Research On The Commercial Trade Between The Central Plains And The Western Regions During The Sixteen Kingdoms Period

During the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms(304-439 A.D.),the Central Plains experienced constant military unrest and serious social and economic damage.Although the Central Plains' management of the Western Regions was out of control,this did not interrupt the commercial trade between the Central Plains and the Western Regions.The historical records of this period in official documents are mostly based on the political struggles of various ethnic groups,while the descriptions of social and economic conditions are fragmentary,and commercial and trade materials as branches of social economy are relatively sparse.Therefore,a plural of historians have summarized the commercial trade in this period as underdevelopment,stagnation or decline in a long run.In recent years,the continuous study of materials such as Dunhuang and Turpan documents and newly unearthed gold and silver coins by senior scholars has provided a new starting point for commercial trade in this period.This article is based on the research of senior scholars,using the methods of history and ethnology,combined with official literature,Dunhuang and Turpan documents and other archaeological materials,in an attempt to make a more systematic and specialized exposition of the commercial trade during this range of time.