The Wusun ( / ˈ w uː s ʌ n / WOO-sun ) were an ancient semi- nomadic steppe people mentioned in Chinese records from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD.
132-679: The Wusun originally lived between the Qilian Mountains and Dunhuang ( Gansu ) near the Yuezhi . Around 176 BC the Xiongnu raided the lands of the Yuezhi , who subsequently attacked the Wusun, killing their king and seizing their land. The Xiongnu adopted the surviving Wusun prince and made him one of their generals and leader of the Wusun. Around 162 BC the Yuezhi were driven into
264-724: A military campaign against the Xiongnu. Meng Tian defeated the Xiongnu and expelled them from the Ordos loop , forcing Touman and the Xiongnu to flee north into the Mongolian Plateau . In 210 BC, Meng Tian died, and in 209 BC, Touman's son Modu became the Xiongnu Chanyu . In order to protect the Xiongnu from the threat of the Qin dynasty , Modu Chanyu united the Xiongnu into a powerful confederation . This transformed
396-415: A Chanyu died, power could pass to his younger brother if his son was not of age. This system, which can be compared to Gaelic tanistry , normally kept an adult male on the throne, but could cause trouble in later generations when there were several lineages that might claim the throne. When the 12th Chanyu died in 60 BC, power was taken by Woyanqudi , a grandson of the 12th Chanyu's cousin. Being something of
528-607: A branch led by a "Huyan King" (呼衍王) continued to resist. The Huyan King was last mentioned in 151 when he launched an attack on Yiwu but was driven away by Han forces. According to the fifth-century Book of Wei , the remnants of Northern Chanyu's tribe settled as Yueban (悅般), near Kucha and subjugated the Wusun ; while the rest fled across the Altai mountains towards Kangju in Transoxania . It states that this group later became
660-535: A brother to Tuqi set himself up as Chanyu and was killed by Zhizhi. In 36 BC, Zhizhi was killed by a Chinese army while trying to establish a new kingdom in the far west near Lake Balkhash . In 53 BC Huhanye (呼韓邪) decided to enter into tributary relations with Han China . The original terms insisted on by the Han court were that, first, the Chanyu or his representatives should come to the capital to pay homage; secondly,
792-577: A delegation to the Han rather than moving their capital further west. Some time after the Han-Wusun negotiations had ended, the Han inflicted several blows to the Xiongnu. The Han then threatened war upon the Wusun, after which Liejiaomi finally agreed to an alliance, sending tributary horses and accepting Princess Xijun as his wife. Along with the Yuezhi and the Kangju of the Ferghana Valley ,
924-421: A doctor to attend to Nimi was punished by castration by the Han dynasty when he returned to China for treating the mad king's illness instead of killing him which the Han court ordered them to do. In 64 BC another Han princess was sent to Kunmi Wengguimi, but he died before her arrival. Han emperor Xuan then permitted the princess to return, since Jieyou had married the new Kunmi, Nimi ( Chinese : 尼靡 ),
1056-525: A dualistic system of political organisation with the left and right branches of the Xiongnu divided on a regional basis. The chanyu or shanyu , a ruler equivalent to the Emperor of China , exercised direct authority over the central territory. Longcheng (around the Khangai Mountains , Otuken ) ( Chinese : 龍城; Mongolian : Luut; lit. "Dragon City") became the annual meeting place and served as
1188-583: A few words, mainly titles and personal names, were preserved in the Chinese sources. The name Xiongnu may be cognate with that of the Huns and/or the Huna , although this is disputed. Other linguistic links—all of them also controversial—proposed by scholars include Turkic , Iranian , Mongolic , Uralic , Yeniseian , or multi-ethnic. The pronunciation of 匈奴 as Xiōngnú [ɕjʊ́ŋnǔ]
1320-469: A fierce raid against the Yuezhi. Around 173 BC, the Yuezhi subsequently attacked the Wusun, at that time a small nation, killing their king (Kunmi Chinese : 昆彌 or Kunmo Chinese : 昆莫 ) Nandoumi ( Chinese : 難兜靡 ). According to legend Nandoumi's infant son Liejiaomi was left in the wild. He was miraculously saved from hunger being suckled by a she-wolf, and fed meat by ravens. The Wusun ancestor myth shares striking similarities with those of
1452-472: A hostage. The forceful intervention of the Chinese usurper Wang Mang and internal strife brought disorder, and in 2 BC one of the Wusun chieftains brought 80,000 Wusun to Kangju, asking for help against the Chinese. In a vain attempt to reconcile with China, he was duped and killed in 3 AD. In 2 AD, Wang Mang issued a list of four regulations to the allied Xiongnu that the taking of any hostages from Chinese vassals, i.e. Wusun, Wuhuan and
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#17327660056061584-468: A language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch . They are thought to be Iranian -speaking by the archaeologist Elena Kuzmina , linguist János Harmatta , Joseph Kitagawa , David Durand-Guédy, Turkologist Peter B. Golden and Central Asian scholar Denis Sinor. Yan Shigu (581–645) described the Wusun's descendants with the exonym 胡人 Húrén "foreigners, barbarians", which had been used since
