About one and a half thousand years BC in the middle reaches of Yellow River Basin. there was one of the oldest countries in the world - the Chinese state. The core of it was a region located to the west of China Plain, where the Yellow River receives large inflows VEYHE right, turning to the east, pulled out onto the plain. During the first millennium BC, the Chinese are very extended their possessions. That conquering by force of arms adjacent "barbarous nations", that is temporarily stepping in front of them and still winning the power of their higher culture, the ancient Chinese have spread over a vast area of ​​East Asia, from deserts and steppes of the temperate zone in the north to the tropical forest belt in the south.
  For several centuries before our era the Chinese have moved to the east to the Pacific marginal seas and sailed in these seas. In the Yellow Sea of ​​Shandong Peninsula, they discovered, Liaodong and Korea, and, crossing a broad Korea Strait - the main Japanese island of Hondo (Honshu) and the southern Japanese island - Koshu and Shikoku. Extending in a southerly direction, the Chinese have opened all the mainland coast of East China Sea, the northern tropic, and stopped going through the wide strait opened for him the island of Taiwan. And then, moving in a south-westerly direction, they opened the South China Sea to the Gulf of Tonkin, the entire north-eastern Indochina, pool RED RIVER (SONG-Coy), Hainan Island and the eastern coastal strip of the peninsula of Indochina. In II. BC during the reign of Chinese emperor Wu Di, Vietnam was conquered by the Chinese. In the west, the Chinese, not later than the III. BC pushed the boundaries of his state to the north-eastern and eastern outskirts of the Tibetan Plateau.
  With his promotion to the south and west, the Chinese have opened no later than the III. BC almost all areas of middle and lower reaches of large rivers flowing into the Pacific sea - from the Yalu River on the border with South Korea to the Mekong in Indochina. But on the upper reaches of the great rivers of East Asian and Tibetan Plateau, where the river begins, the ancient Chinese had the most fantastic view.
  It was still vague in the III. BC Chinese view of the countries lying north of the Great China Plain and the bend of the Yellow River and west of this bend. And yet it is this side of China threatened for many centuries, the danger from the attacks of restless nomads. Defending himself from them, the Chinese began to build in the IV. BC in the foothill zone to the west of the bend of the Yellow River Great Wall. In the III-II centuries. BC they continued to the wall to the east of the Yellow River to the Liaodong Bay of Yellow Sea and the west - along the southern borders of the desert Alashan, so that it crossed the upper reaches of the river Edzin-GOAL, and was brought up a wide passage between the mountains and Beyshan Nanshan. This type of construction, the greatest in ancient history, it was only possible through careful geographical and topographical studies of the areas through which the wall was laid. (In the Middle Ages, in the XIV-XVII centuries., Was built there was another, more southern wall inside the bend of the Yellow River, is better preserved. It is also often referred to as THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA)
  However, this is unprecedented in scale construction - strength, watchtowers and tysyachemilnaya wall is not able to protect China from raids of the steppe nomadic tribes. Especially dangerous enemies of the Chinese at the turn of III-II centuries. BC were Huns. In 206 BC one of the leaders of the Hun Mode, organized a powerful military-tribal alliance was proclaimed Shanyu (great leader) of the Huns. Soon began the attack Mode: in the south-west against China and the West - against their neighbors, Yueh-chih, a nomadic people who spoke at one of the Iranian languages. In ancient history, they are also known under the name of the Kushans. (Ancient Persians called Kushans kindred tribes of the Sakas, the ancient Greeks - the Scythians, Massagets). Yueh-chih at the time dominated the steppe country, located to the west of the bend of the Yellow River to Sulehe inclusive, between the Nanshan (south) and the Gobi-Altai (north). At the beginning of II century BC Huns drove the Yueh-chih far to the west, the basin of Lake Lop Nor, on the territory lying between the Eastern Tien Shan and the Tibetan plateau. But there Yuechjy Huns pursued and defeated them soundly (177 BC), "betraying the tip of the sword and subjugating all." After the defeat of the Huns, the son of slain leader Yuechjy with his people went even further to the west of the Central Tien Shan, in Mesopotamia the Syr Darya and Amu Darya.
