Person114 BC

Zhang Qian

Han envoy sent west by Emperor Wu; he failed to win an alliance with the Yuezhi but brought back the first detailed knowledge of the Western Regions

A palace attendant from Hanzhong, he set out for the Yuezhi around 139 BCE with about a hundred men, including the Xiongnu-born Ganfu. Held by the Xiongnu for over ten years — he even took a wife there — he escaped to complete his mission, was captured again on the way back, and returned to Chang’an after thirteen years with only Ganfu. Guiding Han armies to water and pasture on a Xiongnu campaign, he was made Marquis of Bowang. In 119 BCE he went to the Wusun, and envoys of Han and the western states began to travel the road he had opened.

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1 related event

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139 BC – 126 BCZhang Qian’s Missions to the Western Regions and the Silk Roaddiplomat
Emperor Wu sent Zhang Qian to the Yuezhi to form an alliance against the Xiongnu. The alliance failed, but knowledge of the Western Regions opened the Silk Road linking China with western Asia and the Mediterranean.

People who appear alongside

Emperor Wu of Han156 BC – 87 BC
Seventh Han emperor who destroyed Gojoseon and set up commanderies

Themes this person appears in

Ancient China and India770 BC – AD 220
From the Hundred Schools of the Warring States to the unified empires of Qin and Han, and from the Buddha to the Maurya and Kushan empires — the millennium that shaped East and South Asian civilisation