Lady Xian strove to safeguard the country's territorial integrity and national unity, maintain stability and peace in the Lingnan region, promote local development of the economy, culture, science, technology and its trade with ancient Maritime Silk Road countries in Southeast Asia.

"南海诸岛自古以来就是中国领土。"

—中国国家主席习近平

The South China Sea Islands have been China's territory since ancient times.

—President Xi Jinping

那到底什么是"自古以来"呢?

So when exactly is "since ancient times"?

大家都知道海南岛是中国南海上最大的岛屿。海南岛,是秦代象郡的外檄,西汉的珠崖和儋耳,历史上也属于岭南。2000多年前,这里出产的珍珠、玳瑁、犀角等奇珍异宝,曾是秦汉中央宫廷奢侈品的主要来源。

It is said that Hainan Island is China's second largest island after Taiwan. It is situated in the South China Sea facing Guangdong Province across the Qiongzhou Strait. As part of the Xiang prefecture of China's Qin Dynasty, Hainan Island was also called Zhuya prefecture and Dan'er prefecture during the Western Han Dynasty. It also belonged to the Lingnan region. More than 2,000 years ago, Hainan produced priceless treasures including pearls, hawk bills and rhinoceros horns and was once a main source of luxury items for the imperial court of the Qin Dynasty.

Note: Lingnan is a geographic area referring to lands in the south of China's Nan Mountains including Dayu, Qitian, Dupang, Mengzhu and Yuecheng. The region covers the modern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan as well as Hong Kong and Macao.

但是,到汉元帝时期,由于帝国在海南经略的行政成本大幅提高。公元前46年,西汉王朝听从建议罢弃珠崖,对海南进行名义上的遥领。自此之后的几百年间,海南岛一直孤悬海外,中央王权再未在海南设立治所。

Due to the increasing administrative cost of managing Hainan Island, the Western Han Empire abandoned the Zhuya prefecture in 46 B.C and nominally owned Hainan Island. Since then, Hainan Island was isolated from the central government of ancient China and no local government administered it.

然而到了公元6世纪,情况发生了变化。

However, things changed in the sixth century.

当时岭南一带俚人聚居,远离中原发达地带,文明尚未开化,生产力极为底下,民风彪悍,《隋书》记载俚人"好相攻击"。这给当时岭南一带的管理者带来了很大难题。

Since the 500s A.D., people of the ethnic Li people inhabited Lingnan which was uncivilized and far away from the developed Central Plains with less developed productivity. In the Book of Sui, it is recorded that Li people were "aggressive". It caused a great challenge for the administrator of the Lingnan region at that time.

这时粤西俚人出现了一位女首领,这位出生南越首领世家的女孩自幼贤明,能行军用师,压服岭南诸越。作为俚人,她还对本民族进行一场内部革新,平息内斗,推行中原教化。她以德服人,个人威望还一度传到了琼州海峡的对岸。隋书记载,当时的海南儋耳,归附者千余垌。

Then, a female leader of the Li people rose to power in West Guangdong. Born in a family which was the hereditary leader of their tribe, this lady was "bright and able since she was a child. When she was living at her parents' house, she was able to pacify the people and soldiers and was capable of using the military in a strategic way," according to the Book of Sui by Wei Zheng in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). She also carried out reforms in her tribe, quieted down internal conflicts, and promoted education and technology from the Central Plains. She won people over by her virtue and her prestige spread far and wide to Dan'er across the Qiongzhou Strait. According to the Book of Sui, more than one thousand ethnic groups from Dan'er came and submitted to her rule.

直至今日,海南民间还在口口相传这位伟大的女首领率军抵达海南在此驻扎并平定了整个海岛的故事。

Even to this day, the people in Hainan Island still talk about this great lady who led an army to pacify Hainan Island and remain garrisoned there.

"夫人多所规谏,由是怨隙止息,海南、儋耳归附者千余洞。"

—《隋书》卷八十列传第四十五

She expostulated and remedied grievances so that more than one thousand ethnic groups from Dan'er came and submitted to her.

