Photo: iStock
Gergely Salát
16/10/2023 10:38
For the next half-century or so, the two empires lived in a strange coexistence. The Han court agreed to send regular gifts - effectively tribute - to the Huns and to send an imperial princess to marry the current leader, and the Huns promised peace in return. However, the nomads still invaded the northern provinces from time to time, extorting ever larger tributes from the Chinese. For a long time, the House of Han was powerless against the raids of the Xiongnus, and it was not until the reign of Emperor Wu, who ruled from 141-87 BC, that the House of Han became strong enough to try to put an end to the Hun threat once and for all.
A delegation of 99 members
In addition to his massive campaigns against the Xiongnus, Emperor Wu also made diplomacy an important part of his mission. The Huns had other enemies besides the Chinese, in particular the Yuezhi (Tohar, Kushan) people, who had been defeated by the Huns, driven westwards and made into drinking cups from the skull of their king. The idea of the Chinese forming an alliance with the Yuezhi, who hated the Huns even more than they did, against a common enemy, was a natural one. To do this, however, they had to establish relations with them, which was no easy task, because the Yuezhis were already living far from China in what is now Tajikistan.
The emperor entrusted the task of contacting the Yuezhis to his official Zhang Qian. Zhang set out in 138 BC with a 99-member delegation, but the journey took him through Xiongnu-dominated territory, where he was intercepted. Zhang Qian lived for thirteen years in nomadic captivity, where he was married to a Xiongnu wife who bore him a son. In time, he managed to escape with his family and continue his journey. He made his way to the Yuezhi, but they did not want to get involved in conflict with the powerful Huns again, so the alliance came to nothing.
"Horses sweating blood"
Zhang stayed in Central Asia for a year, however, and assessed the conditions there. He then went home, but was captured again by the Xiongnus. This time he managed to escape after two years, taking advantage of the confusion surrounding the leader's death. In 125 BC he returned to the Han capital, where he gave the emperor a detailed account of the hitherto unknown territories he had visited - apart from the land of the Yuezhis, he mentioned Ferghana, Bactria, Sogdiana - and also India, the Parthian and Seleucid empires, which he had heard about during his travels.
Zhang Qian also spoke about the products of foreign countries, which attracted the Emperor's interest in the Central Asian region known in Chinese as the Western Territories. In particular, he wanted to buy the 'blood-sweating' Ferghana horses, as the Chinese army was in great need of good quality horses to fight the fearsome Xiongnus. Zhang Qian was sent twice more to the west to establish contacts with the countries there, and then reciprocal envoys began, followed by a boom in trade.
Opening to the West
In parallel with the great victories over the Xiongnus, the Han Empire conquered several city-states in Central Asia and in time came to control much of the Western territories, with trade passing through them. Chinese products soon reached Rome and goods from Western countries were introduced into China, along with hitherto unknown crops such as grapes and alfalfa. This created the Silk Road, linking the East with the West, which not only brought goods but also technology and ideas, such as Buddhism, to China in the Han period.
Zhang Qian participated as an officer in the wars against the Xiongnus, with varying degrees of success. He was temporarily disgraced when he and his troops missed a meeting, but later regained the emperor's trust. He died in 114 BC, and his figure soon became the subject of colourful legends. Today he is regarded as an important historical figure, a national hero and an early embodiment of peaceful Chinese diplomacy. His greatest achievement was certainly that he opened the way for the Chinese to the West.
The author is a senior researcher at the Hungarian Institute of Foreign Affairs and head of the Department of Chinese Studies at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University