Summary: The main way of cultural exchange between east and west before Zhang Qian’s going to Xiyu was through Eurasian grassland. While after his mission to Xiyu, the silk road in general was open. Although it is quite famous, it has long remained unclear what th

Translated by Yan Tiantian

On September 3, professor Lin Meicun, who worked in the Department of Archaeology of Peking University, was invited to give a lecture with the title of The Exploration of the Silk Road in the Lin Qiong building of ancient books museum in national library.

What are the differences of the two routes that Zhang Qian took to Xiyu (the Western Regions)?

　　

The main way of cultural exchange between east and west before Zhang Qian’s going to Xiyu was through Eurasian grassland. While after his mission to Xiyu, the silk road in general was open. Although it is quite famous, it has long remained unclear what the exact route that Zhang Qian took.

 

Zhang Qian was born in Cheng Gu county, Han Zhong city of Shaanxi province. He was buried in Rao Family villiage, Bo Wang town, about 3 kilometers far from his hometown. His tomb shaped like an up-side-down funnel with its north-south length of 170 meters and its east-west length of over 80 meters. In the center of the tomb, there is a huge square shaped earth mound of 20.6 meters from north to south, 16 meters from east to west and 2.3 meters in height. A pair of stone tiger of Han Dynasty is standing in front of the tomb. Zhang Qian’s early records could not be found in the history books. The only thing we knew was that before he accepted the mission, he was an attendant. In 123 B.C., Zhang Qian was titled as “Bo Wang Marquis” as a reward for he defeated Xiongnu people. Si Maqian, the author of the Record of History, spoke highly of Zhang Qian’s mission to Xiyu and named him as “ The Very First One”. In 1877, Von Richthofen, a German geographer came up with the words “Silk Road” and defined the time of openning it in 114 B.C., which was the beginning time of the second time that Zhang Qian went to Xiyu. The east to the west route that Zhang Qian took for the mission to Xiyu was the earliest Silk Road.

In 138 B.C., the third year of Jianyuan when Emperor Wu of Han was on the throne, Zhang Qian heading hundreds of people left Chang’an to Xiyu, hoping to jointly defeat Xiongnu people with Da Rou Zhi people. However, in the middle of his mission, he was detained by Xiongnu who treated him so generously that they made him settled there with a wife and children. Always bearing his mission in mind, he fled away after 13 years’ captivity. After dozens of days’ westward traveling, he arrived at Dawan country located in Fergana Valley. What we want to know is where Zhang Qian was detained by Xiongnu people? Lin Meicun thought that Zhang Qian was actually held in custody in Tarim Basin rather than Mongolian Plateau. Firstly, although the conversations  between Zhang Qian and Xi ongnu ruler were recorded in The Records of the Grand Historian, they could not prove that Zhang Qian was detained in the palace of Mongolian Plateau. Zhang Qian must be withheld near Da wan and in the south of Yi Li River, since firstly Xiongnu had two rulers: Big Chanyu and Small Chanyu. Big Chanyu was stationed in Orkhon River of Mongolian Plateau. The ruler who had the conversation with Zhang Qian should be Small Chanyu who was in Tongpu of Tarim Basin. Secondly, Small Chanyu told Zhang Qian that   Zhi was in the north of his place where was Yili River as it was in the north of Tarim Basin. The westward migration of Rou Zhi was that from Dunhuang to Yili River and then to A Mu River. At last, Zhang Qian specified that after ten and more days’ traveling, he arrived in Da Wan. It was impossible even for a modern man to cost dozens of days to reach Da Wan from Mongolian Plateau but it was likely to finish this journey from Tarim Basin.

 

Further more, what was the route that Zhang Qian took in his first mission to Xiyu? Dawan Commentary Section of the Historical Records mentioned a lot of names of places, such as Loulan ( LE ancient city of northeastern Luobupo), Gu Shi ( ancient city of Ruo Qiang Mai De Ke), Lun Tou ( ancient city of Lun Tai Zhuo Er Ku Te), Yu Ni ( ancient city of Tian Yuan Sha). However, Shu Le (Ka Shi) was not mentioned in the book. Therefore, we analyze that the route of Zhang Qian’s first toute is Lou Lan --- Gu shi --- A Ke Su and Wen Su --- Tu Er Ga Te Mountain Pass --- Fergana Valley.

 

Generally, it was more convinient to travel from Chang’an ( present day Xi’an) to Da Wan ( Fergana Valley) which was in the north of Turpan near the grassland by riding horses, the main means of transportation. In hinderland of China, the nomandic and agricultural boundary is the Great Wall. In Xinjiang province, Tian Shan mountain was the boundary, the south of which was oasis farming, and the north of which were prairie nomads. Why did Zhang Qian choose the farther way of South Way? It was mainly for avoiding Xiongnu people. However, what he didn’t expect was that he still was captured by them. This showed that Xiongnu people was effectively in control of Tarim Basin.

