ABSTRACT
In the history of China, the Silk Road was closely related to the Western Regions. The term “Western Regions” or “Xiyu” (西域) first appeared in The Book of Han Chronicle on the Western Regions. In the Western Han Dynasty, the term “Western Regions”, in a narrow sense, referred to the vast region to the west of Yumenguan and Yangguan, to the east of Congling (the Pamir Plateau), to the north of the Kunlun Mountains and to the south of Lake Balkhash, i.e. the region under the jurisdiction of the General-Governor Office for the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty. In a broader sense, it covered Central Asia, Western Asia, India, the Caucasus, and the countries along the Black Sea to the west of Congling, including the areas now known as Afghanistan, Iran, Uzbekistan, and the countries along the Mediterranean Sea, and even Eastern and Southern Europe. The Western Regions were divided into two parts by Mount Tianshan; most of the habitants lived around the Tarim Basin. In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, there were “thirty-six states and kingdoms”: on the southern edge, there were Loulan (now known as Shanshan County near Lop Nor), Guqiang, Qiemo, Yutian (now known as Hetian in Xinjiang Province), and Shache etc., which were habitually referred to as “the southern countries”; on the northern edge, there were Gushi (now known as Anterior Cheshi and Posterior Cheshi in Turpan Basin), Weili, Yanqi, Qiuci (now known as Kuqa), Wensu, Gumo (now known as Aksu in Xinjing Provine), Shule (now known as Kashgar), etc., which were called “the northern countries”.
