Ban Chao and the Western Regions: Han Power in Central Asia

Ban Chao (AD 32–102) was a Han dynasty general who, between AD 73 and 102, restored Chinese influence over the oasis states of the Tarim Basin, the region the Chinese called the Western Regions. With small forces and much diplomacy he drove out the Xiongnu, turned back a Kushan invasion and became Protector General of the Western Regions. His officer Gan Ying travelled further west than any known Han envoy.

His career is told in detail in the Book of the Later Han, compiled in the fifth century from Eastern Han records.

Background

The Tarim Basin, in modern Xinjiang, is a desert ringed by oasis city-states such as Kashgar, Khotan, Kucha and Shanshan (Loulan). They lay on the trade routes linking China to Central Asia, opened to Chinese knowledge by Zhang Qian’s missions in the second century BC.

The Western Han had controlled the region through a Protector General from 60 BC, but in the troubles of Wang Mang’s reign the oasis states fell back under the influence of the Xiongnu, the nomadic confederation of the steppe. The early Eastern Han emperors were reluctant to return.

The thirty-six men

Ban Chao was the son of the historian Ban Biao, brother of the historian Ban Gu and of the scholar Ban Zhao. He worked as a copyist before joining the army. In AD 73 he served under Dou Gu in a campaign against the Northern Xiongnu.

Dou Gu then sent him with a party of 36 men to the kingdom of Shanshan. When a Xiongnu embassy arrived at the same time and the king’s welcome cooled, Ban Chao attacked the Xiongnu envoys’ camp at night, killing them. The terrified king submitted to Han. His biography attributes to him a famous proverb from this episode: without entering the tiger’s lair, one cannot catch the tiger’s cubs.

He went on to win over Khotan and in AD 74 deposed the Kuchean-backed ruler of Kashgar, installing a local prince.

Holding on alone

In AD 75 the Northern Xiongnu and their allies counter-attacked, and Emperor Ming died. The new court of Emperor Zhang ordered a withdrawal. According to his biography, the people of Khotan begged Ban Chao to stay, and he chose to remain in Kashgar with a small force.

For the next fifteen years he rebuilt Han influence state by state, using local troops, alliances and occasional reinforcements. In AD 78 he took Gumo (Aksu), and over the following years he defeated rebels in Kashgar and won over Yarkand.

The Kushan threat

The Kushan Empire, a major power in Bactria and north-west India, had helped Ban Chao against Turfan. When its ruler asked for a Han princess in marriage and was refused, a Kushan army crossed the Pamirs in AD 90; the Chinese sources give its size as 70,000. Ban Chao withdrew into his walled towns, removed all food from the countryside and intercepted the Kushan request for supplies from Kucha. The starving invaders withdrew, and the Kushans resumed sending tribute.

In AD 91 Kucha and Aksu submitted, and the court appointed Ban Chao Protector General of the Western Regions. In AD 94 he subdued Karasahr, the last major holdout; the Book of the Later Han says more than fifty states then sent hostages to the Han court. In AD 95 he was made Marquis of Dingyuan, “Pacifier of Distant Lands”.

Gan Ying’s mission west

In AD 97 Ban Chao sent his officer Gan Ying to reach Daqin, the Chinese name for the Roman world. Gan Ying travelled through Parthia to Tiaozhi, on the shores of a great sea, most likely the Persian Gulf. Parthian sailors warned him that the crossing could take from three months to two years, and he turned back. Historians often suggest that the Parthians, who profited as middlemen in the silk trade, discouraged direct contact. Direct Han and Roman contact is not recorded until the Daqin embassy of AD 166.

Return and legacy

After about thirty years in Central Asia, Ban Chao asked to come home. His sister Ban Zhao petitioned on his behalf, and he returned to Luoyang in AD 102, dying a few weeks later at about seventy.

His successor, Ren Shang, ruled harshly and lost local support, and in AD 107 the Protectorate was abandoned. Ban Chao’s son Ban Yong restored partial control in the 120s, but Han influence in the region never fully recovered. Ban Chao became a model of the scholar who won glory on the frontier, and his story remains well known in China.

Timeline

• AD 32: Ban Chao is born in Fufeng commandery.
• AD 73: He fights the Northern Xiongnu under Dou Gu and wins over Shanshan with 36 men.
• AD 74: He installs a pro-Han ruler in Kashgar.
• AD 75–76: The court orders a withdrawal; Ban Chao stays in the Tarim Basin.
• AD 90: A Kushan army invades and is forced to retreat.
• AD 91: Ban Chao becomes Protector General of the Western Regions.
• AD 97: Gan Ying is sent west towards Daqin.
• AD 102: Ban Chao returns to Luoyang and dies.

Why it matters

Ban Chao’s campaigns secured the Tarim Basin routes for a generation, encouraging trade and contact between China, Central Asia and the wider world. Gan Ying’s journey marks the furthest point westward reached by a known official Han envoy.