1716-658: A major defeat to the Xianbei, who killed their chanyu Youliu and took his skin as a trophy. With the Northern Xiongnu in disarray, the Han general, Dou Xian launched an expedition and crushed them at the Battle of Ikh Bayan in 89. After another Han attack in 91, the Northern Chanyu fled with his followers to the northwest, never to be seen again, while the Northern Xiongnu that remained behind surrendered to
1848-713: A marquis of the Xubu clan as the new chanyu , but after his death, an elderly nominal king was put in his place. The cohesion of the Southern Xiongnu began to erode, and while the other tribes appear to distant themselves from the ongoing Han civil war, the Xiuchuge stayed on the offensive. In the 190s, the Xiuchuge allied themselves with the Heishan bandits of the Taihang Mountains before retreating west as
1980-419: A military campaign against Modu Chanyu . At the Battle of Baideng , he was ambushed, reputedly by Xiongnu cavalry. The emperor was cut off from supplies and reinforcements for seven days, only narrowly escaping capture. The Han dynasty sent random unrelated commoner women falsely labeled as "princesses" and members of the Han imperial family multiple times when they were practicing Heqin marriage alliances with
2112-431: A native Chinese /s/ standing for a foreign dental fricative . Therefore, Vaissière reconstructs Wusun's endonym as * Wəθan "[People of the] Tent(s)". The Wusun were first mentioned by Chinese sources as living together with the Yuezhi between the Qilian Mountains and Dunhuang ( Gansu ). although different locations have been suggested for these toponyms. Beckwith suggests that the Wusun were an eastern remnant of
2244-652: A raid against the Xiongnu. Wusun slaves mainly laboured as servants and craftsmen, although the freemen formed the core of the Wusun economy. Numerous sites belonging to the Wusun period in Zhetysu and the Tian Shan have been excavated. Most of the cemeteries are burial grounds with the dead interred in pit-graves, referred to as the Chil-pek group, which probably belong the local Saka population. A second group of kurgans with burials in lined "catacomb" chamber graves, of
2376-515: A role in defeating the Northern Xiongnu. However, with the decline of their northern counterpart, the Southern Xiongnu continued to suffer the brunt of raids, this time by the Xianbei people of the steppe. In addition to the poor living conditions of the frontiers, the Chinese court would also interfere in the Southern Xiongnu's politics and install chanyu s loyal to the Han. As a result, the Southern Xiongnu often rebelled, at times joining forces with
2508-477: A semi-nomadic pastoral economy. The social structure of the Wusun resembled that of the Xiongnu. They were governed by the Great Kunmi, whose power was hereditary . The Great Kunmi and his two sons, who commanded the east and left flanks of the Wusun realm, each commanded a force of 10,000 men. The Wusun also fielded a regular army, with each freeman being considered a warrior. Their administrative apparatus
2640-521: A surprise attack on the Xiongnu at the border markets. In 127 BC, the Han general Wei Qing retook the Ordos. In 121 BC, the Xiongnu suffered another setback when Huo Qubing led a force of light cavalry westward out of Longxi and within six days fought his way through five Xiongnu kingdoms. The Xiongnu Hunye king was forced to surrender with 40,000 men. In 119 BC both Huo and Wei, each leading 50,000 cavalrymen and 100,000 footsoldiers (in order to keep up with
2772-426: A usurper, he tried to put his own men in power, which only increased the number of his enemies. The 12th Chanyu's son fled east and, in 58 BC, revolted. Few would support Woyanqudi and he was driven to suicide, leaving the rebel son, Huhanye , as the 14th Chanyu. The Woyanqudi faction then set up his brother, Tuqi, as Chanyu (58 BC). In 57 BC three more men declared themselves Chanyu. Two dropped their claims in favor of
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#17327660056062904-611: Is a large brackish lake, located within the Qilian mountains. The characteristic ecosystem of the Qilian Mountains has been described by the World Wildlife Fund as the Qilian Mountains conifer forests . Biandukou ( 扁都口 ), with an altitude of over 3500 m, is a pass in the Qilian Mountains. It links Minle County of Gansu in the north and Qilian County of Qinghai in the south. The Shiji mentions
3036-851: Is descended from the Wusun, based on the superficial similarity of the ethnonym 'Uissun' to Wusun. A 2020 study could not find support for this theory, as the Uissun have a very low frequency of Haplogroup R1a (6%), most of it belonging to the Z94 clade rather than the Iranian Z93 clade. Most of the Uissun lineages were typical of Mongols, supporting their historically attested Mongolian origin. Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Qilian Mountains 39°12′N 98°32′E / 39.200°N 98.533°E / 39.200; 98.533 The Qilian Mountains ( Tibetan : མདོ་ལ་རིང་མོ ), together with
3168-511: Is evidence pointing to privileged use of certain pastures . Typical of early patriarchal stratified societies, Wusun widows were obliged to remain within the family of their late husband by marrying one of his relatives, a concept known as levirate marriage . Y. A. Zadneprovskiy writes that the social inequality among the Wusun created social unrest among the lower strata. Wusun society also included many slaves , mostly prisoners of war. The Wusun are reported as having captured 10,000 slaves in
