Zhang Qian’s Missions to Western Regions
During the reign of Emperor Wudi in the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian was sent on missions to the western regions twice to ally with the states there to combat the Huns. During this period, Zhang Qian was taken into custody by the Huns but he never surrendered to them. After he escaped from the Huns, he visited Dayuan, Kangju, Dayuezhi and Daxia. This promoted the communication between China and Central Asia, West Asia and Southern Europe. Since the regions Zhang Qian visited were new to the Han people, this is historically known as "Zhangqian's Trailblazing". Records of Zhang Qian's first mission can be found in the Biography of Dayuan of Records of the Grand Historian authored by Sima Qian, which remains the most precious information on ancient geography and history of the above regions and states in the world.
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Zhang Qian's Mission to the Western Regions
With the jingle of the camel bell in Han Dynasty, China established contact with other nations outside on the Western Regions. Since then, Chinese and foreign cultures have clashed and mixed. In the time of Emperor Wudi, Hun in the north often harnassed the boundary of Han. Meanwhile, they also controlled several small states in the Western Regions. In 138 BC, Emperor Wudi sent Zhang Qian with a delegation of over 100 people on a diplomatic mission to the Western Regions to seek allies, preparing for an attack of Huns in two sides. Unexpectedly, Zhang Qian was captured just as he left Han territory, and was held prisoner for a dozen years. During this period, he learned Hun language, and got to know well the geography of their territory. Ten years later, Zhang Qian escaped and found the west-moved Dayuezhi. He lived there for a year and got familiar with the circumstances of the Western Regions. Later, when he learned Dayuezhi had no intention to seek revenge, Zhang Qian made his way back to Chang'an, with only one companion left of the 100 who had set out. In 119 BC, Emperor Wudi sent Zhang Qian on a second diplomatic mission to the Western Regions. This time, he had an entourage of 300, with thousands of head of cattle and sheep and a large amount of gifts. They visited many countries, and these countries sent envoys with tribute to the Han court. From then on, Han Dynasty had frequent contacts with the countries in the Western Regions, later setting up a Western Regions Frontier Command in today's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous Region, which was under the administration of the central government. The Silk Road was another outcome of Zhang Qian's journeys. The Silk Road started from Chang'an in the east and stretched westward to reach the eastern shore of Mediterranean Sea and the Roman Empire. Trade caravans from China carrying large amount of silk fabrics exchanged merchandise with traders from Persia, India and Rome, and brought home walnuts, grapes and carrots from abroad. In the following several centuries, Sino-Western exchanges mainly characterized by the silk trade were mostly carried on through the Silk Road. Reference data Maritime Silk Road There was also a Silk Road on sea during Han Dynasty. It started from costal ports in today's Guangdong province, and ended in India by way of Thailand after a 10-month voyage. The Han merchants took with them silk and gold, and exchanged them for sapphires. In Eastern Han Dynasty, Chinese sailing ships reached as far as Africa, and established trade contact with the Empire of Rome.
Zhang Qian
Zhang Qian was born in Chenggu (the present Chenggu County of Shaanxi Province) of Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24 AD). He was an outstanding envoy and explorer in Chinese history, opening up the ancient Silk Road and bringing reliable information about the Western Regions. During the reign of the Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), the Huns (Xiongnu) often intruded into the northern borders of the Han Empire, so the emperor was making preparations to fight against the Huns. When he knew Da Yuezhi (an ancient state in Amu Darya) had a feud with the Huns, because its king was killed by the Huns' Chanyu (the headman of Hunnish tribes) and the head made into a goblet, he decided to unite with this state to combat their common enemy. Therefore, Zhang Qian was sent as a diplomatic envoy to the Western Regions. In 139 BC, with about 100 people, Zhang Qian departed from Longxi (in Gansu Province). Unfortunately, he and the delegation were captured by the Huns when they reached the Hexi Corridor and detained for ten years as hostage. Finally, they found a chance to flee. They crossed deserts and the Gobi, and went over the snow-covered Pamirs. After about ten days, they arrived in Dawan (in Fergana Basin). Under the help of a Dawan's guide, they went through Kangju (between Balkhash Lake and the Aral Sea) and reached Da Yuezhi. To Zhang's surprise, satisfied with their life, the Da Yuezhi people refused to make an alliance against the Huns. Besides, they thought it was impossible to resist the Huns together because they were far away from the Han Dynasty. Zhang Qian made an on-the-spot investigation in Daxia (Balkh) and other countries for more than one year. In 128 BC, He decided to return to Chang'an (the ancient name of Xian). On their return journey, they were captured by the Huns again and detained for more than one year. In 126 BC, Zhang seized the opportunity provided by internal disorder among the Huns. He escaped and reached Chang'an. Although he failed to finish the mission to make a military alliance with Da Yuezhi, he obtained a great deal of knowledge about the people, geography, culture and customs of 36 states in the Western Regions. In 119 BC, Zhang Qian set off on his second journey to the Western Regions, in order to ally with Wusun (in Ili) Valley) against the Huns. At that time, the Huns had been expelled from the Hexi Corridor, so Zhang Qian reached Wusun easily. Then he sent other envoys to Dawan, Kangju, Da Yuezhi, Anxi (Parthia, in now Iran), Juandu (present India), Yutian (Hetian) and other countries. In 115 BC, the king of Wusun put an interpreter and a guide at Zhang's disposal. Moreover, Wusun's ten envoys convoyed Zhang to Chang'an. He died there in 114 BC. Then the diplomatic envoys he sent came back in droves. Finally, the Han Dynasty was able to build good relationships with states of the Western Regions.
