The Story of Chang K'ién, China's Pioneer in Western Asia: Text and Translation of Chapter 123 of Ssï-Ma Ts'ién's Shï-Ki

STOP

Early Journal Content on JSTOR, Free to Anyone in the World

This article is one of nearly 500,000 scholarly works digitized and made freely available to everyone in
the world by JSTOR.

Known as the Early Journal Content, this set of works include research articles, news, letters, and other
writings published in more than 200 of the oldest leading academic journals. The works date from the
mid-seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries.

We encourage people to read and share the Early Journal Content openly and to tell others that this
resource exists. People may post this content online or redistribute in any way for non-commercial
purposes.

Read more about Early Journal Content at http://about.jstor.org/participate-jstor/individuals/early-
journal-content .

JSTOR is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary source objects. JSTOR helps people
discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content through a powerful research and teaching
platform, and preserves this content for future generations. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit
organization that also includes Ithaka S+R and Portico. For more information about JSTOR, please
contact support@jstor.org.

THE STORY OP CHANG K'lEN, CHINA'S PIONEER IN
WESTERN ASIA

TEXT AND TRANSLATION OF CHAPTER 123 OF SSI-MA
TS'IEN'S SHI-KI

Friedrich Hirth
Professor Emeritus, Columbia University

INTRODUCTION

The only complete translation of this Chinese text, which is as
difficult as it is important, is the French version published by
M. Brosset in the Nouveau Journal Asiatique (tome 2, Paris,
1828, p. 418-450) under the title 'Relation du pays de Ta-ouan.'
Like Abel Remusat's works on cognate subjects, it was an under-
taking of great merit and quite a revelation to the scientific
world of its time, ninety years ago; but a comparison with the
original Chinese text will convince Sinologues that a new trans-
lation, incorporating the greatly modified identifications and
interpretations of later research, is an absolute necessity.

In Brosset 's translation, misconceptions of the author's state-
ments are unfortunately so frequent that readers anxious for
correct historical or geographical information must be warned
not to take facts for granted without a thorough scrutiny of the
original. To illustrate the dangers besetting scholars unfamiliar
with the spirit of the Chinese language, there is perhaps no
more instructive example than the first sentence in § 12. There
it is said of Chang K'ien, after his visit to Bactria, that, 'having
sojourned there fully a year, he returned, skirting the Nan-shan'
(cf. § 61 : 'all along the Nan-shan') . Not grasping the meaning
of the character ping (Giles, no. 9282), which, according to
Chang Sh6u-ts'ie's commentary of 737 a. d., is in this case to
be read pang and has the sense of lien (Giles, no. 7109), 'to con-
nect, to adjoin,' the very words of our pang Nan-shan passage
being quoted in K'ang-hi (Rad. 117 : 5, 12) from the SU-H as an
example, M. Brosset translates: 'Apres un an de delai, revenant
au mont Ping -nan,' and adds in a footnote: 'Montagne dans
le Tibet.' To guess the meaning of Chinese words from the
7 JAOS 37

90 Friedrich Hirth

mere sound of a transcription without having seen the Chinese
characters themselves is a dangerous experiment. Under the
sound ping, Giles's Dictionary has no less than twenty characters
with as many, or more, different meanings ; and about as many
characters are found under the sound p'ing with the aspirated
initial. Among the latter we find p'ing, 'a plain' (no. 9311).
This had apparently induced Baron von Richthofen (China, 1.
449, 454) to reproduce Brosset's translation with an additional
note saying that 'der Name Ping-nan zeigt, dass das Gebirge
im Siiden eines ebenen Landstrichs lag.' The Ts'ien-han-shu
in its biography of Chang K'ien (chap. 61, p. 2) contains a
parallel passage, rendered correctly by 'following the southern
mountains' in Wylie's version ('Notes on the "Western Regions,'
in Journal of the Anthrop. Institute of Great Britain and Ire-
land, vol. 10, Feb. 10, 1880, p. 67) .

Wylie's timely and highly meritorious contribution toward a
much neglected field of study, however, also contains a great
many mistranslations, and should in important cases never
be used without consulting the original Chinese text. Alexander
Wylie, whose name, as Henry Howorth appropriately remarks
(op. cit. 9. 53), 'is a household word wherever the study of
China and its borders is prosecuted,' had been afflicted with a
serious breakdown in health, ending in total blindness, just at
the time when he yielded to Howorth 's persuasion to take in
hand his translation from the Ts'ien-han-shu for the Anthro-
pological Institute. On the whole his work gives a fair idea of
the subject ; but a revision of it will, sooner or later, have to be
undertaken.

It is necessary to use the greatest caution in consulting
the late T. W. Kingsmill's paper, first published in the Journal
of the China Branch of the B. A. 8., new ser. 14. 1-29, under the
title 'The Intercourse of China with Central and Western Asia
in the 2d Century b. c.,' and reprinted in JBA8, new ser. 14.
74-104, under the title 'The Intercourse of China with Eastern
Turkestan and the Adjacent Countries.'

I have prepared the present new translation primarily in
order to get a clear idea of the material which will have to
serve as an introduction to renewed studies required for a second
edition of my book China and the Roman Orient, published in
1885 ; and I now place it before students of Oriental history and

The Story of Chang K'ien 91

Chinese literature with the hope that they may improve my ren-
dering and interpretation by their criticisms. Of Professor
fidouard Chavannes' gigantic work, the translation of the
Shi-ki (Les Memoires historiques de Se-ma Ts'ien traduits et
annotes, Paris, Leroux, tomes 1-5, 1895-1905), only five volumes
have appeared, carrying us to Ssi'-ma Ts'ien 's chapter 47; and
some considerable time may elapse before the publication of
chapter 123 (cf. Chavannes' Synoptic Table of chapters in the
Shi-ki and the T'ung-Men-kang-mu, vol. 1, pages ccxliv-ccxlix of
his Introduction). In the meantime I would refer readers to
this scholar's admirable critical essay on the Chinese historian's
work, in his Introduction, pages i-ccxlix. It will be seen from
Chavannes that we are not able to fix the exact year of the death
of Ssi'-ma Ts'ien; but, in all probability, the great work which
has earned for him the title of 'the Herodotus of China' must
have been completed about the year 99 b. c. (p. xlv), perhaps
even a few years later, to give him time for the despatch of ten
embassies to the Far West after the appointment, in 100 b. c,
of Ch'an-fong as King of Ta-yiian. His father, Ss'i-ma T'an,
who, like himself, held the post of court astrologer, and who,
besides having conceived the plan of writing the Shi-ki, may be
responsible for certain portions of that work, had died in 110
b. c. (p. xxxiv, note). It follows, therefore, that he cannot have
had any connection with that part of our Ta-yiian chapter which
deals with facts lying beyond that date; and if Ssi'-ma, the
father, has been at all concerned in drafting portions of our text,
his co-operation is not likely to have extended beyond its first
half— say paragraphs 1 to 79 of the present translation— which
I am inclined to look upon as being based chiefly on Chang
K'ien 's original report to the Emperor.

The Imperial Library of the Sui dynasty, to judge from its
Catalogue (Sui-shu, chap. 33, p. 23 B), contained a book in one
chapter entitled- Chang-k'ien-ch'u-kuan-chi, i. e. 'Account of
Chang K'ien 's Expeditions Abroad,' which has apparently not
been handed down to later periods, since it is not mentioned
in the Catalogues of the T'ang and Sung dynasties, though
Chang Tsung-yiian, in his Sui-king-tsi-chi-k'au-chong, chap. 6, p.
46, says that the title is quoted in the chapter on foreign coins in
Hung Tsun's work, the Ts'iian-chi, published in 1149 a. d. But
this may be a secondhand quotation. I place greater confidence

92 Friedrich Hirth

in a reference to it in the Ku-kin-chu (chap. 3, p. 3), where the
grape is referred to as having been introduced into China by
Chang K'ien. From what the critics in the great Catalogue
of the Imperial Library of Peking (Tsung-mu, 118, p. 4) say in
connection with an analysis of the Ku-kin-chu text, this para-
graph must have been written during the Tsin dynasty, about
300 a. d., when Tsui Pau, the compiler of the older and original
text now known as the Ku-kin-chu, apparently preferred the
Chang-k'ien-ch'u-kuan-cM to the Shi-ki as an authority. Since
no author's name is mentioned in connection with the title, this
chi, or memoir, may go back to Chang K'ien 's own Report. It
is, however, not quoted in the Tsi-min-yau-shu (about 500 b. c. ;
see my notice of it in T'oung Poo, 6. 436-440, and Bretschneider,
Botanicon Sinicum, 1. 11 ft.), where a number of foreign plants
not referred to in our Shi-ki account, such as the pomegranate
(t 'u-lin = Ind. darim), sesamum orientale, garlic, and coriand-
rum sativum, are distinctly stated to have been introduced into
China by Chang K'ien. These and other cultural wanderings
are there quoted from various older works, partly lost. Alto-
gether Chinese literature throws considerable light on such sub-
jects as have been treated for Europe in Hehn's Kulturpflanzen
und Hausthiere. A great many plants and animals were
brought to China, either by Chang K'ien himself or by later
expeditions sent by Wu-ti and his successors. Of these, certain
breeds of the horse, also the vine and the lucerne, are the only
ones referred to in the Shi-ki. Nevertheless, the one hero who
must be looked upon as the pioneer of all that came from the
West was Chang K'ien, whose return to China in 126 b. c. opened
a new epoch in the development of Chinese civilization. Another
work which, I am led to believe from Bretschneider 's Botanicon
Sinicum (1. 25), was at some time or other ascribed to Chang
K'ien himself, is the Hai-wai-i-wu-ki, i. e. 'Record of Remarkable
Things beyond the Seas.' The title does not, however, seem
very descriptive of the account of an overland expedition like
Chang K'ien 's.

I have in the present translation and in the accompanying
Index rendered the several geographical terms occurring in the
Chinese text by their Western equivalents, as accepted by most
present-day Sinologues, without entering upon the arguments
which have in the course of a century brought about so many

The Story of Chang K'ien 93

important changes since the time of Deguignes and Remusat.
Readers may, however, consult with advantage two papers closely
related to our subject: S. K. Shiratori, 'Ueber den Wu-sun-
Stamm in Centralasien' in Keleti Szemle, 3 (1902), p. 103-140,
and 0. Franke, 'Beitrage aus chinesischen Quellen zur Kennt-
niss der Tiirkvolker und Skythen Zentralasiens ' in Abhand-
lungen der Kgl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissensch., 1904, Anhang.
The Chinese text reproduced is that of the K'ien-lung edition
of 1739. It has been compared with the original by Mr. T. Y.
Leo, late Secretary of the Chinese Legation in "Washington, D. C,
a son of Liu Si-hung, the first Chinese envoy appointed to
Germany (Giles, Chinese Biogr. Diet., no. 1299), and one of
the few native scholars taking real interest in "Western research
in Chinese literature, to whom I am also indebted for many
valuable suggestions in connection with my translation.

TRANSLATION*

(1) Our first knowledge of Ta-yiian [Ferghana] dates from
Chang K'ien. (2) Chang K'ien was a native of Han-chung
[in the south of Shen-si province] ; during the period of K'ien-
yiian [140-134 b. c] he was a lang [a titular officer of the
imperial household; a yeoman]. (3) At that .time the Son
of Heaven made inquiries among those Hiung-nu who had sur-
rendered [as prisoners] and they all reported that the Hiung-nu
had overcome the king of the Yiie-chi and made a drinking-vessel
out of his skull. The Yiie-chi had decamped and were hiding
somewhere, all the time scheming how to take revenge on the
Hiung-nu, but had no ally to join them in striking a blow. (4)
The Chinese, wishing to declare war on and wipe out the Tartars,
upon hearing this report, desired to communicate with the Yiie-
chi; but, the road having to pass through the territory of the
Hiung-nu, the Emperor sought out men whom he could send.
Chang K'ien, being a lang [cf. § 2], responded to the call and
enlisted in a mission to the Yiie-chi; he took with him one

* The numbers - in parentheses indicate the sections similarly numbered
in the text as reproduced herewith.

94 Friedrich Mirth

Kan Fu, a Tartar, formerly a slave of the T'ang-i family,
and set out from Lung-si [Kan-su], crossing the territory of
the Hiung-nu. (5) The Hiung-nu made him a prisoner and sent
him to the Shan-yii [Great Khan, or King], who detained him,
saying: 'The Yue-ch'i are to the north of us; how can China
send ambassadors to them? If I wished to send ambas-
sadors to Yiie [Kiangsi and Ch'okiang], would China be
willing to submit to us?' He held Chang K'ien for more
than ten years, and gave him a wife, by whom he had a son.
(6) All this time Chang K'ien had kept possession of the
Emperor's token of authority, and, when in the course of
time he was allowed greater liberty, he, watching his opportu-
nity, succeeded in making his escape with his men in the direc'
tion of the Yue-ch'i. (7) Having marched several tens of days
to the west, he arrived in Ta-yiian. The people of this country,
having heard of the wealth and fertility of China, had tried in
vain to communicate with it. (8) "When, therefore, they saw
Chang K'ien, they asked joyfully: 'Where do you wish to go?'
Chang K'ien replied: 'I was sent by [the Emperor of] China to
the Yue-ch'i, and was made prisoner by the Hiung-nu. I have
now escaped them and would ask that your king have some one
conduct me to the country of the Yue-ch'i ; and if I should suc-
ceed in reaching that country, on my return to China, my king
will reward yours with untold treasures. (9) The Ta-yiian
believed his account and gave him safe-conduct on postal roads
to K'ang-kii [Soghdiana], and K'ang-kii sent him on to the
Ta-yue-ch'i. (10) The king of the Ta-yiie-ch'i having been killed
by the Hu ['Tartars'; in this case the Hiung-nu], the people
had set up the crown prince in his stead [in the Ts'ien-han-shu
it is the queen who is appointed his successor]. They had
since conquered Ta-hia [Bactria] and occupied that country.
The latter being rich and fertile and little troubled with robbers,
they had determined to enjoy a peaceful life; moreover, since
they considered themselves too far away from China, they had no
longer the intention to take revenge on the Hu [Hiung-nu] . (11)
Chang K'ien went through the country of the Yue-ch'i to Ta-hia
[Bactria] , yet, after all, he did not carry his point with the Yiie-
chi. (12) After having remained there fully a year, he returned,
skirting the Nan-shan. He wished to return through the country
of the K'iang [Tangutans] , but was again made a prisoner by the
Hiung-nu, who detained him for more than a year, when the

The Story of Chang K'ien 95

Shan-yii died and the 'left' Luk-li [possibly Turk. Ulugla,
'highly honored'] prince attacked the rightful heir and usurped
the throne, thus throwing the country into a state of confusion.
At this time Chang K'ien, with his Tartar wife and T'ang-i Fu
[i. e. Kan Fu, see above, § 4], escaped and returned to China.

(13) [The Emperor of] China appointed Chang K'ien a
T'ai-chung-ta-fu ['Imperial Chamberlain'] and gave T'ang-i Fu
the title Fong-sM-kiin ['The Gentleman attending the Embassy'] .
(14) Chang K'ien was a man of strong physique, magnanimous
and trustful, and popular with the foreign tribes in the south
and west. (15) T'ang-i Fu was formerly a Hu [Tartar; Hiung-
nu?]. Being an excellent bowman, he would, when supplies
were exhausted, provide food by shooting game. (16) When
Chang K'ien started on his journey, his caravan consisted of
more than a hundred men ; thirteen years later, only two lived
to return. (17) The following countries were visited by Chang
K'ien in person: Ta-yiian [Ferghana], Ta-yiie-chi [Indoscyth-
ians], Ta-hia [Bactria], and K'ang-kii [Soghdiana] ; there were
besides, five or six other large adjacent countries concerning
which he gained information and on which he reported to the
Emperor in the following terms.

(18) Ta-yiian [Ferghana] is to the southwest of the Hiung-
nu and due west of China, at a distance of about 10,000 li. (19)
The people are permanent dwellers and given to agriculture;
and in their fields they grow rice and wheat. They have wine
made of grapes (p'u-t'au) and many good horses. The horses
sweat blood and come from the stock of the t'ien-ma [heavenly
horse, perhaps the wild horse] . (20) They have walled cities and
houses ; the large and small cities belonging to them, fully seventy
in number, contain an aggregate population of several hun-
dreds of thousands. (21) Their arms consist of bows and hal-
berds, and they shoot arrows while on horseback. (22) North of
this country is K'ang-kii [Soghdiana] ; in the west are the Ta-
yue-chi; in the southwest is Ta-hia [Bactria] ; in the northeast
are the Wu-sun; and in the east Han-mi and Yii-tien [Khotan].
(23) All the rivers west of Yii-tien flow in a westerly direction
and feed the Western Sea; all the rivers east of it flow east and.
feed the Salt Lake [Lopnor] . The Salt Lake flows underground.
To the south of it [Yii-tien] is the source from which the Ho [the
Yellow Eiver] arises. The country contains much jadestone.

96 Friedrich Hirth

The river flows through China; and the towns of Lou-Ian and
Ku-shi with their city walls closely border on the Salt Lake. The
Salt Lake is possibly 5000 li distant from Chang-an. (24) The
right [i. e. western] part of the Hiung-nu live to the east of the
Salt Lake as far as the great wall in Lung-si. To the south they
are bounded by the K'iang [Tangutans], where they bar the road
[to China] .

(25) Wu-sun may be 2000 li northeast of Ta-yiian; its people
are nomads [following their flocks of cattle] , and have the same
customs as the Hiung-nu. Of archers they have several tens of
thousands, all daring warriors. (26) Formerly they were subject
to the Hiung-nu, but they became so strong that, while maintain-
ing nominal vassalage, they refused to attend the meetings of the
court.

(27) K'ang-kii [Soghdiana] is to the northwest of Ta-yiian,
perhaps 2000 li distant. It also is a country of nomads with
manners and customs very much the same as those of the Yue-ch'i.
They have eighty or ninety thousand archers. The country is
coterminous with Ta-yiian. It is small. In the south it is
under the political influence of the Yiie-chi; in the east, under
that of the Hiung-nu.

(28) An-ts'ai [Aorsi] lies to the northwest of K'ang-kii, per-
haps at a distance of 2000 li. It is a nomad state, and its man-
ners and customs are in the main identical with those of K'ang-
kii. It has fully a hundred thousand archers. The country lies
close to a great sea [ia-tsb, lit. 'great marsh,' the Palus Maeotis,
i. e. the Sea of Azov] which has no limit, for it is the Northern
Sea.

