The Protectorate of the Western Regions () was an imperial administration (a

protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...

) of

Han China The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a war ...

in the

Western Regions The Western Regions or Xiyu (Hsi-yü; ) was a historical name specified in the Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AD that referred to the regions west of Yumen Pass, most often Central Asia or sometimes more sp ...

. The "Western Regions" referred to areas west of

Yumen Pass Yumen Pass (; Uyghur: قاش قوۋۇق), or Jade Gate or Pass of the Jade Gate, is the name of a pass of the Great Wall located west of Dunhuang in today's Gansu Province of China. During the Han dynasty (202 BC – AD 220), this was a pass ...

, especially the

Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Northwest China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, China." Hydr ...

. These areas would later be termed

Altishahr Altishahr (, , ; romanized: ''Altä-şähär'' or ''Alti-şähär''), also known as Kashgaria, is a historical name for the Tarim Basin region used in the 18th and 19th centuries. The term means 'Six Cities' in Turkic languages, referring to oasis ...

(southern

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

, excluding

Dzungaria Dzungaria (; from the Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') is a geographical subregion in Northwest China that corresponds to the northern half of Xinjiang. It is thus also known as Beijiang, which means "Northern Xinjiang". Bounded by the ...

) by Turkic-speaking peoples."Xiyu Duhu"
The term "western regions" was also used by the Chinese more generally to refer to

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

. The protectorate was the first direct rule by a Chinese government of the area. It consisted of various

vassal states A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to t ...

, placed under the authority of a Protector-General of the Western Regions, who was appointed by the Han court.

History

During the

Han–Xiongnu War The Han–Xiongnu War,. also known as the Sino–Xiongnu War, was a series of military battles fought between the Han Empire and the nomadic Xiongnu confederation from 133 BC to 89 AD. Starting from Emperor Wu's reign (r. 141–87 BC), the Han ...

, the Chinese empire established a military garrison at Wulei (near present-day Cedaya 策达雅, in Bugur/Luntei County). The Chinese sought to control the Western Regions in order to keep the

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 20 ...

away from Inner China, and to control the valuable Silk Road trade that passed through the area. The local inhabitants of the Western Regions were diverse, and the area contained several groups who originated in Western

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

and/or spoke

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

languages. These groups included Tocharian-speaking city-states like ''Ārśi'' (Arshi; later Agni/Karasahr), '' Kuča'' (Kucha), ''Gumo'' (later Aksu), ''

Turfan Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015). Geonyms The original name of the cit ...

'' (Turpan), and

Loulan Loulan, also called Krorän or Kroraina ( zh, s=, t=, p=Lóulán <

Eastern Han Chinese

''lo-lɑn'' <

(Krorän/Korla). Additionally, residents of the oasis city-states of

Khotan Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...

and Kashgar spoke

Saka The Saka ( Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who hist ...

, one of the Eastern Iranian languages. The position of Protector-General was officially established in 59 or 60 BCE. It was the highest Han dynasty military position in the west during its existence. During the peak of the Protectorate's power in 51 BCE, the

Wusun The Wusun (; Eastern Han Chinese *''ʔɑ-suən'' <

Old Chinese

(140 BCE < 436 BCE): *''Ɂâ-sûn'') were an ancient semi-

nation was brought under Han submission. The post was abandoned in 23 CE, during the tumultuous

Xin dynasty The Xin dynasty (; ), also known as Xin Mang () in Chinese historiography, was a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty which lasted from 9 to 23 AD, established by the Han dynasty consort kin Wang Mang, who usurped the throne of the Emperor Pin ...

Wang Mang Wang Mang () (c. 45 – 6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun (), was the founder and the only emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the Han dynasty and later seized the thron ...

. By then, at least 18 different people had served as protector-general, though only 10 of them have known names. During the second half of the first century CE, at the time of the Eastern Han dynasty, Chinese armies led by Ban Chao,

Dou Gu Dou Gu (; died 88 AD), born in Xianyang, was a Chinese military general during the Eastern Han dynasty who fought in the Battle of Yiwulu in 73. Shortly after the battle, Dou Gu sent two of his generals, Ban Chao Ban Chao (; 32–102 CE), co ...

