Page 53 - 2022UNESCO ICDH Newsletter_vol.4

On the History of Early Medieval Sughd-Korean Relations Bobur Goyibov | Associate Professor on Sogdian Scripts, Head of the Department of the Samarkand State University

On Sughd-Korean cultural ties.

The Sogdians also benefited from the trade privileges granted to the Uyghur Although various levels of social relations between the peoples of the world
Khanate (745-840) for helping the Tan Empire regain protection from external began to take shape in the primitive times, important economic ties, political
enemies, and many Samarkand Sogdians married Uyghur women and made and diplomatic processes, and religious relations began to develop in the early
extensive use of the trade privileges granted to the Uyghurs. [12] The Sogdians also twentieth century. The main reason for this was the state of importance of GSR
played an important role in trade relations east of the GSR. Chapter 102 of the in Central Asia during the Qang Dynasty (mid-fifth century BC) and the Kushan
history of the Wei dynasty states, “Sogdian merchants used to come to the land of Empire (first third centuries BC), which was formed after the Greek Bactrian
Lyang to trade. You could meet them a lot in Guzang”. [13] kingdom (250-140 BC). and serious attention was paid to its safety. [17] That is why
Another example of this is following. After the Turkish khanate defeated the Sui the exchange of contacts between the regions has accelerated.
dynasty of China, the Sogdians took control of the Khami province near the city One of the earliest examples of connections between the Korean region and
of Kumul, where they established khanate rule. Kan Su-mi from Samarkand has Central Asia was found in the south of the present-day Korean peninsula. avv. It
been appointed governor of Beyan district in Ordos. This process has intensified is a bronze statue of a warrior made in the sixth-fifth centuries. According to E.V.
the influx of migrants from Sughd. For example, in the second half of the seventh Rteveladze, the statue was taken to Korea from the Central Asian region. Similar
century, a group from Samarkand, Kan Yan-tyan (referred to in the source as Hellenistic statuettes were found in the Amudarya Treasure (a collection of jewelry
"the great leader of the Kan state"), settled in an abandoned town on the east from the fourth-second centuries BC. Found in 1877 at the confluence of the
bank of the Tarim River near Lake Lob Nor, where they built three villages. One Vakhsh and Panj rivers with the Amudarya, near the Takhtikubod crossing), [18]
of them is called Putaochen - "Vineyard". After the seventh century, the influence which are very similar to each other. [19]
of the Sogdians in this region increased. This is confirmed by documents found The fifth-sixth century AD glassware excavated from a tomb in Gwangju (South
in Dunhuang. [14] They note that in the seventh-eighth centuries there were four Korea) is also noteworthy in Sogdian-Korean relations. The glassware, which is
Sogdian cities south of Lake Lob Nor. [15] now housed in the National History Museum in Seoul, is said to have been brought
The Central Asian region is an important region between Iran and China, and by Korean scientists from Central Asia to the Korean Peninsula. [20] It is noteworthy
it is clear from the above data that in the early Middle Ages, the Sogdians were that the plate depicted in the glass with the image of creatures of different shapes
active intermediaries in trade relations between the two major regions. After the and people among the glass objects is the same as the same plate in the murals of
break-up of the Qang state of Sughd, a number of studies were conducted on trade Panjikent (upper reaches of the Zarafshan river). The dishes, which are widely sold
and economic relations with China, India, Byzantium, Iran, and East Turkestan. [16] in international trade, reflect the high quality and variety of landscapes. Many of
However, the relations of Sughd with the historical state of Korea (Koryo, Koguryo) them are made in Sughd and sold abroad.
in the early Middle Ages are the subject of special research. However, there are The inscription on a silver glass found in a tomb in the Canton region bordering
various data that reflect the Sughd-Korean relationship. Vietnam was also claimed by Yutaka Yoshida to be Sogdian. [21] The vessels with
this plate were made in Sughd and sold through Chanan (China) to China and then
to Korea.

[12] Khujaev Ablat, Sogdian information in Chinese sources // History of Uzbekistan (Tashkent, 2004. – No. 1), 59-60.
[13] Huber Moritz, Lives of Sogdians in Medieval China, 11-28. [17] Shoniyozov Karim, Qang state and qangs (Tashkent: Fan, 1990), 4-6.
[14] Trembley Xavier, Pour une histoire de la Serinde (Le manicheisme parmi les peuples et relegions d’Asie Centrale d’apres les sources primaires) [18] Amudarya treasure: Exhibition catalog (Leningrad: 1979), 5-6.
(WIEN: DER Ö STERREICHISCHEN AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN, 2001), 98-110. [19] Rtveladze Edvard, Civilizations, states, cultures of Central Asia (Tashkent: University of World Economy and Diplomac, 2005), 271.

[15] Otaxo'jaev Azimxuja, Turkish-Sughd relations in Central Asian civilization in the early Middle Ages (Tashkent: ART-FLEX, 2010), 87. [20] Rtveladze Edvard, Civilizations, states, cultures of Central Asia, 271.
[16] Rtveladze Edvard, The Great Silk Road, 107-112. [21] Rtveladze Edvard, Civilizations, states, cultures of Central Asia, 271.

52 UNESCO ICDH Newsletter 53 Special Contribution