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The Opening of the Silk Road ,~ GLOBAL CONTACTS: THE OPENING 25 OF THE SILK ROAD , . During the early Han dynasty (206 B.C.E,-220 C.E.)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 C.E.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 becauseof its role in promoting the spreadof 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 suggest the growth of long-distance contacts dur- ing the classical period? Selection I from ReC()Tdsof the Grand Histcrian 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 -!?elationsby Ymg..shih Yu (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967), p. 47. Selection m. Reprinted by permisison of the publishers and the Trustees of the Loeb Classical Library from Seneca: Volume ill MoralEssays, LCL # 31°, 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 ill. from Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars: Gaius Suetonius TranquiUus, translated by Robert Graves (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1957). Permission granted by Cafcanet 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.' ' if .' " INDIAN OCEAN ATLANTIC . OCEAN IIlI East Roman Empire India Sassanlan Empire Land routes 0 500 1,000 Miles rJII I I I I . I China Water routes 0 1,000Kilometers ~ Established Trade Routes, ca. 600 C.E. " , ~ '\) -';"i!i!~: ..tJ F Chapter 25 / Global Contacts:The Opening of the SilkRoad 159 .~ CHINESE AND ROMAN SOURCES I. ZHANG QIAN'S JOURNEYWEST [The descriptionof Zhang Qjan's mission to CentralAsia comesfrom Sima Qjan, the Chinese historian who authored the descriptionof the Xiongnu nomads in Chapter24. Although Pinpointing the places early travelers visited is a notoriouslydifficult problem, modern researchersthink that Zhang Qian p'robablyjourneyedasfar 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 [H411 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 ~ ,1 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 ;! rl 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. Mter 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 asyet 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!" . 7 . ~. .'.,,,. .. ' ~t. ," ' . ,1 1 160 Section Two I The Classical Period, 1000 a.c.E. to 500 C.E. ... -- r.. The king of Dayuan trusted his words and sent him on his way, giving him , guides and interpreters to take him to the state of Kangju [Uzbekistan]. From there he was able to make his way to the land of the Great "fuezhi. Since the king of the Great "fuezhi had been killed by the Xiongnu, his spn had succe'eded him as ruler and had forced the kingdom ofDaxia [Mghanistan] to recognize his sovereignty. The region he ruled was rich and fertile and seldom troubled by invaders, and the king thought only of his own enjoyment. He consid- ered the Han too far away to bother with and had no particular intention of aveng- ing his father's death by attacking the Xiongnu. From the court of the Yuezhi, Zhang Qian travelled on to the state of Daxia, but in the end he was never able to interest the "fuezhi in his proposals. Mter spending a year or so in the area, he began to journey back along the Nanshan or Southern Mountains, intending to re-enter China through the terri- tory of the Qiang barbarians, but he was onc~ more captured by the Xiongnu and detained for over a year. Just at this time the Shanyudied and the Luli King of the Left attacked the Shanyu's heir and set himself up as the new Shanyu (126 B.C.E.).As a result of this. the whole Xiongnu nation was in turmoil and Zhang Qian, along with his Xiongnu wife and the former slave Ganfu, was able to escape and return to China. The emp~ror honoured Zhang Qian with the post of palace counsellor and awarded Ganfu the title of "Lord Wh~ Carries Out His Mission". .' .\ Zhang Qian was a man of great strength, determination, and generosity. He trusted others and in turn was liked by the barbarians. Ganfu, who was a Xiongnu by birth, was good at archery, and whenever he and Zhang Qian were short of food he would shoot birds and beasts to keep them supplied. When Zhang Qian first set out on his mission, he was accompanied by over 100 men, but after thirteen years abroad, only he and Ganfu managed to make their way back to China. '. Zhang Qian in person visited the lands ofDayuan, the Great fuezhi, Daxia, and Kangju, and in addition he gathered reports on five or six other large states in the neighbourhood. All of his information he related to the emperor on his -return. II. CHINESE"GIFTS" OF SilK TO THE XIONGNU [Han Wudi used Zhang Qian's report to extend Chinese military power deep into Central ... Asia. A string of Chinesefortresses and checkpoints soon reached to Afghanistan. Diplomatic and commercial relations between the Chinese and the Central Asian nomads increased. At the heart of these contacts was the exchange of horsesfrom Central Asia (called "tribute" l1ythe Chinese)for silk from China (called "gifts" l1ythe Chinese). The disguised trade of horsesfor silk along routes newly secured l1ythe Chinese marks the opening of the Silk Road.
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