Editing Sogdia (section)

==Economy and diplomacy==
=== Central Asia and the Silk Road ===
{{Main|Sino-Persian relations|Cities along the Silk Road}}
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = '''Left image''': a Sogdian [[silk]] [[brocade]] textile fragment, dated c. 700 AD<br /> '''Right image''': and a Sogdian [[silver]] wine cup with [[Mercury (element)|mercury]] [[gilding]], 7th century AD | footer_align = left | image1 = Sogdian-fragment-ca. 700 AD.jpg | caption1 = | image2 = Wine cup with elephant heads on ring handle, Sogdiana, probably Uzbekistan, early 7th century AD, hammered silver with mercury gilding - Freer Gallery of Art - DSC05588.JPG | total_width = 300| caption2 = }}
Most merchants did not travel the entire [[Silk Road]], but would trade goods through middlemen based in oasis towns, such as [[Khotan]] or [[Dunhuang]]. The Sogdians, however, established a trading network across the 1500 miles from Sogdiana to China. In fact, the Sogdians turned their energies to trade so thoroughly that the Saka of the [[Kingdom of Khotan]] called all merchants ''suli'', "Sogdian", whatever their culture or ethnicity.<ref name=wood>{{cite book|first=Francis|last=Wood|year= 2002|title= The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia|url=https://archive.org/details/silkroadtwothous0000wood|url-access=registration| publisher= University of California Press| location=Berkeley, CA| pages= [https://archive.org/details/silkroadtwothous0000wood/page/65 65–68]|isbn=978-0-520-24340-8}}</ref> The Sogdians had learnt to become expert traders from the Kushans, together with whom they initially controlled trade in the [[Ferghana Valley]] and [[Kangju]] during the 'birth' of the Silk Road. Later, they became the primary middlemen after the demise of the [[Kushan Empire]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dean |first=Riaz |title=The Stone Tower: Ptolemy, the Silk Road, and a 2,000-Year-Old Riddle |publisher=Penguin Viking |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-670-09362-5 |location=Delhi |pages=94–102 (Ch.9, Sogdian Traders) |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Vaissière |first=Étienne de La |title=Sogdian Traders: A History |publisher=Brill |year=2005 |isbn=90-04-14252-5 |location=Leiden |pages=32, 84, 91 |language=en|translator=James Ward}}</ref>

Unlike the empires of antiquity, the Sogdian region was not a territory confined within fixed borders, but rather a network of [[city-state]]s, from one oasis to another, linking Sogdiana to [[History of the Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]], [[History of India|India]], [[Indochina]] and [[History of China|China]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Gorshenina |first1=Svetlana |author-link1=Svetlana Gorshenina |last2=Rapin |first2=Claude |author-link2=Claude Rapin |date=2001 |title=De Kaboul à Samarcande : Les archéologues en Asie centrale |series=Collection "[[Découvertes Gallimard]]" |volume=411 |location=Paris |publisher=Éditions Gallimard |page=104 |chapter=Chapitre 5 : Des Kouchans à l'Islam – Les Sogdiens sur la route de la soie |language=fr |isbn=978-2-07-076166-1}}</ref> Sogdian contacts with China were initiated by the embassy of the Chinese explorer [[Zhang Qian]] during the reign of [[Emperor Wu of Han|Emperor Wu]] (r. 141–87 BC) of the former [[Han dynasty]]. Zhang wrote a report of his visit to the [[Western Regions]] in Central Asia and named the area of Sogdiana as "[[Kangju]]".<ref>Watson, Burton (1993), ''Records of the Great Historian, Han Dynasty II'', Columbia University Press, p. 234, {{ISBN|0-231-08167-7}}; see also: Loewe, Michael, (2000), ''A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han, and Xin Periods (221 BC – AD 24)'', Leiden, Boston, Koln: Koninklijke Brill NV, p 278, {{ISBN|90-04-10364-3}}.</ref>
{{multiple image| align = left | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = '''Left image''': Sogdian men feasting and eating at a banquet, from a wall mural of [[Panjakent]], Tajikistan, 7th century AD<br /> '''Right image''': Detail of a mural from [[Varakhsha]], 6th century AD, showing [[War elephant|elephant riders]] fighting [[tiger]]s and monsters.| footer_align = left | image1 = Hommes au banquet, pigment sur plâtre, Penjikent, Tadjikistan.jpg | width1 = 162 | caption1 = | image2 = Fregio rosso, palazzo di varakhsha, camera 11, pareti sud ed est (parz), VII-VIII sec, 03.JPG | total_width = 353| caption2  = }}

Following Zhang Qian's embassy and report, commercial Chinese relations with Central Asia and Sogdiana flourished,<ref name="megalithic"/> as many Chinese missions were sent throughout the 1st century BC. In his ''[[Shiji]]'' published in 94 BC, Chinese historian [[Sima Qian]] remarked that "the largest of these embassies to foreign states numbered several hundred persons, while even the smaller parties included over 100 members&nbsp;... In the course of one year anywhere from five to six to over ten parties would be sent out."<ref>[[Shiji]], trans. Burton Watson</ref> In terms of the silk trade, the Sogdians also served as middlemen between the Chinese Han Empire and the [[Parthian Empire]] of the Middle East and West Asia.<ref name="howard 2012 p133" /> Sogdians played a major role in facilitating trade between China and Central Asia along the Silk Roads as late as the 10th century, their language serving as a ''[[lingua franca]]'' for Asian trade as far back as the 4th century.<ref>Hanks, Reuel R. (2010), ''Global Security Watch: Central Asia'', Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford: Praeger, p. 3.</ref><ref>Mark J. Dresden (2003), "Sogdian Language and Literature", in Ehsan Yarshater, The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol III: The Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian Periods, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 1219, {{ISBN|0-521-24699-7}}.</ref>

{{multiple image
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| footer            = '''Left image''': [[An Jia]], a Sogdian trader and official in China, depicted on [[Tomb of An Jia|his tomb]] in 579 AD.<br /> '''Right image''': [[Chinese ceramics|ceramic figurine]] of a Sogdian merchant in northern China, Tang dynasty, 7th century AD
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| image1            = The Sogdian An Jia (contoured).jpg
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}}
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = '''Left image''': Sogdian coin, 6th century, [[British Museum]]<br /> '''Right image''': [[Ancient Chinese coinage|Chinese-influenced]] Sogdian coin, from [[Kelpin]], 8th century, British Museum| footer_align = left | image1 = SogdianCoin6thCentury.JPG | caption1 = | image2 = ChineseShapedSogdianCoinKelpin8thCenturyCE.jpg | total_width = 300| caption2 = }}