, and

Guo Xun Guo Xun (, d. 75) was a military officer under the Han Dynasty of China. He was an associate general of Ban Chao, as he and Ban Chao were sent to the Western Regions for a diplomatic expedition by Dou Gu. In 75, he was killed along with Chen Mu ...

brought the Western Regions back under Han control. The Protectorate was thus re-established. In 74 CE,

Emperor Ming of Han Emperor Ming of Han (15June 28 – 5September 75), born and also known as and as , was the second emperor of China's Eastern Han dynasty. He was the fourth son and second crown prince of Emperor Guangwu. It was during Emperor Ming's reign t ...

and his successor awarded the position of Protector-General (now with administrative obligations as well) to general Chen Mu. In 83 CE, the office of Chief Official of the Western Regions was established and awarded to Ban Chao. The position of the Chief Official was beneath that of the Protector-General. Ban Chao would later be made Protector-General in 91 CE. During the Eastern Han, the seat of the Protectorate was for a time shifted to Taqian (or Tagan; near modern Kucha). On 29 July 107, a series of Qiang uprisings in the areas of

Hexi Corridor The Hexi Corridor (, Xiao'erjing: حْسِ ظِوْلاْ, IPA: ), also known as the Gansu Corridor, is an important historical region located in the modern western Gansu province of China. It refers to a narrow stretch of traversable and rela ...

and Guanzhong forced the abandonment of the post, although it was resumed in 119. In the 7th century, a successor administration, the

Protectorate General to Pacify the West The Protectorate General to Pacify the West (Anxi Grand Protectorate), initially the Protectorate to Pacify the West (Anxi Protectorate), was a protectorate (640 – ) established by the Chinese Tang dynasty in 640 to control the Tarim Basin. Th ...

was established by the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

at Xizhou (Turpan) and was later moved to Kucha. In the southern Tarim Basin, coins from the period of the Protectorate's existence have been found with inscriptions in both Chinese and the

Kharoshthi The Kharoṣṭhī script, also spelled Kharoshthi (Kharosthi: ), was an ancient Indo-Iranian script used by various Aryan peoples in north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely around present-day northern Pakistan and e ...

script, which was used for local Indo-European languages.

Thirty-six city states

List of Protectors-General

Western Han and Xin

* Zheng Ji 60－48 BCE * Han Xuan (韓宣) 48－45 BCE * Unknown (3rd) 45－42 BCE * Unknown (4th) 42－39 BCE * Unknown (5th) 39－36 BCE * Gan Yanshou (甘延壽) 36－33 BCE * Duan Huizong (段會宗) 33－30, 21－18 BCE * Lian Bao (廉褒) 30－27 BCE * Unknown (9th) 27－24 BCE * Han Li (韓立) 24－21 BCE * Unknown (11th) 18－15 BCE * Guo Shun (郭舜) 15－12 BCE * Sun Jian (孫建) 12－9 BCE * Unknown (14th) 9－6 BCE * Unknown (15th) 6－3 BCE * Unknown (16th) 3 BCE－1 CE * Dan Qin (但欽) 1－13 CE * Li Chong 13－23 CE

Eastern Han

* Chen Mu 74－75 * Ban Chao 91－102 * Ren Shang 102－106 * Duan Xi 106－107

Maps

File:Asia 001ad.jpg, Asia in 1 AD. The Western Regions were at the centre of the map (south-west of the Xiongnu) File:Roman HanEmpiresAD1.png, The Han dynasty (yellow) in 1 AD. File:Xinjiang regions simplified.png, Modern Xinjiang, showing . File:Larger Tarim oasis states (1st century BC).svg, 1st century BC

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* Ma, Yong
"Xiyu Duhu" ("Protector General of the Western Regions")
''

Encyclopedia of China The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, begin ...

'' (Chinese History Edition), 1st ed.
The Grand Game in Afghanistan

{{coord missing, Xinjiang Administrative divisions of ancient China Han dynasty History of Xinjiang Former protectorates Chinese Central Asia