Protectorate of the Western Regions and Related Topics

Han dynasty

7 links

Imperial dynasty of China , established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu.

Thirteen direct-controlled commanderies including the capital region (Yellow) and ten semi-autonomous kingdoms of the early periods, 195 BC

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.

Map showing the expansion of Han dynasty in the 2nd century BC

The ruins of a Han-dynasty watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang, Gansu province, the eastern edge of the Silk Road.

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).

Situation of warlords and peasant forces at the beginning of Eastern Han dynasty

Eastern Han inscriptions on a lead ingot, using barbarous Greek alphabet in the style of the Kushans, excavated in Shaanxi, 1st–2nd century AD

A late Eastern Han (25–220 CE) Chinese tomb mural showing lively scenes of a banquet (yanyin 宴飲), dance and music (wuyue 舞樂), acrobatics (baixi 百戲), and wrestling (xiangbu 相撲), from the Dahuting Tomb, on the southern bank of the Siuhe River in Zhengzhou, Henan province (just west of Xi County)

A mural from an Eastern Han tomb at Zhucun (朱村), Luoyang, Henan province; the two figures in the foreground are playing liubo, with the playing mat between them, and the liubo game board to the side of the mat.

Brick Relief with Acrobatic Performance, Han Dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE)

Detail of a mural showing two women wearing Hanfu silk robes, from the Dahuting Tomb of the late Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 CE), located in Zhengzhou, Henan

Han period inscribed bamboo-slips of Sun Bin's Art of War, unearthed in Yinque Mountain, Linyi, Shandong.

A fragment of the Xiping Stone Classics; these stone-carved Five Classics installed during Emperor Ling's reign along the roadside of the Imperial University (right outside Luoyang) were made at the instigation of Cai Yong (132–192 CE), who feared the Classics housed in the imperial library were being interpolated by University Academicians.

A silk banner from Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province. It was draped over the coffin of Lady Dai (d. 168 BCE), wife of the Marquess Li Cang (利蒼) (d. 186 BCE), chancellor for the Kingdom of Changsha.

A part of a Daoist manuscript, ink on silk, 2nd century BCE, Han Dynasty, unearthed from Mawangdui tomb 3rd, Changsha, Hunan Province.

An Eastern-Han bronze statuette of a mythical chimera (qilin), 1st century CE

A scene of historic paragons of filial piety conversing with one another, Chinese painted artwork on a lacquered basketwork box, excavated from an Eastern-Han tomb of what was the Chinese Lelang Commandery in Korean Peninsula.

A rubbing of a Han pictorial stone showing an ancestral worship hall (cítáng 祠堂)

Animalistic guardian spirits of day and night wearing Chinese robes, Han dynasty paintings on ceramic tile; Michael Loewe writes that the hybrid of man and beast in art and religious beliefs predated the Han and remained popular during the first half of Western Han and the Eastern Han.

The Gansu Flying Horse, depicted in full gallop, bronze sculpture, h 34.5 cm. Wuwei, Gansu, China, AD 25–220

A mural showing chariots and cavalry, from the Dahuting Tomb (Chinese: 打虎亭漢墓, Pinyin: Dahuting Han mu) of the late Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 AD), located in Zhengzhou, Henan province, China

A Han-dynasty iron ji (polearm) and iron dagger

A gilded bronze oil lamp in the shape of a kneeling female servant, dated 2nd century BC, found in the tomb of Dou Wan, wife of Liu Sheng, King of Zhongshan; its sliding shutter allows for adjustments in the direction and brightness in light while it also traps smoke within the body.

An array of bronze bells, Western Han dynasty

Ornamental belt buckle, decorated with Chinese mythical creatures. Chiseled and hammered gold, late Han period.

The physical exercise chart; a painting on silk depicting the practice of Qigong Taiji; unearthed in 1973 in Hunan Province, China, from the 2nd-century BC Western Han burial site of Mawangdui, Tomb Number 3.

A pair of stone-carved que (闕) located at the temple of Mount Song in Dengfeng. (Eastern Han dynasty.)

A pair of Han period stone-carved que (闕) located at Babaoshan, Beijing.

A stone-carved pillar-gate, or que (闕), 6 m (20 ft) in total height, located at the tomb of Gao Yi in Ya'an. (Eastern Han dynasty.){{sfnp|Liu|2002|p=55}}

An Eastern-Han vaulted tomb chamber at Luoyang made of small bricks

A Han-dynasty pottery model of two men operating a winnowing machine with a crank handle and a tilt hammer used to pound grain.

A modern replica of Zhang Heng's seismometer

An early Western Han dynasty silk map found in tomb 3 of Mawangdui, depicting the Kingdom of Changsha and Kingdom of Nanyue in southern China (note: the south direction is oriented at the top).

An Eastern Han dynasty pottery boat model with a steering rudder at the stern and anchor at the bow.