Subsequent to their domination by Alexander the Great, the Sogdians from the city of Marakanda ([[Samarkand]]) became dominant as traveling merchants, occupying a key position along the ancient Silk Road.<ref>Ahmed, S. Z. (2004), Chaghatai: the Fabulous Cities and People of the Silk Road, West Conshohocken: Infinity Publishing, pp 61–65.</ref> They played an active role in the spread of faiths such as [[Manicheism]], [[Zoroastrianism]], and [[Buddhism]] along the Silk Road. [[Chinese historiography|The Chinese]] ''Sui Shu'' (''[[Book of Sui]]'') describes Sogdians as "skilled merchants" who attracted many foreign traders to their land to engage in commerce.<ref name="howard 2012 p134">Howard, Michael C., ''Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies, the Role of Cross Border Trade and Travel'', McFarland & Company, 2012, p. 134.</ref> They were described by the Chinese as born merchants, learning their commercial skills at an early age. It appears from sources, such as documents found by Sir [[Aurel Stein]] and others, that by the 4th century they may have monopolized trade [[China–India relations|between India and China]]. A letter written by Sogdian merchants dated 313 AD and found in the ruins of a watchtower in [[Gansu]], was intended to be sent to merchants in [[Timeline of Samarkand|Samarkand]], warning them that after [[Liu Cong (Han Zhao)|Liu Cong]] of [[Han-Zhao]] sacked [[Luoyang]] and the [[Jin dynasty (265–420)|Jin emperor]] fled the capital, there was no worthwhile business there for Indian and Sogdian merchants.<ref name="dresden 1981 p3" /><ref name="howard 2012 pp133-34">Howard, Michael C., Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies, the Role of Cross Border Trade and Travel, McFarland & Company, 2012, pp 133–34.</ref> Furthermore, in 568 AD, a Turko-Sogdian delegation travelled to the Roman emperor in Constantinople to obtain permission to trade and in the following years commercial activity between the states flourished.<ref>J. Rose, 'The Sogdians: Prime Movers between Boundaries', Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, vol. 30, no. 3, (2010), p. 412</ref> Put simply, the Sogdians dominated trade along the Silk Road from the 2nd century BC until the 10th century.<ref name=wood />

[[Suyab]] and [[Taraz|Talas]] in modern-day [[Kyrgyzstan]] were the main Sogdian centers in the north that dominated the caravan routes of the 6th to 8th centuries.<ref>Grégoire Frumkin (1970), ''Archaeology in Soviet Central Asia'', Leiden, Koln: E. J. Brill, pp 35–37.</ref> Their commercial interests were protected by the resurgent military power of the [[Göktürks]], whose empire was built on the political power of the [[Ashina tribe|Ashina]] clan and economic clout of the Sogdians.<ref>Wink, André. ''Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World''. Brill Academic Publishers, 2002. {{ISBN|0-391-04173-8}}.</ref><ref name="Iranica">{{Encyclopædia Iranica|volume=online|last=de la Vaissiere |first=Étienne|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/sogdian-trade|title=Sogdian Trade|year=2004 |access-date=4 November 2011}}</ref><ref>Stark, Sören. ''Die Alttürkenzeit in Mittel- und Zentralasien''. Archäologische und historische Studien (Nomaden und Sesshafte, vol. 6). Reichert, 2008 {{ISBN|3-89500-532-0}}.</ref> Sogdian trade, with some interruptions, continued into the 9th century. For instance, camels, women, girls, silver, and gold were seized from Sogdia during a raid by [[Qapaghan Qaghan]] (692–716), ruler of the [[Second Turkic Khaganate]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Skaff |first=Jonathan Karam |date=2012 |title=Sui-Tang China and Its Turko-Mongol Neighbors: Culture, Power, and Connections, 580–800 |series=Oxford Studies in Early Empires |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5OpoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA245 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=245 |isbn=978-0-19-987590-0 }}</ref> In the 10th century, Sogdiana was incorporated into the [[Uighur Empire]], which [[Kingdom of Qocho|until 840]] encompassed northern Central Asia. This [[khaganate]] obtained enormous deliveries of silk from Tang China in exchange for horses, in turn relying on the Sogdians to sell much of this silk further west.<ref name="liu 2001 p169" /> Peter B. Golden writes that the [[Uyghurs]] not only adopted the [[Sogdian alphabet|writing system]] and religious faiths of the Sogdians, such as Manichaeism, Buddhism, and Christianity, but also looked to the Sogdians as "mentors", while gradually replacing them in their roles as Silk Road traders and [[Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves|purveyors of culture]].<ref>Peter B. Golden (2011), ''Central Asia in World History'', Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, p. 47, {{ISBN|978-0-19-515947-9}}.</ref> [[Muslim geographers]] of the 10th century drew upon Sogdian records dating to 750–840. After the end of [[History of the Uyghur people|the Uyghur Empire]], Sogdian trade underwent a crisis. Following the [[Muslim conquest of Transoxiana]] in the 8th century, the [[Samanids]] resumed trade on the northwestern road leading to the [[Khazars]] and the [[Urals]] and the northeastern one toward the nearby Turkic tribes.<ref name="Iranica" />

During the 5th and 6th century, many Sogdians took up residence in the [[Hexi Corridor]], where they retained autonomy in terms of governance and had a designated official administrator known as a ''[[Sabao]]'', which suggests their importance to the socioeconomic structure of China. The Sogdian influence on trade in China is also made apparent by a Chinese document which lists taxes paid on caravan trade in the [[Turpan]] region and shows that twenty-nine out of the thirty-five commercial transactions involved Sogdian merchants, and in thirteen of those cases both the buyer and the seller were Sogdian.<ref>J. Rose, 'The Sogdians: Prime Movers between Boundaries', Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, vol. 30, no. 3, (2010), p. 416</ref> Trade goods brought to China included [[grape]]s, [[alfalfa]], and [[Sassanid Empire|Sassanian silverware]], as well as glass containers, Mediterranean coral, brass Buddhist images, Roman wool cloth, and [[Amber Road|Baltic amber]]. These were exchanged for Chinese paper, copper, and silk.<ref name=wood /> In the 7th century, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim [[Xuanzang]] noted with approval that Sogdian boys were taught to read and write at the age of five, though their skill was turned to trade, disappointing the scholarly Xuanzang. He also recorded the Sogdians working in other capacities such as farmers, carpetweavers, glassmakers, and woodcarvers.<ref>Wood 2002:66</ref>

