Transcript Zhang Qian
3 The Silk Road
Zhang Qian leaving emperor Han Wudi, for his expedition to Central Asia
from 138 to 126 BC, Mogao Caves mural, Dunhuang, 618–712.
• Zhang Qian (張騫; Wade-Giles Chang-k'ien) was an imperial envoy to the
outside world in the 2nd century BC, during the time of the Han Dynasty.
He was the first official diplomat to bring back reliable information about
Central Asia to the Chinese imperial court, then under Emperor Wu of Han,
and played an important pioneering role in the Chinese colonization and
conquest of the region now known as Xinjiang.
• Today Zhang Quian's travels are associated with the major route of
transcontinental trade, the Silk Road. In essence, his missions opened up
to China the many kingdoms and products of an unknown and new part of
the world. Zhang Qian's accounts of his explorations of Central Asia are
detailed in the Early Han historical chronicles ("Records of the Grand
Historian" or "Shiji"), compiled by Sima Qian in the 1st century BC . Today
Zhang Qian is considered a national hero for the key role he played in
opening China to the world of commercial trade.
The Introduction of Buddhism and Its
Booming
Standing Buddha, Gandhara, 1st century.
Notably, the Buddhist faith and the Greco-Buddhist culture started to travel eastward
along the Silk Road, penetrating in China from around the 1st century BC.
• The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to China started in
the 1st century CE with a semi-legendary account of an
embassy sent to the West by the Chinese Emperor Ming (58 –
75 CE [Christian Era]).
• Extensive contacts however started in the 2nd century CE,
probably as a consequence of the expansion of the Kushan
empire into the Chinese territory of the Tarim Basin, with the
missionnary efforts of a great number of Central Asian
Buddhist monks to Chinese lands. The first missionaries and
translators of Buddhists scriptures into Chinese were either
Parthian, Kushan, Sogdian or Kuchean. White Horse Temple,
the first Buddhist temple in China, was founded in 68 CE.
• From the 4th century onward, Chinese pilgrims also started to
travel to India, the origin of Buddhism, by themselves in order
to get improved access to the original scriptures, with Fahsien's pilgrimage to India (395–414), and later Xuan Zang
(629–644).
• The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism essentially ended
around the 7th century with the rise of Islam in Central Asia.
A portrait of Xuanzang
• During his travels he studied with many famous Buddhist
masters, especially at the famous center of Buddhist learning
at Nālanda University. When he returned, he brought with
him some 657 Sanskrit texts. With the emperor's support, he
set up a large translation bureau in Chang'an (present-day
Xi'an), drawing students and collaborators from all over East
Asia. He is credited with the translation of some 1,330
fascicles of scriptures into Chinese. His strongest personal
interest in Buddhism was in the field of Yogācāra (瑜伽行派)
or Consciousness-only (唯識).
• The force of his own study, translation and commentary of the
texts of these traditions initiated the development of the
Faxiang school (法相宗) in East Asia. Although the school
itself did not thrive for a long time, its theories regarding
perception, consciousness, karma, rebirth, etc. found their
way into the doctrines of other more successful schools.
Xuanzang's closest and most eminent student was Kuiji (窺基)
who became recognized as the first patriarch of the Faxiang
school. Hsuan Tsang's logic, as described by Kuiji, was often
misunderstood by scholars of Chinese Buddhism because they
lack the necessary background in Indian logic.[2]
• Xuanzang was known for his extensive but careful translations
of Indian Buddhist texts to Chinese, and subsequent
recoveries of lost Indian Buddhist texts from translated
Chinese copies. He is credited with writing or compiling the
Cheng Weishi Lun as a commentary on these texts. His
translation of the Heart Sutra became and remains standard.
He also founded the short-lived but influential Faxiang school
of Buddhism. Additionally, he was known for recording the
events of the reign of the northern Indian emperor, Harsha.
Q: How could Zhang Qian communicate
with “the westerners”?
• In his first travel to the west, according to his reports, he
visited directly many countries in the west.
• The reports of Zhang Qian's travels is quoted extensively in the 1st century
BC Chinese historic chronicles "Records of the Great Historian" (Shiji) by
Sima Qian. Zhang Qian visited directly the kingdom of Dayuan in Ferghana,
the territories of the Yuezhi in Transoxonia, the Bactrian country of Daxia
with it remnants of Greco-Bactrian rule, and Kangju (康居). He also made
reports on neighbouring countries that he did not visit, such as Anxi
(Parthia), Tiaozhi (Mesopotamia), Shendu (India) and the Wusun.
• In his second travel to the west, he leads a team of three
hundred people, with countless cattle, sheep and gold and silk
products.
• How could they communicate with those people in the west?
• In Tang Dynasty, when Xuan Zang returned to Chang’an, he
indulged himself in translating those Buddhist scriptures.
• The translating activity is a large-scale one, involving a staff of
over six hundred people, mostly Buddhist monks.
• In Song Dynasty, a translating court was established in 982 CE,
during Taizong’s reign (cf. Yuelu Academy founded in 976 CE)
(高晓芳 2007).
• How were the translators trained and educated?
• Surely, foreign language education is involved in the
government’s foreign affairs, for they need officials
or interpreters who know foreign languages, though
there might not be some formal educations for FLT as
they do for the Chinese language.