A report on Gansu, Xinjiang and Tang dynasty

The empire during the reign of Wu Zetian, circa 700

The ruins of a Han dynasty (202 BC–220 AD) Chinese watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang, Gansu province, the eastern edge of the Silk Road

Dzungaria (Red) and the Tarim Basin or Altishahr (Blue)

Portrait painting of Emperor Gaozu (born Li Yuan, 566–635), the first Tang Emperor.

Xindian culture era jar with two lug handles uncovered in Gansu, dating to around 1,000 BC

Northern Xinjiang (Junggar Basin) (Yellow), Eastern Xinjiang- Turpan Depression (Turpan Prefecture and Hami Prefecture) (Red) and Altishahr/the Tarim Basin (Blue)

Empress Wu (Wu Zetian), the sole officially recognized empress regnant of China in more than two millennia. She first ruled through her husband and sons for almost three decades, then became emperor herself and ruled in her own right for another fifteen years.

The ruins of a gate at Yumen Pass, built during the Jin dynasty (266–420)

Physical map showing the separation of Dzungaria and the Tarim Basin (Altishahr) by the Tien Shan Mountains

Map of Han Dynasty in 2 CE. Light blue is the Tarim Basin protectorate.

The Leshan Giant Buddha, 71 m high; begun in 713, completed in 803

Old Uyghur/Yugur art from the Bezeklik murals

Nanchan Temple (Wutai), built during the late 8th century

Gates of the provincial government complex in Lanzhou

A Sogdian man on a Bactrian camel. Sancai ceramic statuette, Tang dynasty

A late Tang mural commemorating the victory of General Zhang Yichao over the Tibetans in 848 AD, from Mogao cave 156

Mongol states from the 14th to the 17th centuries: the Northern Yuan dynasty, Four Oirat, Moghulistan and Kara Del

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang wearing the robes and hat of a scholar

The Dzungar–Qing Wars, between the Qing Dynasty and the Dzungar Khanate

Tang tomb figure of an official dressed in Hanfu, with a tall hat, wide-sleeved belted outer garment, and rectangular "kerchief" in front. A white inner gown hangs over his square shoes. He holds a tablet to his chest, a report to his superiors.

A painting of the Buddhist Manjushri, from the Yulin Caves of Gansu, Tangut-led Western Xia dynasty (1038–1227 AD)

The Battle of Oroi-Jalatu in 1756, between the Manchu and Oirat armies

Civil service exam candidates gather around the wall where results had been posted. Artwork by Qiu Ying.

These rammed earth ruins of a granary in Hecang Fortress, located ~11 km (7 miles) northeast of the Western-Han-era Yumen Pass, were built during the Western Han (202 BC – 9 AD) and significantly rebuilt during the Western Jin (280–316 AD).

Emperor Xuanzong of Tang giving audience to Zhang Guo, by Ren Renfa (1254–1327)

A terracotta warrior from Gansu, with traces of polychrome and gold, from the Tang dynasty (618–907)

Scene from the 1828 Qing campaign against rebels in Altishahr

Emperor Taizong (r. 626–649) receives Gar Tongtsen Yülsung, ambassador of the Tibetan Empire, at his court; later copy of an original painted in 641 by Yan Liben (600–673)

The Chinese Tang dynasty during its greatest extension, controlling large parts of Central Asia.

19th-century Khotan Uyghurs in Yettishar

Chinese officer of the Guard of Honour. Tomb of Princess Chang-le (长乐公主墓), Zhao Mausoleum, Shaanxi province. Tang Zhenguan year 17, i.e. 644 CE

A 10th-century mural painting in the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang showing monastic architecture from Mount Wutai, Tang dynasty; Japanese architecture of this period was influenced by Tang Chinese architecture

Governor Sheng Shicai ruled from 1933 to 1944.

Tomb figure of mounted warrior similar to the one unearthed from the tomb of Crown Prince Li Chongrun

The Soviet-backed Second East Turkestan Republic encompassed Xinjiang's Ili, Tarbagatay and Altay districts.

Tomb guardian (wushi yong), early 8th century

A bas relief of a soldier and the emperor's horse, Autumn Dew, with elaborate saddle and stirrups, designed by Yan Liben, from the tomb of Emperor Taizong c. 650

Wetland by the Yellow River, Maqu County

Illustration of Byzantine embassy to Tang Taizong 643 CE

Tang dynasty Kai Yuan Tong Bao (開元通寳) coin, first minted in 621 in Chang'an, a model for the Japanese 8th-century Wadōkaichin

Temple of the Chenghuangshen (Idol) of Lanzhou.

