Foreword to The Biography of Zhang Qian
Author: Wang Qian Wang Xiangyu
The essence of the grass is the British, and the special group of the people is the male. At a time when the country is in crisis and the nation is in crisis, there are always some people who bravely stand up, work hard, persevere, and die unyieldingly, pay the greatest sacrifice for the nation, and make the greatest contribution to the country. Zhang Qian is an outstanding man in this kind of heroic figure spectrum. He was an outstanding diplomat, explorer and agronomist in Chinese history, a forerunner in the history of world exploration before Columbus, and more than 2,000 years ago, he opened up more than 7,000 kilometers of "silk ancient road" connecting Eurasia with his extraordinary will.
Zhang Qian's great achievements are famous in history. From the political and military point of view, he was ordered by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to send two missions to the Western Regions and once to the Southwest Yi in order to seek out the Great Moon Clan and Wusun and other countries in the west, to carry out the peaceful foreign policy of the Han Dynasty, to form a wide range of allies, and to jointly attack the upper Xiongnu rulers who had long attacked and plundered the border people of the Central Plains, in order to "cut off the right arm of the Xiongnu" and protect the safety of the people's lives and property. Although he was imprisoned by the Huns for ten years, he still failed to fulfill his mission, and finally triumphed and was praised by Emperor Wu of Han. In terms of social life, the daily foods of Chinese, such as grapes, walnuts, cucumbers, pomegranates, sesame seeds, garlic, carrots, etc., were all introduced by Zhang Qian from the Western Regions to the Central Plains, and others such as huqin, pipa, zhenzhen and the music, dance, painting, acrobatics, sculptures, etc. of the Western Regions also accompanied Zhang Qian's footprints into China. Buddhism, which is deeply rooted in Chinese culture, has migrated and introduced along the "Silk Ancient Road" and settled down, which has continued to this day and has developed greatly.
Now, the war of yesteryear is over and the people live and work in peace and contentment. Whenever we eat, we think of Zhang Qian, who enriched the daily life of Chinese; whenever we appreciate and enjoy a cultural feast of music, song and dance, we also naturally think of Zhang Qian, who enriched our spiritual life.
Zhang Qian's great exploits are manifested in both material and cultural aspects. Specifically, Zhang Qian touched, educated and inspired us in three spirits. The first is the patriotic spirit of serving the motherland and relieving the nation from personal danger. His enlistment to make the Western Regions extremely risky, the road is long, rugged and difficult to navigate, and even more dangerous is to cross a considerable distance in the territory controlled by the Huns. In the ten years that he was unfortunately captured, he was able to "hold on to the Han Festival without losing it." This is how precious it is. The second is the fearless spirit of daring to open up, daring to explore, and daring to pursue but being able to work hard in a down-to-earth manner. Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty was a monarch with great achievements, and the Western Han Dynasty was also an era of great achievements, which provided a stage for all those who dared to think and dare to do it. Zhang Qian was going to find the Great Moon Clan to form an alliance, a place that many people in the Western Han Dynasty had never heard of, and its remoteness was like a myth and legend. But Zhang Qian resolutely shouldered the heavy responsibility of the times and history, and set out for this little-known mysterious country. The third is the tenacious spirit of perseverance in bearing heavy burdens of humiliation and never giving up until the goal is achieved. The two dangers facing Zhang Qian were the barrier of the objective natural world and the attack of the Xiongnu at any time. He was tortured on the way, captured twice, and lived an inhuman life, but he eventually completed his mission. This spirit of bearing heavy burdens of humiliation, persevering, and vowing not to give up until the goal is achieved for a lofty purpose is a precious asset in building a powerful modern socialist country today.
Emperor Wu of Han was a fortunate heavenly son who inherited the prosperity of Wenjing, but instead of enjoying his success, he carried out a series of reforms, especially the selection of Zhang Qian to go to the Western Regions, and did an earth-shattering great cause.
American scholar Laufer called Zhang Qian a "famous general" and said: "Zhang Qian attaches great importance to reality and handles economic affairs very insightfully. He concluded: "Chinese economic policy has a far-sighted vision, adopts many useful foreign plants and includes them in its own complete agricultural system, which is worthy of our admiration." Later, he wrote about Zhang Qian's spirit in many american newspapers and periodicals.
The wheels of the times are rolling forward, and the ancient spirit of Zhang Qian is wonderfully in tune with the contemporary reform and opening up and the fashion trend that is in line with the world. As a result, Zhang Qian has become the object of attention and hot topics of all walks of life, and the silk ancient road opened by Zhang Qian has become a hot route for tourism.
In September 2013, when General Secretary Xi Jinping visited four Central Asian countries, he proposed the initiative to build the "Silk Road Economic Belt", marking the arrival of a new era of the Silk Road. In June 2014, Zhang Qian's tomb was officially inscribed on the World Heritage List, and the people of the whole country rejoiced and sprouted a common wish, that is, to awaken Zhang Qian, who had been sleeping for more than 2,000 years, to ask him to walk out of the long river of history, to whisk away the sand and dust of the vast desert, and to stand at the gate of the country where the tide of reform and opening up was rushing like the western region in the past, and waved to the chinese people and led their eyes to Central Asia and the vast Western world. In our efforts to build a beautiful "community with a shared future for mankind", we will cooperate sincerely, build and share together, sing and forge ahead, and run to the future!
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Source: The Biography of Zhang Qian