=== Trade and diplomacy with the Byzantine Empire ===
{{Further|First Perso-Turkic War|Byzantine–Sasanian wars|Byzantine silk|Sogdian warriors|Sino-Roman relations|Byzantine-Mongol alliance|Europeans in Medieval China}}
[[File:Tang Dynasty emissaries at the court of Varkhuman in Samarkand carrying silk and a string of silkworm cocoons, 648-651 CE, Afrasiyab murals, Samarkand.jpg|thumb|Chinese silk in Sogdia: [[Tang dynasty]] emissaries at the court of the [[Ikhshids of Sogdia|Ikhshid of Sogdia]] [[Varkhuman]] in [[Samarkand]], carrying silk and a string of silkworm cocoons, circa 655 CE, [[Afrasiab murals]], Samarkand.]]
Shortly after the [[smuggling of silkworm eggs into the Byzantine Empire]] from China by [[Nestorian Christian]] monks, the 6th-century Byzantine historian [[Menander Protector]] writes of how the Sogdians attempted to establish a direct trade of Chinese [[silk]] with the [[Byzantine Empire]]. After forming an alliance with the Sasanian ruler [[Khosrow I]] to defeat the Hephthalite Empire, [[Istämi]], the [[Göktürk]] ruler of the [[First Turkic Khaganate]], was approached by Sogdian merchants requesting permission to seek an audience with the Sassanid king of kings for the privilege of traveling through Persian territories in order to trade with the Byzantines.<ref name="howard 2012 p133">Howard, Michael C., ''Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies'', the Role of Cross Border Trade and Travel, McFarland & Company, 2012, p. 133.</ref> Istämi refused the first request, but when he sanctioned the second one and had the Sogdian embassy sent to the Sassanid king, the latter had the members of the embassy poisoned.<ref name="howard 2012 p133" /> Maniah, a Sogdian diplomat, convinced Istämi to send an embassy directly to Byzantium's capital [[Constantinople]], which arrived in 568 and offered not only silk as a gift to Byzantine ruler [[Justin II]], but also proposed an alliance against Sassanid Persia. Justin II agreed and sent an embassy to the Turkic Khaganate, ensuring the direct silk trade desired by the Sogdians.<ref name="howard 2012 p133" /><ref name="liu 2001 p168" /><ref name="dresden 1981 p9" />

[[File:Lions, soie polychrome sogdienne, Asie centrale.jpg|thumb|left|A lion [[Motif (textile arts)|motif]] on Sogdian [[polychrome]] [[silk]], 8th century AD, most likely from [[Bukhara]].]]
It appears, however, that direct trade with the Sogdians remained limited in light of the small amount of [[Roman currency|Roman]] and [[Byzantine coins]] found in Central Asian and Chinese archaeological sites belonging to this era. Although [[Sino-Roman relations|Roman embassies]] apparently reached Han China from 166 AD onwards,<ref>de Crespigny, Rafe (2007), ''A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD)'', Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, p. 600, {{ISBN|978-90-04-15605-0}}.</ref> and the [[Ancient Rome|ancient Romans]] imported Han Chinese silk while the Han dynasty Chinese imported [[Roman glass]]wares as discovered in their tombs,<ref>Brosius, Maria (2006), ''The Persians: An Introduction'', London & New York: Routledge, pp 122–123, {{ISBN|0-415-32089-5}}.</ref><ref>An, Jiayao (2002), "When Glass Was Treasured in China", in Juliano, Annette L. and Judith A. Lerner, ''Silk Road Studies: Nomads, Traders, and Holy Men Along China's Silk Road, 7'', Turnhout: Brepols Publishers, pp. 79–94, {{ISBN|2-503-52178-9}}.</ref> [[Valerie Hansen]] (2012) wrote that no Roman coins from the [[Roman Republic]] (507–27 BC) or the [[Principate]] (27 BC – 330 AD) era of the [[Roman Empire]] have been found in China.<ref name="hansen 2012 p97">Hansen, Valerie (2012), ''The Silk Road: A New History'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 97, {{ISBN|978-0-19-993921-3}}.</ref> However, [[Warwick Ball]] (2016) upends this notion by pointing to a hoard of sixteen Roman coins found at [[Xi'an]], China (formerly [[Chang'an]]), dated to the reigns of various emperors from [[Tiberius]] (14–37 AD) to [[Aurelian]] (270–275 AD).<ref name="ball 2016 p154">Warwick Ball (2016), ''Rome in the East: Transformation of an Empire'', 2nd edition, London & New York: Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0-415-72078-6}}, p. 154.</ref> The earliest gold [[Solidus (coin)|''solidus'' coins]] from the Eastern Roman Empire found in China date to the reign of Byzantine emperor [[Theodosius II]] (r. 408–450) and altogether only forty-eight of them have been found (compared to thirteen-hundred silver coins) in [[Xinjiang]] and the rest of China.<ref name="hansen 2012 p97" /> The use of silver coins in [[Turfan]] persisted long after the [[Tang campaign against Karakhoja]] and Chinese conquest of 640, with a gradual adoption of [[Ancient Chinese coinage|Chinese bronze coinage]] over the course of the 7th century.<ref name="hansen 2012 p97" /> The fact that these Eastern Roman coins were almost always found with [[Monetary history of Iran|Sasanian Persian silver coins]] and Eastern Roman gold coins were used more as ceremonial objects like [[talisman]]s, confirms the pre-eminent importance of [[Greater Iran]] in Chinese Silk Road commerce of Central Asia compared to Eastern Rome.<ref>Hansen, Valerie (2012), ''The Silk Road: A New History'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 97–98, {{ISBN|978-0-19-993921-3}}.</ref>

===Sogdian traders in the Tarim Basin===
[[File:Cave 188, lunette, Central Asian foreigner.jpg|thumb|Central Asian foreigner worshipping [[Maitreya]], [[:Commons:Category:Buddha Cave (Cave 188)|Cave 188]]]]
The [[Kizil Caves]] near [[Kucha]], mid-way in the [[Tarim Basin]], record many scenes of traders from Central Asia in the 5–6th century: these combine influence from the Eastern Iran sphere, at that time occupied by the [[Sasanian Empire]] and the [[Hephthalites]], with strong Sogdian cultural elements.<ref name="EH48">{{cite book |last1=Hertel |first1=Herbert |title=Along the Ancient Silk Routes: Central Asian Art from the West Berlin State Museums |year=1982 |pages=48–49 |url=https://archive.org/details/AlongtheAncientSilkRoutesCentralAsianArtfromtheWestBerlinStateMuseums/page/n47/mode/2up}}</ref><ref name="CB99">{{cite book |last1=Baumer |first1=Christoph |title=History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set |date=18 April 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-83860-868-2 |pages=99, 484 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhiWDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA99}}</ref> Sogdia, at the center of a new [[Silk Road]] between China to the Sasanian Empire and the [[Byzantine Empire]] became extremely prosperous around that time.<ref>"Sogdiana under its nomadic elites became the principal center of agricultural wealth and population in Central Asia." and paragraph on "The Shift of the Trade Routes" in {{cite journal |last1=Vaissière |first1=Etienne de la |title=Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity: 5 Central Asia and the Silk Road |journal=In S. Johnson (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity, Oxford University Press, P. 142-169 |date=212 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=144–160 |url=https://www.academia.edu/4824639}}</ref>