(29) The Ta-yiie-cM [Indoscythians] are perhaps two or
three thousand li to the west of Ta-yiian. They live to the north
of the K'u,i-shui [Oxus]. South of them is Ta-hia [Bactria] ;
in the west is An-si [Parthia] ; in the north, K'ang-kii [Sogh-
diana]. They are a nomad nation, following their flocks and
changing their abodes. Their customs are the same as those of
the Hiung-nu. They may have from one to two hundred thou-
sand archers. In olden times they relied on their strength, and
thought lightly of the Hiung-nu ; but when Mau-tun ascended
the throne he attacked and defeated the Yiie-chi. Up to the
time when Lau-shang, Shan-yii of the Hiung-nu, killed the king
of the Yiie-chi and made a drinking vessel out of his skull, the

The Story of Chang K'ien 97

Yiie-chi had lived between Tun-huang [now Sha-chou] and the
K'i-lien [a hill southwest of Kan-chou-f u] , but when they were
beaten by the Hiung-nu, they fled to a distant country and
crossed to the west of Yuan [Ta-yiian], attacked Ta-hia
[Bactria], and conquered it. Subsequently they had their
capital in the north of the K'ui-shui [Oxus] and made it the
court of their king. The minority which were left behind and
were not able to follow them, took refuge among the K'iang
[Tangutans] of the Nan-shan, and were called Siau-Yiie-cM
(Small Yiie-chi).

(30) An-si [Parthia] may be several thousand li west of the
Ta-yiie-chi. (31) The people live in fixed abodes and are given
to agriculture ; their fields yield rice and wheat ; and they make
wine of grapes. (32) Their cities and towns are like those of
Ta-yiian. (33) Several hundred small and large cities belong
to it. (34) The territory is several thousand li square; it is a
very large country and is close to the K'ui-shui [Oxus]. (35)
Their market folk and merchants travel in carts and boats to
the neighboring countries, perhaps several thousand li distant.
(36) They make coins of silver; the coins resemble their king's
face. Upon the death of a king the coins are changed for others
on which the new king's face is represented. (37) They paint
[rows of characters] running sideways on [stiff] leather, to serve
as records. (38) "West of this country is T'iau-chi; north, is
An-ts'ai.

(39) Li-kan [Syria] and T'iau-chi [Chaldea] are several
thousand li west of An-si and close to the "Western Sea. (40)
It [referring to T'iau-chi] is hot and damp. (41) The inhabi-
tants plow their fields, in which they grow rice. (42) There
is a big bird with eggs like jars. (43) The number of its
inhabitants is very large, and they have in many places their
own petty chiefs; but An-si [Parthia], while having added it
to its dependencies, considers it a foreign country. (44) They
have clever jugglers. (45) Although the old people in An-si
maintain the tradition that the Jo-shui and the Si-wang-mu are
in T'iau-chi', they have not been seen there.

(46) Ta-hia [Bactria] is more than 2000 li to the southwest of
Ta-yiian, on the south bank of the K'ui-shui [Oxus]. (47) The
people have fixed abodes and live in walled cities and regular
houses like the people of Ta-yiian. (48) They have no great

98 Friedrich Eirth

king or chief, but everywhere the cities and towns have their
own petty chiefs. (49) While the people are shrewd traders,
their soldiers are weak and afraid to fight, so that, when the
Ta-yiie-chi migrated westward, they made war on the Ta-hia,
who became subject to them. (50) The population of Ta-hia
may amount to more than a million. (51) Their capital is called
Lan-sh'i, and it has markets for the sale of all sorts of mer-
chandise. (52) To the southeast of it is the country of Shon-tu
[India] . (53) Chang K'ien says [in his report to the Emperor] :
'When I was in Ta-hia, I saw there a stick of bamboo of Kiung
[Kiung-chou in Ssi-ch'uan] and some cloth of Shu [Ssi-ch'uan].
When I asked the inhabitants of Ta-hia how they had obtained
possession of these, they replied : ' ' The inhabitants of our coun-
try buy them in Shon-tu [India]." Shon-tu may be several
thousand li to the southeast of Ta-hia. The people there have
fixed abodes, and their customs are very much like those of
Ta-hia ; but the country is low, damp, and hot. The people ride
on elephants to fight in battle. The country is close to a great
river. According to my calculation, Ta-hia must be 12,000
li distant from China and to the southwest of the latter. Now
the country of Shon-tu being several thousand li to the south-
east of Ta-hia, and the produce of Shu [Ss'i-ch'uan] being found
there, that country cannot be far from Shu. Suppose we send
ambassadors to Ta-hia through the country of the K'iang [Tan-
gutans], there is the danger that the K'iang will object; if we
send them but slightly farther north, they will be captured by
the Hiung-nu; but by going by way of Shu [Ss'i-ch'uan] they
may proceed direct and will be unmolested by robbers.'

(54) The Son of Heaven on hearing all this reasoned thus:
Ta-yiian and the possessions of Ta-hia and An-si are large coun-
tries, full of rare things, with a population living in fixed abodes
and given to occupations somewhat identical with those of the
Chinese people, but with weak armies, and placing great value
on the rich produce of China ; in the north the possessions of the
Ta-yiie-chi and K'ang-kii, being of military strength, might be
made subservient to the interests of the court by bribes and thus
gained over by the mere force of persuasion. In this way a
territory 10,000 li in extent would be available for the spread
among the four seas of Chinese superior civilization by communi-
cating through many interpreters with the nations holding

The Story of Chang K'ien 99

widely different customs. As a result the Son of Heaven was
pleased to approve Chang K'ien 's proposal. (55) He thereupon
gave orders that, in accordance with Chang K'ien 's suggestions,
exploring expeditions be sent out from Kien-wei of the Shu king-
dom [the present Sii-chou-fu on the Upper Yangtz'i] by four
different routes at the same time : one to start by way of Mang ;
one by way of Jan [both names referring to barbarous hill tribes
on the southwestern frontier ; cf . Sh'i-ki, chap. 116, p. 2] ; one
by way of Ssi [or Si] ; and one by way of Kiung [Kiung-chou
in Ssi-ch'uan] and P'o [the present Ya-chou]. (56) These
several missions had each traveled but one or two thousand li
when those in the north were prevented from proceeding farther
by the Ti and Tso tribes, and those in the south by the Sui and
K'un-ming tribes [placed by the commentators in the southwest
of Sii-chou-fu], who had no chiefs and, being given to robbery,
would have killed or captured the Chinese envoys. (57) The
result was that the expeditions could not proceed farther. They
heard, however, that about a thousand li or more to the west
there was the 'elephant-riding country' called Tien-yiie [pos-
sibly meaning 'the Tien,' or Yunnan, part of Yiie or South
China], whither the traders of Shu [Ssi-ch'uan] were wont to
proceed, exporting produce surreptitiously. Thus it was that by
trying to find the road to Ta-hia [Bactria] the Chinese obtained
their first knowledge of the Tien country ( Yiin-nan) .

(58) The original idea to penetrate from China through the
country of the southwestern barbarians was abandoned, because,
in spite of the heavy expense incurred, the passage could not be
effected; but it was in pursuance of Chang K'ien 's report regard-
ing the possibility of finding a road to Ta-hia [Bactria] that
attention had again been drawn to these barbarians. It had been
due to Chang K'ien 's knowledge of their pasture-grounds, when
following, in the capacity of a subcommander, the general-in-chief
sent out against the Hiung-nu, that the army did not fall short of
provisions. For this the Emperor invested him with the title
'Marquis of Po-wang.' This was in the year 123 b. c. (59)
"When, in the following year, Chang K'ien took part in the
Yu-pei'-p'ing [about 80 miles east of Peking] campaign against
the Hiung-nu in the capacity of a commander of the Guards
under General Li [Li Kuang, according to Ts'ien-han-shu, chap.
61, p. 4] as commander-in-chief and the latter was blocked

100 Friedrich Hirth

by the enemy with considerable losses to his army, Chang
K'ien failed to come soon enough to the rescue. For this
he was liable to the penalty of death; but, on payment of a
ransom, his punishment was reduced to degradation to the
rank of a private. (60) In the same year China sent the Piau-ki
general (Ho K'ii-ping) to conquer the western ordu [capital]
of the Hiung-nu. He took several tens of thousands [of troops]
and pushed forward as far as the K'i-lien-shan [a hill in the
south of the present Kan-chou-fu] . (61) In the following year
(121 b. c.) the Hun-sho prince with all his people tendered his
allegiance to China, and in the west of Kin-ch 'ong [Lan-chou-f u]
and in Ho-si [in the west of Kan-su] all along the Nan-shan as
far as the Salt Lake [the Lopnor] there remained no Hiung-nu.
The Hiung-nu would from time to time come there to waylay
travelers, but such visitations were of rare occurrence indeed, and
two years later the Chinese forced their khan to retreat into the
north of the desert. The Son of Heaven thereupon consulted
Chang K'ien several times about Ta-hia and other countries,
and since K'ien had lost his marquisate he submitted the fol-
lowing report :

(62) 'When your servant was living among the Hiung-nu,
he heard that the king of the Wu-sun was styled K'un-mo, and
that the K'un-mo 's father was [chief of] a petty state on the
western borders of the Hiung-nu. The Hiung-nu attacked and
killed his father, and the K'un-mo, at his birth, was cast away
in the wilderness, where meat was brought to him by a blackbird
and a she-wolf nursed him with her milk. (63) The Shan-yii
[khan of the Hiung-nu] regarded this as a wonder and, having
raised the child to manhood, made him a military leader, in
which capacity he distinguished himself on several occasions.
(64) The Shan-yii restored to him the people of his father and
made him governor of the western ordu [city, or fortified camp].
On receiving charge of his people, the K'un-mo attacked the
neighboring small states with tens of thousands of bowmen,
gained experience in warfare, and, after the Shan-yii 's death,
withdrew his forces to a distant retreat, declining to appear at
the court of the Hiung-nu. (65) The latter dispatched a force
of picked troops to attack him, but, being unable to conquer him,
regarded him as a spirit whom they had better keep at a distance
and whom they would not seriously attack, though they con-

The Story of Chang K'ien 101

turned to claim [nominal] jurisdiction of the Shan-yii over the
K'un-mo. (66) Now the Shan-yii has recently been defeated
by China, in consequence of which the Hun-sho prince's former
territory has become deserted; and since the barbarians covet
the rich products of China, this is an opportune time to bribe
the Wu-sun with liberal presents, and to invite them to settle
farther east in the old Hun-sho territory. Should they become
attached to the Chinese as a brother nation by intermarriage,
the situation would be in favor of their listening to our proposi-
tion, and if they do this, it would be tantamount to the cutting off
of the right [i. e. western] arm of the Hiung-nu nation. Once
we are connected with the "Wu-sun, the countries to the west of
them might be invited to come to us as outer subjects.'

(67) The Son of Heaven approved of Chang K'ien 's proposal
and appointed him a commander in his bodyguard as well as
leader of an expedition consisting of 300 men, each with two
horses, and oxen and sheep in myriads. He also provided him
with gifts of gold and silk stuffs worth millions, and with
assistant envoys, holding credentials, whom he might send to
and leave behind in other nearby countries. (68) When Chang
K'ien arrived at Wu-sun, he keenly resented the humiliation
offered to him, the ambassador of China, by a mere king of the
Wu-sun, K'un-mo, in receiving him in audience with court cere-
monial like that adopted with the Shan-yii of the Hiung-nu.
Knowing the greed of these barbarians, he said: 'If the king
does not pay due respect to these gifts, which have come from
the Son of Heaven, they will be withdrawn.' The K'un-mo
rose and offered obeisance before the gifts, but all other cere-
monies passed off as of old. (69) Chang K'ien explained the
Emperor's ideas as follows: 'If the Wu-sun are able to move
eastward to the country of the Hun-sho, China will send a
princess to become the K'un-mo 's consort.' (70) The Wu-sun
country was divided, for the King was old and, considering
China very distant and being unaware of its greatness, had here-
tofore submitted to the Hiung-nu, and this for a long time
indeed. Moreover, his own country was also nearer them, so
that his ministers, who were afraid of the Tartars, did not wish
to move away, and, since the king was not free to arrive at a
decision of his own choice, Chang K'ien was unsuccessful in
inducing him to adopt his suggestion.

102 Friedrich Hirth

(71) The K'un-mo had more than ten sons, the second of
whom, called Ta-lu, was an energetic leader of the masses. In
this capacity he set himself up in a separate part of the country
with more than ten thousand horsemen. Ta-lu 's elder brother,
the crownprince, had a son called the Ts'on-ts'ii [according to
Ts'ien-han-shu, chap. 96 B, p. 3, a title]. When the crownprince
met with an early death, his last words to his father, the K'un-
mo, were: 'Let the Ts'on-ts'ii become crownprince, and do not
allow any other man to take his place.' The K'un-mo, in his
grief, consented; and so on the death of his father the Ts'on-ts'ii
became crownprince. Ta-lu was angry at being prevented from
acting as crownprince and, having imprisoned his brothers, rose
with his people in rebellion against the Ts'on-ts'ii and the
K'un-mo. The latter, being old, was in constant fear that Ta-lu
might kill the Ts'on-ts'ii ; he therefore gave the latter more than
ten thousand horsemen to settle elsewhere, while retaining the
same number of horsemen for his own protection.

The population was thus divided into three parts; and, not-
withstanding that the majority were under his authority, the
K'un-mo did not dare to take it upon himself to conclude that
treaty with Chang K'ien. (72) Chang K'ien, therefore, sent
assistant ambassadors in several directions to the countries of
Ta-yiian [Ferghana], K'ang-kii [Soghdiana], Ta-yiie-ch'i [Indo-
scythians], Ta-hia [Bactria], An-si [Parthia], Shon-tu [India],
Yii-tien [Khotan], Han-mi [?] and the adjacent territories.
(73) Wu-sun furnished guides and interpreters to accompany
Chang K'ien on his return, and the latter, traveling with several
dozen natives and as many horses sent by the people of Wu-sun
in acknowledgment [of the Emperor's gifts], thereby afforded
them the opportunity to see China with their own eyes and thus
to realize her extent and greatness. (74) On his return to
China, Chang K'ien was appointed Talking ['Great Traveler/
or head of the office of foreign affairs] with rank as one of the
nine ministers of state. (75) More than a year after this he
died.

(76) The envoys of Wu-sun, having seen that China was a
very populous and wealthy country, reported to this effect on
their return home, and this increased the estimation in which
she was held there. (77) More than a year later, some of
the envoys whom Chang K'ien had sent to the Ta-hia countries

The Story of Chang K'ien 103

returned with natives of those countries, and after this the
countries of the Northwest began to have intercourse with China.
Since Chang K'ien had been the pioneer in such intercourse,
envoys proceeding to the West after him always referred to the
Marquis of Po-wang as an introduction in foreign countries, the
mention of his name being regarded as a guaranty of good faith.

(78) After the death of K'ien, the Hiung-nu heard of China's
relations with "Wu-sun, at which they became angry and wished
to make war on it. When China sent missions to Wu-sun, her
ambassadors continually passed through the south of that coun-
try to Ta-yiian [Ferghana] and Ta-yiie-chi [Indoscythians] , and
since the people of Wu-sun were afraid, they sent ambassadors
and tribute horses, expressing their wish to bring about family
relations by marriage with a Chinese imperial princess. The
Son of Heaven consulted his ministers, who all said: 'Let them
first offer marriage gifts and we shall then send the maiden.'

(79) At first the Son of Heaven consulted an oracle in the 'Book
of Changes,' which said that 'the divine horse will come from the
northwest.' The horses received from Wu-sun were termed
'heavenly horses,' but when the 'blood-sweating [han-Me]
horses' obtained from Ta-yiian [Ferghana] were found much
stronger, the name 'Wu-sun horses' was changed to ' [horses of
the] extreme west,' and the Ta-yiian horses were called 'heavenly
horses. '

At this time China began to build the great wall to the west
of Ling-kii [near the present Liang-chou-fu in Kan-su], and
first established the district of Tsiu-ts'iian, through which one
could reach the countries of the Northwest. Thus more embas-
sies were despatched to An-si [Parthia], An-ts'ai [the Aorsi,
or Alans], Li-kan [Syria under the Seleucids], T'iau-ch'i
[Chaldea], and Shon-tu [India], and as the Son of Heaven had
such a fancy for the horses of Ta-yiian, ambassadors [sent to
procure these horses] followed upon one another's heels all along
the route. Such missions would be attended by several hundred
men, or by a hundred men, according to their importance.
The gifts carried by them emulated in the main those sent
in the time of the Marquis of Po-wang; but later on, when
they had ceased to be a novelty, they were made on a smaller
scale. As a rule, rather more than ten such missions went
forward in the course of a year, and at the least five or six.

104 Friedrich Eirth

Those sent to distant countries would return home after eight
or nine years, those to nearer ones, within a few years.

(80) This was the time when China had extinguished Yiie/
in consequence of which the barbarians in the southwest of Shu
(Ss'i-ch'uan) became alarmed and asked that Chinese officers be
appointed, and attended court. Thus were created the districts
of I-chou, Yiie-sui, Tsang-ko, Shon-li, and Won-shan, [the gov-
ernment] being guided by the wish that these territories should
form a link in the development of the route to Ta-hia [Bactria] .
(81) And so the envoys Pai Shi'-ch'ang and Lii Yiie-jon were
sent out in more than ten parties in a single year from these
newly founded districts for Ta-hia [Bactria], but again and
again they were held up by the K'un-ming tribes, who killed
them and robbed them of the presents they carried, so that they
were never able to reach Ta-hia. (82) Thereupon China raised
an army from the convicts of the metropolitan district (san-fu ;
cf. Ts'ien-han-shu, chap. 76, p. 18, and other quotations in Pien-
tzi-lei-pien, chap. 91, p. 9 B) and sent the two generals Kuo
Ch'ang and Wei Kuang in command of tens of thousands of
soldiers of Pa and Shu [Ss'i-ch'uan], to fight the K'un-mings who
had intercepted the Chinese ambassadors, 2 when several tens of
thousands of the tribesmen were beheaded or made prisoners
by the Chinese army before it withdrew. (83) After this
ambassadors sent to the K'un-ming were again robbed, and
a passage through this country was still found to be impractica-
ble. (84) On the other hand, missions to Ta-hia [Bactria] by
the northern route, via Tsiu-ts'iian, had by their frequency
caused the foreign countries to be less and less interested in
the Chinese ambassadorial gifts, which they no longer appre-
ciated. (85) Since the work of the Marquis of Po-wang in
preparing the way for intercourse with foreign countries had
earned for him rank and position, officials and attendants who had
accompanied him vied with one another in presenting to the

1 Clearly referring to Nan-yiie, South China, conquered by General Lu
Po-to in 112 b. o., Hirth, Chines. Ansichten uber Bronzetrommeln, p. 30.
Cf. Mayers, Chinese Header's Manual, p. 138, and Giles, Chinese Biog.
Diet., p. 548, who both give the year as 120 b. c.

