Related to the work Was there no saddle stirrup in the Han Dynasty?

Reposted from http:// Spring and Autumn Warring States Global Chinese Network, 2004-07-07

The Han Dynasty was the first golden period of ancient Chinese history, which initially laid the general territory of China for 2,000 years, and since then the concept of "the unification of the world" has penetrated deep into the heart of the Han nation, and has had a huge impact on the surrounding areas and even as far as Central and Western Asia in terms of economy, politics and culture, and for the first time made China as a stable and powerful empire on the stage of first-class competition in world history. One of the reasons why the Han Dynasty was able to achieve such brilliant achievements was its strong military power, the most important source of which was its cavalry units, which were able to fight well. For the cavalry, the most important horse harness, the most critical saddle and stirrup in the Han Dynasty, especially the Western Han Dynasty, has become a striking thing.

For this problem, since there has been no evidence of the Western Han Dynasty saddle and the two Han Dynasty stirrups in archaeology for a long time, sculptures, paintings, etc., the traditional view is that "in the Western Han Dynasty, the saddle and stirrup did not appear, which affected the combat effectiveness of the cavalry to some extent" (1), "...... But stirrups still did not appear, which greatly affected the combat effectiveness of the cavalry. (2) It should be emphasized, however, that the term "saddle" here and in this article does not refer to all objects used to separate the human body from the horse's back in a broad sense, but to a "Takahashi saddle" in its narrow sense, that is, a "Takahashi saddle" with both ends upturned. So is this really the case? Here's a cursory discussion of this.

The saddle and stirrup were the most important inventions of the complete harness after the horse's chew and bridle. In the days without stirrups, people had to ride on the back of a bare horse, and only by grasping the reins or mane and clamping the horse's belly with their legs to keep themselves from falling off while the horse was galloping. However, this method is very unreliable, first of all, it is easy to get tired after a long time of riding, and at the same time, it is difficult to use a bow and arrow effectively on the back of a running horse, and in close combat, the rider cannot use the sword and spear as he pleases, and the slash or assassination misses, and the collision of the blades of both sides can cause the rider to slide off the horse at any time. Therefore, in addition to the advantage of speed, the combat effectiveness of the cavalry in this period was far inferior to that of the down-to-earth infantry, so after the cavalry arrived at the destination, it often dismounted and put into the battlefield as infantry, as was the case with the Macedonian cavalry in Alexander's era.

The first innovation (which is only a general opinion, but the actual order of its invention is not necessarily the case) was the advent of the Takahashi saddle, which changed from flat to high at both ends, limiting the rider's tendency to slide back and forth, providing longitudinal stability. The second was the use of stirrups, which provided lateral stability by fixing the feet and at the same time uniting the man and the horse with the assistance of the saddle, making it possible for the cavalry to use the horse's speed to make a frontal assault. Western scholars commented on the new equipment carried by the Huns who entered Europe this way: "The saddle is the key to the complete union of man and horse. The unique saddle of the Huns caused a surprise to the Romans. Their saddle was not made of leather that wrapped around the horse's belly like the Romans, and the Hun saddle was special in that it had a wooden carriage that was two ends high. In this way, no matter how the horse runs, the knights can sit firmly on the horse's back. …… On the contrary, the clumsy riding skills of the Romans caused quite a few riders to often lose their balance in battle and fall off their horses, which was often dangerous and sometimes fatal. …… In addition to the saddle, the Huns brought from Asia an innovation that was revolutionary at the time: the stirrup, which had never been seen before by Europeans. In order to prevent the legs from getting tired after long rides, bandages, belts or leg bands woven from a type of linen were tied to the saddle. In this way, there is a place for the feet to tread. …… Although the stirrup was not perfect at the time, it gave the riders a sense of security and also allowed them to stand up on their horses and turn in all directions. Thanks to the wooden saddles and stirrups, the Hun riders were able to shoot arrows in every direction while riding. (3) The introduction of the stirrup was a major event in Europe, as it enabled cavalry to replace infantry as the main force in medieval warfare, "once stirrups became common to the Franks in the eighth century, horses could be used not only for rapid concentration, but also for battle." Speed can be converted into assault. (4) "The stirrup enabled the creation of feudal knights in heavy armor in the Middle Ages. (5) This shows how important it is.

