Acknowledgements
Introduction i
Chapter 1 The Western Journey of Zhang Qian
Chapter 2 Silk Road or Horse Road？
Chapter 3 Capital to Qinshihuang， the FirstEmperor
Chapter 4 Emperor Wu， the Greatest of the Han
Chapter 5 Buddhism in Xi’an
Chapter 6 The Sui： a Forgotten Great Dynasty
Chapter 7 The Tang： Greatest of ChineseDynasties
Chapter 8 Islam in Xi’an
Chapter 9 Yuan， Ming and Qing： 800 Years on thePeriphery
Chapter 10 The Plunder of Chinese Culture： the Exampleof Li Shimin’s Six Horses
Chapter 11 A Foreign Traveller： Victor Segalen
Chapter 12 Xi’anBetween the World Wars
Chapter 13The Rediscovery of Xi’an
As we can see from the sketch map above， the problem was that in order to fulfil their mission Zhang and his companion Ganfu， a Xiongnu prisoner who was to act as guide and interpreter， had to pass through territory held by the enemy In an extraordinary "interlude" in his mission， he and Ganfu were captured and held for ten years by the Xiongnu， a period which he used to develop relationships with the triballeaders and to console himself by mar— rying a local girl.After this long enforced pause he managed to escape and eventually to visit the countries of Central Asia， demonstrating his loyalty to his emperor and the mission by writing detailed accounts of the places and people he visited.Incredibly， Zhang was captured again and held for two more years on his return journey.He was lucky to have served under such a long— lived ruler because Wudi was still on the throne when he returned to Xi'an in 125 BC， thirteen years after his departure — his large entourage reduced to himself and Ganfu.He brought with him eye—witness accounts of Ferghana and Transoxiana which he had visited， and information about other places he had learned about but did not visit personally， such as India and far—off Rome.
