Gao Xianzhi - Legacy

Legacy

His tactics, which helped him to defeat many enemy troops with superior power.

Gao is also considered historically important by many Chinese since he led the Tang army in the Battle of Talas even though his Tang army was outnumbered. Despite being the commander of the losing side, the battle helped spread paper and compass to the rest of the world. With the help of paper, which was introduced to Europe around the 14th century, made much foreign knowledge available to more Europeans, and ultimately bringing the Renaissance in Europe. The compass, which spread to Europe through the Muslim World, became an important tool in navigation and led the way to the Age of Exploration.

Gao's defeat, which marked the end of Tang's expansion to the west, was partially fictionalized by the modern Chinese historian Bo Yang in the short story The Tashkent Massacre—the Chinese Were Cursed Here! (塔什干屠城—就在這裡, 中國人受到詛咒!), in which he gave a fictional curse by the queen of Shi, cursing Tang and the Chinese for eternity for Gao's treachery.