Since the saddle and stirrup are the premise of the combat mode with the cavalry as the main force, some clues can be roughly found from the use of cavalry in ancient China. It can be considered that in China by the Qin Dynasty at the latest, saddles and stirrups were not produced. This judgment is not only due to the fact that the terracotta warriors and horses of the Mausoleum of the First Emperor have detailed horse harnesses, but there are no high bridge saddles and stirrups (Fig. 1), but also because the number of cavalry in the terracotta warrior battle array is relatively small and arranged in the side corners away from the main formation, which shows that before the Qin Dynasty, the role of cavalry was only reconnaissance, flank outflanking, harassment and blocking, sneak attack and pursuit, and could not become the main force of battle, let alone independently undertake the entire campaign.

What can provide evidence for this is Sun Bin's description of cavalry combat: "There are ten advantages to using cavalry: one is to meet the enemy; Second, it is said to take advantage of the void and betray the enemy; The third is to chase and scatter the chaos; Fourth, after facing the enemy's attack; Fifth, it is said to cover its food and cut off its military path; Sixth, it is said that it will defeat its Guanjin and send its bridge; Seven said to cover up its unpreparedness, and attack its uninspiring brigade; Eight said to attack its slackness and surprise; Nine said to burn their savings, empty their city; Ten said that they plundered their fields and burdened their children. These ten are also the benefits of cavalry. (6) It can be seen that the cavalry in this period only performed auxiliary tasks, and it is unlikely that they had saddle stirrups.

So what is the combat situation of the cavalry of the Han Dynasty in historical records?

During the reign of Emperor Wen, "in the winter of the fourteenth year, the Xiongnu plotted to enter the border for Kou, attacked the Nasai, and killed the northern capital Weiwei. Shangnai sent three generals to Longxi, Beidi, and Shangjun, Lieutenant Zhou She was the general of Wei, and Lang Zhong ordered Zhang Wu to be the general of the cavalry, and the army was Weibei, with thousands of cars and 100,000 cavalry. …… So Zhang Xiangru, Marquis of Dongyang, was the general, Weihou Chi was the internal envoy, and Luan Bu was the general, and the Huns were attacked. The Huns fled. (7) It can be seen that at this time, the scale of the Han army's cavalry participation in a single battle and the proportion of troops accounted for by the Han army increased significantly, and it no longer only played an auxiliary role.

Since Emperor Wu, the status of the cavalry has further risen: "In the next year, in the spring of the fifth year of Yuan Shuo, Wei Qing, the general of the Han Dynasty, rode 30,000 horses and went out of Gaoque. (8) "King Youxian thought that the Han soldiers could not arrive, so he was drunk. The Han soldiers went out of the fortress for six or seven hundred miles, and surrounded the right virtuous king at night. (9) "In the spring of the next year, the Han Dynasty will send the general Wei Qing and six generals, with more than 100,000 soldiers, and then go out to Dingxiang for hundreds of miles to attack the Huns." (10) "In the spring of next year, the Han Dynasty sent the hussar general to go sick and ride 10,000 horses out of Longxi, cross the Yanzhi Mountain for more than 1,000 miles, attack the Huns, and get more than 8,000 Hu Shou, and break the Hugh Tu King to sacrifice to Tianjin. In the summer, the hussar general Fu and the cavalry Hou tens of thousands rode out of Longxi and the north for more than 2,000 miles, attacked the Huns, passed Tuyan, and attacked Qilian Mountain, and captured more than 30,000 people under Hu Shou, and more than 70 people below the little king. (11) "In the spring of the fourth year of Yuanzhen, the general Qing and the hussar general were ordered to go out of the sick general with 50,000 cavalry each, and the infantry turned into hundreds of thousands, and those who dared to fight deeply belonged to hussars. (12) "Autumn, locusts." Sent 20,000 Junji Zhao Ponu to ride out of Shuofang to attack the Huns, but did not return. (13) "In the summer of May, 30,000 generals of the Second Division rode out of Jiuquan, fought with the Right Xianwang and Tianshan, and beheaded more than 10,000 captives. (14) "In the first month of the spring of the fourth year, the princes of the dynasty were in Ganquan Palace. Send the world's seven branches and brave soldiers, send the second division general Li Guangli to send 60,000 cavalry and 70,000 infantry out of Shuofang, because the general Gongsun Ao Wan cavalry, 30,000 infantry out of Yanmen, the guerrilla general Han said that 30,000 infantry out of Wuyuan, and more than 10,000 crossbow commander Lu Bode infantry and the second division meeting. (15) "In winter, Liaodong Wuhuan rebelled, with Zhonglang general Fan Mingyou as the general of Liao, and attacked seven counties in the north and 2,000 cavalry in the county. (16) In these examples, two trends can be seen. First, the proportion of cavalry in the total strength of the army is constantly increasing, with the gradual withdrawal of chariots from the battlefield, the ratio of the two arms of cavalry in terms of numbers has risen from 100,000 to hundreds of thousands to 70,000 to 140,000, and the cavalry has obviously replaced the infantry and become the main force in battle, on the contrary, the infantry has fallen to the position of "heel army," that is, following the rear to assist in the battle, so that it is not uncommon for cavalry to participate in battles alone. Second, a battle is often a long drive of hundreds of miles or even one or two thousand miles for a battle, the fatigue caused by long-term horseback riding is becoming more and more prominent, if the rider can not be fully physical into the battle, it is impossible to win a large-scale decisive battle in Hexi, Mobei and so on. In the absence of saddle stirrups, such a campaign is almost unimaginable.