  During this period, China has suffered from the raids of the Huns. Chinese emperors of the first (or Western) Han dynasty were forced to enter into agreements with derogatory "about the world and the relationship", ie issue of Chinese princesses married to chiefs of the Huns, and to send them an annual tribute. But getting the tribute, the Huns continued to interfere in China's possession, to empty them, steal cattle, kill or divert the captured civilians. To combat this horse people needed large, well-trained cavalry units. But the Chinese cavalry, typing - like all Chinese soldiers - among the city or the Peasant horseless poverty, could not be compared with the "hereditary knights" of the Huns, who from early childhood accustomed to riding. Successfully deal with them can only other nomadic tribes, as mobile, as are the Huns. The Chinese should look for allies among the nomadic Huns hostile.
  The news of the defeat of the Huns full Yuechjy soon reached China. It has, however, more than thirty years, until the fledgling government of China's accession to the throne after Wu Di (140 BC) is not decided to use these events to their advantage and to enter into an alliance with the Yueh-chih for a more active struggle against the Huns

To V in. BC. Oe. among the seven warring kingdoms moved the state of Qin, whose nucleus was located in the upper basin Veyhe. Probably by this time some Tsin scouts in southern Sichuan Basin reached and established its suitability for colonization. And with V. BC. Oe. began the process of settlement of this large (200 km2) intermontane basins, which developed most intensively in the beginning of the IV. BC. Oe. But in 316 BC. Oe. Chin commander Sima Tso crossed xp. Qinling and held a series of operations in the basin, which ended its complete capture: tsintsy first climbed the eastern slopes of the Sino-Tsbetskih Mountains (Sichuan Alps). They are familiar with the entire (length approximately 750 km) of this mountain system consisting of a series of parallel ridges with steep slopes, and crossing it from east to west. At the same time they opened (the second time - after the ancient Indians), the upper course of rivers. Yangtze, Mekong and Salween, cut in the mountains, very deep gorge.
  In the IV - III in the beginning. BC. Oe. accumulated a certain geographical information about the territory, which belonged to ancient Chinese.
  And in the first half of the III. BC. e, the anonymous geographer of the kingdom of Qin was the first description of a huge (about 2 million km2) in the region, outside of which were in the north of 40 °. sh. in the east - the Yellow Sea in the south - 31 °. sh., in the west and 104 ° c. etc. In this area he identified nine physiographic regions, involving Mts. Taihang, Yanynan, Qinling, northern slopes of the ridges and Nanlin Wuyi, China Plain, Loess Plateau, with its mountain ranges and rivers flowing in deep gorges, Shandong Peninsula, the Sichuan basin and the basin of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and Yangtze River. But their upper reaches and the Tibetan Plateau, where the river begins, the ancient Chinese had the most fantastic view.
  In the past 23 years (244-221 years. BC. E.) Ruler of the kingdom of Qin named Ying Zheng, acting methodically and decisively, skillfully and ruthlessly destroyed, overthrown, conquered, defeated or annexed the possession of the other six states of China. The final victory allowed him in 221 BC. Oe. declare himself Emperor Qin Shi Huang-ti. In 219-218 years. he made two "inspection" tour of the Middle Kingdom, and making sure that the situation in the country has stabilized and began offensive operations. In the north-east of its troops seized the Liaodong Peninsula and opened lower and middle reaches of the River. Yalu River (border with Korea). In the north tsintsy pushed its borders up to xp. Inynan in the west - to the mountains of Nanshan, and Sino-Tibetan mountains.