2 A footnote by the scholiast Sii Kuang, who died 425 a. d., refers this
expedition to the year 109 B. c.

The Story of Chang K'ien 105

throne memorials in which they discussed the wonders, advan-
tages, and disadvantages of certain foreign countries; and
when the memorialists asked to be nominated as envoys, the
Son of Heaven, on account of the extreme distance of the coun-
tries to be visited and owing to the scarcity of men expressing
a willingness to go, would comply with such requests and would
even provide credentials to candidates for ambassadorial posts
without asking any questions as to whence they had come. In
order to encourage enterprise in this direction numbers of
embassies were fitted out and sent forward, though among those
who returned there were bound to be some who had either pur-
loined the presents entrusted to them or failed to carry out the
imperial instructions.

The Son of Heaven on account of the experience of these quasi-
envoys, would merely investigate cases as being highly criminal
and punishable in order to stir up a feeling of resentment. By
causing them to atone for their guilt [by payments?] they were
led to apply again for ambassadorial appointments. Chances for
such appointments now becoming numerous, those concerned in
them made light of infringements of the law, and the lower offi-
cials connected with them would also give exaggerated accounts
of the conditions of the foreign countries in question. Those
who reported on some great projects in connection with foreign
countries would be given plenipotentiary posts, whereas reports
on less important ones would be rewarded with mere assistant-
ships, for which reason reckless and unprincipled men became
eager to follow examples thus set. The ambassadors, being
mostly sons of poor families, appropriated the gifts sent by the
government, and would undersell them for their private benefit.
Foreign countries, in their turn, got tired of the Chinese ambas-
sadors, whose tales consisted of conflicting accounts. 2 * They

%Mr. T. T. Leo remarks in connection with the above sentence: 'This
is the interpretation by Fu K'i&i [2d century a. d.]. According to Ju
Shun [as quoted in a scholium to our passage] the passage would read:
"The foreign countries in their turn got tired of the Chinese ambassadors,
for many men [of the foreign countries] had complained that each had been
more or less cheated and insulted several times by the Chinese." Judging
by what follows, I am inclined to think the latter interpretation is the
more logical. Ju Shun was a scholar of the "Wei' Kingdom of the San-kuo
period [3d century a. d.].'

8 JAOS 37

106 Friedrich Hirth

imagined that a Chinese army would not be near enough to reach
them, and that they were free to annoy the Chinese ambassadors
by cuttting off their food supplies. The ambassadors were thus
reduced to a state of starvation, and their exasperation took the
form of actual hostilities. Lou-Ian and Ku-shi, which, though
merely small countries, were thoroughfares to the West, attacked
and robbed the Chinese ambassadors [Wang K'ui and others]
more than ever, and unexpected troops of the Hiung-nu would at
all times intercept westbound envoys. Ambassadors would
therefore strive to outvie one another in spreading reports of the
calamities threatening China from those foreign countries, which
had walled cities and towns, but whose armies were weak and
could easily be vanquished.

(86) On this account the Son of Heaven sent the Tsung-piau
marquis [Chau] Po-nu to lead some tens of thousands of cavalry
of the feudal states and regular troops toward the Hiung-nu
River, wishing to engage the Tartars, but the latter retreated
without giving battle. (87) In the following year Po-nu
attacked Ku-shi. He took the lead with more than seven hun-
dred light cavalry, captured the king of L6u-lan, and defeated
Ku-shi'. He then displayed the prestige of his army in order
to 'corner' Wu-sun, Ta-yiian, and other countries. On his
return, he was raised to the rank of a marquis of Tso-ye. 3 (88)
Wang K'ui, who had been repeatedly ill-treated as an ambas-
sador by Lou-Ian, had reported this to the Son of Heaven,
who raised an army and ordered him to assist Po-nu in
bringing L6u-lan to terms. For this, Wang K'ui was made
Marquis of Hau. 4 (89) A line of military stations was now
established between Tsiu-ts'iian and the Yii-mon Gate. (90)
Wu-sun now presented a marriage gift of a thousand horses,
upon which China sent a relative of the emperor's, the Princess
of Kiang-tu, as a consort for the king of the Wu-sun. The
latter, the K'un-mo, appointed her his right [i. e. less-honored]
consort. The Hiung-nu, on their part, also sent a daughter in
marriage to the K'un-mo, who appointed her his left [i. e. most-
honored] consort. The K'un-mo said 'I am old,' and he induced
his grandson, the Ts'on-ts'ii, to marry the [Chinese] princess.

*A footnote says that this happened in the year 108 B. c.
* According to a footnote, in 107 B. c.

The Story of Chang K'ien 107

(91) The "Wu-sun had great store of horses; rich men had as
many as four or five thousand each.

(92) Once, when a Chinese ambassador had come to An-si
[Parthia], the king of that country caused twenty thousand
horsemen to welcome him at the eastern frontier, which was
several thousand li distant from the royal capital. When he
reached the capital he found that he had passed some dozens
of walled cities, densely populated. When the ambassador
returned to China they, in their turn, sent envoys to accompany
the mission back to China, in order that they might see China's
greatness with their own eyes. They offered as tribute big birds'
eggs [ostrich eggs] and jugglers from Li-kan [Syria, etc.]. And
the small countries to the west of Yuan, namely Huan, Ts'ien,
and Ta-i [?], and those to the east of Yuan, namely, Ku-sh'i,
Han-mi, Su-hie, and others, followed the Chinese ambassadors
with tribute and had audience with the Son of Heaven, who was
thereby highly gratified. (93) Also, a Chinese ambassador
traced the source of the Ho River, which had its rise in Yii-tien
[Khotan] . The hills there yielded great quantities of jadestone,
picked up and brought to China [by the ambassadors] . (94) The
Son of Heaven, in accordance with old maps and books, gave the
name of K'un-lun to the hill in which the Ho Eiver had its
source.

(95) At this time the Emperor often made tours of inspection
to the seaside, when he was generally accompanied by numbers of
foreign guests, upon whom he would bestow abundant provisions,
in order to impress them with the wealth of China. On such occa-
sions crowds of onlookers were attracted by the performances of
wrestlers, mummers, and all such wonderful entertainments, and
by lavish feasts of wine and meat, by which the foreign guests
were made to realize China's astounding greatness. They were
also made to inspect the several granaries, stores, and treasuries,
with a view to showing them the greatness of China and to
inspiring them with awe. Later on the skill of these jugglers,
wrestlers, mummers, and similar performers was further devel-
oped, their efficiency was increased from year to year. (96) It
was from this period that the coming and going of ambassadors
of the foreign countries of the northwest became more and more
frequent. (97) The countries west of Yuan [Ferghana],
which, being of the opinion that they were too far away from

108 Friedrich Eirth

China, had as yet calmly stood upon their national pride, could
not be won over by our polite civilization into a state of vassalage.
(98) Westward from Wu-sun as far as An-si [Parthia], the
Hiung-nu lived nearby, and since they had [once] been a source
of trouble to the Yue-ch'i [Indoscythians] , it was still a fact that
if an envoy of the Hiung-nu, armed with a letter of the Shan-yii,
were sent abroad, all the countries en route would give him safe-
conduct and provisions without daring to make trouble of any
kind, whereas the ambassadors of China could not obtain provi-
sions without a money payment, nor could they continue their
journeys on horseback without buying the necessary beasts.
The reason for this was that the people of these countries thought
that, China being far off and wealthy, the Chinese must buy
what they wished to get; indeed they were more afraid of the
Hiung-nu than of the Chinese ambassadors. (99) In the neigh-
borhood of Yuan [Ferghana] wine was made from grapes. Rich
people stored ten thousand stones and more of it without its
spoiling. (100) The people liked to drink wine, and their
horses liked lucerne (mu-su = medicago sativa) . The Chinese
envoys imported their seeds into China. The Son of Heaven
thereupon first planted lucerne and vines on rich tracts of
ground, and by the time that he had large numbers of 'heavenly'
horses, and when many ambassadors from foreign countries
arrived, by the side of Imperial summer palaces and other
retreats one might see wide tracts covered with vineyards and
lucerne fields.

(101) The people occupying the tracts from Ta-yiian [Fer-
ghana] westward as far as the country of An-si talked different
dialects, but their manners and customs being in the main iden-
tical, they understood each other. (102) They had deep-set
eyes, most of them wore beards, and as shrewd merchants they
would haggle about the merest trifles. They placed high value
on women, and husbands were guided in their decisions by the
advice of their wives. (103) These countries produced no silk
and varnish, and they did not know the casting of coins and
utensils. 5 When some deserters from the retinue of a Chinese
embassy had settled there as subjects they taught them

"According to Su Kuang, a. d. 352-425, some texts have t'iS, 'iron,'
for ts'iSn, 'coins.'

The Story of Chang K'ien 109

how to cast weapons and utensils other than those that they
already had. Having secured Chinese yellow and white metal
[i. e. gold and silver], 8 they used this for making utensils; they
did not use it for money. (104) And since Chinese ambas-
sadors became numerous, the young men who had been attached
to those missions would generally approach the Son of Heaven
with [what seemed] a well worked-out project. (105) Thus
they reported: 'The superior horses found in Ta-yiian are
concealed [kept out of sight] in the city of Ir-sh'i, which is
unwilling to give them to the Chinese ambassadors.' (106) Now,
since the Son of Heaven was fond of the horses of Ta-yiian, he
was pleased with this report and sent certain strong men [sports-
men, turfmen?], Ch'6 Ling and others, with a thousand pieces
of gold and a golden horse in order to ask the king of Ta-yiian
for the superior horses in the city of ir-sh'i. (107) The Yuan
country being overstocked with Chinese produce, the people held
counsel among themselves, saying: 'China is far away from us,
and in the Salt Lake [region] numbers of travelers have met
with destruction. To the north of it one falls into the hands of
Hu [Tartar] robbers; in the south there is dearth of water
and vegetation; moreover, they are everywhere cut off from
cities without any chance of foraging in many cases. Chinese
missions, consisting of merely a few hundred members, have quite
commonly lost more than half their staff by starvation. If this
be so, how much less could the Chinese send a big army ? What
harm can they do to us? The horses in Ir-sh'i are the most
precious horses of Yuan.' (108) And they refused to deliver
the horses to the Chinese ambassadors. The latter became very
angry and with scathing words smashed the golden horse and
returned. (109) The notables, in their turn, were incensed
and said: 'The Chinese ambassadors have treated us with
extreme contempt. ' They ordered the envoys out of the country,
and caused them to be intercepted at Yii-ch'ong on the eastern

6 Wu Jon-kie, of the 12th century A. D., in his critical work IAang-han-
h'an-wu-p'u-i, chap. 8, p. 8 B, quotes K'ung Ying-ta, one of the authors
of the Sui-shu and one of the best-known commentators of the classics,
574-648 a. d., as saying that to the ancients huang-lcin, 'yellow metal,'
and huang-t'ii, 'yellow iron/ were identical with the t'ung, 'copper,'
of his time. He also thinks that pai-Tcin means both 'silver' and 'tin,'
the latter yielding bronze in combination with copper.

110 Friedrich Hirth

frontier, where the ambassadors were killed and robbed of their
belongings.

(110) Upon hearing this the Son of Heaven was very wroth.
The ambassadors previously sent to Yuan, namely Yau Ting-han
and others, reported : ' The army of Yuan is weak ; if we attack
it with no more than three thousand Chinese soldiers using
crossbows, we shall be sure to vanquish it completely. ' The Son
of Heaven, having previously sent the Marquis of Tso-ye with
seven hundred cavalry to attack Lou-Ian, with the result that
the king of that country was captured, approved of the plan
suggested by Yau Ting-han and others, and, wishing to bestow
a marquisate on his favorite concubine, Madam Li, appointed
Li Kuang-li leader of the campaign, with the title Ir-sh'i tsiang-
kiin [i. e. General Ir-sh'i] and ordered him to set out with six
thousand cavalry of the feudal states and several hundred thou-
sand men, being recruits selected from the riffraff of the prov-
inces, and to march upon Yuan with the intent of advancing
on the city of Ir-shi and taking possession of its superior horses,
for which reason he was styled 'General Ir-sh'i.' Chau Shi-
ch'ong was appointed kiin-chong [adjutant-general?], the late
Marquis of Hau, Wang K'ui, was sent as a guide to the army,
and Li Ch'o was appointed a governor in charge of the army
regulations. This happened in the year 104 b. c. (Ill) And
great swarms of locusts arose to the east of the great wall
and traveled west as far as Tun-huang. When the army of
General Ir-shi had crossed the Salt Lake [Lopnor], the small
states on the road were alarmed; they strengthened their city
defenses and refused the issue of provisions. Sieges were of no
effect. If the cities surrendered, the army would secure pro-
visions; if they did not, it would in the course of a few days
retire. When it came to Yii-ch'ong, the Chinese army con-
sisted of not more than a few thousand men, and these were
exhausted from lack of food. At the siege of Yii-ch'ong the
Chinese troops were utterly routed with great losses in killed
and wounded. General Ir-shi with Li Ch'o, Chau Shi-ch'ong,
and others reasoned thus: 'If our drive on Yii-ch'ong ended
in failure to take the city, how much less can we advance on
the king's capital?' Consequently, after a campaign of two
years the army was led back. When it reached Tun-huang only
one or two out of every ten soldiers were left. (112) The

The Story of Chang K'ien 111

general sent a message to the Emperor in which he said : ' Owing
to the distance of the expedition we often were short of provi-
sions and our soldiers were troubled not so much by battles
as by starvation; their numbers were not sufficient to conquer
Yuan.' He proposed for the time being to stop the war and to
set out again when better prepared. (113) When the Son of
Heaven heard this report he was much incensed and ordered
the Yii-mon [Gate] to be closed, saying: 'If any members of
the army dare to enter, they shall lose their heads.' Ir-shi was
afraid and remained at Tun-huang. (114) That summer [103
b. c] China had lost more than twenty thousand men of Tso-ye's
army against the Hiung-nu. The dukes, ministers, and councils
called upon to deliberate all wished to give up the expedition
against the army of Yuan and to direct special efforts to attack-
ing the Tartars. (115) The Son of Heaven [thought that] hav-
ing sent a punitive expedition against Yuan, a small country,
without bringing it to terms would cause Ta-hia [Bactria] and
the like countries to feel contempt for China, and the superior
horses of Yuan would never be forthcoming ; also "Wu-sun and
Lun-t '6u would make light of harassing the Chinese ambassadors,
[and China] would thus become the laughing-stock of foreign
countries. (116) The Emperor therefore preferred an indict-
ment against Tong Kuang and others who had reported that
making war on Yuan was particularly inopportune, [and an
army consisting of] ticket-of-leave men and sharpshooters, to
whom were added the young riffraff and roughriders of the
boundary, was organized within rather more than a year. When
it left Tun-huang this army consisted of sixty thousand men,
not counting those who followed as carriers of secret supplies of
extra provisions; a hundred thousand oxen; more than thirty
thousand horses ; donkeys, mules, and camels numbering myriads,
and a commissariat well stocked with provisions, besides arms
and crossbows. All parts of the Empire had to bestir themselves
in contributing offerings. (117) In this campaign against Yuan
no less than fifty military governors were appointed. In the
city of the king of Yuan there were no wells, and the people had
to obtain water from a river outside the city, whereupon experts
in hydraulics were sent to divert the course of the river, thus
depriving the city of water, besides effecting an opening through
which the city might be laid open to access. ( 118 ) In order to pro-

112 Friedrich Hirth

tect Tsiu-ts'iian, an additional contingent of a hundred eighty
thousand frontier troops was stationed in the newly established
districts of Kii-yen and Hiu-chu in the north of Tsiu-ts'iian and
Chang-ye. (119) There were further sent the offenders under
the seven clauses of the law on minor offenses from the whole
empire, as carriers of provisions for the Ir-shi expedition force;
wagoners with their carts went in endless lines to Tun-huang;
and in anticipation of the defeat of Yuan, two horse-breakers
were appointed as equerries [with the rank of] military gov-
ernors to handle the superior horses to be selected. (120) There-
upon [General] Ir-shi had to march out again, and since he had
now more soldiers, the smaller countries he passed through did
not fail to welcome him with provisions for his army. When he
came to Lun-t'ou, however, that city would not submit, so, after
a siege of a few days, it was laid in ruins. After this event the
march to the west proceeded without impediment as far as the
[outskirts of the] city of Yuan. (121) On its arrival there the
Chinese army consisted of thirty thousand men. An army of
Yuan gave battle, the victory being gained by the efficiency of the
Chinese archery ; and this caused the Yuan army to take refuge
in their bulwarks and mount the city walls. (122) General
Ir-shi' wished to attack Yu-ch'ong, but was afraid his detention
thereby would allow Yuan to resort to additional stratagems.
He therefore went direct to Yuan, cut off the source of its water-
supply by diverting the course of the river upon which it
depended, and the city was in great straits. Yuan was invested
by the Chinese for more than forty days. On battering the
outer city wall they captured one of the notables of Yuan, a
prominent leader named Tsien-mi.

The people of Yuan became panic-stricken and withdrew into
the inner city, where their notables held counsel among them-
selves, saying: 'The reason why the Chinese make war on us
is that our king, Mu-kua, 7 held back the superior horses and
killed the Chinese ambassadors. If we now kill our king, Mu-
kua, and surrender the superior horses, the Chinese army will
raise the siege ; on the other hand, if they do not raise the siege

'According to Ts'ien-han-shu, chap. 17, p. 14, Mu-ku, which, accord-
ing to Yen Sh'i-ku, appears to be similar in sound to the original western
name.

The Story of Chang K'ien 113

there will be war to the death. It is not yet too late.' The
notables of Yuan were all of this opinion. They therefore assas-
sinated their king, Mu-kua, and sent his head to General Ir-shi
by their notables, saying: 'If the Chinese will cease making
war on us, we will let you have all the superior horses you
desire and will supply the Chinese army with provisions ; but, if
you do not accept our terms, we will kill all the superior horses,
and help will soon come from K'ang-kii [Soghdiana]. In that
case we should keep within the city, while K'ang-kii would keep
outside, fighting against the Chinese army, which ought carefully
to consider as to the course it will adopt.' In the meantime
K'ang-kii kept watch on the Chinese army, and, this being still
numerous, did not dare to attack. General Ir-shi" consulted with
Chau Shi-ch'ong and Li Ch'6. It was reported that Yuan had
recently secured the services of a Chinese [lit. 'a man of Ts'in']
who knew how to bore wells, and that the city was still well
supplied with provisions; that the chief malefactor whom they
had come to punish, was Mu-kua, whose head had already
come to hand; and that, if under the circumstances they
did not raise the siege, Ta-yiian would make strenuous efforts
to defend the city, while K'ang-kii would lie in wait until
the Chinese were worn out, and then come to the rescue of
Yuan, which would mean certain defeat to the Chinese army.
The officers of the army agreed with these views. (123) Yuan
was allowed to make a treaty. They delivered up their superior
horses and permitted the Chinese to make a selection from them,
besides furnishing great quantities of provisions for the com-
missariat. The Chinese army took away several dozens
[shu-sh'i, 'several times ten'] of superior horses, besides more
than three thousand stallions and mares of inferior quality.
(124) They also appointed a notable of Yuan, named Mei-ts'ai,
who had formerly treated the Chinese ambassadors well, as
king of Yuan, with whose swearing-in the campaign ended.
After all, the Chinese were unable to enter the inner city, and,
abandoning further action, the army was led back.