3300-464: Is mostly agreed that it is a loan-word. Two principal etymologies have been proposed. The first etymology is from a Middle Iranian form of Old Iranian baga ; though the meaning would fit since the Middle Persian forms of the word often mean 'lord,' used of the king or others. The second etymology is from Chinese 伯 ( MC pˠæk̚ > bó ) 'eldest (brother), (feudal) lord'. Gerhard Doerfer on
3432-597: Is probably derived from one of the Iranian languages of Central Asia (cf. Khotanese birgga- ). Meanwhile, Findley considers the title beg as certainly derived from the Sogdian baga 'lord', a cognate of Middle Persian baγ (as used by the rulers of the Sassanid Empire ), as well as Sanskrit bhaga and Russian bog . According to Encyclopædia Iranica : "The origin of beg is still disputed, though it
3564-409: Is rejected by Classical Chinese Literature expert Francis K. H. So, Professor at National Sun Yat-sen University . Other words listed by these scholars include the title bag , beg 'lord'. This theory has been criticized by modern Turkologists, including Peter B. Golden and Carter V. Findley , who explain that none of the mentioned words are actually Turkic in origin. Findley notes that the term böri
3696-690: Is the modern Mandarin Chinese pronunciation, from the Mandarin dialect spoken now in Beijing, which came into existence less than 1,000 years ago. The Old Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as * xiuoŋ-na or * qhoŋna . Sinologist Axel Schuessler (2014) reconstructs the pronunciations of 匈奴 as * hoŋ-nâ in Late Old Chinese (c. 318 BCE) and as * hɨoŋ-nɑ in Eastern Han Chinese ; citing other Chinese transcriptions wherein
3828-812: Is unknown. The Issedones are "placed by some in Western Siberia and by others in Chinese Turkestan," according to E. D. Phillips. French historian Iaroslav Lebedynsky suggests that the Wusun may have been the Asii of Geographica . A genetic study published in Nature in May 2018 examined the remains of four Wusun buried between c. 300 BC and 100 BC. The sample of Y-DNA extracted belonged to haplogroup R1 . The samples of mtDNA extracted belonged to C4a1 , HV6 , J1c5a and U5b2c . The authors of
3960-850: The Hanshu . Sanping Chen (1998) suggested that 天 tiān , 昊天 hàotiān , 祁連 qílián , and 赫連 Hèlián were all cognates and descended from multisyllabic Proto-Sinitic * gh?klien . Schessler (2014) objects to Yan Shigu's statement that 祁連 was a Xiongnu word; he reconstructs 祁連's pronunciation in around 121 BCE as * gɨ-lian , apparently the same etymon as 乾 (☰) the Trigram for "Heaven", in standard Chinese qián < Middle Chinese QYS * gjän < Eastern Han Chinese gɨan < Old Chinese * gran , which Schuessler etymologizes as from Proto-Sino-Tibetan and related to Proto-Tibeto-Burman * m-ka-n , cognate with Written Tibetan མཁའ ( Wylie transliteration : mkha') “heaven”. The Tuyuhun were based around
4092-766: The Altyn-Tagh sometimes known as the Nan Shan , as it is to the south of the Hexi Corridor , is a northern outlier of the Kunlun Mountains , forming the border between Qinghai and the Gansu provinces of northern China . The range stretches from the south of Dunhuang some 800 km to the southeast, forming the northeastern escarpment of the Tibetan Plateau and the southwestern border of
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4224-407: The Chanyu should send a hostage prince; and thirdly, the Chanyu should present tribute to the Han emperor. The political status of the Xiongnu in the Chinese world order was reduced from that of a "brotherly state" to that of an "outer vassal" (外臣). Huhanye sent his son, the "wise king of the right" Shuloujutang, to the Han court as hostage. In 51 BC he personally visited Chang'an to pay homage to
4356-462: The Hephthalites . Coincidentally, the Southern Xiongnu were plagued by natural disasters and misfortunes—in addition to the threat posed by Punu. Consequently, in 50 AD, the Southern Xiongnu submitted to tributary relations with Han China. The system of tribute was considerably tightened by the Han, to keep the Southern Xiongnu under control. The chanyu was ordered to establish his court in
4488-624: The Hexi Corridor . The eponymous Qilian Shan peak, situated some 60 km south of Jiuquan , at 39°12′N 98°32′E / 39.200°N 98.533°E / 39.200; 98.533 , rises to 5,547 m. It is the highest peak of the main range, but there are two higher peaks further south, Kangze'gyai at 38°30′N 97°43′E / 38.500°N 97.717°E / 38.500; 97.717 with 5,808 m and Qaidam Shan peak at 38°2′N 95°19′E / 38.033°N 95.317°E / 38.033; 95.317 with 5,759 m . Other major peaks include Gangshiqia Peak in
4620-699: The Hittites , the Zhou Chinese , the Scythians , the Romans , the Goguryeo , Turks , Mongols and Dzungars . Based on the similarities between the ancestor myth of the Wusun and later Turkic peoples , Denis Sinor has suggested that the Wusun, Sogdians , or both could represent an Indo-Aryan influence, or even the origin of the royal Ashina Türks . In 162 BC, the Yuezhi were finally defeated by
4752-692: The Ili River valley in Zhetysu , Dzungaria and Tian Shan , which had formerly been inhabited by the Saka . The Wusun then resettled in Gansu as vassals of the Xiongnu. In 133–132 BC, the Wusun drove the Yuezhi out of the Ili Valley and settled the area. The Wusun then became close allies of the Han dynasty and remained a powerful force in the region for several centuries. The Wusun are last mentioned by
