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The Opening of the Silk Road 161 'T GLOBAL CONTACTS: THE OPENING 25 OF THE SILK ROAD During the early Han dynasty (206 B.cE.-220 CE.) Chinese emperors began to send large amounts of silk-for both diplomatic and commercial reasons-to the nomads of Central Asia, especially the Xiongnu. Within a short time some of this silk found its way, by means of a type of relay trade, to Rome. Modern scholars refer to the East- West routes on which the fabric, and other commodities, moved as the Silk Road. By 100 CE. the land routes linking China to Rome also had a maritime counterpart. Seaborne commerce flourished between Rome and India via the Red Sea and the Ara- bian Sea. Other routes farther east, connected Indian ports with harbors in Southeast Asia and China. A great Afro-Eurasian commercial network had now come into being. Silk from China (the only country that produced it until after 500 CE.), pepper and jewels from India, and incense from Arabia were sent to the Mediterranean region on routes that ter- minated in Roman cities such as Alexandria, Gaza, Antioch, and Ephesus. In exchange for the precious commodities, the Romans sent large amounts of silver and gold east- ward to destinations in Asia. Because the long-distance trade of the classical period was mainly in luxuries rather than in articles of daily use, its overall economic impact was probably limited. Most present-day historians think that the Rome-India-China trade was significant pri- marily because of its role in promoting the spread of religions, styles of art, technologies, and epidemic diseases. The following selections are a mixture of Chinese and Roman evidence. How does the variety of materials in this chapter suggestthe growth of long-distance contacts dur- ing the classical period? Selection I from Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian: Han Dynasty II, revised ed. Translated by Burton Watson (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993), pp. 231-233. Selection II "Chinese Gifts of Silk to the Xiongnu" from Trade and Expansion in Han China: A Study in the Structure of Sino-Barbarian Relations by Ying-shih Yu (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), p. 47. Selection III. Reprinted by permisison of the publishers and the Trustees of the Loeb Classical Library from Seneca: Volume III MoralEssays, LCL # 310, translated by John W. Basore, Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1935. The Loeb Classical Library @ is a registered trademark of the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Selection III. from Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars: Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, translated by Robert Graves (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1957). Permission granted by Carcanet press limited. Selection IV from The Travels of Fa-hsien (399-414 A.D.), or Record of the Buddhistic Kingdoms, translated by H. A. Giles (Cam- bridge University Press, 1923), pp. 76-79, 81. 157 " " " ' INDIAN OCEAN ATLANTIC OCEAN India - East Roman Empire Sassanian Empire land routes a 500 1,000 Miles I I I I I Water routes a 1,000Kilometers ~ China EstablishedTrade Routes, ca, 600 C.E. Chapter 25 I Global Contacts:The Opening of the SilkRoad 159 CHINESEAND ROMAN SOURCES I.ZHANGQIAN'SJOURNEYWEST {Thedescriptionof Zhang Qian's mission to CentralAsia comesfrom Sima Qian, the Chinese historian who authored the descriptionof the Xiongnu nomads in Chapter 24. Although pinpointing the places early travelers visited is a notoriously difficult problem, modern researchersthink that Zhang Qian probablyjourneyed asfar as today'sKyrgyzstan(Chinese: Dayuan) and Afghanistan (Chinese:Daxia).] Zhang Qian was the first person to bring back a clear accout of Dayuan [Kyrgyztan]. He was a native of Hanzhong and served as a palace attendant dur- ing the jianyuan era (140-135 B.C.E.). At this time the emperor [Han Wudi, reigned 140-87 B.C.E.]questioned various Xiongnu who had surrendered to the Han and they all reported that the Xiongnu had defeated the king of the Yuezhi people [also pastoral nomads] and made his skull into a drinking vessel. As a result the Yuezhi had fled and bore a constant grudge against the Xiongnu, though as yet they had been unable to find anyone to join them in an attack on their enemy. The Han at this time was engaged in a concerted effort to destroy the Xiongnu, and therefore, when the emperor heard this, he decided to try to send an envoy to establish relations with the Yuezhi. To reach them, however, an envoy would inevitably have to pass through Xiongnu territory. The emperor accordingly sent out a summons for men capable of undertaking such a mission. Zhang