Speech by Pavel Lurje, researcher and curator at the State Hermitage Museum (Saint Petersburg) and 2024-2025 research-fellow at the Paris IAS (FIAS program), as part of the  International study day "Tang China and its influence around the world" on Tang China, organised by the Musée Guimet in Paris.

Presentation

The Journée d'Etude is associated with the large exhibition on Tang China at the Guimet National Museum of Asian Arts (Musée National des Arts Asiatiques - Guimet).

One of the features of the early Tang period (7th - 8th century CE), which is credited as one of the most spectacular epochs of Chinese history, is the cosmopolitan nature of the state, where Han Chinese contacted and exchanged extensively with their close and distant neighbors.

While the presence of Sogdian merchants in China is well documented by written sources and prestigious objects, their daily lives often remain a mystery. However, the recent study of a series of objects uncovered during excavations has enabled us to find out more.

Pavel Lurje's speech will add several unnoticed archaeological indications of the presence of Sogdians, a merchant people from present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, in Western Chine in or around Tang period.

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