Textile Trade Of Shan-shan With The Surrounding As Depicted In The Kharosth? Documents

Shan-shan kingdom,a city-state located in the southern margin of ancient Western Region Tarim Basin,derived from a small country Loulan in BC 77 which lied on the northwest of Lop Nur.In the third century AD,Shan-shan kingdom expanded itself into a strong power in the Western South Region and also played an important role in the ancient East-West civilization exchanges as the traffic hub of ancient Silk Road.Traditional literature recorded little on the affairs of Shan-shan,but in the early 20th century some Kharosth? documents unearthed from several Shan-shan ruins had detailed records about the situation of various countries such as Wei,Jin and Shan-shan kingdom,which made up an insufficient cognition on the Shan-shan kingdom for the scholars before,offering a brand new viewpoint for the study of Shan-shan kingdom history.According to the records of Kharosth?,Shan-shan kingdom as the traffic hub of the Silk Road,was vital to the East-West trade and transportation.In particular,the textile trade belonged to the main aspect of business conducted by Shan-shan and its neighboring partners.According to the records of Kharosth? documents,the Central Plain textiles in Wei,Jin Dynasties had penetrated into all aspects of social life in Shan-shan.With the constant development of Sino-Western Silk Road business,Shan-shan kingdom,with fur and textiles as the major goods,set up the textile trade with its neighboring regions,which gradually enabled the neighboring cultures to affect,to a certain extent,the indigenous culture of Shan-shan.Shan-shan kingdom had limited relations with its neighboring parties in Han and Jin Dynasties,to the east it contacted with the Central Plain Dynasty and on the west it kept in touch with its neighbor Khotan.However,as Shan-shan was a major political force magnificently situated in the Western South Region,since it began to keep close relations with the Central Plain as soon as it was found.When the turbulence happened to the Central Plain in the fourth century AD,Shan-shan kingdom once became the agent of the Central Plain Dynasty in the Western Regions.At that time Shan-shan had a close contact with its neighboring country Khotan.As a result,the two countries produced a convenient traffic network.Due to the close link of politics,economy and trade between them,Shan-shan and Khotan built the major geographical relations towards the Western South Region at that period.Textile trade of Shan-shan with the Central Plain Dynasty and Khotan and other regions in Han and Jin Dynasties has become Shan-shan main aspects of foreign trade,it also become an important part of the textile trade links between east and west at that period.