Han was eventually victorious and established the Protectorate of the Western Regions in 60 BC, which dealt with the region's defense and foreign affairs.

Tarim Basin

6 links

Endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about 888,000 km2 and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.

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

Tarim basin ancient boats; they were used for burials

Tarim mummies, found in westernmost Xinjiang, within the Tarim Basin.

Fragmentary painting on silk of a woman playing the go boardgame, from the Astana Cemetery, Gaochang, c. 744 AD, during the late period of Tang Chinese rule (just before the An Lushan Rebellion)

Map of Taizong's campaigns against the Tarim Basin oasis states, allies of the Western Turks.

A document from Khotan written in Khotanese Saka, part of the Eastern Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, listing the animals of the Chinese zodiac in the cycle of predictions for people born in that year; ink on paper, early 9th century

Uyghur princes from the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves near Turpan, Kingdom of Qocho, 8th-9th centuries

An Islamic cemetery outside the Afaq Khoja Mausoleum in Kashgar

Northern Xinjiang (Dzungar Basin) (yellow), Eastern Xinjiang - Turpan Depression (Turpan Prefecture and Hami Prefecture) (red), and the Tarim Basin (blue)

Fresco, with Hellenistic influences, from a stupa shrine, Miran

Painting of a Christian woman, Khocho (Gaochang), early period of Chinese Tang rule, 602–654 AD

However, the Yuezhi were assaulted and forced to flee from the Hexi Corridor of Gansu by the forces of the Xiongnu ruler Modu Chanyu, who conquered the area in 177-176 BC (decades before the Han Chinese conquest and colonization of western tip of Gansu or the establishment of the Protectorate of the Western Regions).

Emperor Wu dispatching the diplomat Zhang Qian to Central Asia, Mogao Caves mural, 8th century

Han–Xiongnu War

6 links

Series of military battles fought between the Han Empire and the nomadic Xiongnu confederation from 133 BC to 89 AD.

The expansion of the Han empire under Emperor Wu's reign (r. 141–87 BC)

The ruins of a Han rammed-earth watchtower in Dunhuang

Painted ceramic statues of Chinese cavalrymen and infantrymen, from the Western Han period (202 BC – 9 AD)

Flying Horse of Gansu (Eastern Han period), representing the famed "celestial" and "blood-sweating" horses that were introduced from Ferghana

Ceramic statues of a prancing horse (foreground) and a cavalryman on horseback (background), Eastern Han period (25–220 AD)

In 74 AD, General Ban Chao (left) captured King Douti of Kashgar and replaced him with King Yule (right), who was granted the name Zhong.

Mingqi (Chinese funerary statuette) of a young Central Asian man, with Scythian-type caftan and conical hat reminiscent of early 3rd century CE Kushans. Later Han, 3rd century CE. Guimet Museum (MA 4660).

The statue Horse Stepping on a Xiongnu Soldier (馬踏匈奴), dated to the Western Han period, from the tomb of General Huo Qubing near present-day Xi'an

General Chen Tang and Protector General Gan Yanshou, acting without explicit permission from the Han court, killed Zhizhi Chanyu at his capital city (present-day Taraz, Kazakhstan) in 36 BC.

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

Silk Road

4 links

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 network began with the Han dynasty's expansion into Central Asia around 114 BCE, which largely pacified the once untamed region.

Xinjiang

3 links

Landlocked autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest of the country at the crossroads of Central Asia and East Asia.

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

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

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.

Old Uyghur/Yugur art from the Bezeklik murals

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

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

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

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

Scene from the 1828 Qing campaign against rebels in Altishahr

19th-century Khotan Uyghurs in Yettishar

Governor Sheng Shicai ruled from 1933 to 1944.

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

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

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

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

Ürümqi is a major industrial center within Xinjiang.

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

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

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

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

Temple of the Great Buddha in Midong, Ürümqi

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

Id Kah mosque in Kashgar, largest mosque in China

Erkin Tuniyaz, the incumbent Chairman of the Xinjiang Government

Between the 2nd century BCE and 2nd century CE the Han Empire established the Protectorate of the Western Regions or Xiyu Protectorate (西域都護府) in an effort to secure the profitable routes of the Silk Road.

Hexi Corridor

4 links

Important historical region located in the modern western Gansu province of China.

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.

Protectorate of the Western Regions (Tarim Basin)

Pan Chao appoints Zhong, king of Kashgar. 73 CE

Ban Chao

3 links

Chinese diplomat, explorer, and military general of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Ceramic statues of a prancing horse (foreground) and a cavalryman on horseback (background), Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 CE)

He was made Protector General of the Western Regions by the Han government for his efforts in protecting and governing the regions.

Protectorate (imperial China)

0 links

Type of administrative division of the Chinese Empire, especially during the Han and Tang dynasties, established in frontier regions.

