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A Fifteenth-Century Chinese Diplomat inHerat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2009

Felicia J. Hecker
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In 1405 Sino–Iranian relations hit a nadir. Tīmūr(1336?–1405), never one to bother with the nicetiesof diplomacy, had detained and executed Chineseambassadors sent to his court by the Ming emperorsHung-wu (r. 1368–98) and Yung-lo (r. 1403–24) in1395, 1402 and 1403, had amused himself by regularlyinsulting Emperor Hung-wu, publicly calling him the“Pig Emperor”, and had finally decided to invadeChina to claim it for himself and Islam.Fortunately, for all concerned, Tīmūr drank himselfinto a stupor on the night of 18 February 1405 andexpired at his base camp at Utrār where his troopswere assembling for their march to China. TheChinese campaign was immediately abandoned assuccession suddenly became a more pressing matter.It would continue to occupy Timurid energies until1411 when Tīmūr's fourth son, Shāhrukh (1377–1447)gained control of the empire.

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Type
Review Article
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Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 3 , Issue 1 , April 1993 , pp. 85 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1993

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