Zhang Qian

A Han dynasty diplomat and explorer whose missions to Central Asia between 138 and 115 BCE first connected China geographically to lands west of the Pamirs.

Silk Road: A network of Eurasian trade routes linking China with Central Asia, India, Persia and the Mediterranean from roughly the 2nd century BCE. The trade network that grew directly out of the routes his missions proved could be traveled.
Yuezhi: A nomadic people driven from the Hexi Corridor by the Xiongnu, who resettled in Central Asia north of the Oxus River. The people Emperor Wu sent Zhang Qian to find as a proposed alliance against the Xiongnu.
Emperor Wu of Han: The Han emperor from 141 to 87 BCE who expanded the dynasty militarily and sent Zhang Qian on his western missions. Commissioned the original mission in 138 BCE after recruiting volunteers at court.
First Western Mission: Zhang Qian's journey of 138–126 BCE to seek the Yuezhi alliance, ending with a decade in Xiongnu captivity and no alliance. The original reconnaissance that returned with detailed reports on Central Asian states.
Xuanzang: A 7th-century Tang monk who traveled overland to India and back, leaving a detailed account of Central Asia. The most celebrated later traveler over the same Central Asian corridors Zhang Qian opened.
Han–Xiongnu Wars: A century of conflicts from 133 BCE in which the Han fought the Xiongnu confederation for control of the northern steppes and western corridors. His intelligence on Xiongnu territory shaped Emperor Wu's decision to fight rather than buy peace.
Xiongnu: A nomadic confederation dominating the eastern steppe, the Han dynasty's principal military rival in the 2nd century BCE. Held Zhang Qian captive for about ten years during his first mission westward.
Sima Qian: The Han historian, author of the Shiji, who devoted a chapter to the Western Regions based on Zhang Qian's reports. His account in the Shiji is the surviving source for nearly everything about the missions.
Second Western Mission: Zhang Qian's 119 BCE journey to the Wusun with a large embassy, gifts and subordinate envoys sent on to other states. The mission that established lasting Han diplomatic contacts across the oases.
Ban Chao: A 1st-century CE Han general and diplomat who held the Western Regions for decades through local alliances. Inherited and extended the western diplomacy Zhang Qian began.

Linked from 19 pages