Ban Chao

Statue of Ban Chao in Kashgar

Ban Chao and King Zhong of Kashgar

Route of the Ban Chao

Central Asia with the Tarim Basin (right) and the course of the Silk Road (yellow)

Ban Chao ( Chinese  班超 , Pinyin Bān Chāo , IPA (standard Chinese) [ [b̥an5 tʂʰɑo̯5] ], W.-G. Pan Ch'ao ; * 32 ; † 102 ), age-old name Zhong Sheng ( Chinese  仲 升 , Pinyin Zhòng Shēng , W.-G. Chung Sheng ) was a Chinese general during the Han Dynasty .

Life

Ban Chao came from a respected but poor literary family. His father was Ban Biao , his brother Ban Gu was the main author of the historical work Han Shu , and his younger sister Ban Zhao was also a historian. Ban Gu got a job at the imperial library. Ban Chao and his mother accompanied him to Luoyang , where Ban Chao worked as a clerk for the government. Later he got a better job in the Orchid Palace, which he lost due to an unknown offense.

In 73, Ban Chao - already 40 years old - took part in the punitive expedition led by General Dou Gu against the Xiongnu , where he distinguished himself as the commander of a unit. Dou Gu therefore made him a member of the embassy that visited the western regions under Guo Xun . When the embassy arrived in the capital of Shanshan State , they killed the Xiongnu embassy, ​​which arrived almost at the same time, and presented the heads of those killed to King Guang. This moved King Guang to submit to the Chinese emperor and send hostages to Luoyang. After this success, Dou Gu and Emperor Ming agreed to send Ban Chao on longer-term assignments in the west. He was promoted to the rank of major, but he did without additional soldiers. In his opinion he was not agile enough with more than 30 men.

Ban Chao moved south of the Tarim Basin to Hotan , where he was warmly received by King Guangde. He killed the king's fortune teller, who had asked Ban Chao to give him a horse, whereupon Guangde was so impressed that he executed the Xiongnu representative and submitted to Emperor Ming. In Kashgar , shortly before Ban Chaos arrived in 74, the king had been deposed and replaced by a governor of King Jian of Qiuzi named Douti . Douti was captured by the men of Ban Chao, and a descendant of the local royal family named Zhong was enthroned. Douti was allowed to return to Qiuzi unharmed. In the following year, a major revolt broke out in Yanqi with the support of the Xiongnu, in which the Protector General Chen Mu was killed. The imperial court feared that its troops might be surrounded and called them back, but the allies of Ban Chao viewed the withdrawal as treason and detained him in Yutian . Ban Chao therefore continued the war on its own and occupied Kashgar again in 78, plus Aksu and Turfan . In the following years, Kashgar became the base of operations for Ban Chao, for example during the attack on Gumo in 78. Ban Chao had to abandon plans to attack Qiuzi in 83, even though he had already secured the support of Emperor Zhang and the neighboring state of Wusun .

In 84 Ban Chao took to the field against the King of Suoju , but had to rush back to Kashgar because King Zhong of Kashgar rebelled against him. Ban Chao called the Han emperor's allies together and sent gifts to the Yuezhi and Kangju who supported King Zhong. King Zhong was forced to withdraw and made the false promise to submit to the Chinese. Ban Chao saw through him and killed him at the banquet that had been prepared for the submission ceremony. The state of Suoju was defeated by a ruse in 86 or 87, although Qiuzi supported Suoju with 50,000 men. In the year 90 the Yuezhi attacked the territory administered by Ban Chao, because the latter had refused their wish for a Chinese princess. Ban Chao defeated this 70,000-strong army with a scorched earth tactic, killing the Yuezhi emissary who was supposed to be gathering food in Qiuzi. The Yuezhi had to withdraw and reaffirm their submission. After Dou Xian had defeated the Northern Xiongnu at the same time , Qiuzi, Gumo and Wensu also submitted to the Chinese emperor. Ban Chao was at the height of his influence, was appointed Protector-General and moved to Qiuzi. In 94 he reckons Chen Mu's death in 75 when he campaigned against Yanqi, had King Guang killed and released the city for sacking. He then placed Prince Yuanmeng , who had spent many years hostage in China, on the throne.

In 97 he sent Fremdwort on his famous expedition to the west, after which tribute payments were received from distant states. Gan Ying was supposed to go as ambassador to the Romans , whose empire the Chinese called Daqin . But Gan Ying was persuaded by the Parthians to refrain from continuing his journey. Therefore, only 166 ambassadors of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius appeared in China, but these "ambassadors" were probably only Roman merchants ( Roman-Chinese relations ). ^{Document is missing}

In 100, Ban Chao asked the emperor to retire, which in 102 was approved with the help of his sister. He went back to Luoyang, where he died a month later. The position of the Protector General took over Ren Shang , who, however, had to fight against general uprisings against Chinese rule as early as 106. In 107 the Han dynasty gave up the western regions. Ban Chaos son Ban Yong led 123-127 campaigns in the Tarim Basin again. ^{Document is missing}

Web links

Commons : Ban Chao  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Ban is the family name here, Chao is the first name.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Rafe de Crespigny : A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD) . 1st edition. Brill, Leiden and Boston 2007, ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0 , pp. 4-6 .