張騫 Zhang Qian. The Secret Envoy of Han Emperor Wu in Search of the Arsi (Yuezhi) and the Fall of the Græco-Bactrian Kingdom. (Annotated Compilation of Eastern and Western Sources)

und Literatur angetroffen, von anderen großen und mächtigen Reichen, wie Indien, Parthien,
Babylonien, dem Lande der Alanen u.a. hatte er gehört, kurzum Tschang K’ien hatte
eine fremde Welt aufgefunden, er war in den Bannkreis der griechisch-indisch-persischen
Kultur geraten.
This is an exceptionally clear-sighted and eloquent presentation of Zhang Qian’s
mission in search of the 月 氏 . The imperial envoy is not called a general here, but the
low-ranking palace employee (›lang‹ 郎 ) he really was at the time.
A few minor errors in FRANKE’s exposé may be noted here. It should be clear that
the Han Chinese did not expect the Ruzhi 月 氏 to live in their old seats still. They had
been told, strangely late in fact, that the 月 氏 had decided to move far to the West —
not for better grazing grounds, as stated by a number of later authors, but to be safe
from further attacks by the Xiongnu. To search for the 月 氏 , however, Zhang Qian and
his men with their large baggage train had to pass the Hexi (Gansu) Corridor: this was
the traditional and only line of communication from China to all countries further
West. It was Zhang Qian’s bad luck that the Hexi Corridor, the former lands of the
Ru zhi 月 氏 , had been annexed by the Xiongnu in the decades between c. 165 and 139
BCE. Wh en the mission passed Longxi 隴 西 — the last Chinese town near the end of
the Great Wall —, they entered enemy land and were quickly spotted and stopped.
Another point is that Zhang Qian, living more than ten years among the Xiongnu,
had more than enough time to find out where in fact the Ruzhi 月 氏 were living now.
N ot north of the Xiongnu, as the Chanyu had told him; not in the region between the Ili,
C hu and Naryn rivers (any more) — where Zhang Qian might have been told to search
for them; but much further West still, somewhere on the age-old caravan route which
passed Shule 疏 勒 (Kashgar) and the Congling 蔥 嶺 mountains (the Pamirs).
In Shiji 123 we are told that Zhang Qian lived a full decade or more amongst the
X iongnu 匈 奴 中 ; this could be misunderstood to mean that he was living in the center
o f the Xiongnu empire. So Hanshu 61 (see above, sentence (14) of the original text)
pointedly tells us that he was living in the West of the Xiongnu realm 匈 奴 西 . With
t his we may assume that Zhang Qian found excuses to roam about in the region of the
Tarim Basin which he may have entered via the northern route skirting the southern
slopes of the Tian shan 天 山 mountain ranges. But the 月 氏 had not passed this way.
Their trek must have passed to the north of the Tian shan, i.e. the 月 氏 must have
trekked across the empty lands of what is called Dzungaria today — the western-most
end of the Gobi desert — before they reached the upper Ili river and there came into
conflict with the Sakaraukai or Saiwang 塞 王 , the easternmost branch of the large Sa-
ka Federation.
This people led a nomad way of life just like the Ruzhi 月 氏 . But they were Skythai
and thus belonged to the Indo-European world of Central Asia. When the Far Eastern
and thus mongoloid 月 氏 clashed with these Sakaraukai/Saiwang and drove them
w est, they opened the door to the Western Oikumene, to themselves as well as to
Z hang Qian who, otherwise, would not have crossed this decisive — and until then
nearly insurmountable — dividing line between two separate worlds.
With this it should be clear that — after his escape — Zhang Qian was not traveling
with his original one hundred men strong delegation across the Tarim Basin to get
himself familiar with the area. He would not have gone far at that time, just as ten
years before. Instead, he must have pretended to do something useful for the Xiongnu.
And only when he was close enough to where he wanted to go, i.e. when he had
reached the southwestern-most corner of the Tarim Basin, i.e. the area of Shule/Kashar,
did he finally drop his disguise to make his escape from the Xiongnu — in just the
g
c ompany of his trustworthy Xiongnu servant Gan-fu 甘 父 with whom he crossed the
Congling 蔥 嶺 (Pamirs) and via the Terek pass (3870 m) reached Da Yuan 大 苑
( Ferghana) within one month or so. His large mission must in fact have disappeared
early in those ten years amongst the Xiongnu, not at a later time.
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