[Guide to the Market Economy] Gao Xianzhi and Silk Road Management

The Battle of Talas and Gosunji

East-West

War over Trade Routes

Only when routes are open can culture spread and freedom and civilization develop.

Gosunji and the Battle of Talas

Although his father is said to have been a Goguryeo refugee, Gosunji himself was born in the Tang dynasty and served it loyally as a soldier, so strictly speaking he had little direct connection to Goguryeo. However, the Chinese historical records Old Book of Tang and New Book of Tang clearly identify him in his biography as a Goguryeo person, and the Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government even records that fellow generals insulted him as a “damned Goguryeo bastard.” This suggests that life as a refugee from a fallen state was far from easy.

Gosunji was a military governor in the Tang dynasty’s western regions. A military governor was roughly equivalent to a regional commander-in-chief today. The role was so important that people say the Tang rose through its military governors and fell because of them. The fact that such a position was given to a descendant of a conquered foreign people shows that Gosunji’s abilities were extraordinary.

Today, world history classes treat the Battle of Talas as a highly important event, but in terms of its actual scale at the time, it was apparently not such a major battle. It seems that Tang officials themselves did not regard the outcome all that seriously. Evidence of this is that even after the defeat at Talas, Gosunji was not significantly punished and returned to the central government to hold high office. Yet the aftershocks of the battle were far from as simple as Tang contemporaries may have thought.

The Silk Road and National Power

The Silk Road was a channel of civilization through which not only the special products of East and West, but also religion, ideas, and culture were actively exchanged. China’s management of the Silk Road has a long history. Without exception, China’s unified dynasties devoted great effort to controlling it. The first attempt came under the Han dynasty. The Silk Road was first opened during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, and the period when trade through it was most vibrant was the Tang dynasty, when Gosunji was active.

The Tang dynasty worked to control the Silk Road stretching from the Central Plain to Samarkand in present-day Uzbekistan. To do so, it expended considerable national power to keep even the western regions within its territory. Chinese people often regard the Han and Tang dynasties as the greatest in their history, and these two dynasties shared one thing in common: both managed the Silk Road. The Song and Ming dynasties were founded by the Han Chinese, but they failed to control it.

The Silk Road flourished most under the Mongol Empire, which realized the “Pax Mongolica.” If Rome made the Mediterranean its own sea, the Mongols made the Silk Road their own highway. By integrating the trade routes from east to west under a single sphere of power, the Mongols enabled the Silk Road to function fully. Marco Polo was able to write The Travels of Marco Polo because the Mongol Empire completely controlled the Silk Road. In general, inland states tend to be at a disadvantage in trade compared to maritime powers, but thanks to the Silk Road, China, a typical inland state, was able for a considerable period to profit from trade between East and West.

The Battle of Talas was something Gosunji would rather have forgotten and a regrettable event for the Tang dynasty, but in world history it is worth remembering. Through the Battle of Talas, China’s papermaking technology was transmitted to the Islamic world. Many of the Tang prisoners captured by the Islamic army were said to be skilled craftsmen. In this way, Chinese papermaking technology greatly aided the then-emerging Islamic civilization. It later spread to Europe and had an even greater impact there. It is known to have contributed to Gutenberg’s invention of printing technology.

Roads Create Cities

The Battle of Talas shows us today how significant competition over routes was in the ancient world. Perhaps the battle also carries the message that the exchange of civilizations can occur not only through peaceful trade but also through war. Competition to control the Silk Road ultimately led to war, but remarkably, culture continued to be exchanged even amid the fighting. Parts of the Silk Road still remain today in the form of paved roads linking Pakistan and China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Roads spread freedom. Through roads, people can move to where they want and seek out something better. As roads become open channels and people can move freely in and out of cities, modern civilization advances to a higher level. And in cities, people freely build active lives for themselves. As capitalist markets developed, cities evolved into symbolic embodiments of freedom. Some cities grew beyond national borders into global centers, with London and New York being representative examples.

■ Please remember

Roads spread freedom. Through roads, people can move to where they want and seek out something better. As roads become open channels and people can move freely in and out of cities, modern civilization advances to a higher level.

Sung-no Choi, President of the Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

---

Original title: [시장경제 길라잡이] 고선지와 비단길 경영

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2019-12-02

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=column&pn=11&idx=22108