Administration of overland trade during the HanTang period

1
Administration of overland trade during the
Han-Tang period

• Harmonizing relations with the barbarians by
  trade

2
The Silk Road

• It stretched across Central Asia to Europe.
• It supported a thriving transcontinental trade
  among China, Central Asia, and India.
• Trading items Chinese silk, spices, perfumes,
  Baltic amber, Mediterranean coral, foodstuff, and
  many other goods

3
Map of the Silk Road
4
Sogdians (Sute ??)

• Coming from the area of modern Uzbekistan, they
  were the major players on the Silk Road.

5
A caravan being robbed (a painting from the
Dunhuang Grottoes)
6
Line drawing of the carvings on the funerary
couch for Sogdians
7
Scope of Sogdian trading activities

• Changan and Loyang, the two Tang capitals
• Dunhuang (??)in Gansu province
• Inner Mongolia
• and southern Manchuria

8
Impact of overland trade on the Chinese way of
life as seen in Changan

• Changan The City of Eternal Peace
• Changan in a 14th century painting

9
Changan as a city

• measured 9,721 meters from east to west and 8,652
  meters from north to south.
• a symmetrical north-south axis.
• a symbol of imperial power

10
Changan as a trading place

• The Eastern and Western markets were vibrant
  centers for overland trade, where local products
  from all over China and foreign goods from
  Samarkand, Persia, and Syria changed hands.
• Large number of shops

11
Management of markets

• Office for the Market Director, Price-regulating
  office, and Price-equalizing office to control
  weights, measures, and prices.
• Fixed business hours
• Commercial activities outside Changan
• Curfew on Tang cities and its relaxation after
  the mid-ninth century
• Tang poem "It is customary that Luoyang (the
  eastern capital of Tang) has no curfew returning
  on horseback at night, the fragrance (of a lady)
  fills my bosom."
• Night markets

12
Changan as an international metropolis

• Merchants from the middle and western parts of
  the Asian continent, and the Indian peninsula
• Missionaries who preached various religious
  beliefs
• Monks from East Asia in search of the Buddhist
  laws
• Princes of foreign countries who remained in
  Changan as hostages
• Foreign diplomats.

13
Uighur prince in Tang court
14
Reception of foreign ambassadors at the Tang court
15
Temples of varied religions in Changan

• Buddhism
• Taoism
• Nestorian Christianity
• Zoroastrianism
• Manichaeism

16
Foreign entertainers in Changan

• Acrobats and conjurers from India
• Sword swallowing and fire breathing

17
Influence of the barbarians" on Chinese
lifestyles

• "Biluo" (??) and baked flat cakes as the favorite
  food
• Western dress as the latest fashion

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Influence of the barbarians" on Chinese
lifestyles

• Music introduced from Central Asia
• wild barbarian game in mid-winter (pohan huxi
  ????)
• Women and musicians in tri-colored glazed pottery
  (Tang sancai)

19
Influence of the barbarians" on Chinese
lifestyles (Polo games by men)
20
Influence of the barbarians" on Chinese
lifestyles (court ladies playing Polo)
21
Barbarian influences on China as reflected in
Tang poems

• Yuan Zhen (an early ninth-century poet
• Ever since the Western horsemen began raising
  smut and dust,
• Fur and fleece, rank and rancid, have filled
  Xian and Luo.
• Women make themselves Western matrons by the
  study of Western make-up
• Entertainers present Western tunes, in their
  devotion to Western music.

22
Barbarian influences on China as reflected in
Tang poems

• Poet Li Po
• "A Western houri beckons with her white hand,
  inviting the stranger to intoxicate himself with
  a golden beaker."

23
Barbarian influences on China as reflected in
Tang poems

• That Western houri with features like a flower-
• She stands by the wine-warmer, and laughs with
  the breath of spring
• Laughs with the breath of spring,
• Dances in a dress of gauze!
• "Will you be going somewhere, milord, now,
  before you are drunk?"

24
Attitude of the Tang court toward overland trade

• The court forbade unrestricted flow of goods and
  people into and out of Chinese borders.
• The Tang court used management of overland trade
  as a means for achieving both its desired
  economic and diplomatic goals.

25
Political nature of trade as elaborated by Wang
Qinruo (a Song-dynasty writer)

• An emperor looks after the barbarians as if they
  are a herd of his cattle.
• He employs a policy of conciliation and loose
  reign to bring about peace to border areas so as
  to rest his people in the Middle Kingdom.
• Opening markets therefore aims at conciliation
  and loose reign in relations with foreign
  countries.

26
Political nature of trade as elaborated by Wang
Qinruo

• Trading with the barbarians was first suggested
  to the court in the early Western Han. The
  court then chose marketplaces and regulated
  trading activities.
• Through trade, the court acquired goods and
  valuables, and advocated trust and righteousness,
  hoping that foreign rulers would respect and
  practice these virtues for generations to come.
• Trade is thus one of the ways for harmonizing
  relations with the barbarians.

