Sogdian Merchants on the Great Silk Road during the Period of the Kangju State

This article examines the role of Sogdiаn merchants in the trade and diplomatic contacys between Central Asia and China during the period of Kangju state, when the Great Silk Road took shape. The study draws on four bodies of evidence: the Chinese dynastic histories, in particular the Han shu and the history of the Wei dynasty; the Sogdian “Ancient Letters” of the early third century CE; the Sogdian rock inscription of the Upper Indus recorded at Shatial; and recent archeological finds of Sogdian material culture on Chinese territory. The evidence indicates that the Sogdians were the principal intermediaries alng the eastern sections of the route; that families of Sogdians merchants were established in India and China as early as the second and third centuries CE; and that by the fourth and fifth centuries the communities of Luoyang and Guzang were consolidated enough for their members to enter administrative and military service and to found Zoroastrian sanctuaries. The inscription of the Upper Indus,  which name traders from Maymurgh, Kesh and other districts of Sogd alongside tamphas known from Samarkand coins, show that this movement spanned several generations.