JOURNEY OF ZHANG QIAN
Zhang Qian hears of Greece and India: 138-125 BC The purpose of the journey of Zhang Qian is political (sent by the emperor Wudi to find allies in the west against the marauding Xiongnu), but his discoveries give him the status of an explorer. In 138 BC he sets off through the Jade Gate at the western end of the Great Wall. Ahead is the vast open territory of the Xiongnu. The little party of 100 must have seemed very vulnerable. The most important member is a former slave, captured as a child from the Xiongnu and put to work in a Chinese family. He is their only means of talking to the barbarians. The entire group is soon captured. They are kept prisoner, but they are well treated. Zhang Qian is even provided with a wife, by whom he has a son. After twelve years he escapes, together with his wife and the faithful slave. As a loyal envoy, he continues his mission - heading west rather than homewards. Eventually he reaches the Yueqi, to the north of Bactria. They have no interest in attacking the Xiongnu on behalf of the Chinese, so on its own terms his journey has been a lengthy failure. But Zhang Qian has been looking around. And he has made some surprising discoveries. The first is that Bactria has a different culture from the surrounding regions. The reason, Zhang Qian learns, is that a conqueror, Alexander the Great, came here from the west. As a result this place has Greek coins, Greek sculpture and a Greek script. Zhang Qian's presence here is the first recorded contact between the civilizations of the Far East and of the Mediterranean. Even more surprising, the explorer finds in Bactria objects of bamboo and cloth made in southern China. They are brought here, he is told, by merchants from a land to the southeast, situated on a great river, where 'the inhabitants ride elephants when they go into battle. The envoy heads home. Arriving back through the Jade Gate, the little group astonishes the Chinese. Zhang Qian and the faithful slave are all that remain of the party which set off thirteen years previously. The barbarian wife is an interesting addition. Zhang Qian is given high office in the imperial bureaucracy. Even the slave is ennobled - with the resounding title 'Lord Who Carries Out His Mission'. And in view of the new information about the unknown land, another expedition is sent out. Zhang Qian reasons that if the land of the elephants is southeast of Bactria, it must be southwest of China and probably not too far away. The expedition sent to reach this land is frustrated by the jungle of southeast Asia and by fierce tribes, but evidence is found that merchants do occasionally travel this way to a kingdom in the west where there are elephants. From China's point of view India, along with Greece, is now on the map. On Zhang Qian's northern route, contact between the civilizations soon becomes commonplace. By 106 BC, twenty years after his return, the Silk Road is an established thoroughfare. Previous page Read more: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=040#ixzz4VBxXskPw
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 Zhang Qian (ca.164 BC - 114 BC) was an influential diplomat of China's Western Han Dynasty (202 BC - 9 AD) and one of the pioneers of the Silk Road.
2 The Han court dispatched Zhang Qian, a military officer who was familiar with the Xiongnu, to the Western Regions in 138 BC with a group of ninety-nine members to make contact and build an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu.
3 Today Zhang Qian is considered a national hero and revered for his missions to the Western Regions and the key role he played in opening China to the world of commercial trade.