312 east turkestan
10, 1091,^40 Jan.18, 1092, and Dec.8, 1092, Khotan offered gifts (Sung
shih 17:8b, 11b, 12b, 15a,, 18b; Sung hui-yao kao ts’e 197; Hsü Tzu-chih
t’ung-chien ch’ang-pien p.4127).
In 1093, Khotan offered the Sung an alliance against the Hsia
State, which was rejected (Sung shih 490:7b-8a; Wen-hsien t’ung-k’ao
337:42a).
On Aug.4, 1096, envoys from Khotan offered regional objects (Sung
hui-yao kao ts’e 197).
On Feb.22, 1097, Dec.28, 1108, Feb.11, 1117, Aug.26, 1118, and
Nov.4, 1124, Khotan offered gifts (Sung shih 18:10b; 20:8b; 21:7b, 11a;
22:11a;Sung hui-yao kao ts’e 197).
The oasis states of East Turkestan were rich through the caravan
trade on the Silk Routes but poor in the size of their populations. They
were also weakened by fighting each other. This made them vulner-
able to the aggression of the Chinese, Tibetans, Turks, and Uighurs.
Survival against these powerful neighbours could be not by force of
arms but only by diplomacy.
Emperor Wu of Former Han had succeeded in establishing a pro-
tectorate over East Turkestan from the end of the 1st century B.C.
onward. This lasted until the beginning of Later Han, when Emperor
Kuang-wu (r.A.D.25-57) refused military involvement in Central Asia.^41
With the Chinese victories over the Northern Hsiung-nu in A.D.73
and 89, East Turkestan was again brought under Chinese control until
the protectorate disintegrated after 150.
In the following centuries, the oasis states maintained their independ-
ence but again lost it in T’ang times. Over the protests of his chief
advisers, T’ai-tsung annexed Turfan in 640 and defeated Karashahr in
- In 640, he established the An-hsi Protectorate in Turfan, which
was moved to Kucha in 649. Subsequently, Kashgar and Khotan were
brought under Chinese control by diplomatic means, Chu-chü-po as
late as 713-741. From 670, the Tibetans controlled East Turkestan,
but they were defeated in 692 by armies sent by the Empress Wu,
and the An-hsi Protectorate was reestablished (Chiu T’ang shu198:10b).
From 790, East Turkestan again fell to the Tibetans.
The Five Dynasties were too weak to assert themselves in Central
(^40) Hsü Tzu-chih t’ung-chien ch’ang-pien p.4269 gives the date of Mar.3, but that refers
to the reception of the mission from Fu-lin.
(^41) See my Restoration, vol.III, pp.131-134.