4884-673: The Indo-Aryans , who had been suddenly pushed to the extremities of the Eurasian Steppe by the Iranian peoples in the 2nd millennium BC. Around 210–200 BC, prince Modu Chanyu , a former hostage of the Yuezhi and prince of the Xiongnu , who were also vassals of the Yuezhi, became leader of the Xiongnu and conquered the Mongolian Plain , subjugating several peoples. Around 176 BC Modu Chanyu launched
5016-728: The Laoshang Chanyu (and older sister of Junchen Chanyu and Yizhixie Chanyu) was married to the Xiongnu General Zhao Xin , the Marquis of Xi who was serving the Han dynasty. The daughter of Qiedihou Chanyu was married to the Han Chinese General Li Ling after he surrendered and defected. Another Han Chinese General who defected to the Xiongnu was Li Guangli , general in the War of
5148-640: The Ongi River ( Mongolian : Онги гол ) in Mongolia and suggests that it was originally a dynastic name rather than an ethnic name. The territories associated with the Xiongnu in central/east Mongolia were previously inhabited by the Slab Grave Culture ( Ancient Northeast Asian origin), which persisted until the 3rd century BC. Genetic research indicates that the Slab Grave people were
5280-537: The Qin ty . Qin's campaign against the Xiongnu expanded Qin's territory at the expense of the Xiongnu. After the unification of Qin dynasty, Xiongnu was a threat to the northern board of Qin. They were likely to attack the Qin dynasty when they suffered natural disasters. The first known Xiongnu leader was Touman , who reigned between 220-209 BC. In 215 BC, Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang sent General Meng Tian on
5412-461: The Qin , Zhao and Yan states were encroaching and conquering various nomadic territories that were inhabited by the Xiongnu and other Hu peoples. The Zhao–Xiongnu War is a notable example of these campaigns. Pulleyblank argued that the Xiongnu were part of a Xirong group called Yiqu , who had lived in Shaanbei and had been influenced by China for centuries, before they were driven out by
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5544-586: The Tarim Basin to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plain and played an important role in the development of the Silk Road and the transmission of Buddhism to China. The Wusun subsequently took over the Ili Valley, expanding over a large area and trying to keep away from the Xiongnu. According to Shiji , Wusun was a state located west of the Xiongnu. When the Xiongnu ruler died, Liejiaomi refused to serve
5676-648: The War of the Heavenly Horses against the Kingdom of Dayuan . As a result, the Han gained many Ferghana horses which further aided them in their battle against the Xiongnu. As a result of these battles, the Han Empire controlled the strategic region from the Ordos and Gansu corridor to Lop Nor . They succeeded in separating the Xiongnu from the Qiang peoples to the south, and also gained direct access to
5808-499: The Western Regions and launched raids on the Han borders. In 73, the Han responded by sending Dou Gu and Geng Chong to lead a great expedition against the Northern Xiongnu in the Tarim Basin . The expedition, which saw the exploits of the general, Ban Chao , was initially successful, but the Han soon had to temporarily withdraw due to matters back home in 75. For the next decade, the Northern Xiongnu had to endure famines largely in part due to locust plagues. In 87, they suffered
5940-522: The Western Regions . Because of strong Han control over the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu became unstable and were no longer a threat to the Han Empire. Ban Chao , Protector General (都護; Duhu ) of the Han dynasty, embarked with an army of 70,000 soldiers in a campaign against the Xiongnu remnants who were harassing the trade route now known as the Silk Road . His successful military campaign saw the subjugation of one Xiongnu tribe after another. Ban Chao also sent an envoy named Gan Ying to Daqin (Rome). Ban Chao
6072-410: The Wuhuan and receiving support from the Xianbei. Meanwhile, the Xiuchuge people, a branch of Xiongnu within China not attached to the Southern Xiongnu, was gaining momentum during the mid-2nd century. During the late 2nd century AD, the Southern Xiongnu were drawn into the rebellions then plaguing the Han court. In 188, the chanyu sent troops to help the Han suppress a rebellion in Hebei —many of
6204-406: The Xianyun and the Xirong nomadic peoples. In later Chinese historiography, some groups of these peoples were believed to be the possible progenitors of the Xiongnu people. These nomadic people often had repeated military confrontations with the Shang and especially the Zhou , who often conquered and enslaved the nomads in an expansion drift. During the Warring States period , the armies from
6336-424: The 6th century to denote Iranian peoples , especially Sogdians , in Central Asia , besides other non-Chinese peoples. Archaeological evidence also supports the idea that Wusuns were Iranian speakers. Edwin G. Pulleyblank has suggested that the Wusun, along with the Yuezhi, the Dayuan, the Kangju and the people of Yanqi , could have been Tocharian -speaking. Colin Masica and David Keightley also suggest that
