Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

2 .6
The brilliant result of these missions and the opening up of the Western Regions
was the beginning of the Silk Road, the first transcontinental route in the history
of civilisations, connecting the countries of the West and the East. The peoples of
Central Asia, in particular Sogdians, played a major role in its creation. Sogdian trading
posts sprang up along the entire eastern route of the Silk Road from Samarkand to
Changan, and the Sogdian language became the lingua franca for the people living
along the route.
Chinese-Kangju diplomatic relations
The diplomatic relations between Han China and another Central Asian state,
Kangju, were somewhat different. Having considerable military power (at one time
it included Khorezm, Sogdia, Chach and other Transoxiana possessions), Kangju
pursued an independent policy from China, and did not recognise the superiority of
the Chinese in its diplomatic relations. Thus, according to the History of the Former
Han Dynasty, at receptions with the Kangju ruler, Chinese envoys were seated below
Wusun ones, and dinner was served to them later than to Wusun princes and elders.
However, China, which greatly valued the reputation it had built up in the Western
Regions, was trying to hold on to its position here at all costs, and therefore tolerated
the situation. Despite not recognising China as a suzerain, as the Wusun did, the
Kangju ruler nevertheless sent his sons to serve at the Chinese imperial court. The
Chinese believed this was a cunning pretext to promote Kangju trade with China.
Diplomatic relations between the Yuezhi and China
Even though the Yuezhi apparently rejected a proposal for a military alliance with
China against the Huns when Zhang Qian visited Bactria, diplomatic relations
continued to develop between these two states. One of the most significant outcomes
of that relationship was the introduction of Buddhism into China, which was greatly
facilitated by Yuezhi envoys to China and Chinese envoys to Bactria.
The period is distinguished by the establishment of diplomatic relations between
Han China and the countries and possessions of Inner Asia, by the regularity of
diplomatic activity, and by the signing of various kinds of treaties. The diplomatic
activity of Han China in Inner Asia, and probably also the war with Dayuan, led to
the recognition of some of the various states of the Western Regions as vassals that
were dependent on Han China. According to Chinese accounts, there were originally
36 states in the Western Regions, and by the beginning of the 1st century AD their
number had increased to 55. Some of them had purely nominal dependence, while
others, like Kangju, did not recognise China’s supremacy in any way, even treating its
envoys in a humiliating fashion.
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