27
Tang management of overland trade on frontier
markets

• five major seasonal frontier markets (zouji ??)
• 1. Yingzhou (??), a gateway to Manchuria and
  Korea
• 2. Xiazhou (?? in Inner Mongolia), a contacting
  point with the Turks

28
Tang management of overland trade on frontier
markets

• 3. Zhong Shouxiang cheng ( ???? in Inner
  Mongolia), a gathering place for Chinese and
  Uighur traders on the northern bank of the Yellow
  River
• 4. Liangzhou ( ?? in Gansu province), a window to
  countries in Central Asia
• 5. Jiaozhi (?? near Hanoi, Vietnam), the starting
  point of routes leading to Indina.

29
Monk Xuanzangs description of Liangzhou

• Merchants and travelers constantly come and
  leave.

30
Tang administration of overland trade

• Localized and under the jurisdiction of a local
  official Directorate for Tributary Trade (Hushi
  jian ???)
• Three major responsibilities of the Director (1)
  maintaining order, (2) implementing prohibition
  of trade in specific items, and (3) conducting
  "official purchase" at marketplace.

31
Tang administration of overland trade

• Statute on Markets and Customs Stations (guanshi
  ling ???) set the date, the time, and the place
  for frontier trade as well as the prices for
  goods to be traded.

32
Official Purchase (??)

• A practice that allowed officials to buy exotic
  goods from foreign merchants before commoners
  entered the market.
• Exotic goods were a symbol of political
  submission of these countries to the Tang court.
• Court procedure for procuring exotic goods the
  local authorities, the steward from the Office of
  State Visitors, the Court of State Ceremonial,
  the Directorate for Imperial Manufactories, and
  the Secretariat.

33
Items under imperial prohibition (jinduan se
???)

• Goods that were prohibited to be brought out of
  China
• Silk brocade, silk damask, silk gauze, silk
  crepe, heavy silk, silk floss, pongee, silk
  thread, yaks tails, pearls, gold, silver, and
  iron
• Exportation of Chinese books as an example

34
Prohibition against the exportation of certain
Chinese books

• Maps of the heavens,
• The Six Strategies of the Great Duke,
• The Three Plans of the Yellow Stone Duke,
• Books dealing with the calendar, the Sun, the
  Moon, and the five stars, and books on methods of
  predicting good and evil

35
Limited access to certain historical,
philosophical, and military works

• The case of Silla (a Korean state) in 686
• The Book of Rites (Li ji ??)
• Indiscriminate granting of books to foreigners
  exposed China to potential danger.

36
The opinion of Xue Deng (??)

• Should they be able to read our language, they
  would understand our laws and regulations, and
  the fundamental principles and practices that we
  use to govern China. Should they become literate
  in Chinese, they would learn from our successes
  and defeats, which have been fully recorded in
  our dynastic histories. Should they have access
  to geographical works, they would gain knowledge
  of our strategic places. With knowledge of China,
  they would be able to help their rulers work out
  strategic plans and military maneuvers against
  us, causing trouble for China.

37
The case of Tibetan ambassador in 730

• The Classic of Poetry (Shi jing ??)
• The Book of Rites (Li ji)
• The Chunqiu with Zuo Commentaries (Chunqiu Zuo
  zhuan????)
• The Selections of Refined Literature (Wen xuan ??)

38
Yu Xiulie (???)s objection

• The books in question contained information on
  China's military strategies toward foreign
  countries.
• The Book of Historical Documents (Shang shu ??)
  the traditional Chinese way of war.
• The Classic of Poetry (Shi jing) Chinese
  military tactics such as using carriages and
  maneuvering troops.
• The "monthly instructions (yue ling ??)" in The
  Book of Rites (Li ji) information on the
  suitable monthly activities, including military
  operations, for an emperor.
• The Chunqiu with Zuo Commentaries (Zuo zhuan)
  tactics employed in maneuvering troops.

39
Tang management of peoples movement

• Guan (?) customs stations
• The case of Xuanzang in 626
• The travel permit (guosuo ??)

40
Passport issued to Japanese monk Enchinin (??) in
855
41
The case of monk Enchin

• kanru (??) checked, and entry is granted .
• kanchu (??) checked, and departure is granted.

42
Trade as a means for political influence

• Foreign trade was never a mere economic activity,
  but a means to both derive economic benefits from
  and exert political influence on its trading
  partners.
• The practice of tributary trade conducted
  according to imperial edict (zhunchi hushi
  ????).
• Purchasing activities of foreign diplomats were
  conducted under a situation well-controlled by
  the court.
• The case of Japanese ambassador in Changan in 717
  and 838