6468-462: The Chinese as having settled in the Pamir Mountains in the 5th century AD due to pressure from the Rouran . They possibly became subsumed into the later Hephthalites . Wusun is a modern pronunciation of the Chinese Characters '烏孫'. The Chinese name '烏孫' (Wūsūn) literally means wū 'crow, raven' + sūn 'grandson, descendant'. There are several theories about the origin of the name. Canadian Sinologist Edwin Pulleyblank reconstructed
6600-448: The Chinese general Li Ling , grandson of the famous Han dynasty general Li Guang . Li Ling was captured by the Xiongnu and defected in the first century BCE. And since the Tang royal Li family also claimed descent from Li Guang, the Kirghiz Khagan was therefore recognized as a member of the Tang Imperial family. This relationship soothed the relationship when Kyrgyz khagan Are (阿熱) invaded Uyghur Khaganate and put Qasar Qaghan to
6732-403: The Han court with tribute. But having failed to pay homage personally, he was never admitted to the tributary system. In 36 BC, a junior officer named Chen Tang , with the help of Gan Yanshou, protector-general of the Western Regions, assembled an expeditionary force that defeated him at the Battle of Zhizhi and sent his head as a trophy to Chang'an. Tributary relations were discontinued during
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#17327660056066864-492: The Han court, but at this time the Han court was in disorder from the clash between Grand General He Jin and the eunuchs, and the intervention of the warlord Dong Zhuo . The chanyu had no choice but to settle down with his followers around Pingyang , south of the Fen River in Shanxi . In 195, he died and was succeeded as chanyu by his brother Huchuquan . North of the Fen River, the rebels prevented Yufuluo and his family from returning to their home. They initially elected
6996-403: The Han envoys did not remove their tallies of authority, and if they did not allow their faces to be tattooed, they could not gain entrance into the yurts. Wang Wu and his company removed their tallies, submitted to tattoo, and thus gained entry. The Shanyu looked upon them very highly. The ruler of the Xiongnu was called the Chanyu . Under him were the Tuqi Kings . The Tuqi King of the Left
7128-404: The Han. In 94, dissatisfied with the newly appointed chanyu, the surrendered Northern Xiongnu rebelled and acclaimed Fenghou as their chanyu, who led them to flee outside the border. However, the separatist regime continued to face famines and the growing threat of the Xianbei, prompting 10,000 of them to return to Han in 96. Fenghou later sent envoys to Han intending to submit as a vassal but
7260-409: The Heavenly Horses , who also married a daughter of the Hulugu Chanyu. The Han Chinese diplomat Su Wu married a Xiongnu woman given by Li Ling when he was arrested and taken captive. Han Chinese explorer Zhang Qian married a Xiongnu woman and had a child with her when he was taken captive by the Xiongnu. The Yenisei Kyrgyz khagans of the Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate claimed descent from
7392-531: The Kargali burial attest to the artistic skill of these ancient jewellers. Another find at Tenlik in eastern Zhetysu contained the grave of a high-ranking warrior, whose clothing had been decorated with around 100 golden bosses. Some scholars such as Peter B. Golden have proposed that the Wusun may have been identical with the people described by Herodotus (IV. 16–25) and in Ptolemy 's Geography as Issedones (also Issedoni , Issedoi or Essedoni ). Their exact location of their country in Central Asia
7524-423: The Kunmi became the ruler of Yarkand , while his daughter became the wife of the lord of Kucha . They came to play a role as a third force between the Han and the Xiongnu. Around 64 BC, according to Hanshu , Chinese agents were involved in a plot with a Wusun kunmi known as Wengguimi ("Fat King"), to kill a Wusun kunmi known to the Chinese as Nimi ("Mad King"). A Chinese deputy envoy called Chi Tu who brought
7656-403: The Meiji district of Xihe Commandery and the Southern Xiongnu were resettled in eight frontier commanderies. At the same time, large numbers of Chinese were also resettled in these commanderies, in mixed Han-Xiongnu settlements. Economically, the Southern Xiongnu became reliant on trade with the Han. The Southern Xiongnu served as auxillaries to defend the northern borders for the Han and played
7788-478: The Northern Chanyu . In 49 AD, the Northern Xiongnu was dealt a heavy defeat to the Southern Xiongnu. That same year, Zhai Tong , a Han governor of Liaodong also enticed the Wuhuan and Xianbei into attacking the Northern Xiongnu. Soon, Punu began sending envoys on several separate occasions to negotiate peace with the Han dynasty, but made little to no progress. In the 60s, the Northern Xiongnu resumed hostilities as they attempted to expand their influence into
7920-453: The Qilian mountains. The mountain range was formerly known in European languages as Richthofen Range after Ferdinand von Richthofen , who was the Red Baron 's explorer-geologist uncle. The mountain range gives its name to Qinghai's Qilian County . Xiongnu The Xiongnu ( Chinese : 匈奴 , [ɕjʊ́ŋ.nǔ] ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources , inhabited
8052-420: The Qin general Meng Tian. Under Modu's leadership, the Xiongnu became so strong that they began to threaten the Han dynasty. In 200 BC, Modu besieged the first Han dynasty emperor Gaozu (Gao-Di) with his 320,000-strong army at Peteng Fortress in Baideng (present-day Datong, Shanxi). Gaozu (Gao-Di) after agreed to all Modu's terms, such as ceding the northern provinces to the Xiongnu and paying annual taxes, he