(125) When General ir-shi" first started to the west from
Tun-huang, the countries en route were unable to furnish provi-
sions, owing to the size of his army. He therefore divided it
now into several sections, which took the southern and northern
routes respectively. The military governor, "Wang Shon-shong,

114 Friedrich Hirth

and the former superintendent of the Colonial Office, Hu
Ch 'ung-kuo, with more than a thousand men, marched by another
route to Yii-ch'ong, whose city head refused the issue of pro-
visions to the army. "Wang Shon-shong, though he was two
hundred li distant from the main body of the army, recon-
noitered, but made light of the situation, while upbraiding
the people of Yii-ch'ong. The latter persisted in refusing
the issue of provisions and, having ascertained by spies
that Wang Shon-shong 's army was becoming reduced in numbers
day by day, they one morning attacked the latter with three
thousand men, killed Wang Shon-shong and the other leaders,
and routed his army, of which only a few men escaped with
their lives to rejoin General Ir-shi and the main army. (126)
General Ir-shi now entrusted Special Commissioner of Govern-
ment Grain Shang-kuan Kie with the investment of Yii-ch'ong,
whose king fled to K'ang-kii, pursued thither by Shang-kuan
Kie. K'ang-kii had received the news of China's victory over
Ta-yiian and delivered the fugitive king to Shang-kuan Kie, who
sent him well bound and guarded by four horsemen to the
commander-in-chief. On their way these men said to one
another: 'The king of Yii-ch'ong is China's bitterest enemy.
If we now let him live, he will escape, and then we shall have
failed in an important undertaking.' Although wishing to kill
him, none of the four dared to strike the first blow, when a
cavalry officer of Shang-kui, named Chau Ti, the youngest among
them, drew his sword and cut off the king's head. He and
Shang-kuan Kie with the king's head then rejoined the com-
mander-in-chief.

(127) When General Ir-shi set out for the second time, the Son
of Heaven had sent ambassadors to call upon Wu-sun to send
big forces for a joint attack on Ta-yiian. Wu-sun sent only two
thousand men, cavalry, wavering between two courses of action
and being unwilling to proceed. (128) When the smaller coun-
tries through which General Ir-shi passed on his return march to
the east heard of the defeat of Ta-yiian, they all sent sons and
younger brothers [of their kings] to follow the Chinese army
in order to be presented to the Son of Heaven and to be offered
as hostages to China. (129) In the campaign under General
Ir-shi against Ta-yiian the Kiin-chong [Adjutant General?]
Chau Shi-ch'ong's chief merit had consisted in vigorous fight-

The Story of Chang K'ien 115

ing; Shang-kuan Kie had distinguished himself by daring to
break into the enemy's lines; Li Ch'6 had acted as adviser
in strategical schemes ; and when the army passed the Yii-mon
Gate there were left of it scarcely more than ten thousand men
and a thousand horses. In the second campaign the army had not
suffered so much from the scarcity of provisions, nor from losses
in battle, as from graft practised by leaders and officers, many of
whom filled their pockets without any regard for the welfare
of the rank and file, numbers of whom had under these condi-
tions lost their lives. (130) In consideration of the fact that
the campaign had to be conducted at a distance of ten thousand
li from home, the Son of Heaven overlooked these offenses and
created Li Kuang-li Marquis of Hai-si; further, he gave
the title of Marquis of Sin-ch'i' to Chau Ti, the horseman who
had beheaded the king of Yii-ch'ong; the Kiin-chong [Adjutant
General?] Chau Shi-ch'ong was honored by being created a
kuang-lu-ta-fu [noble of the first grade] ; Shang-kuan Kie was
made a shau-fu [director in the Imperial Household] ; Li Ch'o
was appointed prefect of Shang-tang; three of the officers of
the army received ministerial posts ; and more than a hundred
men received appointments as ministers to the feudal states,
or as prefects, or [positions with salaries corresponding to] two
thousand stones [of rice]. [Positions yielding incomes corre-
sponding to] one thousand stones, or less, were given to a thou-
sand men each ; and all acts of bravery were rewarded by
official positions exceeding the expectations of the recipients.
Former convicts who had gone with the army received no
rewards. Soldiers of the rank and file were presented with
gifts of the value of forty thousand kin [pieces of gold] . (131)
Four years were required to finish the entire campaign against
Yuan, from its beginning to the second return of the armies.

(132) Rather more than a year after the conquest of Ta-yiian
by China, when Mei-ts'ai was invested as king of Ta-yiian, the
notables of that country, attributing the reverses of their
country to his method of flattering the ambassadors, conspired
against Mei-ts'ai, assassinated him, and installed Ch'an-fong, a
younger brother of Mu-kua, as king of Yuan. (133) They sent
his son as a hostage to China, and China returned a conciliatory
mission with presents. (134) China subsequently sent more
than ten embassies to the foreign countries west of Ta-yiian,

116 Friedrich Hirth

to collect curiosities and at the same time to impress upon such
countries the importance of the victory over Ta-yiian and the
establishment of a tu-yii [military governor?] at Tsiu-ts'iian
in the Tun-huang region. 8 (135) "Westward from here to the
Salt Lake [Lopnor] the road at many points was protected by
military stations, and in Lun-t'ou there were several hundred
soldiers stationed as farmers, the special commissioners in charge
of the farms being required to guard the cultivated land and
to store the crops of grain for the use of embassies sent abroad.
(136) Concluding remarks of the historian. — It is said in the
Yu-pon-kP : 'The Ho [i. e. the Yellow River] rises in the K'un-
lun, the ascent of which occupies more than two thousand five
hundred li. [This hill is so high that] the light of sun and
moon may be obscured by its shadow. Its summit contains the
spring of sweet wine and the pool of jade.' Now, since by the
expedition of Chang K'ien to Ta-hia [Bactria] the source of
the Yellow River has been traced, we ask, "Where do we see
the K'un-lun mentioned in the 'Life of Yii'? Indeed, the
account of the nine Provinces of the Emperor Yii, with their
hills and water-courses, as described in the Shu-king, is much
nearer the truth. As regards the wonderful tales contained in
the 'Life of Yii' and the Shan-hai-king, I do not dare to say
anything about them.

TEXT

The Chinese text reproduced on the following pages is that of
the K'i6n-lung edition of 1739 (see page 93).

"The scholiast Sii Kuang here assumes another name (Tuan-ts'uan) to
be the correct reading for Tsiu-ts'iian. Tuan-ts'uan, Mr. Leo points out,
belonged to the jurisdiction of Tun-huang.

* 'Life of the Emperor Tu,' a work not how otherwise known in Chinese
literature, and not mentioned in the Catalogue of the Imperial Library of
the Han Dynasty.

The Story of Chang K'ien

117

i*

£

j»j

4

«L

t

*

^

i

^^

n

K

.£)

+

»

**.

^1

^

^L

)K

H

£

**.

b)

&

£)5 •£-

*

2L

-t-

*7

*

ft

Jl

+

*^

^_

5&

J.TK

**

A

Jb

W!

A.

^

**

^

^

#L

^ia

• Wl.

ft

st

&

*.

iL.

4^

4*.

fel

iL

^C

^

*

*■

A

4&

<#

t

E

5k

■fc

ife-

14

S,f

-t

*L

-It

-i»=

sg

73

/I

4^"

*

4

*"

*&.

■ft.

ftfl

*

*

*

1^

?^2

it

4

A

.5.

5*

■5-

"J"

%l

^4

*

•w

*J

&

*

4*.

^

.*M

> JfL

^

i^l

1%

J^.

Oh

*■

4

A.

11

*

"t

*

^

f

-t

«L

*

>fc

*

#

**

(iff

*

f

A.

3-

«L

A.

<%

UL

£*.

>$

=*L

VA

fe

Jl

^

fL

£|

*L

#.

i&

n

*=?

*?

te.

7Zj

A.

t

tX

*.

i*.

*

T.

/3

;%

^)

f

fe

i'f

il

3

*%

**

A.

*.

*

•^

*)

*'J

«l

^

*.

S.

>L 8

>%

*.

<*.

4fe

i-p

^#

4

?ik

*. 10 ^

*

£3

"§•

^

4%

^3

*

^

Jfe

*

*

*

■ft*.

it.

f^

-ft

•*

/ N

■toL

**,

*.

*

«

t

5*

*

#

A

H-

W

**

i

^_-

t}

&

<=J

•t-

*

J* ^

**

£_

L

ifc-

^

JE

^

m^

Ml

#

.4

it

«t

*

45

*.

•5T

<*)

$(,

I-" #1

i

'^

£)

43E.

«L

«t

*L

^

flt

#t

w

^C

4

<^

i;l

t

%

*

3

«L

^

*

A

-&

*L

v^

*

t

*,

T,

<3

4

'4K

•fr

tfl

% L

*L

5.

£

tr

%

-t

it

^L

m

■4-

A

>^

X

5^

5?

$Sp

M.

m

tkb

\*i)

*.

•5-

s

<L

fl

-;^

A

s

*J^

&

*

4

X*

ft

ft,

^

Ft.

^

^L

3-

Tv

J.

ft,

*o

t^j7

ffe

^7

^x

^

jk.

ti

f>L

>X

ffj

A.

^

Att.

A

^

118

Friedrich Hirtk

.% ^

M, 25 HI

it &

>3~ £b

-^ ?£ 4-

ill
J*

■**.

iff, £?

Jtt.

T
■A

i5L

5*

J. 5»J

£**■ ,flb *~

it vf £7

4 ■£ &

y£ & *•

^ & ^>

£? ^ >i

fe ?t i

I, -A >%

JfL /§, ^

it t i

M *. %

Sh * ^

fa *z ^

*. + i

i'J ffe- $

*T ^ ^

£. &., ©

-j "°J ^

J «L ^

I § s

te

£

*

A.

# w ^

£

ib

^*

+

A.

$

3—

$fc

jz.

Mi

*

m

«■&

t

^

— .

*_

%L

A.

it

*

**

A.

.*

A

•

«

H- 17 ^.

■*■

*

St

3L

%

2L

t

5.

£«

1 £,

*

5C

^

iC

tt

ft.

iK

-t

A.

tM

1

*

A.

*,

-1-

>*»

*

**■

9-

H

%

4

^fe

%

JSq

^

ft

*.

fa

*

f

<*

*L

y^

W

..**■

K

£

^

±

•f-

^l£

*_

^

x\

£)

'"V

4

J.

«*

#-

"5" >6t

The Story of Chang K'ien

119

i3 &, ^

i* * ?

4% x jfe.

(S3 m, £ 31

ft*

* * ^

** f «

<&7 )fl 3&

t * {"

-& 38 *& ?£

M

*JL &

it ^ *

^ f &

&.****. >j>

*f 4 a.

•I ^^

&. 3-

yfe. je.

**> -ft

it 4

$L -Afe

■£ h

ik *,

►j* y%

fc lie

Hi *p

£ si

«i-» Jg

& **-

is.

>c

•ft*. &

Vk -

* s.

- ^

ifc. it

It I'J

*] K

**■ JL

&- £)

% «!]

*l -£•

ate. it

% ^

* 8 ft. &* 7

* f &

y| ^ A

Jk $L ft

& Mn &0

it f it

^r £) ^

(!)
^-

)%
Jk

it
■f

jut.

C
it

J?
A*

A.

«3

120

Friedrich Hirth

«k-

i-

•>•

Jl

\xk

S.

■^

•ft 1 *

' A

^7

^

jl

*"

it

4

iH

*&

£

fc

-4-

41

t^

*%

*■]

\S\

&h

A

*

«

&

t

■ ^ii

#.

*%■

•&

$9

A

■z;

tj

"*

*.

^

■*fb

Jq

+

iO

/k

$■

' >

■fr

S^

JB<.

-=-

%

t-

vX

lU

**.

A

A.

lU

f

4

f

^

5?

ft,

«1

^

1

lA

A.

1*

f

«f

VA

4k.

4

f

^

t

4

a

*b

t

£

&*}

t

•£_

^

*L

*

fe

#*

?

4^^

*&

>j-

£

ft'i

*

ft

*L

«-•/.

iL.

*.

A

?K

S)

Pa

^

^

£

f

IX

*

&

fi

*3

111^^7

!&_,

"t

ft

£

*

*

$

l\

* w 4-

•set

*

*

*-

H

ll}

*

*

5?

te-

B£

%«>

£

fi*

-&

35

*

*

«.

jL

*«

' V^i.

f

*k

4

^

A

a

SI

J^

-It

4>t«

Aj

*

a**\Hl>

*-

A

# 53 *-

J ^-

■*.

^

it

*

&

*3

«.

Q

^_

^

■*

©

I
Ph

t

i>L

*

*'A

&

&

*■

A

^#

4a

*4~

A.

«

§

%

<§3

fa

£

-H

^

1f«

4&-

J3

A

7.

A.

■*r

A

t

A

<-#r

A

>&,

*.

&

*L

1.

A

jfc

^

.1*

fe

/*

SL

£

A

f

**

«.

^

*

sr

Ok

fc

A

^

1

1

Jl

A 512

• 4£.

4^

■4«

i^

=L

1

<*.

£

*

j P

s.

^LHS

>xK.

^

£7

/i

-*■

A

v*

^

tt

K

A

^

A_«

y$.

-£r

4.

s.

*

jL

**.

>

i

3,

*.

A

5t

-<_

#i

£

«

•5T

T^

^~

«•

9"

°T

/|

*..

f

A

*

T

^i

flj

>

^

wX

■£•

+

f.

M

tf

^

<i

^

a

K

ifc-

>v

BSf

£

A

«=)

4

^

f

<i

»^X

4

iH

1

s*

3L

4-

^a i.

^L

*

§

1

A.

*

|Si

*p

1

A 4 *

;.jx

a

*'J

-^

B.

A

^

db

«?

•i>

i.

*

£,

;*fl

^

E

^

*

A

It

*.

^

#L

The Story of Chang K'ien

121

*jl

at

■3-

ft)

&

j£i

?

S*..

1^

m

t . ■ ^

■k

.*<.

tfc.

tU

it

*

%

A

£

i%,

73 ss

*L

iSi

W

3.

J&

te

h

&

t

n-

^

ZL

•&_i

&

&

**

*

<fet

.t]

*.

i#3

*

Hi.

•$]

K

»

*i

<■*

U

4

^

3r

IS)

4L

***

1

4

tu

?K

f

i§)

M

*

%

*^

^_

■8&

*x.

X

4

>

A

^4

«.

-&

*L

/§

iD

«j

it

JJL

•A

€}

«i

4

a

■&

yfr

4x

*&

f

*

z>

3*

^ l

!l-

If

£_

g>u

4]

*l

f

ft

ik

^L

>3
fcO

«

>fi

*b

A.

40L

4

i)

w*X

«i

^j

^

<*.

^ &

f*

^

A,

**.

T>

^.

s

^_

cs?

*

*

(51

£

5-

h

«.

f

/|

it

&.

4.

5

ft

4?

i5L

73

5JL

&-

4S-

ak

vvt

-fr

fc)

£

it

«1

S

f

*

^

A

*

**•

g. 6 *&]

U-*

*

#

ck

Vo

*.

A

5C

**

A

^

•£«

L J%

*,

T

%

4-

4i

i^

Jb

43

4

*R

¥

+#

VA

K

*

A

*»

°ji

*3L

*

¥

-1

i4.

$L

4-

*

*i

t

*

yf

K.

^

X

.«b

ifet

A

>i

«

*&

*P

■t

*_

^_

i^

*l

R

*

*

Jb

-^-

A

>

j|(,

75

A.

1-

A

*

-L

&

4

4

<*b

/L

*1

^

£

Tf

*.

11

A

>j

*

*

?/3

*

►^

^

^

f

4i

«

t

&

/JL

■*

«7

4^

.^i- 5.

r t^-ss

*

fL

A.

%

#

.*

*

^

4

*-

**7

=£_

*

*

: /4

*

4lj

A.

«.

^

^T

i^

^L«

>&

•J

>^7

*T

**

%

it

*

&

f

*■

^

£•

it

*3

*4

ik

w

m

4

t£-

iL

fT

*&

4

5

tt.

A

«

f

tfX

^

3C

it

v*T

A

*

^

4

*

1

4"

Jd

*J

£_

<*7

A.

2

«L

S)

^

4

*

*t

■feJL

ft

*

A. 60

■%

A

%J}5&

"=r

it

IK

«%

**?

A.

&

tfe.

A4

^

•■A

f

^r

9 JAOS 37

122

Friedrich Hirth

So
A.
3-

A-

CO

i/X

a*

5'J

Ife-
M
A.

3-

fc
&

-if

-fct st:

& sL

4X A.

8 c.

*'J

*

*7

f JJft.

-t /I

-A

.ft]
9

3- 4k

iiL tit 4

Hit

3- ^ Sp

jr. ^ h^-

** # a*

it'j ill ^

it >|- S8 T?

^ £l a.

ft. JL $

* & *-

** &

#r <*- ^

<*. * c ^

? t 4

& ** &.

ia a a

ft- f-

■7

-£ *K

•t

* ,J '

k'X

4! *b
sl 4

* 4,

ft. as-

%k i.

■■«■

tf J.

-fit
it

^ ^_

A. 67 R.
■3- ^

4t Ik.
il ^

X. -^

ns J*

f n

SIT il

+

H

i3L

Al -k^
•t 5l

The Story of Chang K'ien

123

A.

«£>

&

<*.

*

$v

ik

*L

A

^

Jh

*t

%.

«L

a

*£

A

%\

4

1^

A

■R

*-

h

f

*

*£

n

4

feb

M

^~

Jb

<*

&

-ZL

t

<<t

n

if

i^

8 -J

*j

*

A,

*

A.

34

Ol

sV

Ui

%■

&

^5

-ife

*fc

A.

£

tf

X

Til

%

% nz Jv

JiL

**
^

Jb

■5-

«t

i

*.

fcf

i

m

ft.

