eh-chih to co-operate
with them against the common enemy. Chang Ch'ien made two adventurous
expeditions, and visited the Yueh-chih in their new home somewhere on
the Oxus. His mission failed to attain its immediate political object
but indirectly had important results, for it revealed to China that
the nations on the Oxus were in touch with India on one hand and with
the more mysterious west on the other. Henceforth it was her aim to
keep open the trade route leading westwards from the extremity of the
modern Kansu province to Kashgar, Khotan and the countries with which
those cities communicated. Far from wishing to isolate herself or
exclude foreigners, her chief desire was to keep the road to the west
open, and although there were times when the flood of Buddhism which
swept along this road alarmed the more conservative classes, yet for
many centuries everything that came in the way of merchandize, art,
literature, and religion was eagerly received. The chief hindrance to
this intercourse was the hostility of the wild tribes who pillaged
caravans and blocked the route, and throughout the whole stretch of
recorded history the Chinese used the same method to weaken them and
keep the door open, namely to create or utilize a quarrel between two
tribes. The Empire allied itself with one in order to crush the second
and that being done, proceeded to deal with its former ally.

Dated records beginning with the year 98 B.C. testify to the presence
of a Chinese garrison near the modern Tun-huang.[483] But at the
beginning of the Christian era the Empire was convulsed by internal
rebellion and ceased to have influence or interest in Central Asia.
With the restoration of order things took another turn. The reign of
the Emperor Ming-ti is the traditional date for the introduction of
Buddhism and it also witnessed the victorious campaigns of the famous
general and adventurer Pan Ch'ao. He conquered Khotan and Kashgar and
victoriously repulsed the attacks of the Kushans or Yueh-chih who were
interested in these regions and endeavoured to stop his progress. The
Chinese annals do not give the name of their king but it must have
been Kanishka if he came to the throne in 78. I confess however that
this silence makes it difficult for me to accept 78-123 A.D. as the
period of Kanishka's reign, for he must have been a monarch of some
celebrity and if the Chinese had come into victorious contact with
him, would not their historians have m