112 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. IIO 



genii — the guardians of the entrance — with human faces but animal 

 ears and bovine horns, side whiskers and curled whiskers, and mus- 

 taches. Through the nostrils of the hooked noses passed the ring 

 which served as the door handle. The facial features of the gargoyles 

 are of European cast suggesting local workmanship. 



Other finds included iron axes, spears, clamps, jade pendants and 

 a jade saucer, a gold earring, bronze buckles, clasps, fragments of a 

 pot, and diverse other objects and ornaments. 



The plan of the building itself and the finds brought to light among 

 its ruins indicate that Chinese craftsmen built the structure and that 

 Chinese undoubtedly lived in it. All that remains to be established 

 about this building that differs so markedly from all the other dwel- 

 lings of the time situated on the territory of the Minusinsk basin is 

 to whom it belonged. It is possible that these are the remains of a 

 trading post of Chinese merchants who in the Han epoch penetrated 

 deep into the land of the "northern barbarians." 



There is, however, one detail in the history of ancient Khakassia 

 mentioned by Chinese chroniclers that evokes special interest in con- 

 nection with these ruins. 



In the year 99 B. C. during the fierce battles that marked the period 

 of energetic expansion of the Han empire at the end of the second 

 and beginning of the first century B. C, Li Hwan-li, a renowned 

 Chinese general, suffered a defeat in battle against the nomadic tribes 

 in the north. Surrounded by superior enemy forces he lost some 

 7,000 in killed and was forced to flee. His grandson Li-Ling, famed 

 for his skill in archery, came to his assistance with 5,000 infantrymen, 

 but he also had to retreat after a bloody engagement. Seeing that 

 further resistance was useless, Li-Ling ordered his men to save 

 themselves, while he himself surrendered. His captors treated Li-Ling 

 with the respect due to his rank and gave him land in the "khyagas" 

 estate inhabited by the ancestors of the present Khakass. He settled 

 in these parts and eventually married the daughter of the nomad 

 chieftain. 



Up to the ninth century A. D., according to Chinese chronicles, 

 the Khakass deferred to the descendants of Li-Ling. 



Since it is unlikely that the Chinese general would have made his 

 abode in a local yurt or modest wooden dwelling and since there were 

 sufficient Chinese laborers to be found among the refugees and war 

 prisoners, it is quite probable that he built himself a palatial dwelling 

 in Chinese style. 



During 1946 Soviet archeologists continued excavation of the ruins 

 of the Chinese palace. 



