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138-130 BCEReputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

The Han Dynasty Opens the Silk Road

Emperor Wu's envoy Zhang Qian opens a trade network that will link China to Rome

On the timeline · around 138-130 BCE · Empire and Golden AgesAncient DynastiesEmpire and Golden AgesThe Han Dynasty Opens the Silk Road500 BCE400 BCE300 BCE200 BCE100 BCE1 CE100 CE

Quick facts

Han founding
202 BCE, Liu Bang (Emperor Gaozu)
Zhang Qian's mission
138 BCE
Silk Road officially opened
130 BCE
Emperor
Han Wudi, r. 140-87 BCE

What happened

Liu Bang, a rebel leader who had helped topple the short-lived Qin dynasty, took the throne title Emperor Gaozu on 28 February 202 BCE, founding the Han dynasty that would rule, with one interruption, until 220 CE. Under Emperor Wu (r. 140-87 BCE), the Han dynasty was regularly harassed by the nomadic Xiongnu on its northern and western borders, and in 138 BCE Wu sent his envoy Zhang Qian west to seek an alliance with the Yuezhi people against them. Zhang Qian was captured and held by the Xiongnu for roughly ten years before escaping to complete his mission, and though he failed to secure the alliance he sought, his reports on the kingdoms of Central Asia gave the Han court its first detailed intelligence on the region. By 130 BCE the Han had secured the Gansu Corridor, and the network of routes Zhang Qian's journey opened, later named the Silk Road by a 19th-century German geographer, carried Chinese silk as far as the Roman Empire.

Why it matters

The Silk Road became the main artery connecting Chinese, Central Asian, Persian, and Mediterranean economies for the next fifteen centuries, moving not just silk but horses, glass, Buddhism, and eventually paper and gunpowder technology westward. Zhang Qian's decade in Xiongnu captivity and his eventual escape turned a failed military alliance into China's first sustained contact with the civilizations of Central and West Asia.

How we know

Zhang Qian's mission and the Silk Road's opening are recorded in Han-era historical narratives translated and compiled by later scholars, including university-hosted primary source collections drawing on the Han shu and related chronicles.

Sources

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The Han Dynasty Opens the Silk Road · History of China · SourcedStory