Branching out from these oasis towns, the Sogdians set up merchant communities as they traveled, living under the aegis of various imperial powers. The people of Sogdiana certainly had armies, engaged in military campaigns, and fortified their towns to defend against the constant threat of nomads from the steppes who coveted the Sogdians’ wealth—but their success was not defined by military might. Rather, the Sogdians made a virtue of their mobility, flexibility, and individuality. This mobility meant that they could connect distant regions, doing business in goods that could find ready markets in faraway places.

Their flexibility meant that they could adapt to foreign cultures, languages, and make profit of new opportunities as they emerged. The individuality of their culture—its seeming “otherness” and distinctiveness—was part of what the Sogdians packaged and sold abroad. This was especially true in Tang-era China (618–907 CE), which was a culture characterized by its love of the “exotic” and foreign. There the Sogdians and what they traded found much favor; Fig. 11 .