  But the main focus of aggression was the south. In 218 BC. Oe. Qin Shi Huang-ti moved back five hundred thousandth army to conquer the earth with the task of "boyue" - a huge mountain country (South China Mountain), covered with tropical rain forests, which are inhabited by many colorful ethnic composition of the Viet tribes, engaged in rice cultivation and fishing. On p. Yangtze tsintsy attacked by five columns (less likely given their way), one passed through the central part of the ridge. Wuyi and descended into the basin. Min River, to the coast of the Taiwan Strait at 26 ° c. sh., the other through a joint ranges Nanlin and Wuyi in 114 ° c. went on to the delta of southern China's largest artery - p. Xi (2130 km). The path of two columns was through the center of the ridge. Nanlin at 112 ° c. on the lower and middle reaches of the Xi, is the westernmost column through the eastern part of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau moved into the basin. Hongha (North-eastern Indochina). Perhaps some teams entered in the eastern seaside and mountainous strip of Indochina Peninsula (the northern part of the Annamese mountains). The population of the areas through which the armies of Qin, climbed into the mountains and provided stiff resistance to the aggressor. After the bloody battles and hard-to 215 BC invaders captured the state Namvet (basin. Si), and part of the state Aulak (pool bottom Hongha). However, to keep this territory the invaders could not: in 214, the allied army defeated the Viet invaders. Incredible efforts Qin Shi Huang brought major new force, which, together with broken pieces took Namvet and north-eastern part of Aulaka.
  The geographical results of campaigns in the South proved to be very significant: tsintsy completed the discovery of an important klimatorazdela - a huge (2,000 km) of the South China mountains, laid the foundation for the dissemination of the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau and the northern part of the Annamese mountains. But the countries that lie north of the Great Plain of China, on the bend of the Yellow River and west of this bend, the ancient Chinese representation in the III. BC. Oe. were still very vague. And yet it is this side of China threatened the greatest danger from nomad raids. To protect against the Chinese in the IV-II centuries. BC. Oe. built the Great Wall, stretching for 4-5 thousand miles from the Liaodong Bay to pass between Mts. Beyshan and Nanypan. But it proved ineffective structure.

The Chinese are only vaguely represented the country in which the Huns defeated the Yueh-chih, and did not know which country has left part of his surviving son of the murdered leader of the people. And it was he or his descendants seemed to welcome the Chinese rulers reliable allies against a common enemy. First of all, it was necessary to find the Yueh-chih. They called wanting to go out to look for. The choice fell on one of the officers of the Imperial Guard, Zhang Qian, perhaps because he was distinguished by great physical strength and endurance. The order was difficult, because the Chinese people at that time had no idea about the geography of Central Asia, and very dangerous, where will we have left Yueh-chih, they certainly are now roamed far to the west, a vast, stretching for thousands of Li (Li = 0.6 km .), steppe or desert area, over which were complete masters of the Huns.
  Zhang Qian was given a suite in a hundred people. Among his entourage was Hun Tana. He became a close friend and loyal companion, Zhang Qian, an irreplaceable helper, guide and interpreter - at least at first, until I learned not Zhang Qian Hun language.
  Travel Zhang Qian started in 138 BC From the Chinese capital, located on the lower Veyhe (a tributary of the Yellow River), Zhang Qian and his entourage headed west, and passing the Yellow River - the North-West Moving in the northern foothills of the band Nan, he went to the Great Wall and was immediately captured by the Huns. They led an embassy in full force in its bid Shanyu, third great leader Hun military-tribal alliance.
  Shanyu ordered to hold the embassy. However, he spared all, not even the carnage of the Tana, which could be regarded as a turncoat. And soon the ambassador himself was given in marriage to a noble gunnka, who bore him a son. About ten years he lived among the Huns, the Chinese ambassador. He was given complete freedom. Zhang Qian took advantage of that to gather accurate information about the Western nations and the way to them, of course, most of all he was interested in Yueh-chih. In 128 BC Zhang Qian, seizing the opportune moment, escaped from the Huns with his wife and young son, a loyal companion and part of the Tana his retinue. A few weeks fugitives made their way west. They went first from oasis to oasis - along the southern foothills of the eastern Tien Shan, and then through the possessions of nomads Usuns that while "the habits of the similarity of the Huns" - the mountain valleys and over high passes of the Central Tien Shan they went to the southern shore Lake Issyk-Kul, the city Chigu - rate Usun tribal leader. And from there through the high mountain passes and along the valley of the Naryn (one of the headwaters of the Syr-Darya), the Chinese have gone down in the Ferghana Valley, in the possession of "Davan" and came to his capital, "Guyshan" (Kassan). Here in the western part of the Ferghana Valley, the first time in the history of closed paths of the ancient representatives of the two great nations - the Greeks and the Chinese: exactly two hundred years before the arrival of Zhang Qian to the east, in 328, the entrance to the Ferghana Valley came from the west is one of the the armies of Alexander of Macedon. But the soldiers of Alexander were there through the country of high culture, territory, well known to the ancient Persians and conquered before them, while Zhang Qian crossed completely unexplored desert steppe or alpine areas.