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#17327660056068184-418: The Wusun a daughter but died soon afterward, at which point the Han court sent Princess Jieyou ( Chinese : 解憂公主 ) to succeed her. After the death of Cenzou, Jieyou married Wengguimi ( Chinese : 翁歸靡 ), Cenzou's cousin and successor. Jieyou lived for fifty years among the Wusun and bore five children, including the oldest Yuanguimi ( Chinese : 元貴靡 ), whose half-brother Wujiutu ( Chinese : 烏就屠 )
8316-460: The Wusun became the main suppliers of horses for the Han. The Xiongnu had however also sent a princess to marry Liejiaomi, and the Xiongnu princess was declared his senior consort, with Xijun becoming his junior wife. Since Liejiaomi was already an old man, Xijun was however married to his successor Cenzou ( Chinese : 岑陬 ), to which Wu agreed. Xijun wrote a famous poem, the Beichouge ( Chinese : 悲愁歌 ), in which she complains about her exile in
8448-464: The Wusun between 110 BC and 105 BC. She describes them as nomads who lived in felt tents , ate raw meat and drank fermented mare's milk . Some early Chinese descriptions of the people were pejorative, describing them as "bad, greedy and unreliable, and much given to robbery", but their state was also described as very strong. However, the Wusun were also noted for their harmony towards their neighbours, even though they were constantly raided by
8580-415: The Wusun continued their decline in political importance. In the 5th century AD the Wusun were pressured by the Rouran and may have migrated to the Pamir Mountains . They are last mentioned in Chinese historical sources in 436 AD, when a Chinese envoy was sent to their country and the Wusun reciprocated. It is possible that they became subsumed into the later Hephthalites . After this event
8712-442: The Wusun population is admixed with Sakas and Yuezhi peoples. The Wusun approved of a possible alliance, and Zhang Qian was sent as ambassador in 115 BC. According to the agreement the Wusun would jointly attack the Xiongnu with the Han, while they were offered a Han princess in marriage and the return of their original Gansu homeland ( heqin ). Due to fear of the Xiongnu, the Wusun however had second thoughts and suggested sending
8844-411: The Wusun seem to disappear from Chinese records: Wusun were last mentioned in 938 AD alongsides Tuyuhun and Mohe, as tributary states to the Khitan Liao . The Hanshu and Shiji do not make any special note of the physical appearance of the Wusun. The first description of the Wusun's physical appearance is found in a Western Han dynasty book of divination , the Jiaoshi Yilin , which describes
8976-475: The Wusun to number 630,000, with 120,000 families and 188,000 men capable of bearing arms. Hanshu described them as occupying land that previously belonged to the Saka (Sai). To their north-west the Wusun bordered Kangju , located in modern Kazakhstan. To the west was Dayuan ( Ferghana ), and to the south were various city states. The Royal Court of the Wusun, the walled city of Chigu ( Chinese : 赤谷 ; pinyin : chìgǔ ; lit. 'Red Valley'),
9108-406: The Wusun were Tocharian-speaking. Sinor finds it difficult to include the Wusun within the Tocharian category of Indo-European until further research. J. P. Mallory has suggested that the Wusun contained both Tocharian and Iranian elements. Central Asian scholar Christopher I. Beckwith suggests that the Wusun were Indo-Aryan -speaking. The first syllable of the Wusun royal title Kunmi was probably
9240-472: The Wusun with the wδ'nn'p , mentioned on Kultobe inscriptions as enemies of the Sogdian-speaking Kangju confederation. Wδ'nn'p contains two morphemes n'p "people" and * wδ'n [wiðan], which is cognate with Manichaean Parthian wd'n and means "tent". Vaissière hypothesized that the Wusun likely spoke an Iranian language closely related to Sogdian , permitting Sogdians to translate their endonym as * wδ'n [wiðan] and Chinese to transcribe their endonym with
9372-405: The Xiongnu and Kangju. The principal activity of the Wusun was cattle-raising, but they also practiced agriculture . Since the climate of Zhetysu and Dzungaria did not allow constant wandering, they probably wandered with each change of season in the search of pasture and water. Numerous archaeological finds have found querns and agricultural implements and bones of domesticated animals, suggesting
9504-503: The Xiongnu and the Wusun became powerful. Liejiaomi constantly requested the Xiongnu ruler for permission to avenge his father, and around 133–132 BC, he successfully attacked the Yuezhi in the Ili Valley. The Yuezhi then migrated to Sogdia and then Bactria , where they became unified under Kujula Kadphises and expanded into South Asia, founding the Kushan Empire , which at its peak under Kanishka stretched from Turpan in
9636-674: The Xiongnu capital. The ruins of Longcheng were found south of Ulziit District, Arkhangai Province in 2017. North of Shanxi with the Tuqi King of the Left was holding the area north of Beijing and the Tuqi King of the Right was holding the Ordos Loop area as far as Gansu . When the Xiongnu had been driven north, to today's Mongolia. In the winter of 200 BC, following a Xiongnu siege of Taiyuan , Emperor Gaozu of Han personally led
