Western Regions

Not to be confused with Western world.

Historical name for regions of Chinese suzerainty in Central Asia

Western Regions

Chinese| 西域
| Transcriptions

Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin| Xīyù
Wade–Giles| Hsi1-yü4
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping| sai1 wik6
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinese| /sei ɦwɨk̚/
Old Chinese
Zhengzhang| *sɯːl ɢʷrɯɡ
The Western Regions in the first century BC.

Part of a series on the

History of Xinjiang

Prehistoric and ancient period

* Afanasievo culture
* Tarim mummies (Xiaohe Cemetery)
* Yanbulaq culture
* Subeshi culture
* Tocharians
* Shirenzigou culture
* Kingdom of Khotan
* Yuezhi
* Wusun
* Xiongnu
* Shule Kingdom
* Loulan Kingdom
* Kucha
* Karasahr
* Jushi Kingdom
* Shanshan
* Western Regions
* (Han Protectorate; Chief Officials)
* Former Liang
* Former Qin
* Later Liang
* Western Liang
* Gaochang
* Rouran
* First Turkic Khaganate
* Western Turkic Khaganate
* Eastern Turkic Khaganate
* Second Turkic Khaganate

Medieval and early modern period

* Tang Protectorates (West; Beiting)
* Tibetan Empire
* Uyghur Khaganate
* Kara-Khanid Khanate
* Kingdom of Qocho
* Qara Khitai
* Mongol Empire (Yuan; Chagatai Khanate)
* Moghulistan (Turpan; Yarkent)
* Ming ruled Kara Del
* Dzungar Khanate
* Kumul Khanate
* Yettishar
* Qing rule
* (Dzungar genocide
* Dungan Revolt
* Qing reconquest)

Modern period

* Xinjiang Province, Republic of China
* (Xinjiang clique
* 1st East Turkestan Republic
* 2nd East Turkestan Republic)
* Xinjiang Province, People's Republic of China
* Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
* (Production and Construction Corps
* Xinjiang conflict
* Xinjiang internment camps / Persecution of Uyghurs in China)

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* t
* e

The Western Regions or Xiyu (Hsi-yü; Chinese: 西域) was a historical name specified in Ancient Chinese chronicles between the 3rd century BC to the 8th century AD[1] that referred to the regions west of the Yumen Pass, most often the Tarim Basin in present-day southern Xinjiang (also known as Altishahr) and Central Asia (specifically the easternmost portion around the Ferghana Valley), though it was sometimes used more generally to refer to other regions to the west of China as well, such as Parthia (which technically belonged to West Asia) and Tianzhu (as in the novel Journey to the West, which refers to the Indian subcontinent in South Asia).

Because of their strategic location astride the Silk Road, the Western Regions have been historically significant to China since at least the 3rd century BC.

## History

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### Han dynasty

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In 138 BC, the Emperor Wu of Western Han dynasty sent a diplomatic envoy represented by Zhang Qian to Xiyu in an effort to contact and make alliance with Yuezhi to mitigate the threat posed by the Xiongnu confederation. Although Zhang was captured and imprisoned by Xiongnu for ten years, and the mission was eventually unsuccessful (due to Yuezhi no longer wanted to return to the east), his travels into the various states in the west served as a precursor for the long history between China and Central Asia.[2] It was the site of the War of the Heavenly Horses between Han China and the Greco-Bactrian Dayuan, and a heavily contested region during the Han–Xiongnu War until 89 AD.

The earliest solid Chinese political control of the region began in 60 BC, when Emperor Xuan of the Western Han dynasty established a military administrative office responsible for what would be present day Xinjiang and parts of Central Asia,[2] known as the Protectorate of the Western Regions. Later, the Eastern Han dynasty set up another protectorate known as the Chief Official of the Western Regions.[3]

### Tang dynasty

[edit]

Emperor Taizong's campaign against the Western Regions (640–648)

In the 7th century, the Tang dynasty's campaign against the Western Regions led to the re-acquired full control of the region, under the Protectorate General to Pacify the West. The region became significant in later centuries as a cultural conduit between East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Muslim world and Europe, including during the period of the Mongol Empire. Some of the most significant exports of the Western Regions were Buddhist texts, particularly the Mahayana sutras, which were carried by traders and pilgrim monks to China. The Tang dynasty monk Xuanzang crossed the region on his way to study in India, resulting in the influential Great Tang Records on the Western Regions upon his return to the Tang capital of Chang'an.

The Chinese lost their influence in the Western Regions after the An Lushan rebellion. A large number of local rulers resumed control in the Western Regions.

