DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36954#0210
would travel, the hardships of such communications at that time,
and the periods needed for rest and reorganization on their
way.
The second possibility is that Mi-mi's envoy came to China first,
and then the North Wei Dynasty dispatched Gu Wei-long to send
the envoy back home, an arrangement which also occurs often in
the annals of this period. According to China's regulation in
ancient times, no foreign envoys were allowed to stay in the
capital for lengthy periods under ordinary circumstances. If Gu
Wei-long had been dispatched to send Mi-mi's envoy back home,
they should have started within one or two years after the in-
augural year of Zheng-ping, i.e. the time when they started out
should not have been later than the second year of Emperor Wen
Cheng's ( ) Xing-an 453 A.D.).
In the light of the above discussion it seems a reasonable conclusion
that Gu Wei-long went to Mi-mi within the period 444—45 3,
whichever first or second possibility actually occurred. This is the
later period of the reign of the Wei Emperor Tai Wu , i. e.
Shizu, ^.), under whom the North Wei Dynasty destroyed the
stateofNorthLiang(^b iA),defeatedtheTu-yu-hun(cA 4T 3^)
and conquered Shan-shan, Karashahr and Kucha, thus gaining
great fame and prestige. The "Silk Road" was thereby unblocked.
As a result, the North Wei Dynasty had frequent contact with the
countries of Central and Southern Asia, among which Mi-mi was
one. The inscription of Gu Wei-long near the Hunza River is
therefore an important record of Sino-foreign relations at that
time.
From this period onwards, the North Wei kept close economic
and cultural relations with the Western Regions and these rela-
tions further increased after Emperor Xiao Wen moved
the seat of the government to Luo-yang. As Luo Yang Jia Lan
Ji ( NY f^o ^ ) records, "Thousands of towns and
hundreds of countries from West of Cong-ling ( ^ ^ ) to Da-
qin ( -ftS ) sincerely acknowledge their allegiance (to the Wei
Dynasty). Foreign merchants flow to the frontier". Song Yun
( T. ^ ), the well-known account of Hui Sheng's ( ^ A ) travel
in the Western Regions, begins in the initial year of Shen-Gui
( ^Li; 518 A.D.) i.e. more than 70 years later than Gu Wei-
long's dispatch to Mi-mi.
148
and the periods needed for rest and reorganization on their
way.
The second possibility is that Mi-mi's envoy came to China first,
and then the North Wei Dynasty dispatched Gu Wei-long to send
the envoy back home, an arrangement which also occurs often in
the annals of this period. According to China's regulation in
ancient times, no foreign envoys were allowed to stay in the
capital for lengthy periods under ordinary circumstances. If Gu
Wei-long had been dispatched to send Mi-mi's envoy back home,
they should have started within one or two years after the in-
augural year of Zheng-ping, i.e. the time when they started out
should not have been later than the second year of Emperor Wen
Cheng's ( ) Xing-an 453 A.D.).
In the light of the above discussion it seems a reasonable conclusion
that Gu Wei-long went to Mi-mi within the period 444—45 3,
whichever first or second possibility actually occurred. This is the
later period of the reign of the Wei Emperor Tai Wu , i. e.
Shizu, ^.), under whom the North Wei Dynasty destroyed the
stateofNorthLiang(^b iA),defeatedtheTu-yu-hun(cA 4T 3^)
and conquered Shan-shan, Karashahr and Kucha, thus gaining
great fame and prestige. The "Silk Road" was thereby unblocked.
As a result, the North Wei Dynasty had frequent contact with the
countries of Central and Southern Asia, among which Mi-mi was
one. The inscription of Gu Wei-long near the Hunza River is
therefore an important record of Sino-foreign relations at that
time.
From this period onwards, the North Wei kept close economic
and cultural relations with the Western Regions and these rela-
tions further increased after Emperor Xiao Wen moved
the seat of the government to Luo-yang. As Luo Yang Jia Lan
Ji ( NY f^o ^ ) records, "Thousands of towns and
hundreds of countries from West of Cong-ling ( ^ ^ ) to Da-
qin ( -ftS ) sincerely acknowledge their allegiance (to the Wei
Dynasty). Foreign merchants flow to the frontier". Song Yun
( T. ^ ), the well-known account of Hui Sheng's ( ^ A ) travel
in the Western Regions, begins in the initial year of Shen-Gui
( ^Li; 518 A.D.) i.e. more than 70 years later than Gu Wei-
long's dispatch to Mi-mi.
148