Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

part ii | states
According to these Chinese accounts, the office of the Protector General was
established to run the various states of Western Regions on both the Southern and
Northern routes of the Silk Road, but this seems unlikely. One account in the Shiji
is typical in this respect. It states that the Chinese ambassadors ‘if they did not hand
out silks or other goods they were given no food, and unless they purchased animals
in the markets they could get no mounts for their riders. This was because the people
considered the Han too far away to bother about’. If the provinces in question had
indeed been so dependent on China, the officials of the imperial service, in this case
of the Han Empire, would not have found themselves in such a position.
It is more likely that the so-called Protector General was in charge of diplomatic
relations but did not actually have anything to do with the administration of the
various states of the Western Regions. An important result of the establishment of
diplomatic relations between Han China and Central Asia was the development of
trade and cultural relations, as evidenced by both written sources and archaeological
evidence.
For example, according to these sources, Dayuan received silver and gold from
China and used it to produce various goods, but not coins. From Dayuan (Ferghana),
along with the famous ‘heavenly horses’, the Chinese sent back crops such as grapes
and alfalfa, which were then widely cultivated in China for the first time. Lacquerware
and silk fabrics started arriving in Central Asia from China.
The Chinese introduced cast iron technology to Inner Asia, which was promoted
by conscripts who had deserted from the Han missions and fled to Dayuan where
they lived and taught the locals the techniques of making cast iron.
We know from archaeological finds that Chinese wu zhu bronze coins came
from China to Central Asia, especially to Ferghana and to some extent to Sogdia,
apparently initiating the development of money relations in Ferghana. Several types
of the famous Chinese bronze mirrors have been found in considerable quantities in
Central Asia, along with occasional finds of jade objects.
In AD 7, Wang-mang (AD 9–23), viewed as a usurper in Chinese historical
tradition, seized power in China, and diplomatic relations between Central Asia and
China were interrupted.
The rise to power of the Eastern Han Dynasty in AD 25 did not initially help to
re-establish these relations, although a number of envoys were sent to China from
some states of the Western Regions during the reign of Emperor Guangwu, asking
if they could submit to the Middle Kingdom (China) and have a Protector General.
According to the Hou Hanshu or the History of the Later Han Dynasty, relationships
with the Western Regions were fractured for 65 years, and it was not until AD 73 that
a range of relationships were re-established.
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