The style of this period in Kizil is characterized by strong Iranian-Sogdian elements probably brought with intense Sogdian-Tocharian trade, the influence of which is especially apparent in the Central-Asian [[caftan]]s with Sogdian textile designs, as well as Sogdian longswords of many of the figures.<ref name="CB165">{{cite book |last1=Baumer |first1=Christoph |title=History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set |date=18 April 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-83860-868-2 |page=165 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhiWDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA165}}</ref> Other characteristic Sogdian designs are animals, such as ducks, within pearl medallions.<ref name="CB165"/>

<gallery widths="150px" heights="200px" perrow="5">
File:Dragon-King_Mabi_saving_traders,_Kizil_cave_14.jpg|Dragon-King Mabi saving traders, Cave 14, [[Kizil Caves]]
File:Dragon-King_Mabi_saving_traders,_Kizil_cave_17.jpg|Two-headed dragon capturing traders, Cave 17
Sab leading the way, Kizil Cave 17.jpg|Sab leading the way for the 500 traders, Kizil Cave 17.
</gallery>
{{clear}}

=== Sogdian merchants, generals, and statesmen in Imperial China ===
{{further|Iranians_in_China#Sogdians|Ethnic groups in Chinese history|Ethnic minorities in China|Western Regions}}
{{multiple image
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| image2 = Sogdians having a toast, with females wearing Chinese headdresses.jpg
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| footer = '''Left image''': kneeling Sogdian donors to the [[Buddha]] (fresco, with detail), [[Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves]], near [[Turpan]] in the eastern [[Tarim Basin]], China, 8th century <br />'''Right image''': Sogdians having a toast, with females wearing Chinese headdresses. [[Anyang funerary bed]], 550–577 AD.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scaglia |first1=Gustina |title=Central Asians on a Northern Ch'i Gate Shrine |journal=Artibus Asiae |date=1958 |volume=21 |issue=1 |page=17 |doi=10.2307/3249023 |jstor=3249023 |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/3249023 |issn=0004-3648}}</ref>
}}
Aside from the Sogdians of Central Asia who acted as middlemen in the Silk Road trade, other Sogdians settled down in China for generations. Many Sogdians lived in [[Luoyang]], capital of the [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Jin dynasty]] (266–420), but fled following the collapse of the Jin dynasty's control over northern China in 311 AD and the rise of northern nomadic tribes.<ref name="howard 2012 pp133-34" />

[[Aurel Stein]] discovered 5 letters written in Sogdian known as the "Ancient Letters" in an abandoned watchtower near Dunhuang in 1907. One of them was written by a Sogdian woman named [[Miwnay]] who had a daughter named Shayn and she wrote to her mother Chatis in Sogdia. Miwnay and her daughter were abandoned in China by Nanai-dhat, her husband who was also Sogdian like her. Nanai-dhat refused to help Miwnay and their daughter after forcing them to come with him to Dunhuang and then abandoning them, telling them they should serve the Han Chinese. Miwnay asked one of her husband's relative Artivan and then asked another Sogdian man, Farnkhund to help them but they also abandoned them. Miwnay and her daughter Shayn were then forced to became servants of Han Chinese after living on charity from a priest. Miwnay cursed her Sogdian husband for leaving her, saying she would rather have been married to a pig or dog.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/sogdlet.html |title=The Sogdian Ancient Letters 1, 2, 3, and 5 |others=translated by Prof. Nicholas Sims-Williams|website=Silk Road Seattle – University of Washington}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=5032|title= Aurel Stein Discovers the Sogdian "Ancient Letters" 313 CE to 314 CE|last=Norman |first=Jeremy |website=History of Information }}</ref><ref>Sogdian Ancient Letter No. 3. Reproduced from Susan Whitfield (ed.), The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith (2004) p. 248.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://sogdians.si.edu/ancient-letters/ |title=Ancient Letters |website=The Sogdians – Influencers on the Silk Roads |publisher= Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://kimon.hosting.nyu.edu/sogdians/items/show/869|title= Sogdian Ancient Letter III: Letter to Nanaidhat|last= Keramidas|first= Kimon|website= NYU|publisher= Telling the Sogdian Story: A Freer/Sackler Digital Exhibition Project|access-date= 19 April 2023|archive-date= 19 October 2023|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231019174747/https://kimon.hosting.nyu.edu/sogdians/items/show/869|url-status= dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://ringmar.net/irhistorynew/index.php/welcome/introduction-4/from-temujin-to-genghis-khan/5-2-a-nomadic-state/5-3-how-to-conquer-the-world/5-4-dividing-it-all-up/sogdian-letters/|title= Sogdian letters |website= ringmar.net|date= 5 March 2021 |publisher=History of International Relations }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= Vaissière|first=Étienne de la |date=2005 |title= Sogdian Traders: A History|url=https://brill.com/downloadpdf/book/9789047406990/BP000005.xml |series=Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 8 Uralic & Central Asian Studies|volume=10|publisher=Brill |chapter=Chapter Two About the Ancient Letters|pages=43–70 |isbn=978-90-47-40699-0|doi=10.1163/9789047406990_005}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789047406990/BP000005.xml | doi=10.1163/9789047406990_005 | chapter=About the Ancient Letters | title=Sogdian Traders | year=2005 | pages=43–70 | publisher=Brill | isbn=9789047406990 | last1=Vaissière | first1=Étienne de la }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Livšic |first=Vladimir A. |editor1-last=Orlov |editor1-first=Andrei |editor2-last=Lourie|editor2-first=Basil |date=2009 |title =Symbola Caelestis: Le symbolisme liturgique et paraliturgique dans le monde chrétien |url= https://brill.com/downloadpdf/journals/scri/5/1/article-p344_21.xml|location= Piscataway|publisher=Gorgias Press |chapter=Sogdian "Ancient Letters" (II, IV, V)|pages=344–352 |isbn=9781463222543}}</ref> Another letter in the collection was written by the Sogdian Nanai-vandak addressed to Sogdians back home in Samarkand informing them about a mass rebellion by Xiongnu Hun rebels against their Han Chinese rulers of the Western Jin dynasty informing his people that every single one of the diaspora Sogdians and Indians in the Chinese Western Jin capital Luoyang died of starvation due to the uprising by the rebellious Xiongnu, who were formerly subjects of the Han Chinese. The Han Chinese emperor abandoned Luoyang when it came under siege by the Xiongnu rebels and his palace was burned down. Nanai-vandak also said the city of [[Ye (Hebei)|Ye]] was no more as the Xiongnu rebellion resulted in disaster for the Sogdian diaspora in China.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title= Ancient Letters|encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Iranica|date=15 December 1985 |last=Sims-Williams |first=N. |pages=7–9|volume=II|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ancient-letters }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://kimon.hosting.nyu.edu/sogdians/items/show/851|title= Sodgian Ancient Letter II|last= Keramidas|first= Kimon|website= NYU|publisher= Telling the Sogdian Story: A Freer/Sackler Digital Exhibition Project|access-date= 19 April 2023|archive-date= 25 September 2023|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230925174224/https://kimon.hosting.nyu.edu/sogdians/items/show/851|url-status= dead}}</ref> Han Chinese men frequently bought Sogdian slave girls for sexual relations.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1= Trombert|editor-first1= Eric|editor-last2= Vaissière|editor-first2=Étienne de la |last=Hansen|first=Valerie|date=2005|title=Les sogdiens en Chine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O44MAQAAMAAJ&q=Chinese+male+master+and+a+Sogdian+female+slave. |chapter= The Impact of the Silk Road Trade on a Local Community: The Turfan Oasis, 500–800|publisher=École française d'Extrême-Orient|pages=295–300 |isbn=9782855396538}}</ref>

