farm in Xuyu, Jiangsu province, China. Photo: Xinhua

An aerial drone photo shows a paddy field in Fujin, Heilongjiang province. China plans to grow nearly 90 per cent of its own grain by 2032. Photo: Xinhua

News

China

Wars and trade saw human genes from East and West fuse as over a million Han dynasty immigrants moved to Ningxia, genomics research reveals


Wars and trade saw human genes from East and West fuse as over a million Han dynasty immigrants moved to Ningxia, genomics research reveals.


Central Asia

Fudan University

Northwestern University (US)

Study shows 4,000-year battle of Eastern and Western genes in China’s heartland

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Wars and trade saw human genes from East and West fuse as over a million Han dynasty immigrants moved to Ningxia, genomics research reveals

Wars and trade saw human genes from East and West fuse as over a million Han dynasty immigrants moved to Ningxia, genomics research reveals