 

Before Zhang Qian’s second mission to Xiyu, Huo Qubin attacked Qilian Mountain. In 121 B.C., Emperor Wu in Han dynasty appointed Huo Qubin as the General of Agile Cavalry. Huo Qubin headed the army going along the route of Bei Di, Ju Yan, Qi Lian Shan Mountain and Dan Huan to attack Xiongnu. Xiongnu suffered a great loss and sang sadly as “ Losing my Qi Lian Mountain makes my tamed animals unproductive. Losing my Yan Zhi Shan Mountain disgraces our brides.” The Qi Lian Mountain which was mentioned in the song in fact was Ba Li Kun Mountain in Ha Mi, Xin Jiang. The tomb of Huo Qubin was built by simulating the shape of Qi Lian Shan Mountain which was Ba Li Kun Mountain. Dan Huan was called “ Dun Hong Mountain” which was “Bo Ge Da Peak” of Tianshan Mountain in the book Classic of Mountains and Seas. At that time, Da Rou Zhi people lived in the north of Bo Ge Da Peak, while Wu Sun lived in the west. Later, Wu Sun jointly defeated Da Rou Zhi with Xiongnu. After it, Da Rou Zhi moved westwards to Amu River of central Asia, while Wu Sun was located in Yili River. Huo Qubin attacked Qi Lian Shan Mountain which removed the threat of Xiongnu people who appeared in the passage from Tianshan Mountain to Xiyu, providing convinience for Zhang Qian’s second mission.

 

General Huo Qubing's Tomb

In 116 B.C., the first year of Yuan Ding during the reign of emperor Wu of Han dynasty. The second route Zhang Qian chose was different from the first one. He went along north Tian Shan corridor of Silk Road. The basic route started from Chang’an, then went through Dunhuang and Loulan, streched to Turpan Basin in the north. It went westwards along northern part of Tian Shan and went through Yili River Valley and Zhao Su Grassland, and finally ended in Du Chi Gu city of Wu Sun.

Why Didn’t Da Rou Zhi align with the Government of Han Dynasty to Attack Xiongnu?

After Zhang Qian’s first mission to Da Wan in Xiyu, the ruler there was delighted. He had long heard of the abundance and vastness of Han empire, but due to the obstruction of Xiongnu people, he had no access to send messengers to Han empire. He sent the translators and guides to safeguard Zhang Qian, went via Kang Ju to reach Da Rou Zhi. 

 

Kang Ju was a Scythian tribe in the north bank of Syr River. Scythians belonged to nomads who galloped Eurasia and went eastwards to the north bank of Syr River. Between Syr River in the north of central Asia and the south of Amu River, there was a region called Sogdiana. Soghdians living in the south bank of Syr River was in the charge of Kang Ju people. Therefore, they were misunderstood as “Kang Ju people”. The origin of Soghdians was in Zerafshan River of Uzbekistan. In 329 B.C., when Alexander the Great traveled eastwards to Da Xia (present-day afghanistan) and North India (present-day Pakistan), he suffered fierce resistance from Scythians. After Alexander conquered Scythians, he married Scythian princess Roxane (Lu Shan Ni) and enhanced its ruling by marriage. An Lushan who started An-Shi Disturbances used the same name. “Lu Shan” belonged to Scythian language, meaning “brightness”. Generally, men were called “Lu Shan”, while women were called “Lu Shanni” which was similar to “Bi Qiu” and “ Bi Qiuni” in  Buddhism. During Renaissance Period in 16^th century in Europe, the famous painter Raphael created a famous painting named The Wedding of Alexander and Lu Zhenni.    

 

The ruler of Kang Ju was friendly to Zhang Qian, and he escorted him to the palace of Da Rou Zhi in the north bank of Amu River. Da Rou Zhi was in the charge of the wife of the former King ( or the prince), and the people there had conquered Bactria which was in the south bank of Amu River. During the reign of the king of Da Xia, Heliocles ( B.C. 145 – B. C. 130), unrest continously happened in Da Xia. Most of the homeland was occupied by An Xi Empire and only Da Xia and southern Sogdiana was left. Under the joint strike of Xiongnu and Wu Sun, Da Rou Zhi people moved from Yili River to Central Asia. They first occupied He Zhong area making the Scythians there move southwards to An Xi and Da Xia. During 140 B. C. to 130 B. C., Da Rou Zhi conquered Da Xia. “The north of Du Gui River was the King’s palace”. When Zhang Qian visited Da Xia ( in 128 B. C.), Da Rou Zhi people were still in the north bank and Da Xia was a subject of Da Rou Zhi.