[[File:Yingpan_man_(detail).jpg|thumb|upright|left|The [[Yingpan man]], [[Xinjiang]], China, 4th-5th century CE. He may have been a Sogdian trader.<ref name="RFG">{{cite book |last1=Cheang |first1=Sarah |last2=Greef |first2=Erica de |last3=Takagi |first3=Yoko |title=Rethinking Fashion Globalization |date=15 July 2021 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-350-18130-4 |page=101 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MostEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT101 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Tingting |last2=Fuller |first2=Benjamin T. |last3=Jiang |first3=Hongen |last4=Li |first4=Wenying |last5=Wei |first5=Dong |last6=Hu |first6=Yaowu |title=Revealing lost secrets about Yingpan Man and the Silk Road |journal=Scientific Reports |date=13 January 2022 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=669 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-04383-5 |pmid=35027587 |pmc=8758759 |bibcode=2022NatSR..12..669W |issn=2045-2322}}</ref>]]
Still, some Sogdians continued living in Gansu.<ref name="howard 2012 pp133-34"/> A community of Sogdians remained in the [[Northern Liang]] capital of [[Wuwei, Gansu|Wuwei]], but when the Northern Liang were defeated by the [[Northern Wei]] in 439 AD, many Sogdians were forcibly relocated to the Northern Wei capital of [[Datong]], thereby fostering exchanges and trade for the new dynasty.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Li |first1=Xiao |title=Studies on the History and Culture Along the Continental Silk Road |date=10 September 2020 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-981-15-7602-7 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DW78DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 |language=en|quote="It is evident that when the Northern Wei defeated Northern Liang and seized its capital (439), they captured a large number of Sogdian merchants living in Wuwei and resettled them in Pingcheng (present-day Datong), the capital of the Northern Wei."}}</ref> Numerous [[:Commons:Category:Central Asian objects of Northern Wei tombs|Central Asian objects]] have been found in Northern Wei tombs, such as the tomb of [[Feng Hetu]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Watt |first1=James C. Y. |title=China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200–750 AD |date=2004 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-1-58839-126-1 |pages=148–160 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JbdS-R3y72MC&pg=PA148 |language=en}}</ref>

Other Sogdians came from the west and took positions in Chinese society. The ''[[Bei shi]]''<ref>ch. 92, p. 3047</ref> describes how a Sogdian came from Anxi (western Sogdiana or [[Parthia]]) to China and became a ''sabao'' (薩保, from [[Sanskrit]] ''sarthavaha'', meaning caravan leader)<ref name="liu 2001 p168">Liu, Xinru, "The Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Interactions in Eurasia", in ''Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History'', ed. Michael Adas, American Historical Association, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2001, p. 168.</ref> who lived in Jiuquan during the [[Northern Wei]] (386 – 535 AD), and was the ancestor of An Tugen, a man who rose from a common merchant to become a top ranking minister of state for the [[Northern Qi]] (550 – 577 AD).<ref name="howard 2012 p134" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Vaissière |first1=Étienne de la |title=CHINESE-IRANIAN RELATIONS xiii. Eastern Iranian Migrations to China |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/chinese-iranian-xiii |website=iranicaonline.org}}</ref> Valerie Hansen asserts that around this time and extending into the [[Tang dynasty]] (618 – 907 AD), the Sogdians "became the most influential of the non-Chinese groups resident in China". Two different types of Sogdians came to China, envoys and merchants. Sogdian envoys settled, marrying Chinese women, purchasing land, with newcomers living there permanently instead of returning to their homelands in Sogdiana.<ref name="howard 2012 p134" /> They were concentrated in large numbers around Luoyang and Chang'an, and also [[Xiangyang]] in present-day [[Hubei]], building [[Zoroastrian]] [[Fire temple|temples]] to service their communities once they reached the threshold of roughly 100 households.<ref name="howard 2012 p134" /> From the Northern Qi to Tang periods, the leaders of these communities, the ''sabao'', were incorporated into the official hierarchy of state officials.<ref name="howard 2012 p134" />

During the 6–7th centuries AD, Sogdian families living in China created important tombs with funerary [[epitaph]]s explaining the history of their illustrious houses. Their burial practices blended both Chinese forms such as carved funerary beds with Zoroastrian sensibilities in mind, such as separating the body from both the earth and water.<ref>Howard, Michael C., ''Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies, the Role of Cross Border Trade and Travel'', McFarland & Company, 2012, pp 134–35.</ref> [[:Template:Sogdian tombs in China|Sogdian tombs in China]] are among the most lavish of the period in this country, and are only inferior to Imperial tombs, suggesting that the Sogdian ''Sabao'' were among the wealthiest members of the population.<ref name="FG">{{cite book |last1=GRENET |first1=Frantz |title=Histoire et cultures de l'Asie centrale préislamique |date=2020 |publisher=Collège de France |location=Paris, France |isbn=978-2-7226-0516-9 |url=https://journals.openedition.org/annuaire-cdf/pdf/15896|page=320|quote="Ce sont les décors funéraires les plus riches de cette époque, venant juste après ceux de la famille impériale; il est probable que les sabao étaient parmi les éléments les plus fortunés de la population. "}}</ref>

