Zhang Qian was an outstanding diplomatist during the West Han period.

In the beginning of West Han period, the Hun, based upon the west states conquered by it, often went south to invade the Han people. After ascending the throne, Emperor Liu Che of the Han dynasty decided to actively prepare military operations against the Hun to get rid of the threats imposed by the Hun for many years.

In 138 BC, Zhang Qian was sent by the Han Emperor to ally with Dayueshi State in the west region to jointly attack the Hun. However he was taken captive by the Hun when passing the Hexi Corridor which was under the Hun’s control at that time. Zhang Qian, together with his corteges, after experiencing hardships and dangers, finally arrived at Dayuan (an area in modern Republic of Uzbekistan) through the Cong Slope (the modern Pamirs) after escaping from the Hun, which detained him for over ten years. And then Zhang Qian convoyed by the Dayuan troop went to Kanju area (southeast of modern Kazakhstan), where he found the Dayueshi State and the Daxia State. But at that time, Dayueshi had no intent to fight against the Hun again, for it had settled in Guishui (area around the Amu River). In 126 BC, Zhang Qian returned to Chang’an, the capital of the Han Dynasty.

In 119 BC, Zhang Qian was sent again by the Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty to Wusun (area in modern Yili River of Xingjiang Autonomous Region), a state of the west region, to persuade it to jointly confront the Hun. In this journey, his assistants visited respectively a number of middle Asian countries as Dayuan, Kanju, Dayueshi and Dayao. In 115 BC, Zhang Qian returned to Chang’an together with several dozens of emissaries sent by the king of Wusun. Latterly, Zhang Qian’s assistants, who were sent to Asian countries, also returned to Chang’an in succession, together with emissaries sent by the corresponding countries they visited.

Zhang Qian was the first emissary sent by China to the west region. His two journeys to the west region initiated the world-famous “Silk Road“, a significant traffic portal from Xinjiang of China to the west Asia, and strengthened the political, economic and cultural communication between the Han people and other countries, which played an important role in the evolvement of China as a united feudal country with multi-ethnic groups.