China: A Sogdian Silk Road trader on a Bactrian camel, Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) sancai ceramic, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai

The Sogdians established a trading network across the 2400 kilometres (1500 miles) from Sogdiana to China. In fact, the Sogdians turned their energies to trade so thoroughly that the Saka (Scythians) of the Kingdom of Khotan called all merchants suli, 'Sogdian', whatever their culture or ethnicity.

Sogdian contacts with China were initiated by the embassy of the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian during the reign of Wudi in the former Han Dynasty, 141–87 BCE.

Sancai (Chinese: 三彩; pinyin: sāncǎi; literally 'three colours') is a type of ceramics using three intermingled colors for decoration.

The Tang Dynasty (Chinese: 唐朝; pinyin: Táng Cháo; June 18, 618 – June 1, 907) was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li (李) family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire. The dynasty was interrupted briefly by the Second Zhou Dynasty (October 8, 690 – March 3, 705) when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, becoming the first and only Chinese empress regnant, ruling in her own right.

The Tang Dynasty, with its capital at Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), which at the time was the most populous city in the world, is generally regarded as a high point in Chinese civilization—equal to, or surpassing that of, the earlier Han Dynasty—a golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Its territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, rivalled that of the Han Dynasty. In two censuses of the 7th and 8th centuries, the Tang records estimated the population by number of registered households at about 50 million people.

Copyright:

CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Photographer:

David Henley

Credit:

Pictures From Asia