
Liqian: The Chinese town founded by Roman legionnaires - sndean
https://www.saporedicina.com/english/liqian-the-chinese-town-founded-by-roman-legionnaires/
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zachguo
This hypothesis was already falsified by DNA study long time ago.
[https://www.nature.com/articles/jhg200782](https://www.nature.com/articles/jhg200782)

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pugworthy
Glad to see this. My first thought was, "Wouldn't DNA show something?"

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flukus
My first thought too, but with small population breeding with a much larger
surrounding population for 100 (20 year) generations could we really expect
much roman DNA left?

Maybe they're homeopathic Romans.

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kjeetgill
They find Neanderthal DNA in people, is it so far fetched?

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flukus
Good point. I guess the prevalence of the genes in the existing population
could explain it. If we took some Europeans and and left them to interbreed in
South Africa for 2 millennium we'd probably find much less neanderthal DNA
than in their now distant cousins in Europe.

Or more likely is that my simple mathematical thought model breaks down with
real world genetics. Any geneticists in the house?

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fsiefken
The author asks: "Therefore, where’s the harm in declaring Liqian the town
founded by the Roman Lost Legion?"

The harm is that the origin story might well not be true, so why declare it's
true? It's like saying Sinterklaas exists.. ehm, well no harm there I think as
he does in a way.

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AdmiralAsshat
Author's conclusion: it probably wasn't, but we'll disregard the facts and
pretend that it was, because it helps Chinese tourism.

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fred_is_fred
A fascinating read until the end, it's not based in reality at all. This is
faith based archaeology at it's worst. The conclusion is basically "whats the
harm in making up this story"...

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bilbo0s
It's frustrating to me. There seems to be a pattern recently of just making up
historical chronologies just because. It's kind of annoying to read about
something, research it deeper and then find that it was all just reimagining
the actual history to be more entertaining. Or more peaceful. Or maybe just
more in line with whatever world view the person putting forth the alternate
history is advancing.

I guess it keeps me on my toes, so that's good I suppose. It's just a little
annoying that people do this kind of thing. Personally I think that simple
recounting of the facts of history is entertaining enough. Why are people
trying to embellish it?

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thaumasiotes
> There seems to be a pattern recently of just making up historical
> chronologies just because.

To be fair, this "recent pattern" is documented everywhere as far back as
writing exists.

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dragonwriter
> To be fair, this "recent pattern" is documented everywhere as far back as
> writing exists.

To be fair, on the timescale of anatomically modern humans, writing is a
recent development, so “recent pattern” for something that is evidently as old
as writing can be true, if you have the right perspective.

(On the other hand, the absence of pre-writing evidence is not evidence of
pre-writing absence.)

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thaumasiotes
> (On the other hand, the absence of pre-writing evidence is not evidence of
> pre-writing absence.)

Heck, I'm willing to state with confidence that the oral histories of
preliterate peoples were not accurate and nearly always contained invented,
fantastical elements.

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sydli
My father grew up in a neighboring town to Liqian, in Gansu. This is
essentially an urban myth of sorts that several locals still believe, though
as the article itself points out, it's been proven false a decade ago. In
recent years they've constructed several faux monuments and landmarks in a
cheesy emulation of Classical architecture in order to attract tourists.

People want to believe it; it's an interesting theory. However, the genetic
diversity in this region comes primarily from Yugurs (a Turkic group related
to the Uyghurs which converted to Tibetan Buddhism around a thousand years
ago) and Mongolians.

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gerdesj
I'll file it along with "Nessie"
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness_Monster](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness_Monster))
and King Arthur
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Arthur))
amongst others.

Actually when you prod and poke at these myths, inevitably some damn fine
archaeology or science or something else that is real and tangible falls out
in some way, or some absolutely beautiful scenery is involved. I have a lot of
examples and not enough room in this comment to encompass them all.

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forkLding
Issue with this story is that even the Chinese authorities are dismissive of
the idea and generally just let it be to promote local tourism to the area
because Liqian is essentially in the middle of nowhere. DNA really just shows
them as a sub-group of the Han Chinese majority.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liqian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liqian)

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gerdesj
Every country in the world has its myths and legends. I'm not sure why this
one should be seen as different in any way. It is a bit weird though and I
live in a country that has the Loch Ness monster apparently existent and King
Arthur wedged into past monarchy, somewhere.

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hvs
Narrator: It wasn't.