— The 45th biography of the 80th Volume of the Book of Sui

2015年4月3日，海南琼海市万泉镇“闹军坡”巡游车队从街头驶过。新华社发（蒙钟德 摄）

Photo shows Junpo Festival celebrated in Qiongzhou, Hainan on April 3, 2015. (Xinhua: Meng Zhongde)

公元540-541年,南朝梁大同年间,女首领上书梁朝廷在海南岛建置"崖州"。自西汉罢弃珠崖郡以来,时隔近600年海南与中原重新恢复了直接联系,从此再未脱离中央王权。每年春节后,为纪念这位维护国家统一、领土完整的女首领,海南当地居民至今还保留着"闹军坡"的风俗,军坡节至今世代相传了上千年的历史。

Around the year of 540-541 A.D., during the reign of Emperor Xiao Yan of the Liang Dynasty, this female leader pleaded in the imperial court to set up Yazhou in Hainan Island. Since then, Hainan returned to the motherland after being away from the central government for nearly six hundred years. Every year after Spring Festival, the local people in Hainan keep the thousand-year-old custom of the Junpo Festival which is held to commemorate this woman who safeguarded the country's territorial integrity and national unity.

这位女首领就是冼太夫人。

This woman was named Lady Xian.

如果说,南海是一块贝壳,那海南岛就是"贝壳"上的珍珠。

If the South China Sea is a sea shell, then Hainan Island is the pearl inside it.

自平定海南岛之后,冼夫人在南海的身影还不止步于此。历史记载,从南北朝到隋唐,南海贸易中始终都有岭南大族的身影,冼夫人便是其中的典型代表。

After Hainan Island was pacified, Lady Xian visited the island more than once. According to historical records, notable families from Lingnan were involved in maritime trade on the South China Sea from the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589) to the Sui and Tang Dynasties (581-907). Lady Xian and her family were one of the representatives.

冼太夫人居住在现今粤西茂名一带。茂名面朝南海,得天独厚的地理优势给当地的海上贸易创造了天然条件,往来的海上贸易也给岭南社会带来了繁荣。

Lady Xian lived in what is now Maoming in West Guangdong. Facing the South China Sea, Maoming enjoys geographical advantages for maritime trade which brought it prosperity during the Lingnan era.

冼太夫人在南海贸易的身影给自身积累了大量的财富。历史记载,冼太夫人当初进贡给陈后主,在陈亡之时又被陈后主当作信物返还的扶南犀杖,出产自当时的扶南古国。那扶南国是在哪儿呢?

Through her participation in maritime trade on South China Sea, Lady Xian amassed great sums of wealth. It is recorded that the Funan cane made of rhinoceros horn was given to Emperor Chen Shubao of the Chen Dynasty (557-589) by Lady Xian and was produced by the ancient state of Funan. So where was Funan located?

扶南国,是曾经存在于古代中南半岛上的一个古老王国名。其辖境大致相当于当今柬埔寨全部国土以及老挝南部、越南南部和泰国东南部一带。是历史上第一个出现在中国古代的史籍上的东南亚国家,也是中国古代史籍中经常出现的东南亚国家。

Funan (or Phù Nam) was once an ancient kingdom located in the ancient Indo-China Peninsula. Its jurisdictional region covered what is now Cambodia, southern Laos, southern Vietnam, and southeast Thailand. It was the first and frequently visited country from Southeast Asia recorded in the historical records of ancient China.

如果说,南海是一块贝壳,那海南岛就是"贝壳"上的珍珠。海南岛是南海上的一颗"珍珠",冼太夫人在1500年前将南海最大的岛屿和平收复,这一历史意义不言而喻。其借助粤西临海的地理条件以及海南岛得天独厚的岛屿优势,从南海去到东南亚等地进行海上贸易,也是中国踏上海上丝绸之路的先行者。那么这样看来,驰骋南海这件事,广东冼太夫人"自古以来"就这么做了。

If the South China Sea is a sea shell, then Hainan Island is the pearl inside the shell. Lady Xian peacefully recaptured the pearl of Hainan, the biggest island in the South China Sea more than 1,500 years ago, which is of historical significance. She also took advantage of the geographical conditions of West Guangdong and Hainan Island and carried out maritime trade with Southeast Asian countries and regions. Therefore, she was the pioneer of China's Maritime Silk Road, and she safeguarded the South China Sea in ancient times.