Four Garrisons of Anxi
| Four Garrisons of Anxi | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 安西四鎮 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 安西四镇 | ||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Ānxī Sìzhèn |
| Wade–Giles | Anhsi Szuchen |
The Four Garrisons of Anxi were Chinese military garrisons installed by the Tang Dynasty between 648 and 658. They were stationed at the Indo-European city-states of Kucha, Hotan, Kashgar and Karashahr. Kucha was also the seat of the Protectorate General to Pacify the West. The troops were sent and stationed here from within Tang China proper.
Based upon the Chinese texts, the Tang campaign against Kucha in 648 established Tang rule over the entire Tarim Basin. According to Zhang Guangda's theory, this is in part due to a number of inaccurate Chinese sources linking the expedition to the establishment of the Four Garrisons of Anxi. However, Zhang Guangda has used hints from excavated texts from Gaochang (Karakhoja or Turfan) dated to 654 to show that the Tang abandoned the attempt to move the headquarters of the Protectorate of the Pacified West to Kucha after the Protector-general Guo Xiaoke's assassination by Kuchean resistance forces. Instead the headquarters returned to Gaochang until 658, when it was moved back to Kucha following a Tang army's suppression of a local pro-Turk revolt. The Tang only gained a loose suzerainty over the Tarim Basin states in 649, and did not establish military garrisons in the Tarim Basin. Most of the Tarim Basin states transferred their vassalage to the new Western Turk qaghan, Ashina Helu, in 651, reflecting the fact that they regarded the Western Turks as their traditional overlords. The establishment of the Four Garrisons, and with them a formal Tang military protectorate over the Tarim Basin, should be dated to 658 (after Ashina Helu's defeat) or even to 660, since Kashgar remained allied with the Western Turk leader Duman until Duman's defeat in later 659.
The main challengers to the Chinese for hegemony over the region were the Tibetans, who had been invading the region since 662 and seized it in 670, interrupting Chinese sovereignty in the area. According to Chinese texts, during this period the Chinese re-captured some or all of the garrisons in 675, 679, 682 and again in 686. However this is disputed by Christopher Beckwith.Nevertheless, Kashgar surrendered to China in 673 and Khotan in 674. Meanwhile, in 679, another fortress was built in Suyab, situated near the Chui River, this would later replace Karashahr as one of the Four Garrisons until 719, when the Turgesh took over it.
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