Analysis for Zhang Qian as an imperial envoy to the world outside of China

Analysis for Zhang Qian as an imperial envoy to the world outside of China

The main reason of going outside of China recorded in the Shiji

The Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian and others as envoys to the West because they wanted to solve the border problem with the Xiongnu. This is also considered by many scholars to be the main reason for Zhang Qian to go out into the Western Regions.

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1. Sima Qian, ShiJi

1. 中华书局
2. Columbia University Press

1. “Ⅰ. ①史…　Ⅱ. ①司…②李…　Ⅲ. ①中国历史－古代史－纪传体　Ⅳ. ①K204.2
中国版本图书馆CIP数据核字（2016）第147963号”

2. 1961 Columbia University Press
Revised Edition ⑧ 1993 Columbia University Press All Rights Reserved.ISBN 0-231-08166-9 ISBN O-231-08167-7 (pbk.)Library of Congress Number 92-210621
Published by
The Research Centre for Translation The Chinese University of Hong Kong and
Columbia University Press

94 BCE

Photo: PHG, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Ancient Chinese; English (translation)

literary sources

SiMa Qian

[西汉] 司马迁：《史记》，北京：中华书局，2014年。

Han dynasty

是时天子问匈奴降者，皆言匈奴破月氏王，以其头为饮器，月氏遁逃而常怨仇匈奴，无与共击之。汉方欲事灭胡，闻此言，因欲通使。道必更匈奴中，乃募能使者。骞以郎应募，使月氏。

天子既闻大宛及大夏、安息之属皆大国，多奇物，土著，颇与中国同业，而兵弱，贵汉财物；其北有大月氏、康居之属，兵强，可以赂遗设利朝也。且诚得而以义属之，则广地万里，重九译，致殊俗，威德遍于四海。天子欣然，以骞言为然，乃令骞因蜀犍为发间使，四道并出。

At this time the emperor questioned various Xiongnu who had surrendered to the Han and they all reported that the Xiongnu had defeated the king of the Yuezhi people (Indo-scythians) and made his skull into a drinking vessel. As a result the Yuezhi had fled and bore a constant grudge against the Xiongnu, though as yet they had been unable to find anyone to join them in an attack on their enemy.
The Han at this time was engaged in a concert effort to destroy the Xiongnu, and therefore, when the emperor heard this, he decide to try to send an envy to establish relation with Yuezhi. To search them, however, an envoy would inevitably have to pass through Xiongnu territory... Zhang Qian, who was a palace attendant at the time, answered the summons and was appointed as envoy to the Yuezhi.

Thus the emperor leamed of Dayuan, Daxia, Anxi, and the others, all great states rich in unusual products whose people cultivated the land and made their living in much the same way as the Chinese. All these states, he was told, were militarily weak and prized Han goods and wealth. He also learned that to the north of them lived the Yuezhi and Kangju people who were strong in arms but who could be persuaded by gifts and the prospect of gain to acknowledge allegiance to the Han court. If it were only possible to win over these states by peaceful means, the emperor thought, he could then extend his domain 10,000 li, attract to his court men of strange customs who would come translating and retranslating their languages, and his might would become known to all the lands within the four seas,
The emperor was therefore delighted,and approved Zhang Qian's suggestion. He ordered Zhang Qian to start out from Jianwei in Shu on a secret mission to search for Daxia.

English translation: Burton Watson, Record of The Grand History: Han Dynasty II