Old friend Emperor Yang
26 April 2025
We watched another episode of the Hexi corridor series. This one had moved on the Sui dynasty, and the development of the Silk Road. I met an old acquaintance, Emperor Yang, who I had made a profile of in my blog here. The tyrant who did a lot of good! This episode talked about how he tried to develop the trade with the western regions through the Hexi corridor, by having events demonstrating the quality and luxuriousness of Chinese culture and goods. Ancient day expos if you like. The programme also suggested he was the first emperor to have a foreign summit on Chinese soil with leaders from the regions to the North and West of the Hexi corridor. With a little googling I couldn't find explicit confirmation of this but found this nice passage in an essay here: "A similar record also appears in the “Shihuo Zhi 食貨志” of the Suishu: In the fifth year [of the Daye reign period] the Emperor progressed on his western tour of inspection to the Hexi region. Adorned in gold and jade, dressed in colorful woolen cloth, burning incense, and playing music, the various barbarians of the Western Regions formed a welcoming crowd at the roadside. The Emperor ordered the young men and women in Wuwei and Zhangye to wear splendid attire to watch the events. If the clothes, chariots and horses were not bright, then the provinces and counties would supervise and handle them in order to impress the barbarians. In short, Emperor Yang spared no expense in the ostentatious display of the peace he had brought." Will have to see if there is more info on this when I visit Wuwei and Zhangye in June.