[[File:Huteng dancer.jpg|thumb|[[Sogdian language|Sogdian]] ''[[Huteng]]'' dancer, [[:Commons:Category:Pagoda of Xiuding Temple|Xiuding temple pagoda]], [[Anyang]], [[Hunan]], China, [[Tang dynasty]], 7th century.]]
In addition to being merchants, monks, and government officials, Sogdians also served as soldiers in the Tang military.<ref name="howard 2012 p135">Howard, Michael C., ''Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies, the Role of Cross Border Trade and Travel'', McFarland & Company, 2012, p. 135.</ref> [[An Lushan]], whose father was Sogdian and mother a Gokturk, rose to the position of a military governor (''[[jiedushi]]'') in the northeast before leading the [[An Lushan Rebellion]] (755 – 763 AD), which split the loyalties of the Sogdians in China.<ref name="howard 2012 p135" /> The An Lushan rebellion was supported by many Sogdians, and in its aftermath many of them were slain or changed their names to escape their Sogdian heritage, so that little is known about the Sogdian presence in North China since that time.<ref>J. Rose, 'The Sogdians: Prime Movers between Boundaries', Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, vol. 30, no. 3, (2010), p. 417</ref> The former Yan rebel general Gao Juren of [[Goguryeo]] descent ordered a mass slaughter of West Asian (Central Asian) [[Sogdians]] in Fanyang, also known as [[Jicheng (Beijing)]], in Youzhou [[Ethnic issues in China#History|identifying them through their big noses]] and lances were used to impale their children when he rebelled against the rebel Yan emperor Shi Chaoyi [[An Lushan Rebellion#Implosion of Yan and end of the rebellion|and defeated rival Yan dynasty forces under the Turk Ashina Chengqing]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hansen |first1=Valerie |date=2003 |title=New Work on the Sogdians, the Most Important Traders on the Silk Road, A.D. 500–1000 |jstor=4528925|journal=T'oung Pao |volume=89 |issue=1/3 |page=158 |doi= 10.1163/156853203322691347}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hansen |first1=Valerie |title=The Silk Road: A New History |date=2015 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-021842-3 |pages=157–158 |edition=illustrated, reprint |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FDdRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA157 |chapter=Chapter 5 – The Cosmopolitan Terminus of the Silk Road}}</ref> High nosed Sogdians were slaughtered in Youzhou in 761. Youzhou had Linzhou, another "protected" prefecture attached to it and Sogdians lived there in great numbers.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Morrow |first=Kenneth T. |date=May 2019 |title=Negotiating Belonging: The Church of the East's Contested Identity in Tang China |type=Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of The University of Texas at Dallas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History of Ideas |chapter= |publisher=The University of Texas at Dallas |docket= |oclc= |url=https://utd-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/10735.1/6946/ETD-5608-017-MORROW-260204.19.pdf |pages=110, 111|access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=de la Vaissière |first=Étienne|author-link= |date=2018 |title=Sogdian Traders: A History |series=Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 8 Uralic & Central Asian Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cqWODwAAQBAJ&pg=PA220 |location= |publisher= Brill|page=220 |isbn=978-90-474-0699-0}}</ref> because Gao Juren, like Tian Shengong wanted to defect to the Tang dynasty and wanted them to publicly recognize and acknowledge him as a regional warlord and offered the slaughter of the Central Asian Hu "barbarians" as a blood sacrifice for the Tang court to acknowledge his allegiance without him giving up territory. according to the book, "History of An Lushan" (安祿山史記).<ref>{{cite thesis |last= Chamney|first=Lee |date= |title=The An Shi Rebellion and Rejection of the Other in Tang China, 618–763 |type= A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History and Classics|chapter= |publisher=University of Alberta Libraries |docket= |oclc= |pages=93, 94|citeseerx=10.1.1.978.1069 }}</ref><ref>History of An Lushan (An Lushan Shiji 安祿山史記) "唐鞠仁今城中殺胡者重賞﹐於是羯胡盡殪﹐小兒擲於中空以戈_之。高鼻類胡而濫死者甚眾"</ref> Another source says the slaughter of the Hu barbarians serving Ashina Chengqing was done by Gao Juren in Fanyang in order to deprive him of his support base, since the Tiele, Tongluo, Sogdians and Turks were all Hu and supported the Turk Ashina Chengqing against the Mohe, Xi, Khitan and Goguryeo origin soldiers led by Gao Juren. Gao Juren was later killed by Li Huaixian, who was loyal to Shi Chaoyi.<ref>[https://www.163.com/dy/article/F4S4NUB7052384UI.html "成德军的诞生：为什么说成德军继承了安史集团的主要遗产" in 时拾史事 2020-02-08]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=AdjzDwAAQBAJ&q=%E8%93%9F%E9%97%A8%E5%86%85%E4%B9%B1&pg=PT423 李碧妍, 《危机与重构：唐帝国及其地方诸侯》2015-08-01]</ref> A massacre of foreign Arab and Persian Muslim merchants by former Yan rebel general [[Tian Shengong]] happened during the An Lushan rebellion in the [[Yangzhou massacre (760)]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wan |first1=Lei |year=2017 |title=The earliest Muslim communities in China |series=Qiraat No. 8 (February – March 2017) |publisher=King Faisal Center For Research and Islamic Studies |isbn=978-603-8206-39-3 |page=11 |url=https://www.kfcris.com/pdf/6b438689cf0f36eb4ce727e76d747c3d5af140055feaf.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220210005920/https://www.kfcris.com/pdf/6b438689cf0f36eb4ce727e76d747c3d5af140055feaf.pdf |archive-date=10 February 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Qi|2010|p=221-227}} since Tian Shengong was defecting to the Tang dynasty and wanted them to publicly recognized and acknowledge him, and the Tang court portrayed the war as between rebel hu barbarians of the Yan against Han Chinese of the Tang dynasty, Tian Shengong slaughtered foreigners as a blood sacrifice to prove he was loyal to the Han Chinese Tang dynasty state and for them to recognize him as a regional warlord without him giving up territory, and he killed other foreign Hu barbarian ethnicities as well whose ethnic groups were not specified, not only Arabs and Persians since it was directed against all foreigners.<ref>{{cite thesis |last= Chamney|first=Lee |date= |title=The An Shi Rebellion and Rejection of the Other in Tang China, 618–763 |type= A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History and Classics|chapter= |publisher=University of Alberta Libraries |docket= |oclc= |url= https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/d0d042f4-42df-407d-add7-567543d720a1/view/ef1dbd57-a18a-4436-97a6-a6084c17a8d9/Lee-20Chamney-20Thesis-20final-20draft.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218121905/https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/d0d042f4-42df-407d-add7-567543d720a1/view/ef1dbd57-a18a-4436-97a6-a6084c17a8d9/Lee-20Chamney-20Thesis-20final-20draft.pdf |archive-date=18 February 2020 |url-status=live|pages=91, 92, 93|access-date=}}</ref><ref>[[Old Tang History]] "至揚州，大掠百姓商人資產，郡內比屋發掘略遍，商胡波斯被殺者數千人" "商胡大食, 波斯等商旅死者數千人波斯等商旅死者數千人."</ref>

Sogdians continued as active traders in China following the defeat of the rebellion, but many of them were compelled to hide their ethnic identity. A prominent case was An Chongzhang, Minister of War, and Duke of Liang who, in 756, asked [[Emperor Suzong of Tang]] to allow him to change his name to [[Li Baoyu]] because of his shame in sharing [[An (surname)|the same surname]] with the rebel leader.<ref name="howard 2012 p135" /> This change of surnames was enacted retroactively for all of his family members, so that his ancestors would also be bestowed the [[Li (surname)|surname Li]].<ref name="howard 2012 p135" />

