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Ban Chao's Diplomatic Mission in the Western Regions (Late 1st - Early 2nd Century CE)
This episode explores General Ban Chao's diplomatic strategies in the Western Regions during the late 1st to early 2nd century CE. We delve into the philosophical implications of his approach to ...
Ban Chao's Diplomatic Mission in the Western Regions (Late 1st - Early 2nd Century CE)
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Interactive Transcript
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Hi friends, today I'm going to talk about major events in Xi'yu happening between mid-late
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first century and early mid-second century.
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Well the first thing is in mid-late or late first century, general banchao of the Han
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Empire regained control or influence over the region of Xi'yu.
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Well twenty-some years later he retires and then someone else took over his duty.
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Well this guy lost control over the region within a couple years.
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And then that time the emperor of Han at that time appoints banchao san banyou to be the commanding general and to re-gain control over the region of Xi'yu.
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And banyou has succeeded.
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So what I want to talk about today is the suggestion that banchao has given to his successor but that guy did not listen and cause chaos of the region.
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So I'm going to talk over the words that banchao has said.
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First in Chinese,
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it means,
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that banchao has given to an extreme extent. There would be no fish.
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If a man observes other to an extreme extent, he will have no friend.
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The meaning behind is that there must be some dirt in the water in order for fish to be alive.
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Men must ignore certain things in order to have friends.
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Well I think the even higher or deeper meaning behind is that as long as the highest or the top principles are preserved
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or remained,
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it is okay to give up or that give up some minor principles.
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Or perhaps give up or sacrifice.
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So this is a background story.
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Now I'm going to try to talk about the condition back then.
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And then for the last part of today I will talk about philosophical dilemmas and the implications.
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So the Han Empire is an agricultural bureaucratic society while those living in sea are nomadic tribal society.
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So completely different style of living in their societies.
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Some people like hundreds of years ago the differences between the Aboriginal Americans and the European colonizers.
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Anyway, since the life styles are completely different, their rules and principles must differ.
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Well of course not completely because there are some basic or universal principles.
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But because of the differences of living styles there are many different principles.
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Okay, so how should I say perhaps I should talk about the top principles of general ban Chao.
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Well obviously he puts peace as the ultimate principle.
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The top first is to maintain peace between tribes in Xi'yu with the Han Empire.
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This is the highest one. And the second one is to maintain peace among all tribes in Xi'yu.
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Now let me explain why.
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So maintain peace.
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Okay. And in diplomatic way instead of military way, as you can see on the front page the map, the border is too long to have sufficient defense.
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So the only way to make peace is through diplomatic matters. And now let me make more explanations.
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Well, unless one is mentally ill or is a psycho-maniac, no one would consider killing other people as something fun.
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There must be a purpose behind. And usually it's done after robbery. Well because the ones being robbed they will resist.
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And so under that circumstances it's usual that the robbers will kill those being robbed.
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And why would now go back to the ancient history? Why would the nomads perform robbery? Well because they lack sufficient food.
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As you know that nomads they move around all the time. And the only thing they have, their own is hurts, their livestock.
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Well but people cannot just eat meat. They need food crops like rice, meat, sweet potato and corn and more other stuff. And also vegetable bowls.
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But grassland or even deserts cannot grow such thin. So they need to get it somewhere else. But if they don't have enough livestock or other precious materials that the people of Han are interested in,
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they don't have, they cannot make a business trade. So under these circumstances they would do robbery.
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Well as I mentioned earlier that because the border is too long it's very difficult for the Han government to perform sufficient defense.
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But why they must do defense? Because since there are robberies the government must do something with it. They cannot just ignore it. Then they will anger their people.
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So in order to prevent or even stop those robberies from happening seemingly diplomacy is the best way.
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Now let me talk about the second principle to maintain peace among all tribes in Xi Yu. Well just imagine if all of them or just some of them are fighting against one another.
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How would the Han merchants dare to go there to do trade? They would have danger of their lives. And then secondly if tribes are fighting against one another,
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they will have fewer time to raise their livestock. And then secondly probably their livestock would be robbed by other tribes.
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And then worst of all probably other tribes will kill their livestock as revenge or punishment or whatsoever. So under these circumstances they wouldn't have high quality meat, leather or fur to trade with the people of Han.
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So in the time the merchants from Han Empire then no one is happy. So in my education guess is that educational guess is that General Bantao has seen through this.
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So he has done his best to promote and maintain peace. So people from both sides can do business and live happily and cautiously.
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Well so now let's go a little bit further.
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maintaining peace is not just something with your mouth. You need to have things in your hands to persuade your counterparts to agree with you.