*

^~

**

A*

Jb

**

<.

fc™*-

♦

H

5^

A

4

1

Jfc.

wA

*

4t

*

di

f

CO

v'A

S

&

*

*,

#

4

..^

S'J

4

^

3}

A.

lit

A

f

*

V* a*.

41

&

H%

%J3

.%

i+

■A

5^

>*|

**.

it

<Jl

%

l

%

«L

*

^

$K

-1*

<t

1st

A

I

fa

>&

<*

ej

tffe*

m

4t

Sftj

ft.

ro

^

'W

©#

&

X

*

A.

*k

A.

JL

+

4

IS)

>p^

Jif

&

*,

&

ill

4*

ft

A.

yfe

fc

tk.

•A

>f

**j

X

*

^

A^

Jb

A

^^>

*>

i4

in.

X*

A

*L

^

&

it

Jl

4

-i-

%}

4

«f

**

ft

«3

ex

to

+

&>

SL

it

jna.

?*.

*a

*L

v*7

>!

iS

A

5

fe-O

i§)

*t

73

)%

tj^

» it

M»

*L

«.

^

*

£}

it

st

Jb

t#

iS)

*L

^

^r

A

^o

£

-*•

^

ifc

4fe

A

(3

(J.

*k-

*

s-

lb

^•"/s

<*

ii

ill

-^

k

fk.

*

«L

*fc

^

'in

*

^

-A

^L

*

%

t

^

4

3-

^

#b

m

iH

51

t

/|

F^

*

t7

t

^

«t

■*

75

^a

*

fu

A.

.1;

t*7

i

4£

4)

*

^

%

^

*

*&

%

.*>

4x.

5*.

*

y|

*

R,

«.

4<~

&

^

^fi

«

*

A.

«L

*

^£-

*

K

*♦

'%

m

■A 71

'^ 7,f i^

^h

*

*f

A,

.1,

*

ii

4^

it

•t

•a

7

<•&-

.h

•^

©

^

Jb

&

Of.

n

(SI

*b

4S

*JL

€)

•*-

%

i%.

Ik

^

.M

. ^

*

124

Friedrich Hirth

& A 3-

*fe "5- ft

*k 4 #.
&■*:&.

* **-

£ &t a.

4 & •&

Sj ^ it

*t At i: -

4b 44 -X

s & /^

& <*. ■&

*T «. it

*_ s& ^

#L Jt if.

t $ *

St fe

£ >* iS.

<*- * «ft

^ A.

A. ^

dL * H%

4

f

ft H-

e

td

11

9fo
1st

A

3-

si
A.

a

3L $

^b» #}

it ^

il f

*. *

1- <

> *

A It

^ %

1% A

^ «b

t A 83

* f

4fo it

fc»4St

tf a.

it «a

is. <1

a* •**

4 "ft

M ill.

**- A.

* i.

*. «L

A. *&

A. *fe

A. At '

i% A

fir *

It t#

ft <£

*£

f

i« +. I*

*
+

^L

A %

ii| tt;

rfc if

It **,

4. f

^j f^. ^

Ml*

k

it

it

A.
A

f

4%

The Story of Chang K'ien

125

Tit

%

*■

4

i*.

*

*n

%

3-

^n

3-

v%

m

*

ib

h

5*.

>

^86 tJL

#a

<*.

i&L

*fc

A

v%

M

f

A.

*

Jt

•^

*.

fr

*■

Jb

<%

*dL

*fc

^

x>

^

•6

liL

£

*

•&

t^M.

&fp

*

-&

*fo

i%

fr

4-

JL

JL

&

«i

tf*

fi?

*x

9to

M

*.

t

i?o

vQ

yL

•Asl

tic

Jg

*

Sk

a.

*

3.

*

*.

«•

£|

.sfe

4ac

m

^

i/<

£

JM 1 **

>'l

{%

fe

fit

*

<fc

t

K

i.

*&

*

■§•

i» f

'4*

«l

■fe

^

a

*

£p

1

£

-fp

t«L

As

f'^

■*

<^

^A

J*P

Ik.

4>

*.

A

&L

-g"

*fc.

•f

^

*

3L

f

4

A.

i

<*.

4£

^

^,

*fe,

*'J

&

£

*)

?1

h

*,

H^

f

H

>^

*t

ft

A.

4*.

9*

44

5.

/I

^

«&

i^

4

tt>

5.

*.

•M° ill

4

iii

v5b

X

*K

a*

5.

H

J*

%

*4

4|

iH

n

1^

a.

si.

v57

-A:

vy

f

ft

A.

*

*3l

*

J^

*L

•i.

4-

■f

a

.*>

«F

<^_

¥"

fa

^

+

f

e

A.

ill

■fc

*

^b

5*

*

h&

&

*

4

*

«L

Ifc

f

*

<^-

2L

A.

4>

&

if

*-

^

4

tfe

«fc

A.

&

&»

*S<« ^r

**

*

B^»

a.

6

4fe

>^

&

*a

*

*y

■*-

s

£}

43

ik

iff?

2

^

y|

4L

*,

J*

-fc

*

•^

r iil

•J-

o

ll

*

Jl

£

4n

•fc

-K

HL

ill

fe

Jft

>

-&

A

t/3L

)&

«L

t

^1-

t

^

5k

&

A.

£.

^

-v.

vX

•^

4t

*L

^

-*

&

4r

*di

a

f

^

y%

A

s£

4

*

vx

-kx-

4

iJ3

*^

5l

■fe

*u

Jb

i

3

*P

*

fa

^

^L

s4

$~

a

*-

4*4

fc

**.

K

^

-^

4«L

^.

4k

it-

H^

*

3.

<_

n>

*

^

^

lit

6ff»

ii.

—

75

a

*«

^

^.87

%

fit

J.

126

Friedrich Hirth

%

A.

^X

T«

&»

n

^o

*fc

>

#^

^

§10i

I A

$

<*

4o

v'A

*

>

A.

^

«-

A

•3-

Pi]

41

'•fe

il

i&

«l

i'i

^

.a

fe

-kfe

4

m

4*.

fc

*

«i

it

*

vA

II

?$

Vl

■til

4fe

=c

A

2L

-t^<-

&

f

1

v'A

**

.x.

H

*L

*

>l

j£-

S

/^

*

*

^7

1*

^

A,

$

Jk

&

f

a%

$

"1

fi

to

•/§]

si

—

£

^

5Sl

^

^

>H

(il

jjc

i

**

ii

IT

4

->&

t

5*r

«.*

Hi

it

4

TO?

w

it

#*

i*)

8*

^

4k

*R

i>&

&

^

iSl

*?*

^

*k

>f

th

^

J

;st

y&

>

il]

«

it

>

-It

lM

A.

a

A_

A.

w

4

A

#.

^

t-X

fc?

•5-

A

£

^

A

I

4

iS)

M,

IL

A.

A

*

*C

**L

it

*U

A

*-

tt-

%

*

|5J

>L

+

ofr

*

«.

jut

44

<_

ik

A.

^S-

iS)

Jk,

*

Ilk.

&

£l

1^

^x

4j« 5

■"tlL

*a

**.

*

75

%

13*™

1 1

4-

t,

■*■

m7<»3

*a

fc

*L

*

*

Jb

itt»

fr

■in

j.

3*

5

*.

^wo^

XL

#.

*fe

4

5*

^

<^

-fc^i'J

*

«L

£.

c'X

**,*

•4

S

*l

^5

A.

&

>•!§)

ft

vH

^7

it

A

4

^.

J5J

*

t

4

**x

4st

Jl

*k

iL

^

^

-;&

^

3'J

4

*

it

*

iH

n.

^

5-1

8^

&L

«

4)

£

1.

#_

SL

9

i.

at

1

#

$

*JL

f

V'X

it

&

A.

75

jfe

f

i

5*

^

1

st

*.

iL

te.

-%

5-

4R

*£

#L

7.

Jg

£

#.

^^

VL

*

4-

$

H3l

<*.

tit

■fcx.

•k

A^

th

^k

-&

?4]

£

&

*

Jfc)

fi?''

r m

-f

ill

lU

w

S

f

&"*

■ft*.

*A

m

^

^

>

f

it

*.

i.

-$

iS)

«7

2L

ito

A.

i

^

te

^

£

i

S

^

^

tir

*P

/&

The Story of Chang K'ien

127

*&

%

&

JL

*

*

it

&

-t"^

&-

*&.

^

*

A

Jh

ug_

*

^L

€7

fa

^

4-

M-

A.

3-

*h

4

*A

#

Jfe

&

.^

*

*

A

£

4

Jb

*

E

-^c

*l

^

£j

?

f^4b

as

i^'a

4

^

*

$L

*!]

*

h%

t

tt.

£

«

^

^

-4r

■&

4

«.

A.

&L

*J

^

>fc

-t

3-

it

*i

S&.

«_

K

i

C

fe

&

H^

if

ft

ftl

t7

¥

*-

*■

to

4-

6

*

^

te

#&

•*

%

#

Bff»

*ft{

*fb

^J

tt

f

*^

X

<st

M

*^

^

il

►vt

it

■4fe

*

*

4

JL

&

A

4

^

%

A

t&

/*

A

1

4§L

&>

a

.i,

1

75

it

S)

^x

s

$1

4%

4i

^,107^

T>

5*

¥

*

-b

ft.

4

J.

3b

li

«

ffl

i

iE

■f

-S"

£

«;

Sfcj

41

it

*,

4 W3

i*.

•%

**

ft

<*.

4^

5«

A} 06 ' , ^

i<b

>*

-8L

H

af^X)

*

&

£.

4i)

3-

S3 10,f «tf*

<*

*?

5.

^

*

fc

t"

^a

?iL

3«

*■

i

iH

Jfc

4

-ft

if

*

4*

&

*

«*.

tflL

%

A

-fc

*

Sk

1

«

%

*

>4

**.

>•

i

Z.

i£

*fcj

v*

a

h

a

^

♦

4

1^

jjg_

£p

i£"^

s«

«fl

^

*a

¥

&

X

3-

bS,

T.

lie

*

2L

>

Ml

*o

4

£

f

i4

*

"§"

■$,

+

jt

^

*

A.

f

A.

^L

•#

/v

i

•Ci"

y

X

•>

K'A

s

51

£L

5*

4

^

fll

at

^L

^

a

^9

*#

*

4*,

*

sk

>ti

&

>^

«.

^

.&

**

<&.

*

tK

dr

i

i

<*.

m

fc

fij

<_

r^

<*-

i%

t

4

a

-t

M

to

«L

5r

*

*

Ul

^

jte

4

%

i

Is

■ja.

ft*

-£■

ii

f

2^

*

~f

fi

It

41

^

Y3

fr

til

#

A

&

JL

it

■ift

a*.

*V"*a

fu

-A

■f

3-

*

128

Friedrich Hirth

: JBL

t

'A

lb

*

Q

4

-ft

«fc

*&

*#,

•it

%k

*&

*

f

*

3-

H

«f

>^

^A

£•

X

lift

H

At

sp

*X

T*

yfiu

4

^

*-

fc

it

¥%

J f

£?

*

>K

It

*

.fb

f

>^

&

51

$.

*&.

fc

i

«L

&

fti

*

it

*

tP

*

k.

w

it:

*

f-

*TL

/v

*b

i&C

*X

7b

*t

%

il

?

*T

*

it

*.

-c

St

&

j&

%

*

^_

T.

4i

«JL

Tx

7K

t

fc*

*

J*L

^

!L

*

^

ft

Jt.

*

*b

*

^

gffc

v'A

—

?

T

«t

isl

Hi

lit

A? 15 3

*fc

$C

T

A.

*& t *i

£ 4

* *«*

ft 4* 1 ***

*#, &■ tl

&" 8 a, #

g- i. T.

^ -t M

i *& +

58) ^ 3>

& •+ Ik

5ft. .&• E.

it <£- J&

^ f

t «l

*» %l

7* T

* *.

& iL

* %

it A

fit fi?

fy Aft
&- J"

*fc SI

it %l

5«

iL A 113

4

lit H

?

J. >>L

4

-v

*

It

S'J
Jl

5.

ru

m

At
H

It

it

9^

■4.

-7. 0<

i§

f. It

The Story of Chang K'ien

129

•ft Jk K

I*] ** •*

& *L ix

-2L

& : 4 4

> * &

f X. ^

# *& JL

# ft J.

£ *P *

# & £

I- At t*)

a* ^ ^

i *

•to ^

*b t-f 1%

x* ftfl ¥

it & IK

At ** %

•fc i %

%>\ M i%

* 14- i-t

$ 4 *.

xTb A. ^

& *« ftt

/£ f &

& ft *H

i% *b m

-ft

all *b

4. it

-t 4

A» .£,

# i^

* X,

jsa. «H7

$, *1

^b A-

it &

&p ■#•

A. **

^ Ifk

It

to-
rn

ft m

-t

A

&

L

it «
^ if)

II >k
-I- ^

5 ^

&. T

IK 122 !
if *t

^ 531

121

a JL

A ^r.

•III >i]

^L T

fix. ^^

•ft i4

4 ^

^ II

> •&.

= 0> *i

£. A

130

Friedrich Hirth

ik

*T

*

*

M

fc

f«J

4

4*.

&

-or

th

*

#L

4ft

±.

•*-

fp

A.

*

t"

Jfb

jg.

5-

A,

4>

t

*£

^i

1

#

«&-

^L

'J*

il

♦

C57

£

t

*P

ll

4

>H

*it

ll

-fit

Jl

%

a

i

&

.L

e^

¥

fc

«

2k.

.-4

-±r

3*.

*&

IS)

*

i

«dt

fe

4

*•#

«&

S

*.

^

¥

5«

**.

&

i

*

*?

>*

*

3L

^j

flSt

?

*

*.

*t

4fc

50

$,

^

1

*■

5^L

*

Jfr

11

It

£

A

$p

?

.«£-

r3

i

4

-9t

4

&

*

^

«

*

*

M

^

¥

*

ff

>'

w

i

f

£

$3

M.

*L

*.

*

*

*£

G7

-t

A.

&C

Jb

+

•tf-

#L

^

£J

/v

>L

**

JL

¥

fL

lis

v'A

¥

fc

f

*Hi

4

«

*

«i

^

t

h

7v

&

4-

If

M

*L

i

*■

*i.

ij

M

$c

&

^

t7

#

+

*

it.

7>

^

t^f 1

JL

*

#p

1?

il

%

A.

i|_

<9

T

^

A

^-

^

»7^

A

f

¥

**.

>^

ifi

^L

3-

t

i

i

#<

¥

&t

+

*Ci

*<;

«

J$

*

**

&

>&£.

T

JL

*^.

*-,,

r^

*■*

ft

«L

1$

;l

*L

t.

t

73

f

73

j%

#

*

S

^

A.

<ft

3.

11

*fc

tts

f

$j

in

A
•*

«

J0L

ft

i^L

v?b

G

£

A

^ffe

^>

HI

-t

#

5^b

51

^"**

fli 1 **

it

4.

£j

4.

^

Ik

If

^.

^

§<f>

*

s_

H*

«*.

ft

-t

<k

i^ 125 ^L

^

<.

in

*.

■i

^j

Iffj

^P

■PL

*

f

m

4*

*"•*%

+

/5

It* 6 ^

ji)

foj»

A.

^

&

frjj

¥

*

m

£*f>

*P

f

iL

=C_

«f

*L.

%

*#«» A

*p

*•

$,

f

*k

**.

2L

<*b

¥

*

f

j&

«.

fr

*&•

*t

^

ft

¥

^_

if

s*.

JL

*.

T,

A

^7

i^

1

JL.

*

«L

&

-t

^P

Ui

3

B'J

v<

5*

ft

The Story of Chang E'ien

131

£7

a

e

*b

4£

4i fit
*

f ¥

li *'

1 Jll

iL

41 *lt

®5st-

lit ^ ^

<!t 4*" 1 *

& fe T

(SI •*■ |&-

iljL &- A

^ H, f

75 © 5

*S & «-'/

4 *, A.

f t ft

%- &L *

& fl t

«ft & g

& ^ <<x

&7 & *

*L i i&

.£. ^Q ft

J 133 * *

W. /^( *% t

4 |£ gift

* ft, *

f A. *

3V »* ^

>* &? ii?

si &- «9

St ^

A. ;r»

A
*']

ft '&

* *

t J*-

/Li -±r

^p it

r *

n 4

\% &

* *t

4^ Jf^

*7 to.
it

-ire

4n

f! >-

& A.

A. 130 .!,

* c

132

Friedrich Mirth

*

*T

f

at

'^L

&.

ZL

j|

£

v&

Jl

^

4

£

*-

«fe

fc

-§5-

iU

<£_

• A-

*.

fc§_

«.

*T

^

3

«l

'fir

4l,

^

s

£-

5*r

7.

;&

liC

&

B

$%

iL

*

*fe-

fcii

ft

n

LIJ

&

r<Zs

4

3T

&

tk.

e

7^

•»]

d.

>•!

CHRONOLOGICAL SYNOPSIS

B. C.

176 Mau-tun, Great Khan (Shan-yii) of the Hiung-nu, defeats
the Yiie-chi for the second time (Sh'i-ki, chap. 110, p. 13;
cf. Shiratori, p. 115, and Franke, p. 13).

165 (according to Klaproth; but doubtful, according to Shira-
tori, p. 115). Lau-shang, Mau-tun 's successor, annihilates
the Yiie-chi, kills their king, and makes a drinking-cup out
of his skull. The Yiie-chi flee to the west, and first

164 ( ?) settle down near Lake Issyk-kul, driving out the Sak-
wang (Saka princes?), called also Sak-chung (Saka tribes?
the character for Sak being modern Sai; see Giles, no.
9541 10 ). The Sak-wang, according to Ts'ien-han-shu (chap.
96 A, p. 10 B), migrated south and became rulers in Ki-pin
(Kashmir), and the Sak-chung were scattered about and
settled in several other states. The scholiast Yen Shi'-ku
(7th cent. A. d.) identified these Sak-chung with the Shak-
chung (Shak = modern sh'i, the character used in the tran-
scription for Sakya-muni Buddha, Giles, no. 9983) of the
Buddhists. My present personal view, which however may
ultimately prove quite untenable, is that the Sak princes and
the Sak tribes driven away by the Yiie-chi' near Lake Issyk-
kul may have been an eastern branch of that great Saka
family of whom Herodotus (7. 64) says: ol yap Uipmu iran-as
toiis ~2,Kv0as KaXiovai 2a/<as ; in other words, that they were east-
ern Scyths, the term 'Scyth' being explainable as having
originated from an old plural sak-ut, ' the Sakas. ' However,
this may be all wrong. There was at least one Chinese scholar
in the sixth century who held quite different views, though my
Chinese friend, Mr. T. Y. Leo, does not regard him highly

10 The Cantonese and, therefore, probable ancient sound of this character
is sak, and not sbk, as Franke, p. 47, transcribes it, apparently on the
strength of Parker's adoption, in Giles's Dictionary, of Wade's S (= 6) in
lieu of a, in many of his renderings of Cantonese sounds. The character
for our sat is correetly described as sak on p. 795 of Eitel-Genahr 's Diction-
ary of the Cantonese Dialect, as well as in Williams's and all other
Cantonese dictionaries.