9768-615: The Xiongnu empire in all directions. To the north he conquered a number of nomadic peoples, including the Dingling of southern Siberia. He crushed the power of the Donghu people of eastern Mongolia and Manchuria as well as the Yuezhi in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu , where his son, Jizhu, made a skull cup out of the Yuezhi king. Modu also retook the original homeland of Xiongnu on the Yellow River , which had previously been taken by
9900-527: The Xiongnu feared that it would set a precedent for unending military service to the Han court. At the time, the Xiuchuge had rebel in Bing province and kill the Chinese provincial inspector. The rebellious faction among the Southern Xiongnu allied with the Xiuchuge and killed their chanyu as well. His son Yufuluo , entitled Chizhisizhu ( 持至尸逐侯 ), succeeded him, but was then overthrown by the rebels in 189. He travelled to Luoyang (the Han capital) to seek aid from
10032-601: The Xiongnu in one liezhuan (arrayed account) of his Records of the Grand Historian ( c. 100 BC), wherein the Xiongnu were alleged to be descendants of a certain Chunwei , who in turn descended from the "lineage of Lord Xia", a.k.a. Yu the Great . Even so, Sima Qian also drew a distinct line between the settled Huaxia people (Han) to the pastoral nomads (Xiongnu), characterizing them as two polar groups in
10164-443: The Xiongnu in order to avoid sending the emperor's daughters. The Han sent these "princesses" to marry Xiongnu leaders in their efforts to stop the border raids. Along with arranged marriages, the Han sent gifts to bribe the Xiongnu to stop attacking. After the defeat at Pingcheng in 200 BC, the Han emperor abandoned a military solution to the Xiongnu threat. Instead, in 198 BC , the courtier Liu Jing [ zh ]
10296-621: The Xiongnu into a more formidable polity, able to form larger armies and exercise improved strategic coordination. Two years later, in 207 BC, the Qin dynasty fell, and after a period of internal conflict , it was replaced by the Western Han dynasty in 202 BC. This period of Chinese instability was a time of prosperity for the Xiongnu, who adopted many Han agriculture techniques such as slaves for heavy labor and lived in Han-style homes. After forging internal unity, Modu Chanyu expanded
10428-595: The Xiongnu were distinguished from other nomadic peoples; namely, the Hu people ; yet on other occasions, Chinese sources often just classified the Xiongnu as a Hu people , which was a blanket term for nomadic people . Even Sima Qian was inconsistent: in the chapter "Hereditary House of Zhao", he considered the Donghu to be the Hu proper, yet elsewhere he considered Xiongnu to be also Hu. Ancient China often came in contact with
10560-508: The Xiongnu, after which they fled Gansu . According to Zhang Qian , the Yuezhi were defeated by the rising Xiongnu empire and fled westward, driving away the Sai (Scythians) from the Ili Valley in the Zhetysu and Dzungaria area. The Sai would subsequently migrate into South Asia , where they founded various Indo-Scythian kingdoms. After the Yuezhi retreat the Wusun subsequently settled
10692-572: The Xiongnu, however, Huduershi was never able to establish unquestioned authority. In contravention of a principle of fraternal succession established by Huhanye, Huduershi designated his son Punu as heir-apparent . However, as the eldest son of the preceding chanyu , Bi (Pi)—the Rizhu King of the Right—had a more legitimate claim. Consequently, Bi refused to attend the annual meeting at the chanyu ' s court. Nevertheless, in 46 AD, Punu ascended
10824-496: The Xiongnu. The Xiongnu then sent a force against the Wusun but were defeated, after which the Xiongnu even more than before considered Liejiaomi a supernatural being, avoiding conflict with him. After settling in the Ili Valley the Wusun became so strong that the Han was compelled to win their friendship in alliance. Chinese sources name the Scythian Sai (Saka), and the Yuezhi who are often identified as Tocharians , among
10956-536: The Xiongnu. The nation has plenty of horses... and its people violent, greedy and not trustworthy. There are abundant bandits and thieves. Its territories originally belonged to the Sakas , the latter king went south to Bolor ( Baltistan ) whereby the Yuezhi took over and settled on the land. (...) Later, when the Yuezhi moved west to subjugate Bactria , the Wusun Kunmo replaced them and lived there. For that reason,
11088-481: The campaign the Han captured the Tarim Basin city-state of Cheshi ( Turpan region), a previous ally of the Xiongnu, giving them direct contact with the Wusun. Afterwards the Wusun allied with the Dingling and Wuhuan to counter Xiongnu attacks. After their crushing victory against the Xiongnu the Wusun increased in strength, achieving significant influence over the city-states of the Tarim Basin. The son of
11220-461: The dynastic states of Han-Zhao , Northern Liang and Helian Xia in northern China. Attempts to associate the Xiongnu with the nearby Sakas and Sarmatians were once controversial. However, archaeogenetics has confirmed their interaction with the Xiongnu, and also possibly their relation to the Huns . The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses, because only
11352-487: The east. The Nan-Shan range continues to the west as Yema Shan (5,250 m) and Altun Shan (Altyn Tagh) (5,798 m). To the east, it passes north of Qinghai Lake , terminating as Daban Shan and Xinglong Shan near Lanzhou , with Maoma Shan peak (4,070 m) an eastern outlier. Sections of the Ming dynasty 's Great Wall pass along its northern slopes, and south of northern outlier Longshou Shan (3,616 m). The Qilian mountains are
