Foreign Trades and Tribute in the Han Empire

Zhang Qian's voyage to the West made it possible to open diplomatic relations with the West while steering clear of Xiongnu, easing hostile relationships, and securing traffic routes. More importantly, trade was made in the form of tributes, which better guaranteed safety and provisions en route. The recently found Xuanquanzhi wooden tablets give detailed proof of these facts. While there were small diplomatic missions, there were also delegations numbering over 1000 persons. The tablets also confirm that regardless of their political relation or diplomatic purpose many persons on the traffic route traveled as part of mixed groups. Delegations were often composed of many countries located along the same traffic route, escorted by the envoys of the Han Empire for the purpose of expanding Han Emperor's dignity. Thus merchants from the West were supplied with foodstuffs by the Han Empire via their envoys. Those merchants arriving from the West were escorted to Jiuquan commandery, where they sold their commodities as tributes at prices set by the officials. While envoys had to travel on to the capital for audience with the emperor, commodities were traded on the frontier. Moreover, merchants from the West got together and traded commodities, principally in Jiuquan commandery. Those merchants who entered the Han Empire sometimes stayed there for several months, while possibly trading in frontier areas. The situation was not, then, so very different from the way the Sogdian merchants did business after the fourth century. The introduction of trade in the form of tributes in the second century B. C. paved the way for the emergence of the Silk Road trade. This kind of tributary trade was not limited to the relationships between the western countries and the Han Empire. Same structure can be applied to the other areas. We can glimpse the same way that happened between the eastern countries and the Han Empire if we analyze the written records carefully with the help of wooden slips. When the San-han and the Wo gave a tribute to the Han, they often composed of a same delegation and entered the frontier commandery at the same time, escorted by Han envoys while supplied with water, food and transportation. The merchants who resided along the shore of Korean peninsular and the Japanese islands travelled together only for the purpose of trade