Nanhua Amituo Fo Temple of Chinese Buddhism seen on a hill above the roofs of the Yu Baba Gongbei, a Sufi shrine.

Black Irtysh river in Burqin County is a famous spot for sightseeing.

Tomb figure of a horse with a carefully sculpted saddle, decorated with leather straps and ornamental fastenings featuring eight-petalled flowers and apricot leaves.

Labrang Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism in Gannan.

A contract from the Tang dynasty that records the purchase of a 15-year-old slave for six bolts of plain silk and five Chinese coins. Found in the Astana Cemetery in Turfan.

Tomb Figure of a Sogdian merchant, 7th-century

A mural depicting a corner tower, most likely one of Chang'an, from the tomb of Prince Yide (d. 701) at the Qianling Mausoleum, dated 706

Nur Bekri, Chairman of the Xinjiang Government between 2007 and 2015

The distribution map of Xinjiang's GDP per person (2011)

The bronze Jingyun Bell cast 711, height 247 cm high, weight 6,500 kg, now in the Xi'an Bell Tower

Ürümqi is a major industrial center within Xinjiang.

A Tang dynasty era copy of the preface to the Lantingji Xu poems composed at the Orchid Pavilion Gathering, originally attributed to Wang Xizhi (303–361 AD) of the Jin dynasty

A poem by Li Bai (701–762 AD), the only surviving example of Li Bai's calligraphy, housed in the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Calligraphy of Emperor Taizong on a Tang stele

A Tang dynasty sculpture of a Bodhisattva

An 8th-century silk wall scroll from Dunhuang, showing the paradise of Amitabha

This flag (Kök Bayraq) has become a symbol of the East Turkestan independence movement.

A timber hall built in 857, located at the Buddhist Foguang Temple of Mount Wutai, Shanxi

"Heroic Gesture of Bodhisattvathe Bodhisattva", example of 6th-7th-century terracotta Greco-Buddhist art (local populations were Buddhist) from Tumxuk, Xinjiang

A Tang sancai-glazed carved relief showing horseback riders playing polo

Sogdian donors to the Buddha, 8th century fresco (with detail), Bezeklik, Eastern Tarim Basin

A late Tang or early Five Dynasties era silk painting on a banner depicting Guanyin and a female attendant in silk robes, from the Dunhuang caves, now in the British Museum

Palace ladies in a garden from a mural of Prince Li Xian's tomb in the Qianling Mausoleum, where Wu Zetian was also buried in 706

People engaging in snow sports by a statue of bodhisattva Guanyin in Wujiaqu

Tang era gilt-gold bowl with lotus and animal motifs

A Tang sancai-glazed lobed dish with incised decorations, 8th century

Tomb figure of a lady attendant, 7th- to 8th-century; during the Tang era, female hosts prepared feasts, tea parties, and played drinking games with their guests.

Temple of the Great Buddha in Midong, Ürümqi

A rounded "offering plate" with design in "three colors" (sancai) glaze, 8th-century

Taoist Temple of Fortune and Longevity at the Heavenly Lake of Tianshan in Fukang, Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture

A square bronze mirror with a phoenix motif of gold and silver inlaid with lacquer, 8th-century

Id Kah mosque in Kashgar, largest mosque in China

The Diamond Sutra, printed in 868, is the world's first widely printed book to include a specific date of printing.

Erkin Tuniyaz, the incumbent Chairman of the Xinjiang Government

The Dunhuang map, a star map showing the North Polar region. c. 700. The whole set of star maps contains over 1,300 stars.

"Great Tang" (Dà Táng) in seal characters.

A Tang Dynasty sancai statuette of Sogdian musicians riding on a Bactrian camel, 723 AD, Xi'an.

The seventh-largest administrative district by area at 453700 km2, Gansu lies between the Tibetan and Loess plateaus and borders Mongolia (Govi-Altai Province), Inner Mongolia and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south and Shaanxi to the east.

- Gansu

Xinjiang also borders the Tibet Autonomous Region and the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai.

- Xinjiang

It is a combination of the names of two prefecture (州) in the Sui and Tang dynasty: Gan (around Zhangye) and Su (around Jiuquan).

- Gansu

The Western Regions during the Tang era were known as Qixi (磧西).