Qian, who was a palace attendant at the time, answered the summons and was appointed as envoy to the Yuezhi. He set out from Longxi, accompanied by Ganfu, a Xiongnu slave who belonged to a family in Tangyi. They travelled west through the territory of the Xiongnu and were captured by the Xiongnu and taken before the Shanyu. The Shanyu detained them and refused to let them proceed. "The Yuezhi people live north of me," he said. "What does the Han mean by trying to send an envoy to them! Do you suppose that if I tried to send an embassy to the kingdom of Yue in the southeast the Han would let my men pass through China?" The Xiongnu detained Zhang Qian for over ten years and gave him a wife from their own people, by whom he had a son. Zhang Qian never once relin- quished the imperial credentials that marked him as an envoy of the Han, however, and after he had lived in Xiongnu territory for some time and was less closely watched than at first, he and his party finally managed to escape and resume their journey toward the Yuezhi. After hastening west for twenty or thirty days, they reached the kingdom of Dayuan. The king of Dayuan had heard of the wealth of the Han empire and wished to establish communication with it, though as yet he had been unable to do so. When he met Zhang Qian he was overjoyed and asked where Zhang Qian wished to go. "I was dispatched as envoy of the Han to the Yuezhi, but the Xiongnu blocked my way and I have only just now managed to escape," he replied. "I beg Your Highness to give me some guides to show me the way. If I can reach my des- tination and return to the Han to make my report, the Han will reward you with countless gifts!" .- Chapter 25 / Global Contacts:The Opening ofthe Silk Road 159 CHINESEAND ROMAN SOURCES I.ZHANG QIAN'SJOURNEY WEST [The description of Zhang Qian's mission to Central Asia comesfrom Sima Qian, the Chinese historian who authored the description of the Xiongnu nomads in Chapter 24. Although pinpointing the Places early travelers visited is a notoriously difficult problem, modern researchersthink that Zhang Qian probably journeyed as far as today's Kyrgyzstan (Chinese: Dayuan) and Afghanistan (Chinese: Daxia).] Zhang Qian was the first person to bring back a clear accout of Dayuan [Kyrgyztan] . He was a native of Hanzhong and served as a palace attendant dur- ing the jianyuan era (140-135 B.C.E.). At this time the emperor [Han Wudi, reigned 140-87 B.C.E.] questioned various Xiongnu who had surrendered to the Han and they all reported that the Xiongnu had defeated the king of the Yuezhi people [also pastoral nomads] and made his skull into a drinking vessel. As a result the Yuezhi had fled and bore a constant grudge against the Xiongnu, though as yet they had been unable to find anyone to join them in an attack on their enemy. The Han at this time was engaged in a concerted effort to destroy the Xiongnu, and therefore, when the emperor heard this, he decided to try to send an envoy to establish relations with the YUezhi. To reach them, however, an envoy would inevitably have to pass through Xiongnu territory. The emperor accordingly sent out a summons for men capable of undertaking such a mission. Zhang Qian, who was a palace attendant at the time, answered the summons and was appointed as envoy to the YUezhi. He set out from Longxi, accompanied by Ganfu, a Xiongnu slave who belonged to a family in Tangyi. They travelled west through the territory of the Xiongnu and were captured by the Xiongnu and taken before the Shanyu. The Shanyu detained them and refused to let them proceed. 'The Yuezhi people live north of me," he said. "What does the Han mean by trying to send an envoy to them! Do you suppose that if I tried to send an embassy to the kingdom of Yue in the southeast the Han would let my men pass through China?" The Xiongnu detained Zhang Qian for over ten years and gave him a wife from their own people, by whom he had a son. Zhang Qian never once relin- quished the imperial credentials that marked him as an envoy of the Han, however, and after he had lived in Xiongnu territory for some time and was less closely watched than at first, he and his party finally managed to escape and resume their journey toward the Yuezhi. After hastening west for twenty or thirty days, they reached the kingdom of Dayuan. The king of Dayuan had heard of the wealth of the Han empire and wished to establish communication with it, though as yet he had been unable to do so. When he met Zhang Qian he was overjoyed and asked where Zhang Qian wished to go. "I was dispatched as envoy of the Han to the Yuezhi, but the Xiongnu blocked my way and I have only just now managed to escape," he replied.
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