Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

part iv | migrations of cultures
4.7
CHINA AND
CENTRAL ASIA
From the second half of the 2nd century BC after the voyage of
Zhang Qian, a new geographical concept – the Western Regions – was introduced in the
Chinese world to designate Central Asia and Eastern Turkestan (present-day Xinjiang).
Trade, cultural and diplomatic relations between China and the Western Regions
had developed over many centuries and were intricately connected with the exploration
of new routes, roads and geographical regions previously unknown to the Chinese.
Formidable geographical barriers between China and Central Asia had to be
overcome, such as the Taklamakan desert, the Kunlun and Tien-Shan mountains
and the Pamirs, and there were thousands of kilometres of challenging routes.
Surmounting these natural obstacles required considerable physical effort and will,
especially in the initial stages of trying to establish contact between civilisations as
different from each other as the Chinese and Central Asian.
China probably had already established trade relations with Khotan, from where
famous Khotan jade came to China, as early as the first half of the 1st millennium BC.
China had probably also established relations with Altai in the same period. It was
in this region that unique specimens of Chinese silk embroidery and multicoloured
fabrics imported from the kingdom of Chu were found in Pazyryk kurgans (burial
mounds). Going by archaeological finds and information from Chinese textual
sources, it would appear that networks of routes were developed in Central Asia
as early as the 1st millennium BC to connect the region to China. Before the
establishment of the Han Empire, China mainly consisted of the north-eastern part
of the country between the Huanghe (Yellow river) and Yangtze rivers. It was not
until the rise of the great Han Empire in 206 BC that China emerged as a powerful
state, wielding considerable influence over its neighbouring peoples and actively
pursuing policies of territorial expansion. Diplomatic missions, military contingents,
merchants and artisans streamed westwards along the roads opened up by Zhang
Qian and his followers.
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