Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Emperor Wu's Legacy : The Dawn of East-West Relations
It is thought that the West first came into contact with China in around two hundred BCE. When the Chinese Emperor Wu sent an emissary to find allies against nomadic tribes that were harassing China's northern and western borders, he came into contact with the Greco-Bactrians known to them as the Dayuan or the Great Ionians. The emissary reported back to Emperor Wu that the Greco-Bactrians had mighty horses which could help their fight against China's enemies China's relations with the Greco-Bactrians resulted in more contact between the East and the West and the breeding of the Western horse for China. From Emperor Wu's success due to the faster and larger Western horses, he speculated what else could be gained from the West and in one hundred and thirty BCE the Silk Road was opened incorporating the Persian Royal Road as one of the main routes travelled on.
#silkroad #emperor #wu #china #east #horses
Emperor Wu's Legacy : The Dawn of East-West Relations
It is thought that the West first came into contact with China in around two hundred BCE. When the Chinese Emperor Wu sent an emissary to find allies against nomadic tribes that were harassing China's northern and western borders, he came into contact with the Greco-Bactrians known to them as the Dayuan or the Great Ionians. The emissary reported back to Emperor Wu that the Greco-Bactrians had mighty horses which could help their fight against China's enemies China's relations with the Greco-Bactrians resulted in more contact between the East and the West and the breeding of the Western horse for China. From Emperor Wu's success due to the faster and larger Western horses, he speculated what else could be gained from the West and in one hundred and thirty BCE the Silk Road was opened incorporating the Persian Royal Road as one of the main routes travelled on.
#silkroad #emperor #wu #china #east #horses
