Chapter 4 Section 3: The Story of Shubu and Qiongzhuzhang

According to the records of "Biography of Dawan" and "Biography of Southwestern Yi" in "Historical Records", Zhang Qian was ordered to go to the Western Regions in the sixth year of Jianyuan (135 BC) of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, which lasted 13 years. 122 BC) returned to China.He saw Shu cloth and Qiong poor bamboo sticks produced in Sichuan, China in Daxia (present-day Iran and Afghanistan), and ordered people to ask the local people where these things came from.The local people said: "This is from the Shendu country (now the South Asian subcontinent), which is thousands of miles southeast, and there are people from Shu who sell things there. These Shu cloth and Qiongzhu sticks are bought from them." .” At that time, the people of the Han Dynasty translated India as Shendu.In fact, before Zhang Qian traveled to the Western Regions, people had heard that there was a Shendu country about two thousand miles southwest of Sichuan.Zhang Qian is a brainy person. He saw Chinese products in Daxia, and made a detailed report to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty after returning home.He said that the Great Xia Kingdom was in the southwest of the Han Dynasty, and the people there admired China very much. It was only because of the obstacles of the Huns that they could not communicate with China; In the same way, for China, having this convenient road is beneficial but harmless.When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty heard it, he thought it made sense, so he ordered Zhang Qian to send a secret envoy to the southwest to find the road to India.Zhang Qian sent a group of secret envoys to set off in four routes.However, these secret envoys were blocked by the local ethnic minorities when they reached the Yunnan area, and some envoys were even killed, and finally failed to reach India.Later, the imperial court sent more than ten batches of envoys to the southwest, but none of them achieved their goals.

During the Western Han Dynasty, since Zhang Qian traveled to the Western Regions, there had been some exchanges between China and the northwestern part of India. Because the Huns often blocked them, the exchanges on this road were intermittent.This road is called "Xiyu Road" by scholars. Although the opening of the Western Regions Road came after Zhang Qian traveled to the Western Regions, it does not rule out the existence of such a road before the Western Han Dynasty.Zhang Qian made two missions to the Western Regions, and the road he traveled was the Western Region Road.At that time, the Xiongnu was a major problem in the northwest of the Han Dynasty, occupying the key points of the Western Regions. Since Emperor Wu came down, several generations of emperors such as Zhao, Xuan, Yuan, and Cheng adopted various means such as conquest, marriage, setting up counties, and farming, and basically controlled the Western Regions. Making it what is known today as the "Silk Road".In the Han Dynasty, the Western Region Road was divided into north and south. "Historical Records Dawan Biography" said: "At the beginning, Ershi (General Li Guangli during Emperor Wu's time) set off from the west of Dunhuang, and the country on the road could not eat, so he was divided into several armies and traveled from the north and the south." "Hanshu" "The Biography of the Western Regions" And "Chen Tang Biography" also mentioned the North and South Roads.It is generally believed that from Dunhuang to the west, from Yumenguan, Yangguan to Shanshan, the route from Shanshan along the northern edge of the Tarim Basin via Yanqi, Qiuci and other places to cross Congling is the northern route, and from Shanshan along the southern edge of the Tarim Basin via Khotan , Shache and other places across the Congling route is the South Road.