On the other hand, from the perspective of specific combat methods, as early as the Chu-Han War, "the Han army surrounded several times, and King Xiang said that he rode and said: 'I take the other general for the public.'" 'Let the four sides ride down, and the period of Shandong is three. So King Xiang galloped down, and the Han army was invincible, so he beheaded the Han general. …… Instead of riding for three Han armies, they didn't know where King Xiang was, but divided the army into three and resieged it. Xiang Wang Naichi, re-beheaded the first lieutenant of the Han Dynasty, killed dozens of hundreds of people, reunited his riding and killed his two horses, and said that his riding said: 'How so? 'Riding all the horses are subdued and said: 'As the king said.' (17) The fact that such a way of fighting in the midst of an enemy line can be adopted shows that the rider has a considerable stability on the horse, otherwise it is very easy to fall.

During the Western Han Dynasty, the bow and arrow were the most important combat weapons of the Xiongnu and Han cavalry, and its use was severely restricted by horse harnesses. When there is no saddle, it is extremely difficult to shoot arrows on a galloping horse, because the rider has to hold the horse's belly and balance it with both legs, and at the same time pull the bow with both arms and try to make the arrow hit the target. When the Takahashi saddle was put into use, it gave the rider a longitudinal stabilizing effect, allowing him to shoot arrows in front of him while galloping, but because there was no effective support in the transverse direction, it was still easy to fall when shooting arrows in the left and right directions or even when turning around and shooting backwards, which is very dangerous, as can be seen in the evaluation of Western scholars quoted above. However, there is such a record in the historical materials: "The Hun chasers rode hundreds of chases, took Hu'er bows in Guangxing, shot and killed the chasing horses, so they got out." (18) This circumstance of turning and shooting backwards indicates that saddles and stirrups should have been used at this time. Moreover, in the historical materials of the Han Dynasty, except for a few people who deliberately expressed contempt for the Han army, there has never been a record of the Xiongnu dismounting and fighting, if there is no application of the saddle stirrup, this cannot but be said to be a very strange phenomenon.

