The Silk Route
The Han and the Romans
The next major step towards a defined route came in about 130 BC, with the missions sent by the Han dynasty to central Asia and beyond.
Intelligence reports
Through the reports of his emissary Prince Zhang Qian, the emperor Wudi became interested in hitherto unknown states to the west. He decided that China should develop commercial relationships with the sophisticated urban civilisations of Ferghana (now part of Uzbekistan) and Bactria (now part of Afghanistan) and with the Parthians who from 247 BC to AD 228 occupied a huge part of the Middle East:
The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus: Ferghana and the possessions of Bactria and Parthia are large countries, full of rare things, with a population living in fixed abodes and given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the Chinese people, but with weak armies, and placing great value on the rich produce of China.
Hou Han Shu (Late Han History)
The emperor was also greatly intrigued by intelligence reports about the large, powerful steeds – called ‘heavenly horses’ – in the possession of the people of Ferghana, which could be used to equip the Han cavalry.
The Chinese subsequently sent numerous embassies, about 10 a year, to these countries and as far afield as Syria. As well as the horses, they brought back many objects – in particular, religious artwork from what is now north-west Pakistan – for the emperor in his capital at Changan (now Xian). In addition, investigations at the Xuanquan Station site in Gansu province suggest that there was a postal service along some of the Silk Route during the Han dynasty.
A craze for silk
The Silk Route as it is known today essentially came into being from the 1st century BC, following efforts by China to consolidate a channel of communication and trade to the Western world. Chinese traders escorted their merchandise probably as far as Dunhuang or beyond the Great Wall to Loulan, where it was sold or bartered to increasingly important intermediaries. The latter were initially central Asian– Parthians, Sogdians, Indians and Kushans – who in turn carried the goods to Persian, Syrian and Greek merchants. There are no records of Roman traders being seen in the Chinese capital of Changan nor of Chinese merchants in Rome.
In the 1st century BC, the Romans developed a craze for Chinese silk. They may have first encountered it during a campaign against the Parthians in 53 BC, reputedly learning from Parthian prisoners that it came from a mysterious tribe in the east, whom they referred to as the ‘Seres’ – the ‘silk people’. They thought that it was obtained from trees:
The Seres are famous for the woollen substance obtained from their forests. After a soaking in water they comb off the white down of the leaves ... So manifold is the labour employed, and so distant is the region of the globe drawn upon, to enable the Roman maiden to flaunt transparent clothing in public.
Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79), Natural History
In vain, the Roman Senate issued several edicts prohibiting, on economic and moral grounds, the wearing of silk.