  Lord of Davani, a relatively developed agricultural country, has warmly Zhang Qian as expected with the help of tie direct trade relations with distant China. He gave Zhang Qian to the nomadic tribe of conductors Kangüy, living in the Syr Darya steppes to the north-west of Davani. But Zhang Qian kangyuytsy helped find, finally, Yueh-chih, who wandered to the south of them, between the sands of Kyzylkum and the Amu-Darya. Home Yuechjy rate, food, located in the valley of the middle reaches of the river Zarafshan. Zhang Qian did not find there the heirs of the murdered leader of the Huns, which was sent to ten years ago. The grandson of the leader during that time made a trip to the south, across the river "Guyshuy" (Amu Darya), won the decaying Greco-Bactrian kingdom, located in the eastern Iranian plateau and stayed there (it was the capital of Bactria, Balkh, the later name).
  Zhang Qian went to the Yueh-chih conquered the kingdom, which he calls "Dasya." But the king did not think about revenge Huns and rejected the very idea of ​​an alliance with distant China. Zhang Qian lived in the country Dasya year. The king did not change his decision, but the ambassador took the opportunity available to gather information about his kingdom. To his surprise, Zhang Qian found in Dasya products from central China (canvas and bamboo staves from the middle Yangtze River basin). They were delivered by local merchants out of some Indian states "Shendu" lying "for thousands of Lee Dasya in the south-east."
  In 127 BC. Oe. Zhang Qian went to way back. He skirted the north Pamir, which he calls Tsunlin ("Onion Mountain"). He drew attention to the fact that the Pamir mountain watershed is a powerful unit, from one river flowing to the west, and others - to the east, towards China. Through the Alai Valley, Kashgar and Yarkand, Zhang Qian came to Khotan. From oasis to oasis, along the southern margin of the Takla Makan Desert, he went to a huge flat basin, which is located in the undrained wandering lake Lop Nor.
  In that year, when Zhang Qian visited the Lop Nor, water, salt, and there was the ambassador and called Salt Lake. Apparently, he had heard from locals that this lake is sometimes disappears. And he came to this conclusion: "From Yutian (Khotan) rivers flow east and empty into the Salt Lake (Lop Nor). Salt Lake sneaks under the earth and in the south makes the origins of the Yellow River (Huang He). Yellow River goes into the Middle Kingdom "(China).
  Now we know that this conclusion - a large geographical error. Lop Nor lies at an altitude of only 780 m, and the sources of the Yellow River - freshwater lake Dzharin-Nur and Orin-Nur in the eastern Tibetan Plateau, about 800 km south-east of Lobnor - at an altitude of 4230 meters, but then, in the II a. BC. Oe., an erroneous conclusion, Zhang Qian was a step forward compared to the ancient Chinese legend of the geographical fact that the Yellow River originates on Mount Kunlun fantastic height is 2.5 thousand (1,500 km).
  To the east of Lobnor ruled the Huns, and they were again detained Zhang Qian. Only a year later he managed to escape with his family and loyal Tana. They had neither the means nor the supplies. Often they were saved from starvation only by the fact that Tana was a skilled archer. "In the extreme, he beat the birds and beasts, and delivered the food." In 126 BC. Oe. Zhang Qian and his family returned home, having been in the absence of almost thirteen years. Of the other members of his embassy returned to China just Tana.
  By calculations of Zhang Qian - a relatively accurate for his time - he took during his travels around 25 thousand there, which is about 15tys. miles. He was first brought to China, precise information on the steppes and deserts of Central Asia, the great Central Asian mountain systems - Tien Shan and Pamir ("Onion Mountain"), a large Central Asian rivers originate in these mountains: the Syr Darya and Amu Darya flowing in the "West Sea" (he mixed up the Aral Sea to the Caspian), Tarim, the current in the Lop Nor. From the Far East, "he first opened the way to the Western Territory," and then - in India. And he was the first well-pointed out that from China to India to lead and other, shorter, and, in his opinion, more secure south-western mountain roads - from the middle Yangtze River Basin (Sichuan) in the Yunnan Plateau.