The use of bows and arrows in ancient times was also affected by the weather, and if the bowstring was wet by rain, the effect would be greatly reduced, and if it was in severe cold weather, the power would also be severely reduced. The Song people once recorded: "The Khitan named Yelu Xunning to the Yue, and rode into Kouying Prefecture with tens of thousands." Liu Ting was deployed to fight in the Junzi Pavilion, it would be very cold, our division could not use bows and arrows, and the enemy besieged the court to make several heavy. (19) And in the famous siege of Baideng, "so the Han Xi soldiers, many infantry, 320,000, drove them north." Emperor Gao first went to Pingcheng, the infantry did not arrive, and 400,000 elite soldiers surrounded Emperor Gao in Baideng. (20) "It will be cold, and the soldiers will fall into the second or third place, and then they will go to Pingcheng." The Huns besieged the city of Ping, and then left for seven days. (21) In such a cold situation, it is difficult to say that the bows and arrows of the Xiongnu and Han armies will maintain their power, and once the two sides meet, fierce white-knuckle battles will break out. In hand-to-hand combat, the cavalry without stirrups could not catch up with the infantry in combat effectiveness, and if the Xiongnu dismounted to meet the attack, they would not be the opponent of the Han army, which had always been good at foot combat, and it was difficult to prevent the Han army from breaking through, so the easy siege of seven days became difficult to explain. What's more, although the strength of the Xiongnu in this battle was 400,000 according to the "Historical Records", it is likely to be an imaginary number, because in the "Historical Records", it was originally mentioned that the Xiongnu in the Maudun period had "more than 300,000 men who controlled the strings" (22). Moreover, even if the number of "400,000" is accurate, since the number of nomads participating in the expedition often includes a large number of women, the elderly, children and other non-combatants, their real combat strength is far from that large, and the quality of the aforementioned close combat is even more overstretched to cope with the breakthrough of the Han army. In this case, why did Liu Bang, who is not afraid of horses, dare not break through? There can only be one explanation for this, that is, the Hun cavalry at that time was already equipped with saddles and stirrups, which had a strong melee advantage and impact on the infantry, and risking a breakthrough would only lead to the annihilation of the entire army. There is also an interesting phenomenon, that is, in the historical materials of the two Han Dynasty, the name "sudden cavalry" appeared: "If the plain of Ruofu changes places, light vehicles and sudden horses, then the Huns are easy to chaos" (23) "Shanggu Taishou Geng Condition, Yuyang Taishou Peng Pet each sent their generals Wu Han, Kou Sui and other generals to help attack Wang Lang" (24) "The thief chases urgently, short-term soldiers, Guangwu throws himself into the high bank, meets the sudden cavalry Wang Feng, dismounts and grants Guangwu, Guangwu caresses his shoulders and goes up, Gu Xiao said Geng Yi said: 'A few are captives. (25) Regarding the meaning of the word "turbulent cavalry" in the Book of Han, Yan Shigu annotated it as: "Turbulent cavalry, its words are sharp and can be used to conflict with the enemy." (26) Yan Shigu was a Tang person, and his annotations may not represent the true meaning of "turbulence" in the Han Dynasty, so what is its role in the historical records of the Han Dynasty? "Guangwu attacked the group of thieves in the north, and (Wu) Han Chang took 5,000 cavalry as the front of the army, and landed and captured Chen first." (27) "Liu Yong gathered more than 100,000 people from Zhou Jianbei to save Guangle. The Han generals rode lightly to meet the battle, which was unfavorable, fell from the horse and injured the knee, returned to the camp, and built and other troops entered the city. (28) It can be seen that at least in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the cavalry was already able to take on the task of standing in the front row and charging in front of the front, "landing in battle first", and the combat mode of using the impact of cavalry to crush the enemy formation and the infantry to follow up to determine the outcome has been established. If in close combat with the Huns it was only cavalry against cavalry, and both sides were in the same situation, and the requirements for the stability of the riders were not necessarily high, then it was the enemy army with infantry as the main force to face here, and if you wanted to charge it head-on, it was only possible to equip the saddle and stirrup at the same time.

Although there is so much documentary evidence for the existence of saddle stirrups in the Han Dynasty, the lack of archaeological evidence is an indisputable fact. The earliest artifacts found in China depicting the saddle of the high bridge are works from the late Eastern Han Dynasty, such as the cavalry figurines excavated from the tomb of Leitai Han (fig. 2) and painted wood carvings of saddle horses. The earliest sculpture with stirrups is the equestrian figurines in the tomb of Yongning in the Western Jin Dynasty in Changsha (Fig. 3), because the stirrups in these figurines only have a triangular stirrup under the saddle on the left side of the horse's body, which is only half as high as the calf, but not on the right side, and the rider's foot is not stepping on it, so it is considered to be the prototype of the stirrup, that is, the instrument used for getting on the horse. The earliest physical double stirrup is a gilded copper-wrapped wooden stirrup from the tomb of Feng Sufu of Beiyan during the 16th period of Beipiao, Liaoning Province (Fig. 4). However, so far, for the Takahashi saddle and the two Han stirrups in the Western Han Dynasty and the early Eastern Han Dynasty, no real objects and works of art that can prove their existence have been found.

Not found is not the same as not being found. Since their existence can be inferred from the history books, we should think about it from the perspective of "why these things did not appear".

