r the Hsiung-nu empire had suffered defeat; now half
of what remained of it became part of the Chinese state. Its place was
taken by the Hsien-pi and Wu-huan, but at first they were of much less
importance.

In spite of the partition, the northern Hsiung-nu attempted in the years
between A.D. 60 and 70 to regain a sphere of influence in Turkestan;
this seemed the easier for them since the king of Yarkand had been
captured and murdered, and Turkestan was more or less in a state of
confusion. The Chinese did their utmost to play off the northern against
the southern Hsiung-nu and to maintain a political balance of power in
the west and north. So long as there were a number of small states in
Turkestan, of which at least some were friendly to China, Chinese trade
caravans suffered relatively little disturbance on their journeys.
Independent states in Turkestan had proved more profitable for trade
than when a large army of occupation had to be maintained there. When,
however, there appeared to be the danger of a new union of the two
parts of the Hsiung-nu as a restoration of a large empire also
comprising all Turkestan, the Chinese trading monopoly was endangered.
Any great power would secure the best goods for itself, and there would
be no good business remaining for China.

For these reasons a great Chinese campaign was undertaken against
Turkestan in A.D. 73 under Tou Ku. Mainly owing to the ability of the
Chinese deputy commander Pan Ch'ao, the whole of Turkestan was quickly
conquered. Meanwhile the emperor Ming Ti (A.D. 58-75) had died, and under
the new emperor Chang Ti (76-88) the "isolationist" party gained the
upper hand against the clique of Tou Ku and Pan Ch'ao: the danger of the
restoration of a Hsiung-nu empire, the isolationists contended, no
longer existed; Turkestan should be left to itself; the small states
would favour trade with China of their own accord. Meanwhile, a
considerable part of Turkestan had fallen away from China, for Chang Ti
sent neither money nor troops to hold the conquered territories. Pan
Ch'ao nevertheless remained in Turkestan (at Kashgar and Khotan) where
he held on amid countless difficulties. Although he reported (A.D. 78)
that the troops could feed themselves in Turkestan and needed neither
supplies nor money from home, no reinforcements of any importance were
sent; only a few hundred or perhaps a thousand men, mostly released
criminals, reached him. Not until A.D. 89 did the Pan