134 Friedrich Hirth

as an authority; still his theory, of which I distinctly dis-
claim any indorsement, deserves to be mentioned. Sim Tsi,
whose biography has been preserved in Pe'i-shi (chap. 83,
p. 10), offended the religious feelings of Wu-ti of the Liang
dynasty (502-549 A. d.) by his criticisms of the Emperor's
lavish devotion to Buddhist ceremonial, and fled to the Wei'
dominions in order to save his head. In his 'Memorial on
Buddhism' (Lun-fo-kiau-piau) he discusses the term 'Sak-
chung' of the Ts'ien-han-shu. These Sak tribes, he says,
were originally the barbarians of the Yiin clan (Giles, no.
13,844), who at the time lived in Tun-huang, were driven
out by the Yue-chi, and on their flight came to the south of
the Tsung-ling (see Sii Sung's commentary on the Saka
passage in the Ts'ien-han-shu) .

In tracing this Yiin clan back to its origin, as represented
in Chinese literature, we have to refer them to those non-
Chinese races who, according to legendary tradition, once
lived within the dominions of the model emperors Yau and
Shun (about the 23d century b. c.) and were banished to
the distant border as being unfit to live with the more
civilized Chinese. According to the Tso-chuan (9th year
of Duke Ch'au ■= 533 b. c), the Yiin clan is connected with
T'au-wu, one of the 'Pour Wicked Ones' banished by Shun
(cf. Hirth, The Ancient History of China, p. 85 f.). For
'the ancient kings located T'aou-wuh in (one of) the four
distant regions to encounter the sprites and other evil things,
and so it was that the villains of the surname Yun dwelt
in Kwa-chow' (Legge, The Ch'un Ts'ew, with the Tso-chuen,
p. 625 ; cf. also T'ung-tien, chap. 189, p. 3, and Sii Sung's
Si-yu-shui-tau-ki, chap. 3, p. 8 B seq.). If this tradition
were more than a mere prehistorical legend, we might be
led to assume that Sii Sung's commentary considered the
Sak tribes expelled by the Yiie-chi near Lake Issyk-kul as
belonging to the stock of Tangut or Tibetan nations, rather
than to the Scythians of Herodotus.
160 (approximately; see Shiratori, p. 117, and Franke, p. 15).
The Wu-sun, formerly under Hiung-nu rule near Kua-chou,
move to the west, drive out the Yue-chi, and occupy their
territory near Lake Issyk-kul, shaking off allegiance to the
Hiung-nu.

The Story of Chang K'ien 135

145 (?) Ss'i-ma Ts'ien born (Chavannes, 1. xxiv).

140 Wu-ti becomes Emperor of China.

138 Chang K'ien leaves China on a mission to the Yiie-ch'i and

is made a prisoner by the Hhmg-nu.
128 Chang K'ien escapes, reaches the court of the Yue-chi via

Ta-yiian and K'ang-kii, and spends a year in Ta-hia

(Bactria).
127 Chang K'ien returns and, traveling along the northern slope

of the Nan-shan, is again detained by the Hiung-nu near

Lake Lopnor.
126 Chang K'ien again escapes and arrives in China with a

report of his discoveries, acquainting the Chinese of the

existence of powerful countries in western Asia, including

India, and the alleged source of the Yellow Eiver near

Khotan.
123 Chang K'ien created Marquis of Po-wang.
122 Chang K'ien degraded.
121 The young general Ho K'ii-ping defeats the Hiung-nu (see

Chavannes, 1. lxvii).
115 Chang K'ien 's mission to Wu-sun, whence he details sub-
ambassadors to various countries including India (?).

About a year after his return
114 Chang K'ien dies.
113 Chang K'ien 's sub-ambassadors return to China with natives

of Western Asia.
112 War against Yiie (South China). Attempts made to reach

India by a direct route.
111-110 Ss'i-ma Ts'ien 's sojourn in the southwest, where he may

have become familiar with the K'un-ming and other tribes.
110 Death of Ss'i-ma T'an, Ss'i-ma Ts'ien 's father.
108 Chau Po-nu defeats the hitherto refractory kingdoms of

L6u-lan and Ku-shi.
106 A line of military stations established west of the Great

Wall at Yii-mon. The road to Ta-yiian opened to traffic.

The Son of Heaven seeks to procure from Ta-yiian the

superior horses kept at the city of Ir-shi (Nish, Uratube).

The sale of them is refused, and the Chinese ambassador is

killed at Yii-ch'ong, east of Ta-yiian.

136 Friedrich Hirth

104 Li Kuang-li appointed leader of a campaign against Ta-
yiian to enforce the sale of the Ir-shi' horses.

103 Li Kuang-li, returning without having reached Ta-yiian,
is forbidden to enter China and ordered to form a new
army at the Great Wall.

102 Li Kuang-li 's second campaign against Ta-yiian.

101 Ta-yiian, defeated, becomes a tributary state of China.

100 Mei'-ts'ai superseded as king of Ta-yiian by Mu-kua's
brother, Ch'an-fong. Since after this time the SM-ki speaks
of 'more than ten embassies' having been sent to the west
(§ 134), it seems as though a number of years at least
elapsed before Ssi'-ma Ts'ien ceased to work on it.

98 Ssi'-ma Ts'ien disgraced (see Chavannes, 1. xxxvi-xl).

87 Death of Wu-ti, whose posthumous title (Wu-ti) is not used
by Ssi'-ma Ts'ien. The latter must, therefore, have died (or
abandoned work?) before that year (Chavannes, 1. xliv).

INDEX

(The numbers refer to the sections of both the Translation and the
Chinese Text.)

AGRICULTURE, in Ta-yiian, 19; in An-si, 31; in T'iau-chi', 40, 41; in
military colony at Lun-t'6u, 135.

AN-SI (Canton Dial. On-sak = Arsak, Parthia, first suggested by Kings-
mill, The Intercourse of China, p. 8, n. 11), in the east of Yiie-chi, 29;
described, 30-38; its cities like those of Ta-yiian, 32; a large country near
the Oxus, 34; its people shrewd traders, 35; coins, 36; its relation to
T'iau-chi, 43; Chinese legendary traditions maintained by old people in,
45; great, rich, and civilized like China, 54; assistant envoy sent to, by
Chang K'ien from Wu-sun, 72; regular missions to, 79; Chinese
embassy welcomed by cavalry on eastern boundary, 92; royal capital
several thousand U distant from boundary, 92 ; Parthians visit China with
gifts, 92.

AN-TS'AI (=:Aorsi, called A-lan in later Chinese records, the Alans of
history, see Hirth, 'Mr. Kingsmill and the Hiung-nu,' JAOS 30.37 ff.),
a nomad nation on the banks of a great marsh (the Palus Maeotis), 28;
in the north of Parthia, 38; regular missions to, 79.

ARCHERS, mounted, in Ta-yiian, 21; number of, with the Wu-sun, 25, 64;
in K'ang-kii, 27; in An-ts'ai, 28; with the Yiie-chi, 29; to attack
Ta-yiian, 110, 116; win battle, 121; see also Kan Fu.

ARMY, reported as weak in Ta-hia, 49, 54; in An-si, 54; in Ta-yiian, 54,
110; as strong with Yiie-chi and K'ang-kii, 54; supposed difficulties a
Chinese army marching to the west would meet, 107 ; Li Kuang-li 's first,
against Ta-yiian, 110; routed, returns with great losses, 111; failure
due to starvation rather than to poor fighting, 112; forbidden to return
home, 113; second, against Ta-yiian organized, 116-117; frontier troops
stationed in Tsiu-ts 'iian, 118; loses half its men en route to Ta-yiian,
116, 121; fails to enter the inner city of Ta-yiian, 124; on way back to
China divided into sections, 125; suffers enormous losses during its
second campaign, 129; see also Archers; Convict Regiments; Engi-
neers; Generals; Graft; Horses; Military Governors; Provisions;
Rewards ; Wagons.

BAMBOO stick brought from Ssi-ch'uan to Bactria via India, 53.

BIRD, feeds child exposed by king of Wu-sun in wilderness, 62; in
T'iau-chi, see Ostrich.

BOATS used for distant journeys in An-si, 35.

'BOOK OP CHANGES' consulted by Wu-ti, 79.

BOWS AND ARROWS, see Archers.

BRONZE, Wu Jon'-kie's reference to, 103 (footnote).

CARAVANS through Central Asia developed by the Emperor's demand for
horses, 79; size and frequency of, 79; frequency causes Chinese articles

10 JAOS 37

138 Friedrich Hirth

to be less cared for in the west, 84; lose half their members en route, 107.

CARTS, used for distant journeys in An-si, 35.

CATTLE BREEDING, see Nomad Nations.

CHALDEA, see T 'iau-chi.

CH'AN-FoNG, Mu-kua's brother, King of Ta-yiian, 132; his son sent as
a hostage to China, 133. (Chavannes, 1. lxxviii, calls him Chan, connect-
ing fong with the following verb wei; but the occurrence of the name in
Ts'iSn-han-shu, chap. 96 A, p. 18 B, in a different connection seems to
show that P'an Ku did not share that view.)

CHANG-AN, capital of China, 23.

CHANG K'MN, where born, 2; his mission to find the Yiie-chi and
captivity among the Hiung-nu, -4, 5 ; escapes, 6 ; arrives in Ta-yiian, 7 ;
reaches Ta-hia (Bactria) by way of K'ang-kii (Soghdiana) and the
Yii6-chi (Indoscythians), 9, 10, 11; fails in his mission, 11; spends a
year in Bactria and returns, skirting the Nan-shan, 12; his second
captivity among the Hiung-nu, 12; his Tartar wife, 5, 12; on his return
to China is given a court title, 13; his personality, 14; nearly all his
attendants lost during his first journey, 16; countries visited by him, 17;
his report on geographical discoveries as submitted to emperor, 18-53;
his plan to discover India, 53; suggests creation of Chinese sphere of
influence in Western Asia, 54; his familiarity with their pasture grounds
in a campaign against the Hiung-nu gains for him the title 'Marquis
of Po-wang,' i. e. 'the Wide Outlook,' in 123 b. c, 58; degraded for
mistake as a leader in 122 b. c, 59 ; to regain his position submits scheme
to invite Wu-sun to remove east to vacant territory near boundary of
China, 61-66; proposes marriage of Chinese princess to king of Wu-sun,
66; appointed commander of imperial bodyguard and sent on diplo-
matic mission to Wu-sun as proposed by himself, 67-74; returns to
China with natives of Wu-sun, 73; appointed chief of Foreign Office,
74; his death (in 114 b. a), 75; his name referred to by later travelers
to the west as a guarantee of good faith, 77; trade with west con-
formed to precedent created by, 79; his (supposed) discovery of the
source of the Yellow River confirms legendary accounts of the Shu-Icing,
136.

(It appears that about a hundred years ago a dilapidated monument
existed among the hills on the south shore of Lake Issyk-kul. When
Sung-yiin (died in 1835, cf. Giles, Biogr. Diet. no. 1843), as Governor of
Hi, heard of its existence, he ordered one of his military officers to have
a rubbing made of the inscription on it. This shows a number of char-
acters which, as they are taken out of their context and placed on record
in Sii Sung 's Si-yu-shui-tau-lci, chap. 5, p. 8 B, give no sense whatever.
The natives were said to call the monument 'Chang K'ien's Tablet.'
Sii Sung, in spite of repeated inquiries, did not find a traee of it.)

CHANG- Yfi, district on western boundary, 118.

CHAU PO-NU, general, sent against the Hiung-nu, 86; captures King of
L6u-lan and defeats Ku-shi, 87; created Marquis of Tso-y6, 87, 114;
losses against the Hiung-nu, 114.

The Story of Chang K'ien 139

CHATJ SHii-CH'oNG, general, appointed to serve under Li Kuang-li, 110,
111; consulted by Li Kuang-li at siege of city of Ta-yuan, 122; dis-
tinguished by vigorous fighting, 129; ennobled as kuang-lu-ta-fu, 130.

CHAU TI, a cavalry officer who beheaded the king of Yii-ch'ong, 126;
created Marquis of Sin-ch'i", 130.

CHIEFS, petty, see Government, Form of.

CHINA, not unknown by reputation to countries of Western Asia (Ta-yuan),
7; Bactria and Parthia compared with, in point of greatness, wealth,
and civilization, 54; sphere of influence of, in Western Asia suggested
by Chang K'ien, 54; did not extend west of Ta-yuan, 97; produce of,
coveted by Western Asiatics, 54; slackened demand for produce of, 84,
85; deserters from, settle in countries between Ta-yuan and An-si, 103.

CH '6 LING, a turfman ( ?) , sent to buy horses in Ta-yuan, 106.

CITY DWELLERS, in Ta-yuan, 19, 20; in An-si, 31, 54; in Ta-hia, 47, 53;
in Shon-tu, 53; in China, 54; see also Nomad Nations.

COINS, Parthian, 36; none between Ta-yuan and An-si (doubtful, see
Iron), 103.

COMMISSARIAT, see Provisions; Military Governors.

CONSORT, right and left, the latter being superior in rank [cf. the left
Lukli prince, 12], 90.

CONVICT REGIMENTS formed in dangerous campaigns, 82; in second
campaign against Ta-yuan, 116, 119.

CURIOSITIES collected in the Far West by ambassadors, 134.

DIPLOMATIC SERVICE, demoralized, 85; for missions to the West see
Chang K'ien; Envoys; Po-wang.

DISTANCES from the Hiung-nu to Ta-yuan several tens of days, 7;
Chang-an to Salt Lake 5000 li, 23; Wu-sun 2000 li northeast of
Ta-yuan, 25; K'ang-kii 2000 li northwest of Ta-yuan, 27; An-ts'ai 2000
li northwest of K'ang-kii, 28; Yiie-chi 2000 or 3000 li west of Ta-yuan,
29; An-si several thousand li west of Yiie-chi', 30; Li-kan and T'iau-chi'
several thousand li west of An-si, 39; Ta-hia more than 2000 li south-
west of Ta-yuan, 46; Shon-tu several thousand li southeast of Ta-hia,
53; Ta-hia 12,000 li southwest of China, 53. (Note that the li in
countries west of Ta-yuan should be held to correspond to a stadium.)

ELEPHANTS, used in war, 53; used in a country southwest of China, 57.

ENGINEERS, hydraulic, attached to the army against Ta-yiian to cut off
water supply of city, 117; Chinese, able to bore wells, 122.

ENVOYS, assistant, to accompany Chang K'ien to Wu-sun, 67; sent by
Chang K'ien to the several countries of the west, 72, some of whom
return with natives of the west, 77; regular missions to An-si, An-ts'ai,
Li-kan, T'iau-chi, and Shbn-tu, 79; sent by way of Yunnan, intercepted,
robbed and killed by K'un-ming tribes, 81-83; cheated and ill-treated
in foreign countries, incite government to take action, 85; coming and
going of, more and more frequent, 96; failed to make impression
on the proud nations of the west, 97; Chinese, at a disadvantage
as compared with Hiung-nu, 98; inexperienced, make false reports, 104;
intercepted and killed at Yu-eh'ong, 109; deserving army officers

140 Friedrich Mirth

appointed as, to feudal states, 130; sent to Ta-yuan acknowledging elec-
tion of new king, 133; to collect curiosities, 134; see also Chang K'ien.

EXPEDITIONS, exploring, to Western Asia, see Chang K'ien; in the
direction of India, 55; to Wu-sun, 67, see also Wu-stjn; Caravans;
Envoys.

FERGHANA, see Ta-yuan.

FoNG-SHI-KuN, title given to Kan Fu, 13.

GENERALS serving in campaign against Ta-yiian, relative merits of, 129;
rewards bestowed on, 130.

GOLD sent to Wu-sun as a gift, 67; to Ta-yiian for purchase of horses,
106; see also Metals.

GOVEENMENT, form of:—

Kings: Hiung-nu, see Shan-yu; Ta-yiian, 8, 106 et passim; Yu6-ehi, 10,

29; Wu-sun, see K'un-mo; An-si, 36.
Petty chiefs (city government) : T'iau-chi', 43; Ta-hia, 48.
Satraps: see Httn-sho.
Barbarians: 55-58.

GRAFT, in army administration, 129; rewards bestowed in spite of, 130.

GRAPES, see Wine.

GREAT WALL, in Lung-si, 24; at Ling-kii, built to protect trade to the
west, 79.

GUIDES, 8, 73.

HAI TRIBES, prevent expedition to India, 56.

HAI-SI, Marquis of, see Li Kuang-li.

HALBERDS in Ta-yiian, 21.

HAN-CHUNG, Chang K'ien born in, 2.

HAN-HM:, 'sweating blood,' said of a superior breed of horses (possibly
a transcription of some foreign sound), 19, 79.

HAN-MI, small country east of Ta-yuan, 22; assistant envoys sent to, 72;
sends tribute, 92.

HIU-CHU, district, 118.

HIUNG-NU (Huns) living under Chinese rule as prisoners (?) furnish
information about the YiiS-ch'i (Indoseythians), 3; territory of, between
China and Yii6-chi', 4; Great Khan of, tries to mislead Chang K'ien as
to whereabouts of the Yiifi-ch'i, 5; their 'Luk-li' prince occupies throne,
12; western division of, between Salt Lake and the Great Wall, 24;
politically influence K'ang-kii, 27; impediment to northern road to India,
53; Chang K'ien familiar with their pasture grounds in campaign
against, 58; campaign against, under Li Kuang in 122 b. c, 59; under
Ho K'ii-ping, 60; a prince of the western, tenders his allegiance to
China in 121 b. c, 61; his population forced to retreat to the north in
119 B. c, 61, 66; kill chief of Wu-sun and expose heir to throne in
wilderness, 62; the prince, on attaining maturity, frees himself from
allegiance to, and withdraws with his Wu-sun people to the distant west,
64; intercept westbound envoys, 85; driven away by Chau Po-nu, 86;
give one of their princesses in marriage to King of Wu-sun, 90; harass
the Yu6-chi as far as An-si, 98; their ambassadors to the west treated

The Story of Chang K'ien 141

better en route than those of the Chinese, 98; would threaten a Chinese
army marching to the west, 107; Chau Po-nu beaten by, 114; see also
Chang K'ien; Huns; Shan-yu; Yue-chi.

HIUNG-NtT EIVEE, 86.

