This monograph started life as an article drafted in Beijing during weekends when I was not distracted by my day job in the automotive business. Its first aim was to achieve as close as possible an understanding of Jin shu 87, the “Life of Li Hao”. Li Hao lived on China’s periphery, in 4th–5th century Gansu alongside non-Chinese populations, but essential though these facts are for his historical significance, they receive less attention than they deserve in the limits set by traditionally Sinocentric biographical convention. To do the subject justice, I needed to cast my net wider. I was stimulated to do so by the two anonymous peer reviewers of the original draft article, submitted to Early Medieval China in 2019, who brought their broader knowledge of the Sixteen Kingdoms to bear on my first effort and thereby showed where (the Chinese text being limpid enough) inchoate realities nevertheless lurk under the polished surface. In expanding the article into this book I tried to probe deeper, adding a range of other historical material on what made the Hexi Corridor special to its Chinese settlers. Evidence emerged of how Li Hao and his ephemeral state on the edge of the desert participated in the influences and exchanges that played out between the steppe and the sown, and for which Gansu was a necessary conduit from and into the Chinese Central Plain. Such evidence, it is true, I have coaxed predominantly from Chinese written sources. How much more material testimony there may be stands magnificently on display in Étienne de la Vaissière’s recent work of much wider scope, Asie centrale 300–850: Des routes et des royaumes (2024). Here, multilingual voices paired with wide-ranging archaeological finds show these exchanges and influences structuring the Eurasian continent over immense distances and in the longue durée. I hope that future field research may add material detail corroborating the role Li Hao’s Western Liang fulfilled in actively connecting China with the wider world beyond. I thank Daniel Garrido for creating the maps, and Kristen de Joseph for her meticulous copy-editing. Among those who encouraged my writing, I would like to single out the anonymous collector whose imposing Northern Wei warrior graces the cover of this book.
Antwerp, October 2024