Economy of The Han Dynasty - Foreign Trade and Tributary Exchange

Foreign Trade and Tributary Exchange

Prior to the Han Dynasty, markets close to China's northern border engaged in trade with the nomadic tribes of the eastern Eurasian Steppe. The heqin agreement between the Han and nomadic Xiongnu stipulated the transfer of tributary goods from China. The exact amount of annual tribute sent to the Xiongnu in the 2nd century BC is unknown. In 89 BC, when Hulugu Chanyu (狐鹿姑) (r. 95–85 BC) requested a renewal of the heqin agreement, he demanded an annual tribute of 400,000 litres (11,000 US bu) or 10,000 dan of wine, 100,000 litres (2,800 US bu) or 5,000 hu of grain, and 10,000 bales of silk. These amounts of wine, grain, and silk were considered to be a significant increase from earlier amounts of tribute, which must have been much less. Besides these arrangements, the most common commercial exchanges between the Xiongnu and Han merchants consisted of the trading of Xiongnu horses and furs for Han agricultural foodstuffs and luxury items, most notably silk. By means of the black market, the Xiongnu were also able to smuggle Han iron weapons across the border.

The Han established a diplomatic presence in the Tarim Basin of Central Asia during Emperor Wu of Han's reign (141–87 BC). Han envoys brought gifts of sheep, gold, and silk to the urban oasis city-states. The Chinese sometimes used gold as currency; however, silk was favored as a means to pay for food and lodging. Once the Han had subjugated the Tarim Basin and established a Protectorate there, Han envoys in these states were given free food and lodging. These envoys were required to send tributary items of furs, precious stones, and delicacies such as Central Asian raisins to the Han court. The Arsacid court sent exotic animals including lions and ostriches to the Han court, and a king ruling in what is now Burma sent elephants and rhinoceroses. Han diplomatic missions to royal courts across Asia were usually accompanied by trade caravans which earned substantial profits.

The Han court received tributary submission from the Xiongnu leader Huhanye (呼韓邪) (r. 58–31 BC), an important rival to Zhizhi Chanyu (r. 56–36 BC, died at the Battle of Zhizhi). Huhanye's tribute, exchange of hostages, and presence at Chang'an in the New Year of 51 BC were rewarded with the following gifts from the emperor: 5 kg (160 ozt) of gold, 200,000 coins, 77 suits of clothes, 8,000 bales of silk fabric, 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) of silk floss, 15 horses, and 680,000 l (19,000 US bu) of grain.However, this is the only occurrence of rewarded gifts that present materials other than fabric. As shown in the table below, based upon Yü Ying-shih's "Han Foreign Relations" (1986), the gifts consisted only silk after 51 BC, and the Xiongnu leader's political submission was guaranteed only for as long as the Han could provide him with ever greater amounts of imperial largesse of silk with each succeeding visit to the Chinese court.

Imperial Han gifts received by the Xiongnu Chanyu during trips of homage to the Han court in Chang'an
Year (BC)	Silk floss (measured in catties)	Silk fabric (measured in bales)
51	1,500	8,000
49	2,000	9,000
33	4,000	18,000
25	5,000	20,000
1	7,500	30,000

Left image: Minerva on a Roman gilt-silver plate, 1st century BC; a similar Roman gilt-silver plate found in Jingyuan County, Gansu province, China, dated 2nd or 3rd century AD had a raised relief image of the Greco-Roman god Dionysos.
Right image: A Western-Han blue-glass bowl; although the Chinese had been making glass bead items since the Spring and Autumn Period (722–481 BC), the first Chinese glasswares (such as bowls and bottles) appeared during Western Han.

The establishment of the Silk Road occurred during Wu's reign, owing to the efforts of the diplomat Zhang Qian. The increased demand for silk from the Roman Empire stimulated commercial traffic in both Central Asia and across the Indian Ocean. Roman merchants sailed to Barbarikon near present-day Karachi, Pakistan, and Barygaza in present-day Gujarat, India to purchase Chinese silks (see Roman trade with India). When Emperor Wu conquered Nanyue—in what is now Southwest China and northern Vietnam—in 111 BC, overseas trade was extended to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, as maritime merchants traded Han gold and silk for pearls, jade, lapis lazuli, and glasswares.

The Book of Later Han states that Roman envoys sent by Emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180 AD), following a southern route, brought gifts to the court of Emperor Huan of Han (r. 146–168 AD) in 166 AD. This Roman mission followed an unsuccessful attempt by the Han diplomat Gan Ying to reach Rome in 97. Gan Ying was delayed at the Persian Gulf, by Arsacid authorities, and could only make a report on Rome based on oral accounts. Historians Charles Hucker and Rafe de Crespigny both speculate that the Roman mission of 166 AD involved enterprising Roman merchants instead of actual diplomats; Hucker writes:

Tributary missions from vassal states were commonly allowed to include traders, who thus gained opportunities to do business in the capital markets. No doubt a large proportion of what the Chinese court chose to call tributary missions were in fact shrewdly organized commercial ventures by foreign merchants with no diplomatic status at all. This was unquestionably the case, most notably, with a group of traders who appeared on the south coast in 166 A.D. claiming to be envoys from the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.

The main trade route leading into Han China passed first through Kashgar, yet Hellenized Bactria further west was the central node of international trade. By the 1st century AD, Bactria and much of Central Asia and North India were controlled by the Kushan Empire. Silk was the main export item from China to India. Indian merchants brought various goods to China, including tortoise shell, gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, tin, fine cloth, woolen textiles, perfume and incense, crystal sugar, pepper, ginger, salt, coral, pearls, glass items, and Roman wares. Indian merchants brought Roman styrax and frankincense to China, while the Chinese knew bdellium as a fragrant item from Persia, although it was native to West India. The tall Ferghana horses imported from Fergana were highly prized in Han China. The newly introduced exotic Central Asian grapes (i.e. vitis vinifera) were used to make grape wine, although the Chinese had rice wine before this. Glass luxury items from ancient Mesopotamia have been found in Chinese tombs and dated to the late Spring and Autumn Period (771–476 BC). Roman glasswares have been found in Chinese tombs dating to the early 1st century BC, with the earliest specimen found at the southern Chinese seaport of Guangzhou. Silverwares from Roman- and Arsacid territories have also been found at Han tomb sites.