Geography
Henan, known as Hetao in ancient times, is located north of the 37th parallel, generally referring to the land east of Helan Mountain, west of Luliang Mountain, south of Yinshan Mountain, and north of the Great Wall. Including the Yinchuan Plain (Ningxia Plain) and parts of the Ordos Plateau and Loess Plateau, which today belong to Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, and Shaanxi. Here the Yellow River first flows north along the Helan Mountains, then eastward due to the blockage of the Yinshan Mountains, and then southward along the Luliang Mountains, forming a "ji" shape, so it is called "Hetao".
The Hetao Plain is generally divided into the Yinchuan Plain between Qingtongxia and Shizuishan in Ningxia, also known as "Xitao", and the "Dongtao" part of Inner Mongolia. Sometimes "Hetao Plain" is used to refer only to Dongtao, alongside the Yinchuan Plain.
Dongtau is divided into the Bayannaoer Plain between Bayangol and Xishanzui, also known as "Houtao", and the Tumochuan Plain between Baotou, Hohhot and Lama Bay (i.e. The "front cover" of Chilechuan and Hohhot Plains). Sometimes the Hetao Plain is called the Hetao-Tumochuan Plain.
History
Before the Spring and Autumn Period, the residents of the Hetao area mainly belonged to Beidi.
In the early Warring States period, King Zhao Wuling of the Zhao State extended his territory to the Yinshan Mountains and established Yunzhong County, located in the eastern part of the Tumochuan Plain. Later, the Xiongnu took advantage of the conflict between Qin and Zhao to occupy the Hetao area. After the Qin Dynasty unified the six countries, it sent Meng Tian to lead an army of 100,000 to drive the Xiongnu out of the Hetao from 215 to 214 BC, and moved 30,000 households there to guard the border. The two counties of Yunzhong and Jiuyuan were established. In the second year of Qin II (209 BC), the Xiongnu took advantage of the Qin chaos and invaded Hetao.
During the Western Han Dynasty, in 127 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Wei Qing to Chuyunzhong to defeat the Xiongnu kings Loufan and Aries and occupy the "Hejian", that is, Hetao. Minister Zhufu Yan Shangshu suggested building a city in Hetao to farm fields and raise horses, as a base for defense and attack against the Huns. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty accepted this suggestion and established Shuofang County (now Dengkou County, Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia) and Wuyuan County (now Baotou West) that year.
In 125 BC, Xihe County (now northwest of Fugu, Shaanxi Province) was established. The Hetao area also includes the former Yunzhong County and Dingxiang County, as well as the northern parts of Beidi and Shangjun. The Han Dynasty immigrated a large number of Han people to this area, and the residents diverted water from the Yellow River for irrigation. The local agriculture developed rapidly and the economy prospered. In addition, the Huns who immigrated here became a semi-independent vassal state, attached to the Han Dynasty, and became mercenaries of the Han Dynasty.
At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Han people in Hetao were moved inland to the east of Changshanguan (Daomaguan, Hebei). During the reign of Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, the Huns who surrendered to the Han Dynasty were moved to Hetao. Afterwards, the eight northern counties and their residents moved inward twice due to the Qiang invasion, and Hetao was gradually occupied by the Qiang people and the southern Xiongnu. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Tuoba family established the Dai Kingdom in Hetao. During the Five Hu Periods of Rebellion in China, the Hetao area was a key area for political power struggle among many Hu ethnic groups in North China and beyond the Great Wall. By 439, the Northern Wei Dynasty unified North China.
During the Northern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the area was re-cultivated for a long time. For example, there is a poem in the Tang Dynasty that says, "The orchards at the foot of the Helan Mountain are well-known, and they are famous in the north and south of the Yangtze River." At the end of the Sui Dynasty, immigrants were moved inland to Ningzhou and Qing (Qingyang, Gansu), and the Turks occupied the Hetao. It was not until 618 that Zhang Changxun, who was dependent on the Turks, surrendered Wudu, Danqu, Wuyuan and other counties to the Tang Dynasty, and was again occupied by the Central Plains Dynasty. . After the Unification War of the Tang Dynasty, Liang Shidu's regime was destroyed, and parts of the Hetao in Shaanxi and Ningxia were annexed to the Tang Dynasty.
In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, Hetao was under the jurisdiction of Sanshou Jiangcheng, Tiande Army and Zhenwu Army in Feng and Shengzhou. In 840, after the Uighurs subjugated their country, they successively requested to cede their land, but the Tang Dynasty refused. During the reign of the last emperor of the Later Liang Dynasty, Song Yao, the Tiande Jiedushi envoy, and Li Siben, the Zhenwu Jiedushi envoy, were captured successively, and Gufeng and Shengzhou were occupied by the Liao Kingdom. At the end of the Five Dynasties, Dangxiang rose up to establish Xixia and seized part of the Hetao in Shaanxi and Ningxia from the Northern Song Dynasty. Later, it was occupied by Xixia and Jin respectively.
In the Yuan Dynasty, Mongolians began to immigrate to Hetao. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, Hetao was occupied by various ethnic groups such as Tatar, Oara and Uliangha. In the Qing Dynasty, Hetao was classified as Inner Mongolia, which was governed by officials. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, some people from Shaanxi and Shanxi began to move to the Hetao. Through Wang Tongchun's development, the Hetao area began to become the most important agricultural area in the northwest.
During the Anti-Japanese War of the Republic of China, the national army general Fu Zuoyi garrisoned here and built water conservancy projects. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, agriculture here has been further developed.
Extended information:
1. Administrative divisions
After 1949, the extension of the word "Hetao" gradually narrowed and evolved to only refer to the Hetao within the territory. area, or a larger area centered on this area.
Therefore, after the state abolished the organizational structure of Suiyuan Province in 1954, it approved the Inner Mongolia People's Government's application to name the first-level administrative district within the territory after "Hetao", that is, changing Shaanba District to the Hetao Administrative District (today's Shaanba Town, Bayannur City).
2. Regional environment
The Hetao is a plain and plateau area on both sides of the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River. Due to the developed agricultural irrigation, it is also called the Hetao irrigation. The area has been famous for its abundant water and grass throughout the ages, hence the folk proverb "The Yellow River is full of dangers, but only rich." However, the current ecological environment is not as good as before, and many places in the territory are close to desert or semi-desert status.
1. Hydrological resources
The surrounding areas of the Hetao include the Huangshui River Basin, Tao River Basin, Luoshui River (Shaanxi Province) Basin, Wei River Basin, Fenshui River Basin, and Sanggan River Basin , Luoshui (Henan Province) Basin, Zhangshui Basin, and Hutuo River Basin all have relatively good natural environmental conditions. They surround the Hetao area, just like the stars holding the moon, pushing the Hetao civilization to its highest peak, and at the same time bringing the Hetao civilization to its highest peak. The Hetao civilization spread to a wider area.
2. Natural resources
Since the Yuan Dynasty, the word "Hetao" has appeared more and more in various books, and has a relatively stable connotation. It refers to the area east of Helan Mountain, south of Langshan Mountain and Daqing Mountain, and along the Yellow River. And with Wula Mountain as the boundary, Qantao is in the east and Houtao is in the west. There are also those with the areas south of the Yellow River and north of the Great Wall as the front set, symmetrical with the back set on the north side of the river.
Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Hetao Area