- Xinjiang

However, the Tang did manage to restore at least indirect control over former Tang territories as far west as the Hexi Corridor and Dunhuang in Gansu.

- Tang dynasty

In fact, it was during this rebellion that the Tang withdrew its western garrisons stationed in what is now Gansu and Qinghai, which the Tibetans then occupied along with the territory of what is now Xinjiang.

- Tang dynasty

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Woven silk textile from Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, China, dated to the Western Han Era, 2nd century BCE

Silk Road

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Network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century.

Chinese jade and steatite plaques, in the Scythian-style animal art of the steppes. 4th–3rd century BCE. British Museum.

Achaemenid Persian Empire at its greatest extent, showing the Royal Road.

Soldier with a centaur in the Sampul tapestry, wool wall hanging, 3rd–2nd century BCE, Xinjiang Museum, Urumqi, Xinjiang, China.

A ceramic horse head and neck (broken from the body), from the Chinese Eastern Han dynasty (1st–2nd century CE)

Bronze coin of Constantius II (337–361), found in Karghalik, Xinjiang, China

The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism: Mahayana Buddhism first entered the Chinese Empire (Han dynasty) during the Kushan Era. The overland and maritime "Silk Roads" were interlinked and complementary, forming what scholars have called the "great circle of Buddhism".

Central Asia during Roman times, with the first Silk Road

A Westerner on a camel, Northern Wei dynasty (386–534)

Map showing Byzantium along with the other major silk road powers during China's Southern dynasties period of fragmentation.

Coin of Constans II (r. 641–648), who is named in Chinese sources as the first of several Byzantine emperors to send embassies to the Chinese Tang dynasty

A Chinese sancai statue of a Sogdian man with a wineskin, Tang dynasty (618–907)

The empires and city-states of the Horn of Africa, such as the Axumites were important trading partners in the ancient Silk Road.

After the Tang defeated the Gokturks, they reopened the Silk Road to the west.

Marco Polo's caravan on the Silk Road, 1380

Map of Eurasia and Africa showing trade networks, c. 870

The Round city of Baghdad between 767 and 912 was the most important urban node along the Silk Road.

A lion motif on Sogdian polychrome silk, 8th century, most likely from Bukhara

Yuan Dynasty era Celadon vase from Mogadishu.

Map of Marco Polo's travels in 1271–1295

Port cities on the maritime silk route featured on the voyages of Zheng He.

Plan of the Silk Road with its maritime branch

The Nestorian Stele, created in 781, describes the introduction of Nestorian Christianity to China

Fragment of a wall painting depicting Buddha from a stupa in Miran along the Silk Road (200AD - 400AD)

A blue-eyed Central Asian monk teaching an East-Asian monk, Bezeklik, Turfan, eastern Tarim Basin, China, 9th century; the monk on the right is possibly Tocharian, although more likely Sogdian.

Bilingual edict (Greek and Aramaic) by Indian Buddhist King Ashoka, 3rd century BCE; see Edicts of Ashoka, from Kandahar. This edict advocates the adoption of "godliness" using the Greek term Eusebeia for Dharma. Kabul Museum.

A statue depicting Buddha giving a sermon, from Sarnath, 3000 km southwest of Urumqi, Xinjiang, 8th century

Iconographical evolution of the Wind God. Left: Greek Wind God from Hadda, 2nd century. Middle: Wind God from Kizil, Tarim Basin, 7th century. Right: Japanese Wind God Fujin, 17th century.

Two-Storeyed Caravanserai, Baku, Azerbaijan

Bridge in Ani, capital of medieval Armenia

Medieval fortress of Amul, Turkmenabat, Turkmenistan

Sogdian man on a Bactrian camel, sancai ceramic glaze, Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907)

The ruins of a Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) Chinese watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang, Gansu province

A late Zhou or early Han Chinese bronze mirror inlaid with glass, perhaps incorporated Greco-Roman artistic patterns

A Chinese Western Han dynasty (202 BCE – 9 CE) bronze rhinoceros with gold and silver inlay

Han dynasty Granary west of Dunhuang on the Silk Road.

Green Roman glass cup unearthed from an Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE) tomb, Guangxi, southern China

The southern stretches of the Silk Road, from Khotan (Xinjiang) to Eastern China, were first used for jade and not silk, as long as 5000 BCE, and is still in use for this purpose.

The expansion of Scythian cultures, stretching from the Hungarian plain and the Carpathian Mountains to the Chinese Kansu Corridor, and linking the Middle East with Northern India and the Punjab, undoubtedly played an important role in the development of the Silk Road.

