Zhang Qian's thirteen years in the west, and the two who came back
TL;DR — Zhang Qian left Han with over a hundred men to win the Yuezhi as allies; held ten years by the Xiongnu, he failed, and only two came back.
Zhang Qian, an envoy of Emperor Wu of Han, was away for thirteen years because the Xiongnu caught him twice. He had gone west to find the Yuezhi, a people driven out by the Xiongnu, and turn them into allies. They refused, but what he saw on the way changed Han’s knowledge of the west. “Contact between China and Iran was initiated toward the end of the 2nd century B.C.E. by the envoy Chang Ch’ien (Zhang Qian),” writes Edwin Pulleyblank in the Encyclopaedia Iranica. The fullest account is chapter 123 of Sima Qian’s Shiji, which Friedrich Hirth translated in 1917; other quotations from the Chinese are our own translations.
Quick facts
- When
- Set out in the Jianyuan era (140–135 BC) of Emperor Wu; away thirteen years
- Where
- From Longxi through Xiongnu territory to Dayuan (Ferghana), Kangju, the Yuezhi and Daxia (Bactria)
- Who
- Zhang Qian, a palace attendant from Hanzhong; Tangyi Fu (Ganfu), a former Xiongnu slave; Emperor Wu
- Outcome
- The Yuezhi would not ally against the Xiongnu, but Zhang Qian's report opened diplomatic and trade contact with Central Asia and Iran
An envoy for an alliance
The idea came from Xiongnu prisoners. They told the emperor that the Xiongnu had defeated the king of the Yuezhi, and that the Yuezhi had fled and nursed a grudge but had no one to fight beside them. Han wanted to destroy the Xiongnu, so it looked for an envoy willing to cross their lands.
Zhang Qian, a man of Hanzhong and a palace attendant in the Jianyuan era, volunteered. He set out from Longxi with Ganfu, also called Tangyi Fu, a former Xiongnu slave of the Tangyi family. Of Ganfu, Hirth’s translation says: “Being an excellent bowman, he would, when supplies were exhausted, provide food by shooting game.”
Ten years with the Xiongnu
The Xiongnu caught him almost at once. Their ruler, the chanyu, put the problem plainly, in the Shiji’s account: “The Yuezhi lie to the north of me. How can Han send envoys to them? If I wanted to send envoys to Yue, would Han let me?”
They kept him “more than ten years,” gave him a wife, and he had a son. “Yet Zhang Qian held on to the Han staff of office and did not lose it,” the Shiji says.
Bactria and a refusal
When the watch on him relaxed, he escaped with his companions and went west for some tens of days to Dayuan, Ferghana. Its king sent him on with guides to Kangju, Sogdiana, and from there to the Yuezhi. He found that the Yuezhi had already conquered Daxia and settled there. Pulleyblank explains that Daxia was “the name by which he called Bactria.”
They had no wish to go back. In Hirth’s translation, the land was “rich and fertile and little troubled with robbers,” so “they had determined to enjoy a peaceful life,” and, considering themselves too far from China, “they had no longer the intention to take revenge.” Zhang Qian “did not carry his point with the Yuezhi.”
Two out of a hundred
On the way home, skirting the southern mountains, he was caught by the Xiongnu again and held for more than a year. When the chanyu died and the Xiongnu fell into fighting over the succession, he escaped with his Xiongnu wife and Ganfu and reached Han, where he was made a court counselor.
The cost was plain. “When Chang K’ien started on his journey, his caravan consisted of more than a hundred men,” Hirth’s translation reads; “thirteen years later, only two lived to return.” He had visited Ferghana, the Yuezhi, Bactria and Sogdiana in person, and brought reports of five or six other large states.
What his report started
The mission failed, and its report lasted. Pulleyblank writes that “Chang Ch’ien’s report inaugurated a period of intense diplomatic activity and the development of trade relations via the so-called Silk Road across Inner Asia,” and that embassies were exchanged with Parthia “around 106 b.c.e.” Asia for Educators notes that foreign things interested Emperor Wu: “horses and grapes from Central Asia, for example, and alfalfa (to feed the horses).”
Zhang Qian himself served again. On a campaign against the Xiongnu, the Shiji says, he knew where water and pasture lay, so the army never ran short, and he was made Marquis of Bowang.
Key facts
- Zhang Qian set out in the Jianyuan era of Emperor Wu to seek an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu (Shiji 123).
- The Xiongnu held him more than ten years; he took a wife and had a son, and kept the Han staff of office (Shiji 123).
- The Yuezhi had settled in Daxia, which was Bactria, and would not fight the Xiongnu again (Shiji 123; Pulleyblank).
- Of more than a hundred men who set out, only two returned, thirteen years later (Shiji 123, Hirth’s translation).
- His report began a period of diplomacy and trade along the Silk Road; Han exchanged embassies with Parthia around 106 BC (Pulleyblank).
FAQ
Who was Zhang Qian?
A palace attendant from Hanzhong whom Emperor Wu sent west to make an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu. He was away for thirteen years.
Why did it take Zhang Qian thirteen years?
The Xiongnu captured him on the way out and held him for more than ten years, and captured him again on the way back for more than a year.
Did Zhang Qian's mission succeed?
No. The Yuezhi had settled in Bactria, found the land rich and peaceful, and had no wish to fight the Xiongnu again.
How many people came back with Zhang Qian?
Of more than a hundred who set out, only two returned. The Shiji says Zhang Qian escaped home with his Xiongnu wife and Ganfu.
Did Zhang Qian open the Silk Road?
Edwin Pulleyblank writes that his report "inaugurated a period of intense diplomatic activity and the development of trade relations via the so-called Silk Road across Inner Asia."
Sources
- Sima Qian, Shiji, chapter 123, "Account of Dayuan," Chinese text, Wikisource
- Silk Road Seattle, University of Washington, "Selections from the Han Narrative Histories," Zhang Qian's mission translated by Friedrich Hirth (1917)
- Encyclopaedia Iranica, Edwin G. Pulleyblank, "Chinese-Iranian Relations i. In Pre-Islamic Times"
- Asia for Educators, Columbia University, "Excerpt from Sima Qian's Letter to Ren An," introduction
Cite this article
- APA
- Song Letter. (2026, October 11). Zhang Qian's thirteen years in the west, and the two who came back. Our Earth's History. https://ourearthshistory.com/east-asia/classical/zhang-qian-silk-road-13-years-envoy/
- Chicago
- Song Letter. “Zhang Qian's thirteen years in the west, and the two who came back.” Our Earth's History, October 11, 2026. https://ourearthshistory.com/east-asia/classical/zhang-qian-silk-road-13-years-envoy/.
- MLA
- Song Letter. “Zhang Qian's thirteen years in the west, and the two who came back.” Our Earth's History, 11 Oct. 2026, https://ourearthshistory.com/east-asia/classical/zhang-qian-silk-road-13-years-envoy/.
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