It is certain that saddle stirrups originated in East Asia, but did they originate from the Han region of the Central Plains? From the point of view of demand for invention, it is difficult to imagine that a farming people who live on crops would have a more urgent need for it than a nomadic who rides on horseback all year round. From this, it can be inferred that the honor of the earliest invention of the saddle stirrup should belong to the Xiongnu and other northern peoples. In this way, the direction of searching for its physical evidence why it does not exist should turn to the Xiongnu.

As mentioned earlier, the Huns who invaded Europe in the 4th century AD used wooden saddles, and the primitive stirrups they used were no more than bandages, belts, or leg belts woven from a type of linen. Since most of the areas where they lived and passed through on their westward migration were savannahs and deserts, and lacked trees, this must have limited the number of Takahashi saddles made for the use of nobles and war soldiers; At the same time, it is unlikely that the manufacture of wooden stirrups will be improved when the supply of wood is insufficient for the manufacture of saddles and bows, and the metal used primarily for the manufacture of weapons will be even more scarce, and the use of them to make stirrups will be even more impossible. Therefore, the soft primitive stirrups of the 4th century should be no different from the Xiongnu stirrups of the Han and Han dynasties. On the other hand, the double stirrups of Feng Sufu's tomb are already very formed, and naturally they will not be the ancestors of the stirrups of later generations. Then before that, there must have been a fairly long period of primordial state. Because the "bandage" soft stirrup of the Xiongnu in Western records has the function of fixing the feet of the stirrups in later generations, it is more likely to be the ancestor of the stirrup in the real sense than the single stirrup used only for the horse in the tomb of the Western Jin Dynasty in Changsha, and the stirrup used for the horse is just to provide an example of the improvement of the appearance of the real stirrup, because the double stirrup also helps the function of the horse, so the single stirrup was replaced after it was improved. Speaking of which, it is clear at a glance that primitive pure wooden saddles and stirrups made of leather and hemp fibers (or just a kind of "straps"), and even later stirrups made of wood without metal skins, are extremely perishable and difficult to preserve to this day, and even if they can be preserved, it is even more difficult to accurately judge the purpose of those items that look like only a piece of linen cloth or belt. This is why Han Dynasty saddles, especially stirrups, have never been found.

In addition to these, there are also some foreign archaeological discoveries and domestic controversial works of art. For example, the excavations of the Mongolian Xiongnu cemetery at the beginning of the last century, "Of particular note are the burial objects in a mausoleum chamber in the Noyinula Mountains, which was discovered by chance by a Mongolian gold mining engineer in 1912 and scientifically excavated in 1924." …… Fortunately, a Chinese lacquer cup with two inscriptions was found, which made it possible to date Tomb No. 6: around the beginning of the first century AD. In fact, this is the tomb of the Xiongnu Shan Yu Wuzhuliu. …… The main means of transport was saddled horses. Mahler, horse chews and saddles resemble similar objects from the Altai region of the Scythian era. Saddles usually consist of two leather pads padded with wool, although a few saddles are equipped with a wooden frame, saddles at the front and back, and stirrups. A saddle with stirrups symbolizes a great step forward. (29) Wuzhuliushan died in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and if it can be confirmed that this is really the tomb of Wuzhuliu, it will undoubtedly add a strong evidence to the existence of saddle stirrups in the Han Dynasty. In addition, it is said that the British Museum has a Kushan (1st~5th century AD) copper kettle, with two horseback riders holding spears in relief on the wall of the pot, and both horses have rope-like stirrups. (30) On the top of the shellfish storage vessel of the bronze war scene of the ancient Dian culture found in Shizhai Mountain, Yunnan Province, which is located in the Western Han Dynasty, there is also a gilded statue of a man riding a bareback horse, whose big toes are put in the rope loop hanging down in front of the saddle, playing the role of stirrup (Fig. 5), although its shape determines that it can only be used for the stomping people, its existence at least shows that the early form of the stirrup should be close to this, rather than developed from the horse utensils, and it also shows that the invention of the Takahashi saddle was not necessarily earlier than the stirrup. Among the stone carvings in front of the tomb of Huo Qu in the Western Han Dynasty, there is a stone ox lying horizontally, and the saddle stirrup engraved on its back is the earliest stirrup that can be seen in Eurasia, but the age of its manufacture is doubtful, because some people believe that the stirrup on it was carved by a descendant. The literary and artistic works that reflect the saddle of the Western Han Dynasty and the stirrup of the two Han Dynasty have not been found. It is an objective reality that the actual object of the stirrup is not easy to preserve, but why is there no shadow of them in the sculptures, paintings and other works of art in the Han Dynasty? This is a puzzling question, but there is at least one explanation for the initial reason, and that is the aesthetic one. Historically, it has often taken a considerable amount of time for a new object to be aesthetically accepted by people, especially artisans, after it has been put into use, and many works made before that have retained the "inertia" of artistic creation. If you look closely, there is no shortage of works depicting riders and horses without stirrups or without stirrups in China after the Jin Dynasty. For example, the lance-wielding cavalry in Figure 6 and the armored knight in Figure 7 have no traces of saddle stirrups, and the use of long lances and the creation of heavy armored cavalry that exacerbates the instability of riders are based on the use of saddle stirrups. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, the use of stirrups was already very common, and the stirrups on the "Zhaoling Six Horses" clearly illustrated this point (Fig. 8), but the horseback riding team in Fig. 9 was not equipped with stirrups. So why do all of us still let their feet hang down and suffer there? This only means that the person who painted the painting ignored the existence of the stirrup, perhaps because he felt unsightly, or for some other reason, but did not paint it in the end.