  Emperor Wu Di ordered the first in India to send four ambassadors from different points of the middle Yangtze River basin. These embassies have not achieved their goal: passing 500-1000 km, they were forced to turn back because of the opposition unsubdued mountaineers. The attempt to master the southern route to India (and through it in Dasi and Davan) again led the Chinese government to pay attention to the northern route to Western countries. Meanwhile, Zhang Qian was appointed head of a major military unit and about 123 BC participated in the regular campaign against the Huns. The campaign was successful: due to the fact that Zhang Qian knew the place, "privolnye grass and water," an army in no way suffered disadvantage, and at his return, he received the princely title. However, in the following year the Chinese army was defeated by the Huns. Zhang Qian was accused of that defeat was his fault, he was deprived of his princely title, demoted and sentenced to death, but "pay off, became a commoner," (122 BC)
  However, Emperor Wu Di continued to seek the advice of Western humiliation for the great traveler. Around 106 BC Zhang Qian had been framed in the city Chigu (Central Tien Shan), with a detachment of cavalry 300chelovek, with huge herds of cattle and small ruminants, with a large retinue, with many gifts for Usun leaders. He bowed to an alliance with China's supreme leader Usuns. From Chigu he sent his assistants to the kings and tribal leaders in Central Asia, as well as in the "Anxi '(Parthia) and" Shendyu "(India). Since China is the first time tied up direct relations with the countries of the Near East and South Asia. Sam Zhang Qian returned to China and died a year later (104 or 103 BC)

The economic impact of travel Zhang Qiang was very high. Basically, according to his itinerary at the turn of II and I centuries. BC was the southern branch of the trade route of global importance - THE GREAT SILK ROAD from eastern China to the countries of Central and West Asia (later mastered was the northern branch of the great caravan route. It was held in the north-west of the route, Zhang Qiang Barkul the lake, ran along the northern foothills of the Tien Shan and Valley IL and output Balkhash steppe.) For these routes, they were laid, and two very important international road - from China to South Asia, bypassing the Tibetan Plateau: the West, the Pamir, appears in the north-western India, in the valley Indus, and later, Eastern, Yunnan, appears in the western Indochina, in the valley of the Irrawaddy River. Thus, the land connection between the two great nations of the ancient culture of China and India, relatively closely spaced from each other, there was a roundabout way. But the Chinese preferred to skirt the Tibetan Plateau is better than to overcome in the east mountain ranges covered with dense tropical forests. However, the promotion of Chinese in the west was delayed by nearly two centuries because of the sharp deterioration in the country of class antagonisms and the associated mass peasant uprisings.
  In the second (or Western) Han dynasty in the middle of I. BC, when Chinese feudal empire regained its military might, she defeated a part of the Hun tribes that roamed north of the Great Wall of China. In the last quarter of the I c. BC was sent west to Khotan, commander Ban Chao. After staying there for several years, he, acting diplomatically, Zhang Qian, an alliance against the Huns with the tribes who lived in the eastern Tien Shan, and leaning on them, routed the western Huns (91-94 years). Developing your success, Ban Chao walked further west, down to the Central Asian Mesopotamia, crossed the Amu-Darya and reached the city in '97 Antioch Margiana (Old Merv in the lower reaches of the river Murghab now in Turkmenistan)
  In the Chinese chronicles in '97 said, "Gan Ying, Ban Chao sent from the west, reached the western sea and returned. In the past, none of the Chinese did not penetrate that far. Gan Ying satisfactorily described climates and rare works of the countries it passed." In another recording of the same year, said: "The governor Ban Chao sent Gan Ying envoy to Daqing (Rome). Upon arrival in the great sea Tyaochzhi he wanted to go on. Sudohozyaeva on the western border Anxi told him that the sea is very extensively, and to commit way around, with good wind conditions, needs three months, and with a weak for about two years .... Gan Ying heard this, they left the intention "
  Description of the country Tyaochzhi placed in the same annals, which informs about the mission of Gan Ying, hardly in the following parts may relate to Asia Minor. As some commentators suggest, at the West Sea should be understood as the Persian Gulf. Other commentators identifyed Tyaochzhi with Mesopotamia, or from the south-eastern Arabia. A more probable that the description of mixed Tyaochzhi features several coastal countries of South-West Asia.