HO K'u-PING (leader against the Hiung-nu), his campaign of 122 b. c,
60. (He died at the age of 24 in 117 b. c, and his tomb, ornamented
by the oldest specimen of stone sculpture of a horse we possess on
Chinese soil, was recently discovered by the French archeological mission
of 1914. See Journal Asiatique, 11. ser. 5. 471 ff.)

HO EIVEE, supposed to pass through Lopnor, 23; its imaginary source
near Khotan, 93 ; legendary accounts of Shu-Icing regarding, confirmed
by Chang K'ien 's discovery, 136.

HOESES in Ta-yiian (Ferghana), 19; sent as gift to China from Wu-sun,
73, 78; importation of, from the west led to regular caravan trade, 79;
classification and nomenclature, 79; a thousand, sent as a marriage gift
by Wu-sun, 90 ; rich men in Wu-sun own four or five thousand, 91 ; kept
at the city of Ir-sh'i, 105-108; horse-breakers appointed to accompany
army against Ta-yiian, 119; two breeds of, being taken away by the
victorious Chinese from the capital of Ta-yiian indicates that the more
precious animals had been imported there from some other place, 123;
see also ir-shi.

HO-SI (in modern Kan-su), 61.

HOSTAGES to Chinese court, small countries send princes as, with the
returning victorious army, 128; son of king of Ta-yiian one of the, 133.

HU, see Tartars.

HUAN, small country west of Ta-yiian, 92.

HUANG-HO, see Ho Eiver.

HU CH 'UNG-KUO, leader in an expedition against Yii-ch 'ong, 125.

HUNS, identified with the Hiung-nu. (See Hirth, "Ueber Wolga-Hunnen
und Hiung-nu," So. d. philos.-philol. Kl. d. Kgl. layer. ATcad. d. Wiss.
Munehen, 1900, pp. 245-278.)

HUN-SHo (thus transcribed on the strength of a tsi-lan scholium in Tl'ung-
kien-lcang-mu, 4, p. 124; = Chavannes' hoen-sii), prince, chief of the
western Hiung-nu, tenders his allegiance to China, 61; his territory
deserted, 66, 69.

I-CH6U, modern Yun-nan-fu, 80. (This is Marco Polo's Yachi, which name
Yule, 3d ed., 2. 67, connects with this I-ch&u, of the Han dynasty. He
should have noted, however, that the second syllable chou in all probabil-
ity did not form part of the aboriginal name, and that the old sound of
the first syllable must have been yik.)

I -KING, see 'Book or Changes.'

INDIA, see Shon-tu.

INDOSCYTHIANS, see Yue-chi.

INDUS, river of Shon-tu, 53.

INTEEPEETEES, 54, 73.

IEON, none between Ta-yiian and An-si (?), 103.

IE-SHt The old sound of these two syllables was most probably either

142 Friedrich Hirth

ish or nish. The modern sound of the character for the first syllable,
now pronounced w, is ni in five of its combinations with certain radicals
according to Chalmers, K'ang-hi, p. 28 f., the best authority as regards
the correct description of sounds by the Chinese method, and, since the
omission of radicals in ancient texts is by no means unknown (see the
examples, to which I may add others referred to by me in JAOS 30. 27),
I do not hesitate to look upon nish as a possible equivalent in its ancient
sound for modern ir-shi. I am, therefore, inclined to fall in with
de Lacouperie's proposition (Western Origin of the Early Chinese Civili-
zation, pp. 220 and 224; cf. also K. Shiratori, quoted in Dr. T. Fujita's
paper ' The Castle Kwei-shan in Ta-yuan kuo and the Boyal Court
of Yueh shih' in the Journal of the Japanese Oriental Society, 6. 194 f.)
to connect this name Nish with the home of the celebrated Nisean horses
of classical lore. Though located by Herodotus on 'a large plain in
Medic territory,' later classical authors (see Heinrich Stein in a foot-
note to the Nisean horse passage in his edition of Herodotus, 7. 40) name
different localities much farther east. Pliny (6. 113) speaks of 'regio
Nisiaea Parthyenes, ' and Stein continues in his footnote : ' Noeh ostlieher
haftete der Name an den Hochthalern des Mufghab (Margos), dem in
Vendid. 1. 26 erwahnten "Ni§aya welches zwisehen Mouru (Merv) und
Baksdi (Balkh) liegt"; wahrend nach einer unsicheren Notiz oei
Hesych.V. Nij<roio5 linrovs und Suid. fcnrej j^ffoios jene Pferde in der
zwisehen Sogdiana und Bdktriana gelegenen Landschaft 'S.areurriydva
(irtp 'EWdSi y\<i<ro~g vrjvos) heimisch waren. Bitter, Erdk. 9. 364, findet
sie in der turkomannischen Zueht der Atak, die noeh heute dureh ganz
Persien wegen ihrer Grosse, Ausdauer und Sehnelligkeit selbst vor der
arabischen Race ausgezeichnet ist, und deren edle Zucht wohl zum Teil
in einigen Stutereien der Perser-Monarehen in den medischen Hochebenen
eingefuhrt werden konnte. ' Could not this be the ir-shi of the Shi-ki?
It looks almost as if the multiplicity of regions which, like the cities
claiming the privilege of being the birthplace of Homer, are named as
producers of the best horses the world could boast of at the time, can
be easily explained, if we allow some Persian, Parthian, or Soghdian
proper name like Nish, Greeianized into Nijcram, etc., had in the course
of centuries grown into a technical term, designating at different periods
the chief claimant for horse breeding par excellence. Modern dictionaries
furnish what may be almost looked upon as an analogy to this process
in the term ' Tattersall 's, ' once the famous horse-market in London,
which has since become a designation of large horse-markets in all
countries. It seems that by following up Bitter's proposition we may be
allowed to locate the " Tattersall 's " of the Shi-M pretty near the city
of Ta-yuan, possibly on Ta-yuan territory itself. We may thus arrive
at a compromise between de Lacouperie's view, rejected by Chavannes,
and that of Chavannes, who refers us (p. xlv, note) to the Chinese
identification, made in the 7th century a. d., when tradition may still
have been alive, of the city of Ir-shi' with the Osrushna of Buddhist
travelers, i. e. the present city of TTratube, about a hundred miles east
of Samarkand.

The Story of Chang K'ien 143

'IR-SHi, GENERAL,' title bestowed on Li Kuang-li, q. v.

JADESTONE found on hills near Khotan, 23, 93.

JAN, hill tribe, 55.

JO-SHUI (the 'weak water,' Mwp do-fo^s, a legendary river or lake,
placed by the Chinese near the supposed western terminus of the
world), 45.

JUGGLERS, in T'iau-ch'i, 44; of Li-kan brought as tribute by Parthians
to China, 92; become popular in China, 95.

KAN FIT, Chang K'ien 's Tartar (Hiung-nu?) companion, 4; returned
with Chang K'ien, 12; given a title, 13; his personality, 15; an
excellent bowman, 15.

K'ANG-Kti (Soghdiana), connected by postal roads with Ta-yiian (Fer-
ghana), conveys Chang K'ien to the Yue-chi, 9; visited by Chang K'ien
in person, 17; in the north of Ta-yiian, 22; northwest of, and con-
terminous with, Ta-yiian, 27; nomads, under political influence of
Yiie-ehi and Hiung-nu, 27; in the north of Yii6-chi, 29; small, 27, but
strong in military, 54; assistant envoy sent to, by Chang K'ien from
Wu-sun, 72; an ally of Ta-yiian, 122; Chinese troops advance as far
as, when the fugitive king of Yii-ch 'ong is delivered to them, 126.

KHOTAN, see Yti-TrtN.

K'lANG (Tangutans), 12; southern neighbors of western Hiung-nu; cut
off road to China, 24; remnants of Yiie-chi take refuge with, 29; on
way to India, 53.

KIANG-TU, Princess of, given in marriage to old king of Wu-sun, who
marries her to his grandson, 90.

KI£N-WEi (= Sii-eh6u-fu), starting-point of exploring expedition to find
India, 55.

K 'I-LI2N-SHAN, lull near old seats of Yue-chi, 29, 60. (The tomb, recently
discovered, of the young general Ho K'ii-ping is supposed to resemble
this hill in shape. See illustration in Journal Asiatique, 11. ser. 5. 472.
Regarding the location of this hill see Shiratori, p. 103 f.)

KIN, lit gold, money, 130.

KIN-CH'ONG (Lan-chou-fu), 61.

KITING, district in Ss'i-eh'uan ( = Kiung-ch6u), bamboo from, 53; a
starting-point on the road to India, 55.

KUANG-LU-TA-FTJ, title of nobility, 130.

K'UI-SHUI = the Oxus, 29, 34, 46.

KuN-CHONG — adjutant general ( ?) , 110, 129, 130.

K'UN-LUN, name of a hill oeeurring in old books as that where the Ho,
or Yellow River, rises, given to hills near Khotan by Chinese ambassadors,
93, 94, 136. (See Franke, p. 33 f.)

K 'UN-MING TRIBES (in south-west of Sii-chou-fu), given to robbery, 56;
prevent expedition to India, 56; to Bactria, 81-83.

K 'UN-MO, title of the King of Wu-sun, 62; see also Wu-SUK. (Regard-
ing the many attempts at the etymology of the term, see Shiratori, p.
136.)

KUO CH'ANG, general sent against the K'un-ming tribes in 109 b. c, 82.

144 Friedrich Hirth

KU-SH'i, a city on the banks of the Salt Lake, 23; as a thoroughfare to
the West interferes with Chinese missions, 85; battle of, in 108 B. C.
raises the prestige of the Chinese in Wu-sun and the farther West, 87;
sends tribute to China, 92.

Kti-YEN, district, 118.

LAN-CH6U-FU = Kin-ch'ong, 61.

LANG, title of an officer in the imperial household, a yeoman (?), 2, 4. (See
Chavannes, Les MSmoires, 2. 201, n. 1; it seems that the holder of this
otherwise indefinable title was exempt from taxes, cf. Chavannes, 3. 552,
n. 4; but cf. also an essay under lang-Tcun in Liang-han-lc'an-wu-p'u-i,
chap. 10, p. 12 f. Perhaps a term like the German Junker in Kammer-
juriker.)

LANGUAGES and dialects between Ta-yuan and An-si, 101.

LAN-SHf, capital of Ta-hia, 51.

LAU-SHANG, Great Khan of the Hiung-nu, 29.

LI, the Chinese mile (equivalent to about 3 stadia, but corresponding in
Western Asia to the stadium of classical authors; see China and the
Roman Orient, p. 222 ff.), 18, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 39, 46, 53.

LIANG-CH6U-FU, see Ling-ku.

LI CH'o, general under Li Kuang-li in the campaign against Ta-yuan, 110,
111; consulted by Li Kuang-li at siege of eity of Ta-yuan, 122;
strategical adviser, 129; appointed prefect of Shang-tang, 130.

LI FU-JoN, Madam Li, favorite concubine of the Emperor Wu-ti, sister
of the general Li Kuang-li, 110.

LI-KAN (called Ta-ts'in in later records), 39; regular traffic with, 79, 92.
(A designation of Syria under Antiochus VI, whose army had invaded
Parthia with ill success in 129 B. c, not long before the arrival at the
court of the YtiS-ch'i of Chang K'ien and who may have merely transmitted
the information on countries not visited by him in person; I am in
doubt as to the identity of the name and abandon the idea of Rekem, or
Petra.)

LI KUANG (a general in many campaigns against the Hiung-nu), Chang
K 'ien 's chief in 122 B. c, 59.

LI KUANG-LI, appointed generalissimo in the campaign against Ta-yuan,
receives the title 'General ir-sh'i,' in anticipation of his forcing the city
of ir-sh'i (Nish?) to deliver the celebrated horses named after it and
said by Ta-yuan to be withheld there, 110; despite great hardships
reaches eastern frontier of Ta-yuan and returns, having lost the greater
part of his army, 111; reports his failure, 112; forbidden to return
home, remains at Tun-huang, 113 ; his seeond campaign, 120-131 ; created
Marquis of Hai-si, 130.

LING-Ktt (Liang-ch6u-fu), great wall at, 79.

LOCUSTS devastate country when Chinese army starts against Ta-yuan,
111.

LOPNOE, see Salt Lake.

L6U-LAN, a city on the banks of the Salt Lake, 23 ; a thoroughfare to the
West, interferes with Chinese missions, 85; king of, captured in 108 b. c,
87, 110.

The Story of Chang K'ien 145

LUCERNE, see Mu-su.

LUK-LI (= perhaps some derivative of Uigur, uluk, 'erhaben, gross,'
Radloff, Wb. 1693?), title of a Hiung-nu prince, 12. The first character,
usually standing for ku, 'valley,' is to be read luk ad hoc. Chalmers,
K'ang-hi, p. 441 B; K'ang-M, Bad. 150, 1.

LUNG-SI (= modern Kan-su), 4, 24.

LUN-T'6U, a city on the road to the West, able to harass Chinese expe-
ditions, 115; laid in ruins for refusing provisions to Chinese army, 120;
soldier farmers stationed at, to hoard up provisions for embassies, 135.
(Cf. Ed. Biot. 'Memoire sur les colonies militaires et agricoles des
Chinois,' in Journ. Asiatique, 4. ser. 15. 341 f.)

LU-Yttfi-JoN, unsuccessful leader of caravans to Bactria, 81.

MAEOTIS, Palus, see An-ts'ai.

MANG, hill tribe, 55.

MARKETS, in An-si, 35; in Ta-hia, 51.

MAU-TUN, Great Khan of the Hiung-nu, 29.

MEDICAGO SATIVA, see Mu-su.

MEI-TS'AI (possibly some such name as Moas, or Manas, which appears
on Saka coins in India, of. A. Cunningham, 'Coins of the Sakas' in
Numismatic Chronicle, vol. 10, 3d ser., p. 103 ff., of whom the man called
Mei'-ts'ai may be a namesake, though certainly not the identical king,
whose coins were found chiefly in the neighborhood of Taxila), king of
Ta-yiian, succeeding Mu-kua, 124; killed by his people for being too
friendly to China, 132.

METALS, melting of, taught by Chinese deserters in countries between
Ta-yiian and An-si, 103. (Cf. an essay on the technicalities of this
passage in Liang-han-k'an-wu-p'u-i, chap. 8, pp. 8 and 9.)

MIGRATIONS of the Wu-sun from original seats among Hiung-nu east
of Lopnor to distant west, 62-65; see also Yufi-CHI.

MILITARY GOVERNORS, special (Jciau-yu), appointed for the army
against Ta-yiian, 117; appointed as horse-breakers to conduct horses from
Ta-yiian, 119; (tu-yii) appointed after the war to reside in Tsiu-ts'iian,
134.

MINISTERS, of State, high rank in civil service, 74; appointed for army
service, 130.

MU-KUA (or Mu-ku), King of Ta-yiian, responsible for trouble with
China, sacrificed by his people and succeeded by Mei-ts'ai, who was
friendly to the Chinese, 122; his younger brother made king by his
people, 132.

MUMMERS, 95.

MU-SU, the Emperor Wu-ti covers large tracts of land with mu-su as
fodder for his horses, 100. (Canton dial, muk-suk, i. e. the lucerne,
medicago sativa, probably the transcription of some foreign word, like
Turkish burchak, if we allow for a change the word may have undergone
from the original meaning within the last two thousand years. For
burchak, of which the old Chinese sound muk-suk would be quite possible
as a transcription, now denotes another seed plant used for fodder, the
vetch, according to Radloff, Worterbuch der Turk-Dialed e, 4, col. 1832:
Kara burchak, 'die Wicke (vicia).')

146 Friedrich Hirth

NAN-SHAN, a range of hills separating Tibet from Eastern Turkestan,

and its continuation towards the east, 12, 29, 61.
NISH, see ir-shi.
NOMAD NATIONS: Wu-sun, 25; K'ang-kii, 27; An-ts'ai, 28; Yiie-chi,

29. Cf. City Dwellers.
'NORTHERN SEA,' term applied to the Great Marsh (Palus Maeotis), 28.
NOTABLES (Kui-jon), the real power in Ta-yiian, 109 et passim.
ORACLE consulted, see 'Book of Changes.'
OBDU, Western, of the Hiung-nu, the Wu-sun leader (K'un-mo) made

governor of, 64; conquered by the Chinese, 60; see also Ho K'u-ping.
OSTEICH, the, in T'iau-chi, 42; eggs of the, brought to China by

Parthians, 92.
OXUS EIVEB, see K'ui-shtji.
PA, part of modern Ssi'-ch 'uan, 82.

PAI SHi-CH'ANG, unsuccessful leader of caravans to Bactria, 81.
PARCHMENT, writing material in Parthia, 37.
PABTHIA, see An-si.
PIAU-KI, general, see Ho K'u-ping.

P'O (=Ya-ch6u in Ssi'-ch 'uan), a starting point on the road to India, 55.
PO-NU, see Chau Po-ntj.
POPULAR CUSTOMS, between Ta-yiian and An-si, 101, 102; like those of

the Hiung-nu, see Wu-sun; Yue-chi; like those of the Yiie-chi, see

K 'ang-ku ; An-ts 'ai ; like those of Ta-hia, see ShSn-tu.
POPULATION, in Ta-yiian, 20; in T'iau-chi', 43; in Ta-hia, 50.
POSTAL ROADS in Ta-yiian to K'ang-kii, 9.
PO-WANG, Marquis of, title bestowed on Chang K'ien in 123 B. c, 58;

name commands respect in western countries, 77; trade conformed to

precedent created by, 79; successors to, as ambassadors to the West men

without distinction, 85.
PREFECTS, posts of, given as rewards to army officers, 130.
PROVISIONS given to Hiung-nu, but refused to Chinese envoys to the

West, 98 ; difficulties in procuring, from cities en route by Chinese army,

111; drawn from all parts of the empire for second army against

Ta-yiian, 116; carriers of, selected from offenders against the law, 119;

readily granted en route, 120 ; Ta-yiian grants, to the Chinese army, 123 ;

difficulty of procuring, causes Chinese army to proceed in sections by

different routes, 125; city of Yii-ch'ong refuses issue of, 125; shortness

of, due to graft, 129 ; station for the supply of, for embassies to the We3t

established at Lun-t'6u, 135.
P'U-T'AU = p6rpv-s. See Kingsmill in JBAS, new ser. 14. 85 n. See also

Vine and Wine. The Chinese term p'u-t'au for 'grape' occurs for the

first time in Chinese literature in our text.
REWARDS to army officers, 130.
RICE, grown in Ta-yiian, 19; in An-si, 31; in T'iau-chi, 41; see also

Stones op Rice.
RIVERS flowing east and west in Central Asia, 23.
ROBBERS, few, in Ta-hia, 10; obstruct road in Salt Lake region, 107;

see also K'un-ming Tribes.

