Portal:China/Selected article/2006/September

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The Dayuan (in Ferghana) was one of the three advanced civilizations of Central Asia around 130 BCE, together with Parthia and Greco-Bactria, according to the Chinese historical work Book of Han.

The Dayuan or Ta-Yuan (Chinese: 大宛; pinyin: dàyuān; Wade-Giles: Ta-Yuan, lit. “Great Yuan”) were a people of Ferghana in Central Asia, described in the Chinese historical works of Records of the Grand Historian and the Book of Han, which follow the travels of Chinese explorer Zhang Qian in 130 BCE and the numerous embassies that followed him into Central Asia thereafter. The country of Dayuan is generally accepted as relating to the Ferghana Valley.

These Chinese accounts describe the Dayuan as urbanized dwellers with Caucasian features, living in walled cities and having "customs identical to those of the Greco-Bactrians", a Hellenistic kingdom that was ruling Bactria at that time in today’s northern Afghanistan. The Dayuan are also described as manufacturers and great lovers of wine. (Read more...)