By Zhang Qian moved into a new era from India to China first Buddhist missionaries, spread among the peoples of Central and East Asia, a new religion. And in the opposite direction of the same reflex, though severe, but relatively safe way later went to India, "to the holy places," the Chinese pilgrims. At the turn of the IV-V centuries., In 399, is a "walk" started a Buddhist monk, Fa Xian Chinese. He passed through Central Asia to the north-western India, held in India for many years, collecting Buddhist manuscripts and relics, and for this purpose visited Buddhist shrines in many parts of the country, mainly in North India. At home, Fa Hsien came by sea. He boarded a ship in the delta of the Ganges, visited Ceylon and Java, and from there went to China, where he arrived in 414, the Fa-hsien was "Fogotszi" (note on the attendance of Buddhist countries) that have survived to our time, translated into several languages, reprinted with extensive commentary. They contain, besides a fairly detailed descriptions of shrines and holy books, even a brief description of the countries it passed and life of local residents.
  Palmer was a great Chinese traveler, and VII. Xuan Zang. Travel Xuan Zang had lasted 16 years (629-645 years.). In Central Asia, he almost repeated the routes Zhang Qian. To the south of the Amu-Darya (from the district of Balkh), he crossed the Hindu Kush mountain range, the valley of the Kabul River, passed through the Khyber gate and crossed the Indus in the east Punjab. He had been followed in all the countries of North India - up to and including Bengal, visited a number of coastal areas of the Indian subcontinent (except for its most southern part), and on the way back followed during the Lower and Middle Indus to the Punjab, returned to the Amu-Darya, and then - at home.
  Xuan Zang was based on materials collected during the trip, his "Notes on the West," which enjoyed enormous popularity for several centuries. "He was a true scholar of new countries in the modern sense of the word" (Reclus). For historians of the early Middle Ages "Notes" are one of the most important primary sources for the study of Central Asian countries, especially India. "Description of Xuan Zang is a true mine of information about the political situation and the religion of India during Harsha» (VII c. N. E.) - Say eminent Indian historians, NK Sinha and Charles A. Banerjee. About travels and adventures of Xuan Zang Chinese people have folded a lot of legends. In the XVI century. Chinese writer Cheng-En has collected these legends and creatively reworked them into a certain sci-fi novel "Journey to the West."
  Chinese pilgrims, explorers first time half of VII v.uzhe did not pass the high plateaus of Tibet, where the governor Srontszangambo introduced Buddhism. Buddhist pilgrims, the Chinese and Tibetans, explored a shorter route from eastern China to India, and in the second half of VII century. allied with China, the Tibetan army sent Srontszangambo, exceeded the Himalayas through the alpine passes and down into the plain of the Ganges.
  Regular communication between China and India maintained and by sea. In 689, the sea from China to India on a merchant vessel off the Buddhist pilgrim I Ching. He walked along the coast of Indochina to Sumatra and Malacca, and there, in the south, the capital of the state Shrividzhaya (now Palembang) spent several months studying Sanskrit (capital Shrividzhai was a center of Buddhist learning.) Then, moving in a northerly direction along the eastern coast of Sumatra by the Malacca Strait I Ching came into the Indian Ocean, crossed the Bay of Bengal and in 691 reached the delta of the Ganges. Having made the pilgrimage to many Buddhist shrines in North India, the I Ching in 695 he returned to his homeland, which was a detailed description of his journey.
  Probably in the first century AD, the Chinese trading vessels visited the Philippines and some islands of Indonesia, sailed to Ceylon, and to reach more remote from the countries of China, adjacent to the Arabian Sea, even to East Africa. But the Chinese, like the Mediterranean navigators (such as the Phoenicians or the Greeks), came to South Asia, then, as they have already formed state with high culture. One can not therefore speak of the discovery of India, Iran, Mesopotamia, one can speak only to familiarize himself with these countries: Chinese - from the Far East, the Mediterranean peoples - from the West.