Liqian village

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Liqian (chinese characters: 骊靬) (pinyin: Líqián) is a defunct county in today's northern province of Gansu in China. The ancient Liqian city is situated in a village called Zhelaizhai today.[1][2] In the 20th century, there surged a theory suggesting descent of the inhabitants from Roman legionaries. Several investigations have been conducted since. The village received international press attention in February 2007 when the theory suddenly came into spotlight.[2] Rob Gifford commented on the theory and described it as one of many "rural myths."[3] One DNA study found that: "a Roman mercenary origin could not be accepted as true according to paternal genetic variation, and the current Liqian population is more likely to be a subgroup of the Chinese majority Han."[4]

[edit] Geography

The village is located on the edge of the Gobi desert.[2][5] It is rural, the nearest city being 300 kilometres away.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ ¥jù°¨¤H¦b¤¤°êªe¦èªº¨ÓÀs¥h¯ß
  2. ^ a b c d Spencer, Richard. "DNA tests for China's legionary lore", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2007-02-03. Retrieved on 2007-02-05. (English) .
  3. ^ Gifford, Rob. '"We Want to Live!".' China Road. 185.
  4. ^ Zhou R, An L, Wang X, Shao W, Lin G, Yu W, Yi L, Xu S, Xu J, Xie X, Testing the hypothesis of an ancient Roman soldier origin of the Liqian people in northwest China: a Y-chromosome perspective. J Hum Genet. 2007; 52(7): 584-91.
  5. ^ "Scientists Take DNA from Chinese Villagers in Hopes of Solving Roman Mystery", FOXNews.com, 2007-02-05. Retrieved on 2007-02-05. (English) .
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