The [[Nestorian]] Christians like the [[Bactria]]n Priest Yisi of [[Balkh]] helped the Tang dynasty general [[Guo Ziyi]] militarily crush the An Lushan rebellion, with Yisi personally acting as a military commander and Yisi and the Nestorian Church of the East were rewarded by the Tang dynasty with titles and positions as described in the [[Nestorian Stele]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Scott Fitzgerald |date= 26 May 2017 |title=Silk Road Christians and the Translation of Culture in Tang China |url=https://cambridge.org/core/journals/studies-in-church-history/article/abs/silk-road-christians-and-the-translation-of-culture-in-tang-china/D8E48283153EA2E3C38AF5D36E238A0D |journal=Studies in Church History |volume=53 |issue= |pages=15–38 |publisher=Published online by Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/stc.2016.3 |s2cid=164239427 |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Tang|editor1-first=Li |editor2-last=Winkler |editor2-first= Dietmar W. |last=Deeg |first=Max |author-link= |date=2013 |title=From the Oxus River to the Chinese Shores: Studies on East Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYaMuV3N5vUC&dq=yisi+stele+guo+lushan&pg=PA113 |location= |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|edition=illustrated |page=113 |chapter=A BELLIGERENT PRIEST – YISI AND HIS POLITICAL CONTEXT |isbn=978-3-643-90329-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Deeg |first1= Max |date=2007 |title=The Rhetoric of Antiquity. Politico-Religious Propaganda in the Nestorian Steleof Chang'an 安長 |journal=Journal for Late Antique Religion and Culture |volume=1 |issue= |pages=17–30 |issn=1754-517X|doi= 10.18573/j.2007.10291|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Godwin |first=R. Todd |author-link= |date=2018 |title=Persian Christians at the Chinese Court: The Xi'an Stele and the Early Medieval Church of the East |series= Library of Medieval Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wbmKDwAAQBAJ&dq=yisi+stele+guo+lushan&pg=PT179 |location= |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page= |isbn=978-1-78672-316-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chin |first1=Ken-pa |date=26 September 2019 |title=Jingjiao under the Lenses of Chinese Political Theology |journal=Religions |volume=10 |issue=10 |pages=551 |doi=10.3390/rel10100551|location=Department of Philosophy, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 24205, Taiwan |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lippiello |first=Tiziana |editor1-last=Hoster |editor1-first=Barbara |editor2-last=Kuhlmann|editor2-first=Dirk |editor3-last=Wesolowski|editor3-first=Zbigniew |author-link= |date=2017 |title=Rooted in Hope: China – Religion – Christianity Vol 1: Festschrift in Honor of Roman Malek S.V.D. on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday |series=Monumenta Serica Monograph Series|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iYmjDgAAQBAJ&dq=yisi+stele+guo&pg=PT300 |location= |publisher=Routledge |page=|chapter=On the Difficult Practice of the Mean in Ordinary Life Teachings From the Zhongyong* |isbn=978-1-351-67277-1}}</ref>

[[Amoghavajra]] used his rituals against An Lushan while staying in Chang'an when it was occupied in 756 while the Tang dynasty crown prince and Xuanzong emperor had retreated to Sichuan. Amoghavajra's rituals were explicitly intended to introduced death, disaster and disease against An Lushan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goble |first=Geoffrey C. |author-link= |date=2019 |title= Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra, the Ruling Elite, and the Emergence of a Tradition |series=The Sheng Yen Series in Chinese Buddhist Studies |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tImQDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22rituals+that+brought+disease%2C+disaster%2C+and+death+to+one%27s+enemies%22&pg=PT20 |publisher=Columbia University Press |pages= 10, 11|isbn=978-0-231-55064-2}}</ref> As a result of Amoghavajrya's assistance in crushing An Lushan, Estoteric Buddhism became the official state Buddhist sect supported by the Tang dynasty, "Imperial Buddhism" with state funding and backing for writing scriptures, and constructing monasteries and temples. The disciples of Amoghavajra did ceremonies for the state and emperor.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goble |first=Geoffrey C. |author-link= |date=2019 |title= Chinese Esoteric Buddhism: Amoghavajra, the Ruling Elite, and the Emergence of a Tradition |series=The Sheng Yen Series in Chinese Buddhist Studies |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=tImQDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22its+monasteries+were+established+by+the+state+over+several+centuries+in+order+to+supernormally+benefit+the+Chinese+imperium%22&pg=PT21 |location=|publisher=Columbia University Press |pages=11, 12|isbn=978-0-231-55064-2}}</ref> Tang dynasty Emperor Suzong was crowned as [[cakravartin]] by Amoghavajra after victory against An Lushan in 759 and he had invoked the Acala vidyaraja against An Lushan. The Tang dynasty crown prince Li Heng (later Suzong) also received important strategic military information from Chang'an when it was occupied by An Lushan though secret message sent by Amoghavajra.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Heirman |editor1-first=Ann |editor2-last=Bumbacher |editor2-first=Stephan Peter |last=Lehnert |first=Martin |author-link= |date=2007 |volume=16 of Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 8 Uralic & Central Asian Studies (Volume 16 of Handbuch der Orientalistik: Achte Abteilung, Central Asia) (Volume 16 of Handbuch der Orientalistik. 8, Zentralasien)|title=The Spread of Buddhism |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kr_M1e7yImoC&dq=%22Though+Amoghavajra+had+been+detained+in+the+occupied+capital+he+was+able+to+secretly+communicate+strategically+sensitive+information+to+Li+Heng%22&pg=PA262 |location= |publisher=BRILL |page=262 |chapter= Antric Threads Between India and China 1. Tantric Buddhism—Approaches and Reservations|isbn=978-90-04-15830-6}}</ref>

Epitaphs were found dating from the Tang dynasty of a Christian couple in [[Luoyang]] of a Nestorian Christian Sogdian woman, who Lady An (安氏) who died in 821 and her Nestorian Christian Han Chinese husband, Hua Xian (花献) who died in 827. These Han Chinese Christian men may have married Sogdian Christian women because of a lack of Han Chinese women belonging to the Christian religion, limiting their choice of spouses among the same ethnicity.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Morrow |first=Kenneth T. |date=May 2019 |title=Negotiating Belonging: The Church of the East's Contested Identity in Tang China |type=Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of The University of Texas at Dallas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History of Ideas |chapter= |publisher=THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS |docket= |oclc= |url=https://utd-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/10735.1/6946/ETD-5608-017-MORROW-260204.19.pdf |pages=109–135, viii, xv, 156, 164, 115, 116|access-date=}}</ref> Another epitaph in Luoyang of a Nestorian Christian Sogdian woman also surnamed An was discovered and she was put in her tomb by her military officer son on 22 January 815. This Sogdian woman's husband was surnamed He (和) and he was a Han Chinese man and the family was indicated to be multiethnic on the epitaph pillar.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Morrow |first=Kenneth T. |date=May 2019 |title=Negotiating Belonging: The Church of the East's Contested Identity in Tang China |type=Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of The University of Texas at Dallas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History of Ideas |chapter= |publisher=The University of Texas at Dallas|docket= |oclc= |url=https://utd-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/10735.1/6946/ETD-5608-017-MORROW-260204.19.pdf |pages=155–156, 149, 150, viii, xv |access-date=}}</ref> In Luoyang, the mixed raced sons of Nestorian Christian Sogdian women and Han Chinese men has many career paths available for them. Neither their mixed ethnicity nor their faith were barriers and they were able to become civil officials, a military officers and openly celebrated their Christian religion and support Christian monasteries.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Morrow |first=Kenneth T. |date=May 2019 |title=Negotiating Belonging: The Church of the East's Contested Identity in Tang China |type=Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of The University of Texas at Dallas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History of Ideas |chapter= |publisher=The University of Texas at Dallas |docket= |oclc= |url=https://utd-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/10735.1/6946/ETD-5608-017-MORROW-260204.19.pdf |pages=164|access-date=}}</ref>