Both the Old Book of Tang and New Book of Tang, covering the history of the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907), record that a new state called Fu-lin (拂菻; i.e. Byzantine Empire) was virtually identical to the previous Daqin (大秦; i.e. Roman Empire).

Xiongnu

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The Xiongnu were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Chinese sources report that Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 209 BC, founded the Xiongnu Empire.

Asia in 200 BC, showing the early Xiongnu state and its neighbors

Plaque in the shape of a grazing kulan (wild ass), 2nd–1st century BC, Northwest China, Xiongnu culture.

A traveling nomad family led by a man in belted jacket and trousers, pulling a nomadic cart. Belt Buckle, Mongolia or southern Siberia, dated to 2nd-1st century BC (Xiongnu period).

Xiongnu among other people in Asia around 1 AD.

Bronze seal of a Xiongnu chief, conferred by the Eastern Han government. Inscribed 漢匈奴/歸義親/漢長 ("The Chief of the Han Xiongnu, who have returned to righteousness and embraced the Han"). Seal, impression, and transcription in standard characters.

Belt hook depicting an animal fight, Xiongnu, 200-100 BC, bronze. Östasiatiska museet, Stockholm.

Southern and Northern Xiongnu in 200 AD, before the collapse of the Han Dynasty.

Location of Xiongnu and other steppe nations in 300 AD.

An embroidered rug from the Xiongnu Noin-Ula burial site. This luxury item was imported from Bactria, and is thought to represent Yuezhi figures.

Belt plaque in the shape of a kneeling horse, 3rd-1st century BCE, gilded silver, made in North China for Xiongnu patrons.

Belt Buckle, 2nd-1st century BCE, Xiongnu. Another naturalistic belt buckle made to the Xiongnu taste, showing a mounted warrior frontally, holding a dagger and grabbing the hair of a demon who is also attacked by a dog. Also appears a nomadic cart pulled by reindeers, and another dog on top of the cart.

Xiongnu Leather Robe, Han period, Henan Provincial Museum, Zhengzhou

Belt plaque with design of wrestling men, Ordos region and western part of North China, 2nd century BC, bronze - Ethnological Museum, Berlin.

Belt buckle with three Ibexes, 2nd-1st century BC, Xiongnu. Chinese foundries made bronze belt plaques to the taste of the Xiongnu, who preferred designs of real animals in naturalistic settings. These plaques have typically been excavated in Xiongnu tombs of the 1st century BC.

Belt buckle with animal combat scene, 2nd-1st century BCE, made in North China for the Xiongnu. These plates were inspired by the art of the steppes, but the design was flattened and compressed within the frame.

Belt Buckle with nomadic-inspired zoomorphic design, manufactured in China for the Xiongnu. Mercury-gilded bronze (a Chinese technique). North China, 3rd-2nd century BC.

2nd century BC – 2nd century AD characters of Xiongnu-Xianbei script (Mongolia and Inner Mongolia).{{sfn|Ishjamts|1996|p=166, Fig 5}}

"Pastoralist expansion into Mongolia ca. 3000 BCE, and by the Late Bronze Age, Mongolian populations were biogeographically structured into three distinct groups, all practicing dairy pastoralism regardless of ancestry. The Xiongnu emerged from the mixing of these populations and those from surrounding regions".

Uniparental haplogroup assignments by group and sex-bias "z" scores of Xiongnu.

The Xiongnu were also active in areas now part of Siberia, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Xinjiang.

Following his death, the power of the Xiongnu in the Western Regions increased again, and the emperors of subsequent dynasties did not reach as far west until the Tang dynasty.

Hexi Corridor

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Mural commemorating victory of General Zhang Yichao over the Tibetan Empire in 848. Mogao cave 156, late Chinese Tang Dynasty

Tang-era map showing the Hexi Corridor connecting China proper to the Tarim Basin

The ruins of a Han Dynasty watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang.

The Hexi Corridor (, Xiao'erjing: حْسِ ظِوْلاْ, IPA: Help:IPA/Mandarin), also known as the Gansu Corridor, is an important historical region located in the modern western Gansu province of China.

The Tang dynasty fought the Tibetan Empire for control of areas in Inner and Central Asia.

It was during this rebellion that the Tang withdrew its western garrisons stationed in what is now Gansu and Qinghai, which the Tibetans then occupied along with the area that is modern Xinjiang.