Due to the opening of the Western Region Road, the Han Dynasty sent more and more envoys to South Asia. "Historical Records Dawan Biography" records that when Zhang Qian made his second mission to the Western Regions, he sent a deputy envoy to Wusun to be poisoned. "Since the death of Bowang Houqian... and the Han Dynasty began to build Lingju to the west, and first set up Jiuquan County to connect the Northwest Kingdom. Because of the increasing number of envoys, they arrived in Anxi (now Iran), Yancai (now Ural, Volga River Basin), Lixuan (today's Italy), Tiaozhi (today's Antioch (Antioch) in the Mediterranean Sea), and the country of Shendu. The emperor is like a horse, and the envoys look at each other. The envoys of the foreign generation are hundreds of big, and the young are more than a hundred People, what people do (ji machine) is when they are big and powerful. After that, they get better at learning and become less. In the Han rate, there are more than ten envoys in one year, and the few are five or six generations. The far ones are eight or nine years old, and the near Those who are older will turn around." With such a large mission and such frequent missions, the Han people's understanding of India will naturally increase day by day. "Hanshu Biography of the Western Regions" records the situation in some regions of India at that time, such as local geography, products, folk customs, and the relationship with the Han Dynasty.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ban Chao operated in the Western Regions for 30 years (AD 73-102), and played an active role in maintaining the traffic of the Western Regions Road.During this period, the Chinese had a better understanding of India than in the Western Han Dynasty, and cultural exchanges between them were more frequent than before. In addition, the story of Shubu and Qiongzhuzhang also tells us that there is still a road leading to India in the southwest of my country. Although it was not opened during Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, it has already existed objectively, and folk trade activities have already been carried out.This coincides with the fact that Indians call China Qin.Although Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not open up this way, the exchanges between people can continue.Because although the locals blocked the official envoys, they did not necessarily block the merchants, and the merchants could bring benefits to the locals.This road is called "Burma Road" by scholars.In the Eastern Han Dynasty, this road still assumed the mission of promoting cultural exchanges between China and India.

In addition to the Western Region Road and the Burma Road, there was also a sea channel for the communication between the Western Han Dynasty and India, which was called "Nanhai Road" by scholars. There is such a passage in "Hanshu Geographical Records": "From Rinanzhangsai, Xuwen, and Hepu, the boat trip can last for five months, and there is the Yuan Kingdom; One day, there is the country of Chenli; walking for more than ten days, there is the country of Fugandulu. It takes more than two months to travel from the country of Fugandulu, and there is the country of Huangzhi, whose folk customs are similar to those of Zhuya. Foreign objects have been presented since Emperor Wu. There is a translator, who belongs to the Huangmen, and joins the applicants in the sea. Pearls, jade walls, strange stones and foreign objects are mixed with gold. All countries are fed up with food as a couple. , forwarded to it. It is also profitable to trade, plagiarize and kill people. It is difficult to drown in a storm, and it will be returned in a few years. The big pearl is less than two inches around. At the beginning of Emperor Pingyuan, Wang Mang assisted the government. , ordering envoys to present rhinoceros. From the Yellow Branch, the boat can go to Pizong in August; the boat can go to Rinan and Xianglin Jieyun in February. To the south of the Yellow Branch, there are no countries that have already traveled. The Chinese translation envoys from That’s enough.” The view accepted by most Chinese and foreign scholars is that the yellow branch in the article refers to the Konchipuram area near Madras, Tamil Nadu State, South India.As for Cheng Buguo, some scholars think it is Sri Lanka.Judging from this passage alone, it is impossible to draw such a clear route and such an exact timetable without the experience of many voyages.This shows that during the Western Han Dynasty, the sea channel between China and India had been established, its starting point was in Guangdong, and its end point was in Huangzhiguo or Chengbuguo.Envoys from the Han Dynasty went to Huang Zhiguo, and envoys and merchants from Huang Zhiguo also came to Han.At that time, the translators of the Han Dynasty did not have special ships and had to be transferred by foreign merchant ships. The risk along the way was very high, but the owner of the ship was profitable.Even if the journey goes smoothly, it will take at least two years to go back and forth.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, cultural exchanges between China and India on the Nankai Road continued. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty Biography of the Western Regions" records Tianzhu Kingdom (another translation of India) saying: "During the time of Emperor He, several envoys were sent to contribute, but after the Western Regions rebelled against the border, it was absolutely impossible. In the second and fourth years of Yanxi, Emperor Huan, he frequently followed the Japanese Offered from a foreigner from Nanke." Making full use of the waterway under the circumstance of impassable land road shows the urgency of communication.