Over 2,000 years ago, the Han Dynasty had unified China and was looking to expand north and west for trade and to secure its borders against the nomadic peoples who often raided imperial territory. The emperor Wu Di, reigning between 141 B.C. and 87 B.C., was known for his extensive military campaigns launched to pacify these dangerous and uncharted lands and establish contact with the tribes that inhabited them.
The men who went on these expeditions and campaigns not only faced danger and peril but also had to dedicate their lives to the endeavors. Their tales are those of epic journeys through what was literally a new world for the Chinese, who had classically known their own land as “all under Heaven.”
Presented here are the stories of two men: one whose journey connected China with the peoples of Central Asia, and another whose loyalty to his imperial duty weathered two decades of captivity during war, until peace with the Xiongnu people (known to the Chinese as the barbarian nomads) was realized.