### After Tang dynasty

[edit]

The influence exercised over the Western Regions by later Chinese dynasties varied over time.[2] Xiyu tudi renwu lüe (Brief Records of the Lands and Peoples in the Western Regions), a chapter in the Gazetteer of Shaanxi compiled by Ming dynasty Chinese scholar Ma Li in 1542, documents a route leading from the Jiayu Pass, China's northwestern outpost, to the Ottoman Empire capital Istanbul, and the geography and economy of the places along the route.[4]

In the 19th century, the Russian Empire annexed Central Asia, which then became known as Russian Turkestan; [2] whereas the Inner Asian region of Xinjiang, under the rule of the Qing dynasty, became known as Chinese Turkestan. By the early twentieth century, the Russian Empire (and later, the Soviet Union) controlled most of the regions to the west of Xinjiang.[2]

## Culture

[edit]

Before the onset of Turkic migrations, the peoples of the region spoke two main groups of Indo-European languages. The peoples of oasis city-states of Hotan and Kashgar spoke Saka, one of the Eastern Iranian languages, whereas the people of Kucha, Turpan and Loulan Kingdom spoke the Tocharian languages.[5][6]

## See also

[edit]

* Turkestan
* Chinese Turkestan
* Chinese Tartary
* Hexi Corridor
* History of the Han dynasty
* Kingdom of Khotan
* Shule Kingdom
* Sogdia
* Han dynasty in Inner Asia
* Protectorate of the Western Regions
* Chief Official of the Western Regions
* Tang dynasty in Inner Asia
* Protectorate General to Pacify the West
* Qing dynasty in Inner Asia
* Xinjiang under Qing rule
* Ethnic groups in Chinese history

## References

[edit]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ Tikhvinskiĭ, Sergeĭ Leonidovich and Leonard Sergeevich Perelomov (1981). China and her neighbours, from ancient times to the Middle Ages: a collection of essays. Progress Publishers. p. 124.
2. ^ a b c d e Zhao, Huasheng (2016). "Central Asia in Chinese Strategic Thinking". The new great game : China and South and Central Asia in the era of reform. Thomas Fingar. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 171\. ISBN 978-0-8047-9764-1. OCLC 939553543.
3. ^ Ge, Jianxiong (2018). China's Belt and Road Initiatives - Economic Geography Reformation. Springer Nature Singapore. p. 6.
4. ^ Chen, Yuan Julian (2021-10-11). "Between the Islamic and Chinese Universal Empires: The Ottoman Empire, Ming Dynasty, and Global Age of Explorations". Journal of Early Modern History. 25 (5): 422–456\. doi:10.1163/15700658-bja10030. ISSN 1385-3783. S2CID 244587800.
5. ^ Xavier Tremblay, "The Spread of Buddhism in Serindia: Buddhism Among Iranians, Tocharians and Turks before the 13th Century," in The Spread of Buddhism, eds Ann Heirman and Stephan Peter Bumbacker, Leiden & Boston: Koninklijke Brill, 2007, p. 77, ISBN 978-90-04-15830-6.
6. ^ "Language Log » Tocharian C: its discovery and implications". Retrieved 2019-04-04.

### Sources

[edit]

* Yap, Joseph P. (2009). Wars with the Xiongnu - a translation from Zizhi Tongjian Chapters 4-17. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4490-0604-4.
* 西域考古図譜 : vol.1 西域考古図譜 : vol.2

## Further reading

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Western Regions.

Look up Western Regions in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

* Yap, Joseph P, (2019). The Western Regions, Xiongnu and Han, from the Shiji, Hanshu and Hou Hanshu. ISBN 978-1792829154.

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Inner Asia history series

Nomadic empires|

* Xiongnu
* Xianbei
* Rouran
* Göktürks
* First Turkic Khaganate
* Eastern Turkic Khaganate
* Western Turkic Khaganate
* Second Turkic Khaganate
* Tibetan
* Zubu
* Uyghur
* Kyrgyz
* Mongol
* Tatar
* Khamag Mongol
* Mongol Empire
* Chagatai
* Timurid
* Dzungar

Chinese empires|

| Han|

* against Xiongnu
* Protectorate of the Western Regions
* Chief Official

|

Tang|

* against Western Turks / Eastern Turks
* against Tibet
* Mongolian Plateau
* Beiting
* Tarim Basin

Liao|

* Western Liao
* Northern Liao
* Eastern Liao
* Later Liao

Yuan|

* against Northwest khanates
* Manchuria
* Mongolia
* Tibet
* Northern Yuan

Ming|

* against Mongols
* against Turpan
* Manchuria
* Tibet

Qing|

* against Dzungar
* genocide
* Lifan Yuan
* Amban
* Manchuria
* Mongolia
* Tibet
* Xinjiang

Related topics|

* The Cambridge History of Inner Asia
* Greater Central Asia
* Central Asia
* Eurasian nomads
* Tartary
* Chinese Tartary
* Western Regions (Chinese Turkestan)
* China proper
* Sinosphere
* Greater China

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Japan

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