[[File:Northern Zhou Dynasty Tomb of Shijun (roof reconstructed).jpg|thumb|The [[tomb of Wirkak]], a Sogdian official in China. Built in [[Xi'an]] in 580 AD, during the [[Northern Zhou]] dynasty. [[Xi'an City Museum]].]]
During the Tang and subsequent [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms|Five Dynasties]] and [[Song dynasty]], a large community of Sogdians also existed in the multicultural ''[[entrepôt]]'' of Dunhuang, Gansu, a major center of Buddhist learning and home to the Buddhist [[Mogao Caves]].<ref>Galambos, Imre (2015), "''She'' Association Circulars from Dunhuang", in Antje Richter, ''A History of Chinese Letters and Epistolary Culture'', Brill: Leiden, Boston, pp 870–71.</ref> Although Dunhuang and the Hexi Corridor were captured by the [[Tibetan Empire]] after the An Lushan Rebellion, in 848 the ethnic Han Chinese general [[Zhang Yichao]] (799–872) managed to wrestle control of the region from [[Era of Fragmentation|the Tibetans during their civil war]], establishing the [[Guiyi Circuit]] under [[Emperor Xuānzong of Tang]] (r. 846–859).<ref>Taenzer, Gertraud (2016), "Changing Relations between Administration, Clergy and Lay People in Eastern Central Asia: a Case Study According to the Dunhuang Manuscripts Referring to the Transition from Tibetan to Local Rule in Dunhuang, 8th–11th Centuries", in Carmen Meinert, ''Transfer of Buddhism Across Central Asian Networks (7th to 13th Centuries)'', Leiden, Boston: Brill, pp 35–37.</ref><ref name=ZZTJ249>''[[Zizhi Tongjian]]'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷249|vol. 249]].</ref> Although the region occasionally fell under the rule of different states, it retained its multilingual nature as evidenced by an abundance of manuscripts (religious and secular) in [[Chinese language|Chinese]] and [[Tibetan languages|Tibetan]], but also [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]], [[Saka language|Khotanese]] (another [[Eastern Iranian language]] native to [[Western Regions|the region]]), [[Uyghur language|Uyghur]], and [[Sanskrit]].<ref>Galambos, Imre (2015), "''She'' Association Circulars from Dunhuang", in Antje Richter, ''A History of Chinese Letters and Epistolary Culture'', Brill: Leiden, Boston, p 871.</ref>

There were nine prominent Sogdian clans (昭武九姓). The names of these clans have been deduced from the [[Chinese surname]]s listed in a [[Dunhuang manuscripts|Tang-era Dunhuang manuscript]] (Pelliot chinois 3319V).<ref name="hansen 2012 p98" /> Each "clan" name refers to a different city-state as the Sogdian used the name of their hometown as their Chinese surname.<ref>Galambos, Imre (2015), "''She'' Association Circulars from Dunhuang", in Antje Richter, ''A History of Chinese Letters and Epistolary Culture'', Brill: Leiden, Boston, pp 871–72.</ref> Of these the most common Sogdian surname throughout China was [[Shí (surname)|Shí]] (石, generally given to those from Chach, modern [[Tashkent]]). The following surnames also appear frequently on Dunhuang manuscripts and registers: [[Shǐ (surname)|Shǐ]] (史, from Kesh, modern [[Shahrisabz]]), [[An (surname)|An]] (安, from Bukhara), [[Mi (surname)|Mi]] (米, from [[Panjakent]]), [[Kang (Chinese surname)|Kāng]] (康, from [[Samarkand]]), [[Cao (Chinese surname)|Cáo]] (曹, from Kabudhan, north of the [[Zeravshan River]]), and [[Hé]] (何, from Kushaniyah).<ref name="hansen 2012 p98" /><ref>Galambos, Imre (2015), "''She'' Association Circulars from Dunhuang", in Antje Richter, ''A History of Chinese Letters and Epistolary Culture'', Brill: Leiden, Boston, p. 872.</ref> [[Confucius]] is said to have expressed a desire to live among the "nine tribes" which may have been a reference to the Sogdian community.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chung |first=Ha-Sung H. |title=Traces of the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel in Chinese and Korean Sources |url=https://www.academia.edu/61126693}}</ref>

[[File:Tang Sancai Porcelain with Musicians on a Camel (no background).jpg|thumb|A [[Tang dynasty]] ''[[sancai]]'' statuette of Sogdian merchants riding on a [[Bactrian camel]], 723 AD, [[Xi'an]].]]
The influence of [[Sinicized]] and multilingual Sogdians during this ''Guiyijun'' (歸義軍) period (c. 850 – c. 1000 AD) of Dunhuang is evident in a large number of manuscripts written in [[Chinese characters]] from left to right instead of vertically, mirroring the direction of how the [[Sogdian alphabet]] is read.<ref>Galambos, Imre (2015), "''She'' Association Circulars from Dunhuang", in Antje Richter, ''A History of Chinese Letters and Epistolary Culture'', Brill: Leiden, Boston, pp 870, 873.</ref> Sogdians of Dunhuang also commonly formed and joined lay associations among their local communities, convening at Sogdian-owned [[tavern]]s in scheduled meetings mentioned in their [[epistle|epistolary letters]].<ref>Galambos, Imre (2015), "''She'' Association Circulars from Dunhuang", in Antje Richter, ''A History of Chinese Letters and Epistolary Culture'', Brill: Leiden, Boston, pp 872–73.</ref> Sogdians living in Turfan under the Tang dynasty and [[Gaochang]] Kingdom engaged in a variety of occupations that included: farming, military service, painting, [[leather crafting]] and selling products such as iron goods.<ref name="hansen 2012 p98" /> The Sogdians had been migrating to Turfan since the 4th century, yet the pace of migration began to climb steadily with the [[Muslim conquest of Persia]] and [[Fall of the Sasanian Empire]] in 651, followed by the Islamic conquest of Samarkand in 712.<ref name="hansen 2012 p98" />