It is also worth noting that not only in China, but also in Western art works after the Middle Ages, there is often a tendency to ignore the saddle and stirrup, such as Attila, the king of the Xiongnu in Figure 10, who has neither a saddle nor a stirrup. It is known that it was the Huns' triangular arrows, Takahashi saddles and primitive stirrups that defeated the Romans' large shields, throwing spears and short swords. Such "negligence" is hardly justified if it is not intentional. This kind of "inertia" of Eastern and Western artistic creation** has played a considerable role in hindering and delaying the saddle stirrup into the work of art.

Through the observation of the above documents and archaeological relics, it can be seen that although there are no physical objects and works of art to prove their existence, the two inventions of the Takahashi saddle and stirrups, which were crucial for cavalry, should have been put into use in the Han and Han dynasties. It was they who made the Xiongnu the hegemons of the steppes, and it was they who promoted the great political and military expansion of the Han Empire, laying the foundation for the political and cultural influence of the first solid empire in Chinese history to spread to North and Central Asia. It is believed that with the further development of archaeology in the Han Dynasty, the saddles and stirrups of the Han and Han dynasties will eventually unveil their hazy veil.

(1) "The Complete History of China in 100 Volumes_ Military History of the Qin and Han Dynasties of China", edited by Shi Zhongwen and Hu Xiaolin, by Yan Wuyun, People's Publishing House

(2) "Ancient Chinese Military System", published by Huang Shuihua Commercial Press

(3) "The Legend of Attila - The Huns Invade Europe" [de] Ike Schmitz collected in the series of "Sphinx - The Secret of History" [de] edited by Christian Khufu

(4) "Wars in European History" by Michael Howard

(5) General History of the World, Stavrianos

(6) "General Dictionary", vol. 149

(7) "Historical Records" Volume 10 _ Filial Piety Text

(8), (12) "Historical Records" volume 111_ Biography of General Wei's hussars

(9), (10), (11), (20), (22) "Historical Records" volume 110_ Xiongnu biography

(13), (14), (15) "Book of Han" Volume VI _ Emperor Wu Ji

(16) Book of Han, Volume VII_Emperor Zhao

(17) "Historical Records", Volume VII_ Xiang Yu Benji

(18) "Historical Records", Volume 109_ Biography of General Li

(19) "Continuation of the Governance of Tongjian", Volume 27_Taizong

(21) "Historical Records" Volume 8 _ Gaozu Benji

(23), (26) "Book of Han", vol. 49_

(24), (25) Book of the Later Han Dynasty, Volume 1_ Guangwu Emperor Ji

(27), (28) "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" Volume 18 _ Wu Gai Chen Zang Lie Biography

(29) "Nomads in Eastern Central Asia" N_ Ishjantz in the second volume of the History of Central Asian Civilizations, edited by Yanos Halmata

(30) E. Errington and Cribb, The Crossroad of Aisa, London: theAncientIndiaandIranTrust, 1992, pp.163~164 Excerpted from "The West Wind of the Ancient Road: Cultural Exchange between China and the West as Seen in New Archaeological Discoveries", by Lin Meicun, published by Joint Publishing Co., Ltd., March 2000