Policy of Pacification¹ Through Marriage

西汉和亲

Marrying daughters of the Han imperial family to the rulers of the minority groups was one of the foreign policies of pacification in the Western Han Dynasty (206B.C.----8A.D.).

将皇家的女儿嫁给少数名族是西汉时期（公元前206年至公元8年）的和平外交政策之一。

The policy had gone through two stages.

这个政策分为两步。

At first, Han rulers took the initiative to marry daughters of the royal family and offer valuables of all kinds so that the Huns could stop harassing³ the northern border of the empire.

首先汉朝皇帝主动让皇家的女儿出嫁，然后给予各种珍惜物品，这样匈奴人就会停止骚扰大汉帝国的北部边境。

When Emperor Wudi was in power, it was the Huns who proposed to Han for marriage.

汉武帝时期，匈奴主动向汉朝求婚。

In the reign² of Emperor Wudi, substantial resources were available to him as a result of his own successful policies as well as those of his predecessors⁴.

武帝执政时期，由于他和先帝们成功的政策，他拥有了大量的富余物资。

Consequently, he was in a position to take an active and offensive stand against threats of invasion.

因此，他在对抗进犯的威胁时占据了主动的地位。

He sent three expeditions led by Wei Qing and Huo Qubing against the Huns in 127B.C, 121B.C and 119B.C respectively.

他在公元前127年、公元前121年和公元前119年分别派出了三支由卫青和霍去病带领的远征队。

By these actions, he drove them into the far north of Gobi, thus maintaining the safety of the Hexi Corridor.

通过这些举措，武帝让他们远达隔壁北部，保障了河西走廊的安全。

The threat from the Huns was resolved；however， they did not reach an agreement on the issue of the policy of pacification through marriage.

匈奴人带来的威胁解除了；但是，他们并未就和亲政策达成一致。

During the reign of Emperor Xuandi, the Huns was already in decline.

汉宣帝时期，匈奴已处于颓败之势，

And the ruler Huhan decided⁵ to pledge allegiance to Han by sending his son to Han as a promise.

匈奴首领呼韩决定将自己的儿子送到汉朝当人质来向大汉宣誓效忠。

Emperor Yuandi, to further a good relationship between the Huns and the Han people, married Wang Zhaojun, a beauty at that time, to the Khan.

汉元帝，通过将当朝的一位美女王昭君嫁给可汗与匈奴和匈奴人民加深了良好的关系。

This action not only stabilized⁶ the relationship between the Han Dynasty and the Huns, but promoted economic and cultural exchanges between them.

这项举措不仅稳定了汉朝与匈奴的关系，还加强了它们之间的经济与文化交流。

Meanwhile, Han also marry daughters of royal families to rulers of Wusun tribe for pacification.

同时，汉朝还将公主嫁给乌孙部和亲。

In 71B.C, Han in alliance with Wusun tribe gave the Huns a fatal defeat from which it never recovered.

公元前71年，大汉与乌孙的联合给了匈奴致命一击，使其难以恢复。

The policy of marriage for pacification was an important policy helpful to the economic and cultural exchanges between Han and minority groups.

和亲政策是对于汉朝和少数名族间经济与文化交流的一项重要政策。