On Jul 8, 4:11 pm, mark.ev...@gmail.com wrote:

The preminent Tocharian city, Kucha, stood as an independent city
state for well over 1000 years. There were a few times when it was
garrissoned starting with the Chou to help put down barbarism both
North & South, from the Siberians and the Tibetans, as well as the
Zongnu, and help deal with banditry, but I dont see anything in the
documentation to suggest anything other than the velvet glove.

As for the middle of nowhere, this was the center of the main, central
Silk Road route, which was the center of the known world for a couple
thousand years or more. We have the mythic "Magi" who came from the
East. If you look into Chinese records, you see that the magically
powerful "Ma-ag" lived in the West.

EW Barber, "The Mummies of Urumchi" shows how the Kuchans were court
astrologers and magicians going all the way back to the Shang. JP
Mallory also has The Tarim Mummies". A hundred years ago, there were
French, German, & English expeditions into Central Asia doing some of
the first extensive archeological work. But then along came WWI, then
WWII, then the commuist revolution in China, and only now is the
region opening back up again.

So, while it has looked obscure, that's only from a more recent
perspective. Kucha was the original college party town. They've found
the shrines of 22 different religions, and we know it was a center
for Buddhist, Taoist, Zorastrian, Manichean, and Confucian scholars.
When the emperor sent Xuan Zang in the 8th century to retrieve
original Buddhist texts, he started that search at Kucha, spending
several months there and at the monestary at Sibushi, 12 miles north
of town.

Kucha was infamous partly because the brothels were owned by the city.
They didnt breed welfare queens, they drafted them into brothels. If a
girl wasnt good for anything else, she was good for that. Those sexual
services had a lot to do with why the Chinese didnt wanna mess with a
good thing. Kuchi were also sent to Xian, and were the priciest call
girls in town.

Perhaps you recall that the Silk Road ended at the "Jade Gate". Not
silk gate. China used the money it got for selling silk to buy jade.
The jade came from Tocharian mines. If you can imagine how rich China
got off silk, imagine how rich Kucha got off jade. And when the Kuchi
coo at the brothel door, the men come running. And when they leave,
they pay in the curiously perforated Kuchan coin, like washers, which
were called "cash".

Kuchan dancing girls and musicians are still popular in China. The
girls used to lace cash together to wear as jewelry, which is still
seen in Central Asia. I see some entertainers again wearing belts of
laced cash, which rattles when they swivel hips like belly dancers.
The name for these is "Kucha belts".

The cold dry desert preserved both natural mummies and documents. I
have a copy of the "Maitreyasamiti Texts in Tocharian", which is a 5th
century copy of a dialogue between the living Buddha and the Gautamid
Queen of Kucha. But we also have letters, in a feminine hand, from
shipping office mangers arranging for their men to get laid when they
arrive in Tashkent, Xian, or any town inbetween. They dont want the
guys coming back with STDs from fucking cheap whores.

Remember May West- "When I bad, I'm better."? Barber shows us one of
the women who was buried in a coffin made a couple feet longer so she
could go to her grave wearing her tall, black, conical, flat brimmed
hat. that would pass today in any holloween costume. It seems like
there really was a "wicked witch of the East". In fact, a lot of them.
Whether its the witches or the Magi from the East, this is *that*
"East".

I dont claim it was utopia. These people were in business in the
world's first great free market economy. But because the whole show
was run by women, and women dont need expensive status symbols to get
laid, the cost of *management* was lots lower.

Yes, they were blindsided by the Mongols. But so was China, Persia,
and Europe. But now, the brave heart, strong right arm, sword in hand,
just dont cut it anymore. Smith & Wesson guarantee equal rights for
smart women. They will figure this out, and they will take over
because they still offer a lower cost of management.

I dont think they are particularly keen on breeding welfare queens
today either. The supply is endangering the prospects of the future
for the few children they choose to have.