 

After Zhang Qian returned to the Han Empire, Da Rou Zhi people went across Amu River and destroyed Da Xia. Afterwards, western people called Da Rou Zhi as “Tocharian” and their living place “Tokharistan”. But it was called “Da Rou Zhi” in Chinese history book. Zhang Qian named the capital of Da Xia as “ Lan Shi City”, which was Alexandra City, which was derived from Greek language Alexandria. During over one years’ stay of Zhang Qian in Da Xia, he failed to persuade Da Rou Zhi to jointly defeat Xiongnu with Han Empire, therefore, he had to return to Han.

 

In order to avoid Xiongnu, Zhang Qian chose to go back to Han Empire through the Silk Road in the north side of Kunlun Mountain. He prepared to go through Wa Vakhan Corridor, Tashkurghan, Khotan ( He Tian, Xin Jiang), Yu Mi ( present-day Keriya, Xinjiang), Qiang people’s tribe of Qing Hai and returned to Chang’an. However, he was caught by Xiongnu people in Qiang people’s area. One year later, after Chan Yu of Niongnu passed away, Zhang Qian returned to Chang’an with his wife and servant Tang Yifu.

 

The route Zhang Qian took in his first mission although did not reach the expected goal, it made great differences. He introduced many countries’ situation in the west of Pamir Mountains and knew that the southern part of Han Empire was Shen Du country ( present-day India). Shen Du country had civil trades with Sichuan and Yunnan. The cloth from Sichuan and bamboo cane were transported to Da Xia through Shen Du. He also noticed that there were no lacquer wares or silk in central Asia. It was based on Zhang Qian’s records that Si Maqian’s Dawan Commentary Section of the Historical Records and Ban Gu’s Han Book, Xiyu Zhuan were written.

 

Gold artifacts unearthed from the "Gold Hill"

Zhang Qian’s second trip to Xiyu was ended in Chi Gu city, Wu Sun’s capital, which remained undiscovered. However, archaeologists found the tomb of  Wu Sun’s King. It is a large-scale mound tomb. From an archaeolgical view, the culture of Da Rou Zhi and Wu Sun was divided by Bogeda peak, the east of which was Da Rou Zhi, belonging to Su Bei Xi culture. While in its west was Wu Sun, belonging to the culture of mound tomb.

 

Zhang Qian was warmly welcomed by Wu Sun King in Wu Sun, but Wu Sun didn’t align with Han Empire for fear of the power of Xiongnu. The king there only sent envoys to return to Chang’an with Zhang Qian to express his thank to Emperor Wu of Han Empire. In Zhang Qian’s second trip to Xiyu, he only reached Wu Sun, while his assistants went to Da Wan, Kang Ju, Da Rou Zhi, Da Xia, An Xi, Tiao Zhi, Yan Cai, Shen Du, Yu Tian and Yu Mi, etc. Since the Zhang Qian notices that there was no lacquer or silk during his first trip, he took a plenty of silk on his second trip. This was the first batch of Chinese silk traveled to western countries through the Silk Road and was recorded in history.

 

In 1842, a trove of cultural relics were discovered in the Crimean Peninsula of east Europe, one of which was plain structured dark floral silk in Han Dynasty, namely, “Qi” recorded in the literature of Han dynasty. “Qi” was renamed as “Ling” after Wei and Jin dynasties. The assistants of Zhang Qian reached  Yan Cai near Caucasus Kuban River, which was Crimea. The silk of Han Dynasty discovered here should be transported to Eurasian grassland in the same period of time of Zhang Qian. In the 7^th tomb of the graveyard in Yingpan, Xinjiang, this kind of silk was excavated. The figure of priestess wearing transparent silk clothes could be found in the fresco of Pompei Ruins in Italy.

　

In 1978, archaeologists from the Soviet Union and Afghanistan jointly discovered the famous “Tilia Tepe” ( the golden mound). “Tilia” means “gold”. “Tepe” is a Turkic language, meaning “earth mound”. There were nine tombs in total but after excavating the sixth one, the excavation work was suspended by the the Soviet Union’s intrusion into Afghanistan. This tomb was built around 1 century B. C. and over 20,000 golden wares embeded with turquoise and carnelian were excavated. The six tombs unearthed included five tombs for women, one for man. A recent study showd that a least a half of the six tombs for women should be the ruler of Da Rou Zhi, as it has the tradition that women were the ruler of the country. As for the owner of the man’s tomb, Lin Haicun believed that Gui Shuang’s first ruler, recorded in history book, was Qiu Jiuque’s father. These tombs were case-like wooden coffin, the shape of which was similar to wooden coffins discovered in Niya ruins in Xinjiang. Apart from golden wares, coins from Anxi, Roma and India as well as copper mirrors from China displayed complex and multiple culture in the tombs. With so abundant golden treasure and delicated making procedures, it was reasonable that Da Rou Zhi was unwilling to align with Han Empire to be enemy with Xiongnu.