Zhang Qian

Zhang Qian
name: Zhang Qian
also spelled Chang Ch'ien


pronunciation: [jang chyan]

sex: male

lived: (2nd-c BC)

biography: Chinese military officer, sent westwards (138–125 BC) by Han Emperor Wudi to ally with Bactria (modern Balkh, Afghanistan) to protect the Silk Road against the Huns. On his return, he was put in charge of the Foreign Office, and given the name ‘great traveller’. His report comprises the major source for contemporary C Asia, and is preserved in Sima Qian's Shi Ji (100 BC). Zhang's great expedition, and a second in 115 BC, helped to increase imperial interest in a Western policy, most spectacularly demonstrated by Ban Chao over a century later.

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