The Story of Chang K'ien 147

SALT LAKE (Lopnor), believed to receive the headwaters of the Yellow
River, which is said to flow underground to the south of it, 23; Western
Hiung-nu east of, 24; country east of, became clear of Hiung-nu in 121
B. c, 61; proposal to invite Wu-sun to fill vacant territory, 66; Chinese
victories near, 87 ; region near, dangerous to travelers, 107 ; Chinese army
against Ta-yuan crosses, 111; road to the West as far as, lined with
military stations, 135.

SAN-FU, the metropolitan district, 82.

SEA, WESTERN = Caspian or Aral, 23; = Persian Gulf, Bed Sea, or
Mediterranean, 39; NORTHERN, term applied to the Palvs Maeotis, 28.
(Regarding the terminology of such names as si-hai and pei-hai, cf.
Liang-han-Tc'an-wu-p'u-i, chap. 8, p. 7.)

SHA-CH6U, original home of YiiS-ch'i nation, 29.

SHANG-KUAN Klfi invests city of Yii-ch'ong and captures its fugitive
king in K'ang-kii, 126; as a leader distinguished by breaking into the
enemy 's lines, 129 ; receives a court title, 130.

SHANG-KUI, a prefectural city in the present Kan-su province, birthplace
(or, garrison?) of Chau Ti, 126.

SHANG-TANG, a prefecture, 130.

SHAN-HAI-KING (the 'Hill and Sea Classic'), Ssi'-ma Ts'ien refrains
from saying anything about its (probably much too wonderful) tales, 136.

SHAN-Yu (cf. the legend Sanaob on coins of Saka kings referred to the
Chinese term by Cunningham in Num. Chron. 3d ser. 8 and 12 ; the term
is explained as corresponding to Turkish t'dngri kudu, or the Chinese
t'iSn-tel, i. e. 'Son of Heaven,' Sehott in Sb. der Ale. der Wiss. Berlin,
1. Dec. 1887, p. 7 of reprint), title of the Great Khan, or King, of the
Hiung-nu, 5, 29, 63, 64, 66 et passim; death of, 12; envoys armed with
letters from, respected more than those from China in countries west of
Wu-sun, 98.

SHAU-FU, a court title, 130.

SHON-LI, a district near modern Ya-ch6u-fu in Ssi'-ch'uan, 80.

SH8N-TU (=Sindh, India) southeast of Ta-hia, 52; unrecorded early
trade of, with Ssi'-ch'uan, 53; popular customs of, like those of Ta-hia,
53; Chang K'ien 's plan to discover, 53; fruitless attempts to open
direct communication with, 55-58; assistant envoys sent to, by Chang
K'ien from Wu-sun, 72; missions to (via Bactria?), 79.

SHU (Ssi'-ch'uan), bamboo and cloth from, 53; easiest thoroughfare to
India, 53, 55; traders of, surreptitiously export produce to Tien-yue' on
the road to India, 57; territories in the southwest of, added to Chinese
dominion, to serve as thoroughfares to Far West, 80, 82.

SHU-KING, legendary accounts regarding the source of the Yellow River
referred to in, seem to be confirmed by Chang K'ien 's discovery, 136.

SIAU-YttE-CHi, 29.

SILK, sent to Wu-sun, 67; none in Ta-yuan and countries west of it, 103.

SILVER, see Metals.

SIN-CH 'I, Marquis of, see Chau Ti.

SINDH = India, see Shon-ttj.

148 Friedrich Hirth

SI-WANG-MU (lit. 'Western King's Mother,' a legendary being in the
extreme west), 45.

SOGHDIANA, see K'ang-ku.

SOLDIERS, see Army.

SON OF HEAVEN, see Wtt-ti.

SSi, a station on the supposed road to India, 55.

SSi-CH'UAN, see Shu.

STONES OF RICE, an annual income in kind, as a reward to army
officers, 130.

SU-HIfi, small country east of Ta-yuan, 92.

SUI TRIBES, 56.

Sti KUANG, scholiast, 82 n.

'SWEATING BLOOD,' said of horses, see Han-hu£.

SYRIA, see Li-kan.

TA-HIA (Bactria), occupied by the Yiie-ch'i (Indoscythians), 10, 11, 29;
visited by Chang K 'ien in person, 17 ; in the southwest of Ta-yuan, 22 ;
south of Yti6-chi, 29; described, 46-53; people bad warriors, but good
traders, 49; great, rich, and civilized like China, 54; Wu-ti consults
Chang K'ien about, 61; assistant envoys sent to, by Chang K'ien from
Wu-sun, 72; attempts to reach by the southern route (Yiin-nan, Ssii-
ch'uan, etc.) interfered with by K'un-ming tribes, 81; northern route
via Tsiu-ts'iian, 84.

TA-HING, 'Chief of Foreign Office,' title bestowed on Chang K'ien, 74.

TA-I, small country in the west of Ta-yuan, 92.

T'AI-CHUNG-TA-FU, title bestowed on Chang K'ien, 13.

TA-LU, a son of the King of Wu-sun, 71.

T'ANG-I, family owning a Tartar (Hiung-nu?) slave, 4.

T'ANG-I FI7, so called because he must be held to have been adopted by
the T 'ang-i family, see Kan Ftj.

TANGUTANS, see K'iang.

TARTARS (7m), generally designating the Hiung-nu (Huns) with the
several nomadic Turkish, Mongolic, and Tungusic tribes forming their
empire, 4, 10, 86, 107.

TA-TSo, 'the Great Marsh ' = Pains Maeotis, or Sea of Azov, near the
country of the Alans, see An-ts 'ai.

TA-YtiAN, i. e. Great Yuan, in opposition to Siau-yiian, i. e. Little Yuan,
a small country east of it and probably named after it. I am now
inclined to look upon Yuan as the real name of the country, ta being
an epithet placed before it as in the case of Ta-ts'in and Ta-yii6-chi'.
For, although our chapter is entitled ' Ta-yuan ' and the country is so
styled especially in Chang K'ien 's own report to the emperor, Yuan
without the prefix ta is, in our text, often used for it, not merely in
combinations as in yuan-ma, 'horses of Yuan,' or yuan Tcuei-jon, 'the
notables of Yuan,' but also in phrases where it could not well be inter-
preted as a mere abbreviation, e. g. po yuan, 'to defeat Yuan.' From
paragraphs 101 to 103 it would appear that the population of Ta-yuan
had many characteristics in common with the nations adjoining it in the
west as far as An-si (Parthia). This seems to justify us in looking

The Story of Chang K'ien 149

upon Ta-yiian as a northeastern portion of the former Bactrian empire
which, for some reason or other, may have escaped conquest by the
Yti6-chi. The people grow rice, the cultivation of which must have
come to them from India by way of Bactria (Hehn, KvMurpflanzen und
Hausthiere, 8th ed., 1911, p. 504 ff.), and store wine from the grape, in
which respect they may have adopted the practice of Greek settlers in
Bactria. It seems quite possible that the name by which such a semi-
Greek population became known to the surrounding Tartar tribes, espe-
cially the Hiung-nu or the Wu-sun, from whom Chang K'ien may have
obtained his first notice of the country, was Yavan, of which Yuan is a
fair linguistic equivalent. For, 'the Yavanas are the Greeks of the
Asiatic dominions and especially the Bactrians, situated just beyond
the borders of India.' Cf. C. C. Torrey, 'Yawan and Hellas,' JAOS
25. 304; Dr. Bdkins, in his paper 'What did the ancient Chinese know
of the Greeks and Romans?' /. China Branch, B. A. S., vol. 18, 1883,
p. 5; E. Bournouf, J A 10. 238 f.; T. de Lacouperie, Western Origin of
Early Chinese Civilization, p. 221.

TA-YuAN (Ferghana), first known through Chang K'ien, 1; reached by
Chang K'ien, 7; connected by postal roads with K'ang-kii (Soghdiana),
9; visited by Chang K'ien in person, 17; Chang K'ien 's account of,
18-22; great, rich and civilized like China, 54; assistant envoy sent to,
by Chang K'ien from Wu-sun, 72; horses from, stronger than those
from Wu-sun, 79; restrained by reputation of Chinese victories near
Lake Lopnor, 87; small countries east and west of, 92; best horses of,
kept at the city of iir-shi', 105; not afraid of an attack by the Chinese,
107; refuses to deliver the horses of ir-sh'i, 108; first army sent against,
fails, 110-113; second campaign decided upon, 114-116; its organization,
117-119; city of the king of, has no wells, 117; Chinese army reaches,
120; battle won by Chinese archers; Ta-yiian army takes refuge in
city, 121; water supply cut off and city invested, negotiations for peace
resulting in the delivery of horses and the establishment of Chinese
supremacy, 122-124; campaign against, occupies four years, 131; kings
of, see Mu-kua; Mei-ts'ai; Ch'an-fong.

TA-YuAN AND AN-SI, countries between: language, 101; appearance
and character of the people, 102; position of women, 102; have no silk
or varnish, 103; taught melting and casting of metals by Chinese, 103.

TA-YVE-CHi, see Yiit-CHl.

TI tribes, prevent expedition to India, 56.

T'lAU-CHi (Chaldea), in the west of Parthia, 38, 39; described, 40-45;
governed by petty chiefs, considered a foreign country by Parthia, 43;
legends of Jo-shui and Si-wang-mu, 45; regular missions to, 79.

T'IfiN-MA, 'heavenly horse' (the wild horse?), 19, 79. (Regarding the
legendary origin of the 'heavenly horse,' see Shi-ki, Chavannes, 3.
236 f.)

TI£N-Ytj£, country on the supposed road to India, 57.

ToNG KUANG reproved for advising discontinuance of war against
Ta-yiian, 116.

TRADE, in An-si, 35; in Ta-hia, 49, 51; from China to Bactria via India,

150 Friedrich Hirth

53; smugglers from Shu (Ssi'-ch'uan) send goods to Tien-ytie' on the road
to India, 57; between China and western countries dates from Chang
K'ien's mission, 77; by caravans to and from Western Asia stimulated
by demand for good horses, 79; see also Caravans; Expeditions;
Tribute.

TRANSCRIPTIONS (of foreign sounds) : (Ta-) Yuan = Yavan; Luk-li =
derivative of uluk, great (?), 12; p'u-t'au=/3ATpv-s, 19; An-ts'ai =
Aorsi, 28; An-si = Arsak, 30; Shon-tu = Sindh, 52; muk-suk = bur-
ehak (?), 100; iir-shi = Nish, NVeua (?), 105. (Note that final r
may be represented by final t or final n in old Chinese not later than the
13th century, ef. Hirth, 'Chinese Equivalents of the letter R in Foreign
Names,' in Joum. China Branch, B. A. S., vol. 21, 1886, p. 214 ff., or by
final fc, ef. T. de Laeouperie, 'The Djurtchen of Manchuria,' JBAS
21. 436.)

TRIBUTE brought by Parthia and small countries on the way to China, 92.

TSANG-KO, a district comprising parts of modern Ssi'-ch'uan, Hu-nan,
Kui-chou and Kuang-si, 80.

TS 'IfiN, a small country in the west of Ta-yuan, 92.

TSIJ5N-MI, a notable of Ta-yfian, captured at the siege of the city, 122.

TS 'IN, a man of, i. e. a Chinese, 122.

TSIU-TS 'tiAN, district near the Great Wall, established to facilitate trade
with Far West, 79; military stations near, 89, 135; army to protect
boundary in, 118; resident military governor appointed for, 134.

TS'oN-TS't), title of the son of the crown prince of Wu-sun, 71; given
Chinese princess in marriage by his grandfather, the K'un-mo king, 90.

TSO-Yfi, MARQUIS OF, see Chau Po-nu.

TSUNG-P'IAU, see Chau Po-nu.

TUN-HUANG, near old seats of Yue-chi, 29; locusts near, 111; Chinese
army returns to, 111, 113 ; second army leaves, 116, 119, 125.

TU-Yti, title of a resident military governor, 134.

VARNISH, 103.

VINE, seeds of the, (seedlings?) imported from Ta-yfian and planted near
the Imperial summer palaces, 100 ; see also Wine.

WAGONS and carts with army against Ta-yuan, 119.

WALL, see Great Wall.

WANG K'UI, leader of caravans to the west, 85; created Marquis of
Hau, 88 ; attached to the army against Ta-yfian, 110.

WANG SHoN-SHoNG, military governor, defeated and killed on an expe-
dition to Yfi-eh'ong, 124.

WEi KUANG, general sent against the K'un-ming tribes in 109 b. c, 82.

WESTERN SEA (si-hai), see Sea, Western.

WHEAT (barley?), grown in Ta-yfian, 19; in An-si, 31.

WINE, grape, in Ta-yfian, 19, 99, 100; in An-si, 31; see also Vine.

WOLF, a She-, becomes legendary wet-nurse of king of Wu-sun exposed
in wilderness, 62. (Note that a she-wolf is mythologically connected
with the origin of many Turkish tribes, which may also account for 'the
symbolic use by them of a wolf's head at particular functions,' ef.

The Story of Chang K'ien 151

E. H. Parker, A Thousand Tears of the Tartars, p. 178; Kingsmill,
JBAS 14. 85 n.

WOMEN influence husbands in countries between Ta-yiian and An-si, 102.

WoN-SHAN, a district corresponding to modern M6u-ch6u in Ss'i-ch'uan,
80.

WRESTLERS, 95.

WRITING, in Parthia, 37.

WD-SUN (a nation in the neighborhood of* Lake Issyk-kul, on the southern
slope of the T'ien-shan, according to Sii Sung, Si-yii-shui-tau-M, chap.
4, p. 11, whither they had migrated from Kua-chou, their former homes
at the time of the Contending States during the fifth and fourth cen-
turies b. c, according to the scholiast in Sh'i-Tci, 110, p. 12; cf. Ts'ien-
han-shw, chap. 96 B, p. 1 B, and other passages; cf. also Shiratori, p.
103 ff. ; probably of Turkish stock like the Hiung-nu; cf. note under Wolf,
Shiratori, op. cit., and Pranke, pp. 17-21), in the northeast of Ta-yiian,
22; a nomad nation like the Hiung-nu, 25; formerly subject to
Hiung-nu, 26; legendary origin of their King K'un-mo, 62; retreat
from their original territory among the western Hiung-nu to the more
distant west, 64; maintain their independence, 65; Chang K'ien pro-
poses their filling vacant territory near western boundary of China and
bribing them by presents and the marriage of their king with a Chinese
princess to become friends of China, 66; Chang K 'ten's expedition to,
67-74; court ceremonial of, corrected by Chang K'ien, 68; declines to
move to the east, 69, 70, 71; guides, interpreters, and other natives
accompany Chang K'ien back to China, 73; and return to their homes
full of the impressions they have received of China's greatness, 76;
missions to China interfered with by Hiung-nu, so that Wu-sun asks
for a Chinese princess in marriage, 78; horses from, compared with
those from Ta-yiian, 79; restrained by reports of Chinese victories near
Lake Lopnor, 87; a Chinese princess sent for marriage to, 90; rich in
horses, 91; China's prestige with, depends on success in far -western
warfare, 115; not very quick in complying with Wu-ti's wish to attack
Ta-yiian, 127.

WU-TI, the emperor (generally referred to as the Son of Heaven, Wu-ti
being his posthumous designation), informed of their flight to the west,
anxious to find the Yite-ehi as allies against the Hiung-nu, 3, 4; falls
in with Chang K 'ten's plan of extending Chinese sphere of influence to
Western Asia, 54; approves of Chang K'ien 's scheme of befriending the
Wu-sun nation, 67; consults 'Book of Changes' about horses; his craze
for western horses develops caravan trade, 79; highly pleased by results
of mission to Parthia, 92; likes company of foreigners, 95; feasts given
to them lay the foundation for the popular taste among the Chinese
for the performances of jugglers, wrestlers, mummers, etc., 95; creates
vineyards and lucerne fields, 100; his fondness for the horses of Nish
fir-shi) becomes the source of a campaign against Ta-yiian, 106-110;
angry at Li Kuang-li's failure to punish Ta-yiian, 113; his ambition
about China's reputation in western Asia, 115; tries to engage Wu-sun

152 Friedrich Hirth

to fight Ta-yiian, 127; foreign princes anxious to be presented to, 128;
bestows rewards on generals, 130.

YAU TING-HAN, former ambassador to Ta-yiian, proposes war, 110.

YELLOW RIVER, see Ho River.

YtJ-CH'oNG, city on the eastern frontier of Ta-yiian, Chinese envoys
intercepted and killed at, 109; first Chinese army against Ta-yiian
routed at the siege of, 111; Li Kuang-li avoids, 122; reconnoitering
body of Chinese troops defeated by, 125; invested by the Chinese, 126;
its king pursued to K'ang-kii, delivered, and killed, 126.

Yttfi (=Nan-yfi6), 5, 57; wars against, in 112 b. o. referred to (?), 80.

Yufi-CHI (Indoscythians; for an exhaustive digest removing many
prejudices entertained by European scholars, cf. Franke, p. 21 ff.),
their disappearance from the neighborhood of China reported to the
Emperor Wu-ti by Hiung-nu (Hun) prisoners, 3; desired by the Chinese
as allies against the Hiung-nu, 3, 4; Chang K'ien conducted to, 9;
defeated by the Hiung-nu, conquer Ta-hia (Bactria), 10, 29, 49; visited
by Chang K'ien in person, 17; in the west of Ta-yiian, 22; politically
influence K'ang-kii, 27; described, 29; popular customs of, like those
of Hiung-nu (of An -si according to Is 'iSn-han-shu) , 29; old seats and
migration to the west, 29; capital and court north of the Oxus (somewhere
about Bukhara), 29; strong in military, 54; assistant ambassadors
sent to, 72; ambassadors to, passed south of Wu-sun, 78; population on
the road to, beyond Wu-sun help Hiung-nu rather than Chinese envoys
by supplying provisions, 98.

Yiifi-STJI, a district on the boundary of Yun-nan and Ssi'-ch'uan, 80.

Ytt-MoN GATE, in the Great Wall, line of military stations near, 89;
closed up, 113; Chinese second army returns to, 129.

Ytt-PGN-KI, 'Life of the Emperor Yii,' Ssi-ma Ts'ien's view of its
wonderful tales, 136. (This is not one of the chapters styled pon-Tci and
devoted to the lives of emperors by Ssi-ma Ts'ien himself, but a work
not preserved in our days, cf. Chavannes, 1. clxxii f.)

Yti-TMN (Khotan), east (sic) of Ta-yiian, 22; the watershed of rivers
in Central Asia, 23; produces jadestone, 23; assistant envoys sent to,
by Chang K'ien from Wu-sun, 72; quarries near, yield jadestone brought
to China, 93 ; Yellow River supposed to rise near, 93.