Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

4 .7
The influence of Chinese coins on Sogdian coinage and that of a number of other
areas of Central Asia can be seen by the Sogdian word pny meaning ‘coin’ found on
Turgesh coins in combination with the title ‘The coin of the Sovereign of Turgesh’,
on Chach coins with a camel, and on coins of the Chach possession of Benaket ruled
by Shaniabag. In 7th-century China the word fen, from which the Sogdian pny was
derived, denoted both a weight and a monetary unit.
Coins confirm information from textual sources about periods of the most
intensive political impact and, consequently, of cultural relations and trade between
China and Central Asia. Thus, while diplomatic embassies from various Central
Asian dominions were being sent with gifts and tributes to the court of the Celestial
Empire almost annually during the Han (206 BC–AD 220) and Tang (AD 618–
907) dynasties, they were very infrequent during the period of the Northern and
Sui dynasties. Typically, the following phrase is often repeated in the annals of the
history of the Sui dynasty and its contact with Central Asian dominions: ‘In the Sui
dynasty in the sixth summer of the rule of Kai-huang, [AD 586], a messenger with
tributes was sent, and after that there were no more embassies.’ This state of affairs
was a result of the weakening position of the Chinese empire in Central Asia in the
second half of the 5th and the first half of the 7th century because of the rising power
of the Hephthalites and the subsequent domination of the Turks, who controlled the
roads leading from China to Asia.
Mirrors
Mirror. 2nd–1st
centuries BC. Han period.
Apart from coins, mirrors were among the most
significant objects among Chinese imports
to Central Asia. Specimens of mirrors have
mainly been found in the Ferghana valley,
in the foothills of the Tian Shan and Alay
mountains, and at the Tashkent Oasis.
The earliest mirrors of the zhaoming style
(1st century BC) have been found in the Pskent
burial ground and at Vrevskaya railway station.
Mirrors of the baiju style (1st century BC–1st
century AD) were discovered at Farkhadstroi
(the Farkhad hydroelectric power station) and at the
Kairagach burial ground in Ferghana. Chinese mirrors
found at the Isfara, Karabulak and Turatash burial sites
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