The first protectorate was the Protectorate of the Western Regions established in 60 BCE during Emperor Xuan's reign.

Xin dynasty

3 links

Short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty which lasted from 9 to 23 AD, established by the Han dynasty consort kin Wang Mang, who usurped the throne of Emperor Ping of Han and the infant "crown prince" Ruzi Ying to rule the empire over a decade before being overthrown by rebels.

The insurgents allied with discontented nobles and descendants of the former imperial clan, resulting in large-scale civil war by 19 AD. Wang Mang was forced to shift troops from other areas to deal with the Red Eyebrows, whereupon the Protectorate of the Western Regions was overrun by the Xiongnu.

A Western Han painted ceramic jar with raised reliefs of dragons, phoenixes, and taotie designs

Government of the Han dynasty

2 links

The second imperial dynasty of China, following the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC).

Provinces and commanderies at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty in 219 CE

The Terracotta Army, assembled by 210 BC for the burial of Qin Shi Huang (r. 221–210 BC), the first emperor of the Qin dynasty

Scholars depicted on Han dynasty pictorial brick, discovered in Chengdu. Scholars wore hats called "Jinxian Guan" (进贤冠) to denominate educational status.

A female servant and male advisor dressed in silk robes, ceramic figurines from the Western Han Era

A black-and-red Han dynasty lacquerware tray with painted designs; rich and wealthy officials could afford luxury items such as lacquerwares, which were also produced for the emperor's dining table by government workshops headed by the Minister Steward, one of Nine Ministers.

Jade-carved pendents in the shape of Chinese dragons, 2nd century BC, Western Han Era

A belt hook inlaid with gold and silver, from either the late Warring States period (403–221 BC) or early Western Han dynasty

A Han painted pottery mounted cavalryman in armor and uniform

Early 20th-century photo of a 2nd-century-AD stone "pillar-gate" (que 闕) from the site of the 'Wu family shrine' in Shandong, Eastern Han period; the Minister of Works oversaw construction projects in the empire, yet the Court Architect continued to oversee imperial construction projects.

Lacquerware in the shape of a man's head, Western Han (202 BC - 9 AD), Yunnan Provincial Museum, Kunming; luxury items such as lacquerwares were commonly used by the rich, nobility, and imperial court and often buried in Han tombs

Western-Han ceramic tomb figurines of cavalrymen on horseback

Western-Han painted ceramic figurines (with polychrome) of servants in attendance, from Shaanxi, 2nd century BC

A Han bronze mold for making wushu (五銖) coins; after 115 BC, the management of the imperial mint was the duty of the Superintendent of Waterways and Parks, yet this role was transferred to the Minister of Finance by the Eastern Han period (25–220 AD).

Silk textile from tomb no. 1 at Mawangdui, 2nd century BC, Western Han; the Minister Steward's ministry managed the workshops producing silk clothes, embroideries, and curtains for the emperor, his royal family, and palatial residences.

A Han-dynasty terracotta statue of a prancing horse

A Han ceramic tomb model of a multiple-story residential tower with a first-floor gatehouse and courtyard, mid-floor balcony, windows, and clearly distinguished dougong support brackets

An Eastern Han vaulted tomb chamber at Luoyang made of brick

A golden belt hook, hammered and chiseled with designs of mythical animals and birds, from the Eastern Han Era

A Western-Han pottery dog with a harness for a leash; a subordinate of the Superintendent of Waterways and Parks cared for hunting dogs who assisted in the imperial hunts for game meat.

The Ordos Desert, located below the wide northern bend of the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia

A jade-carved door knocker decorated with dragons, dated to the Western Han Era

An Eastern-Han early celadon ceramic vase with lug handles and decorations of animalistic-faced (taotie) door knockers

Eastern Han bronze chariot and cavalry figurines excavated from a tomb

A gilt-bronze oil lamp in the shape of a kneeling female servant wearing silk robes, dated to the Western Han Era

Paragons of filial piety, Chinese painted artwork on a lacquered basketwork box excavated from an Eastern-Han tomb of what was the Chinese Lelang Commandery in modern North Korea.

Western-Han ceramic statues of cavalrymen on horseback

Carts and horses going out, 137cm x 201 cm, Eastern Han dynasty; one of 57 murals from the Nei Menggu Helingeer (or Holingor) Tomb in Inner Mongolia belonging to a prominent official, landowner, and colonel of the Wuhuan Army

The Protectorate of the Western Regions, established in 60 BC, which conducted foreign affairs with the oasis city-states in the Tarim Basin of Central Asia, was not the responsibility of the Director of Dependent States.

A report on Protectorate of the Western Regions

16 related topics with Alpha

Han dynasty

Tarim Basin

Han–Xiongnu War

Silk Road

Xinjiang

Hexi Corridor

Ban Chao

Protectorate (imperial China)

Xin dynasty

Government of the Han dynasty