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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s4.t1: Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c14.s4.t1

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English

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Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty

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Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty (156-87 BCE, reigned from 141-87 BCE) was an emperor of Western Han Dynasty in China. During his reign, he strengthened the centralisation of authority, established a recommendatory system for recruiting personnel resources, actively expanding his territories under his kingdom, and sent Zhang Qian to Western Regions, and facilitated the opening of the Silk Road. He made groundbreaking contribution to the economic and cultural exchange between India and China.

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Image of Emperor Wudi (Liu Che) of Han Dynasty

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Since Emperor Gaozu (ruled from 206-195 BCE) established Han Dynasty, during the reign of the Emperor Wen of Han (ruled from 180-157 BCE) and Emperor Jing of Han (ruled from 157-141 BCE), the imperial court reduced the burden of taxation, allowing people to live a life of peace and prosperity as well ensuring social stability and economic development. People’s lives improved generally, and this thus formed the first millennium since the establishment of autocratic imperial power in China. After Emperor Wu, (real name - Liu Che) ascended the throne, he promulgated a series of new policies and measures to strengthen the centralisation of authority. For example, he issued the “Kindness Order”, which meant that feudal lords were to manage their own countries, dividing the feudal lands among next generations and thus, weakening their strength. He established a small group consisting of the close ministers of the emperor, and scrapped the title of prime minister in order to consolidate the imperial power. He divided the area outside the capital into 13 states, and sent prefectural governors for strengthening the local control. He conducted monetary reforms, increased commercial tax, put salt and iron under government control, reverted the right to mint currency back under imperial control, thus enhancing the economic power of the court. He accepted Dong Zhongshu’s advice of “rejecting the various schools and honouring of the Six Confucian Classics,” ended the situation of “truth told by various teachers is different, people’s discussion is different, the hundred schools of thought have different directions of study, so the intention is also different,” thereby bringing about a unification of thought. Confucianism gradually became an orthodox thought of Chinese society. During the implementation of the new policy, Emperor Wu of Han also actively prepared to launch a massive military campaign against the alien forces from the north. From the second year of Yuanshuo (127 BCE) to fourth year of Yuanshuo (119 BCE), he sent Wei Qing and Huo Qubing to travel repeatedly to Xiongnu, and forced them to move to Mobei. He recovered the Hetao area, captured the Hexi Corridor, set up four counties in Jiuquan, Wuwei, Zhangye and Dunhuang,

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[Figure: Emperor Wudi (Liu Che) of Han Dynasty – *Records of the Dawan Biography*]

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and ordered the people from northeast China to relocate here. This not only ensured the safety of the northwest frontier but also opened the access to the interaction between the cultures of the Central plains with that of China’s Western Regions. In the fifth year of Yuanding (112 BCE), Emperor Wu led an expedition to South Vietnam with 100,000 soldiers, and defeated it the next year. Meanwhile, at the same time, he pacified the region of Yelang, and also brought back the areas of Guangdong and Guangxi to China.

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At the beginning of his rule, relying on the strong national power, Emperor Wu of Han decided to change the policy made by emperors of the early Han Dynasty to inter-marry with the northern tribes of the Xiongnu. He now decided to use military force to keep them in check, and to join forces with Dayuezhi, who were fierce enemies of the Xiongnu. In the seconf year of Jianyuan, Zhang Qian, as an envoy, travelled to the west, but was captured by the Xiongnu during his journey through Longxi. The chief of the Xiongnu planned to imprison Zhang Qian, and made him marry the Xiongnu women. However, Zhang Qian kept his moral integrity, and finally escaped. He went westward for dozens of days, and reached Dayuan (present-day Fergana Basin of Central Asia). Dayuan had yearned to go to the rich and populous Central Plains, and showing their friendliness, they led Zhang Qian to Kangju (between Balkhash Lake and Aral Sea in Central Asia). The King of Kangju also arranged for people to send him to Balkh (it is generally believed that it is Tochari, now in northern Afghanistan, and the capital is in Barge in the west of Mazar-i-Sharif). Dayuezhi was chased by Xiongnu and Uisin, having to migrate westward many times, was now settled in Balkh. Due to its fertile soil, rich products, and no alien attacks, the king of Dayuezhi gave up the idea of uniting with the Han Dynasty to fight Xiongnu.

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Zhang Qian failed to complete the mission, and after staying in Balkh for a year he chose the Nan Shan road to return to China, via the area of Qiang nationality, in order to avoid Xiongnu. Unexpectedly, the Qiang people used to pay allegiance to the Xiongnu, so Zhang Qian was again detained by them. After many years, Zhang Qian escaped by taking advantage of an internal disorder. In the third year of Yuanshuo (126 BCE), Zhang Qian returned to Chang’an, and related everything to the emperor regarding the Western Regions. Records of the ‘Grand Historian• Historical Biography of Dayuan’ and ‘History of the Han Dynasty - Biography of Zhang Qian’ both had the description offered by Zhang Qian. He said that he saw Qiong bamboo rods, Shu cloth and other products were made in Han Dynasty, but all these things were bought from Sindhu. Sindhu was in the southeast, thousands of miles away from Balkh, and had a similar custom to Balkh. The emperor and officials of Han Dynasty came to know that there was a country named Sindhu (India) in southwest China. Because the country could reach the Shu area, Zhang Qian advised Emperor Wu of Han to open the southwest road. Even though the idea was put into place, all missions were hampered for some reason or the other, and returned without any fruitful result. In the fourth year of Yuanshou (119 BCE), the Emperor Wu of Han appointed Zhang Qian as the Zhonglangjiang (an ancient official title).

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He was ordered to travel to the Western Regions again, with the purpose of bribing Uisin (Ili River basin in Xinjiang) with treasures, and making the country attack Xiongnu to achieve the goal of “breaking the right arm of Xiongnu.” The entourage included as many as 300 people, and the gifts sent were expensive. But Uisin was suffering from internal chaos, with many different opinions in its court, so Zhang Qian failed to get them to agree to his suggestion. Later, Uisin sent dozens of people including translators, guides and envoys to escort Zhang Qian back to Han Dynasty. Zhang Qian reached Chang’an in the second year of Yuanding (115 BCE), and died the following year. When Zhang Qian stayed in Uisin, he once sent his assistants to Dayuan, Kangju, Dayuezhi, Balkh, Parthian and Sindhu, and all envoys came back together with people from the country they visited, which brought the economic and cultural exchanges between countries with Han Dynasty. Zhang Qian, who travelled westward twice, opened the Silk Road from central plains to the Western Regions, allowing the Han people to get a preliminary knowledge of India, and made the pioneering contribution to the economic and cultural exchange between India and China.