Borderland Processes Along the Han Northern Frontier, 130 BCE-2 CE

At the height of Han expansion, the northern frontier of the Han Empire stretched from northern Korea in the east to the Tengger Desert in the west and onward into Central Asia. In Chinese historical sources, the massive complex of walls built across this region appears as an absolute dividing line between the Chinese and the Xiongnu, a confederation of nomadic pastoralists. In reality, the boundaries in this vast region were far from definite and were constantly in flux. Using Bradley J. Parker’s “continuum of border dynamics” and “borderland matrix” models, this paper analyzes the borderland processes occurring along the Han northern frontier directly to the north of the Han capital of Chang’an.
Dr. Leslie Wallace is Research Associate at the University of Pittsburgh.

This event is sponsored by the Ancient Mediterranean Studies program and the Ancient Borderlands Research Focus Group, with co-sponsorship from the Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures, and from the East Asia Center.

jwil 09.iii.2011