Ancient genomes shed light on the long-term genetic stability in the Central Plain of China
image: (a) The time span of ancient genomes in the Central Plains analyzed in this study. In this study, researchers newly generated 30 ancient genomes from Central Plain dating to Western Zhou to the Qing dynasties. They coanalyzed them with previously published limited ancient genomes from Central Plain. (b) Their study highlighted the long-term genetic stability in Central Plain since the Neolithic Age. Ancient Central Plain populations from Western Zhou to the Tang dynasty were the direct descendants of local Late Neolithic-related people. They could be modeled as the mixture between local Middle Neolithic people and Southern Chinese with similar admixture proportions as local Late Neolithic-related people. Only one sample here represented the middle YR of the Ming and Qing dynasties. This individual showed extra affinity toward Southern Chinese individuals compared with all predating YR individuals and people today residing in the middle Yellow River basin.
Credit: ©Science China Press
As we all know, Central Plain was one of the world's earliest independent Neolithic agricultural revolution centers and played a major role in forming and developing Chinese civilization. Over 20 dynasties established their capitals in the Central Plain, reflecting its importance for politics, economics, and culture in ancient China. Thus, the Central Plain played a crucial role in the prehistory and formation of the Chinese. However, the demographic history of the human population in Central Plain has been gravely understudied.
Recently, researchers from Xiamen University, Zhengzhou University, and the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Sanmenxia reported 30 high-quality ancient genomes from the Lusixi archaeological sites in Sanmenxia, covering the past three millennia (Fig. a). During the last 3,000 years, Central Plain has experienced turbulent regime change, perpetual war within countries, and the rules of non-Han regimes. These genomic data would shed light on whether dynamic changes have influenced the population demography in the Central Plain. Leveraged the power of ancient DNA of the newly collected Central Plain ancient genomes and the previously published limited ancient and present-day genomes from the Central Plain (Fig. a), the researchers observed that, contrasting with the dynamic demographic history in Europe, a high-level of genetic stability without major population turnover in middle YR since the Late Neolithic, regardless of the frequent change in polities (Fig. b). The only outlier is an individual dating to the Ming and Qing Dynasties (Fig. b) harbouring substantial southern Chinese-related ancestry that was not shown in all the predating ancients from the site and people living in the Central Plain today. Historical records documented numerous migrations from Central Plain to Southern China, but only a few cases recorded the migration from Southern East Asia into Central Plain; for example, the Qing government was recorded as moving a significant quantity of military and civilians from the Fujian (coastal southern China) into the Central Plain for land reclamation purposes. This group was known as “Minying” (闽营). Taking into account the fact that the high proportion of Southern Chinese-related ancestry in this individual was not observed in this area and even not in northern China before and after the Qing Dynasty, researchers argued that this individual was more likely a genetic outlier rather than representing the main genetic profile in Ming and Qing dynasty in the Central Plain.
Professor Chuan-Chao Wang from Xiamen University, as one of the corresponding authors, says, “These results extend our understanding of the demographical history of the Central Plain population.”