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Besides the military back up the most common thing that people use for negotiation is money.
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And I think that General Bantao has figured out the customs and characters.
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And also there are ways of thinking of those people, those moments in Qi Yu.
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And I suppose that he has figured out that they like to get a little bit more than what they deserve or what has been made us.
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Let's just say that they like under table doves.
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And I suppose that General Bantao realizes that actually they just want some extra rewards or awards.
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So within his power and within the amount that he and his government can afford,
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he would, when he is making deals separately one by one with the tribal chief,
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he would give some extra rewards to please him or make him very happy.
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And so this tribal chief will do everything he can to cooperate and to maintain peace with the Han Empire.
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And of course with other tribes. And one more thing here to mention, well since it's under table, no one wants to let the third person to know about what's happening under the table.
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So I suppose actually General Bantao does this to every tribal chief, but he just lets him believe that he is the only one who gets extra favors.
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Anyway, this is some negotiation techniques or perhaps I can say something under the category of the art of the deal.
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Okay. But General Bantao's successor does not agree with him.
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I suppose this person is, I wouldn't say he's dumb or stupid, but I'll just say he's a stubborn and rigid person who sticks with the principles and does not have flexibility.
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He doesn't recognize the differences between people of different lifestyle or social structure.
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And he just sticks with the Confucian principles. Well apparently no one has never studied Confucianism.
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So of course they don't follow those principles. So if one insists on applying those principles, of course he will fail.
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So at the end, just like what happened sooner or later those nobins every tribe, they first say Confend, then they protest and then finally they just turn their back and stop interacting with this system.
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So the stubborn representative of the Han Empire, I mean the Han Emperor.
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And this guy has no choice but to go back to his country.
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And then the region of Xi'yu and the territory near the Han territory near the border are again in chaos.
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So soon the Han Emperor assigned Banchao San Banyong to resolve this chaos.
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And of course Banyong follows his father's principles and soon the tribes reestablish diplomatic relationship with the Han Empire.
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Because robbery isn't that fun at all. And so isn't fighting against one another.
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It's still the best to live in peace of course among mutual understanding and mutual respect.
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So now I'd like to go to the last part.
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Well from those events I think of philosophical dilemma.
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There's a saying say that means determine the end or the end determines the means.
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Well means determines the end. The meaning of this is that one must do things the proper way or according to my say in earlier ethical way, moral way in order to get a good result.
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And on the other hand is as long as you get the things done which is good.
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But it doesn't matter how you did it. Actually both sayings have flaws.
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Like for the first one. There's an old saying by a Catholic minister probably in the 8th or 9th century. He said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
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So this contradicts or this explains that it's not necessary that if you do things the proper way, the ethical moral way that you will certainly get good results.
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It really depends. And then for the end justifies the means. Oh this one is very dangerous.
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So actually I'm glad that we live in a legal society. There's laws and orders that we must obey follow.
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And also I'm glad that the principle law is that actually law is the demoralization.
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Because law in the past I think thousands of years ago law aligns with moral roles and ethics.
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But in modern society moral moral and ethics are personal. Well the law is the basic or minimum principle set.
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So that one must obey and follow.
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So nowadays there's not that many controversies. I would say no but I think way fewer controversies of the court orders or the verdicts comparing with let's say many decades ago.
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Or even centuries or thousands of years ago.
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So let me just remind again so that while the problem with the end justifies the means is that without restriction like law and order.
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One would do anything just to achieve his or her goal. And this wouldn't be right under certain or many conditions.
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So anyway my point is that either means justify the end or the end justifies the means depend on the conditions and situations.
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Sometimes there are times that means justify the end and there are times that the end justifies the means.
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And so it's for us to do our best to understand the situation and the condition we are in and decide which principles.
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So what is the principle are we going to use? Let me just give you one more example of today.
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So well for the events of Ban Chao and his San Ban Yong.
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They follow the principle of the means, I mean the end, sorry, they follow the principle that the end determines the means.
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The end or I should say the result is to have peace with tribes in Xi Yu.
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So people on both sides can live peacefully and do business so they will be prosperous.
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And so when Ban Chao and his San Ban Yong are performing diplomatic matters, they tolerate or ignore minor flaws or problems.
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So they sacrifice little amount of their money to get the deal done.
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Of course we all want more than we deserve. There is greed in each person.
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But if it's not too much, which is acceptable and tolerable, they ignore it and just let it go and get the deal done.
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So once again in conclusion, I think there are only few principles that we cannot sacrifice.
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But of others, among most others, it's really conditional and situational.
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So it is for us to decide what we want and should do.
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That's all for today. Thank you.