11484-553: The eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu , the supreme leader after 209 BC, founded the Xiongnu Empire . After overthrowing their previous overlords, the Yuezhi , the Xiongnu became the dominant power on the steppes of East Asia , centred on the Mongolian Plateau . The Xiongnu were also active in areas now part of Siberia , Inner Mongolia , Gansu and Xinjiang . Their relations with adjacent Chinese dynasties to
11616-536: The emperor on the Lunar New Year . In the same year, another envoy Qijushan (稽居狦) was received at the Ganquan Palace in the north-west of modern Shanxi . On the financial side, Huhanye was amply rewarded in large quantities of gold, cash, clothes, silk, horses and grain for his participation. Huhanye made two further homage trips, in 49 BC and 33 BC; with each one the imperial gifts were increased. On
11748-557: The hypothesis that the Wusun used a satem -like language within the Indo-European languages . However, the latter hypothesis is not supported by Edwin G. Pulleyblank . Christopher I. Beckwith 's analysis is similar to Mair's, reconstructing the Chinese term Wusun as Old Chinese * âswin , which he compares to Old Indic aśvin 'the horsemen', the name of the Rigvedic twin equestrian gods . Étienne de la Vaissière identifies
11880-404: The imperial retreat at Yong. In 158 BC, his successor sent 30,000 cavalry to attack Shangdang and another 30,000 to Yunzhong . The Xiongnu also practiced marriage alliances with Han dynasty officers and officials who defected to their side by marrying off sisters and daughters of the Chanyu (the Xiongnu ruler) to Han Chinese who joined the Xiongnu and Xiongnu in Han service. The daughter of
12012-412: The land of the " barbarians ": My family sent me off to be married on the other side of heaven. They sent me a long way to a strange land, to the king of Wusun. A domed lodging is my dwelling place with walls of felt. Meat is my food, with fermented milk as the sauce. I live with constant thoughts of my home, my heart is full of sorrow. I wish I were a golden swan, returning to my home country. Xijun bore
12144-544: The last trip, Huhanye took the opportunity to ask to be allowed to become an imperial son-in-law. As a sign of the decline in the political status of the Xiongnu, Emperor Yuan refused, giving him instead five ladies-in-waiting. One of them was Wang Zhaojun , famed in Chinese folklore as one of the Four Beauties . When Zhizhi learned of his brother's submission, he also sent a son to the Han court as hostage in 53 BC. Then twice, in 51 BC and 50 BC, he sent envoys to
12276-427: The maintenance of a large scale government sponsored market system. While the Xiongnu benefited handsomely, from the Chinese perspective marriage treaties were costly, very humiliating and ineffective. Laoshang Chanyu showed that he did not take the peace treaty seriously. On one occasion his scouts penetrated to a point near Chang'an . In 166 BC he personally led 140,000 cavalry to invade Anding , reaching as far as
12408-499: The mobility of the Xiongnu, many of the non-cavalry Han soldiers were mobile infantrymen who traveled on horseback but fought on foot), and advancing along different routes, forced the chanyu and his Xiongnu court to flee north of the Gobi Desert . Major logistical difficulties limited the duration and long-term continuation of these campaigns. According to the analysis of Yan You (嚴尤), the difficulties were twofold. Firstly there
12540-526: The modern province of Gansu, in the valley of the Wushui-he (lit. "Raven-Water River"), as vassals of the Xiongnu. It is not clear whether the river was named after the tribe or vice versa. The Xiongnu ruler was impressed with Liejiaomi , considering him a supernatural being, and adopted the child. When the child grew up the Chanyu made him leader of the Wusun and a Xiongnu general. He won many victories for
12672-481: The name "Qilian mountains" together with Dunhuang in relation to the homeland of the Yuezhi . These Qilian Mountains however, has been suggested to be the mountains now known as Tian Shan , 1,500 km to the west. Dunhuang has also been argued to be the Dunhong mountain. Qilian ( 祁连 ) is said to be a Xiongnu word meaning "sky" ( Chinese : 天 ) according to Yan Shigu , a Tang dynasty commentator on
12804-592: The next decades the institution of Greater and Lesser Kunmi continued, with the Lesser Kunmi being married to a Xiongnu princess and the Greater Kunmi married to a Han princess. In 5 BC, during the reign of Wuzhuliu Chanyu (8 BC – AD 13), the Wusun attempted to raid Yueban pastures, but Wuzhuliu repulsed them, and the Wusun commander had to send his son to the Yueban court as
12936-702: The northern tribes was left to their vassal, the Qin state . To the west, the Pazyryk culture (6th-3rd century BC) immediately preceded the formation of the Xiongnus. A Scythian culture, it was identified by excavated artifacts and mummified humans, such as the Siberian Ice Princess , found in the Siberian permafrost , in the Altay Mountains , Kazakhstan and nearby Mongolia . To
13068-455: The offspring of this people. Initially, when only a few number of skulls from Wusun territory were known, the Wusun were recognized as a Caucasoid people with slight Mongoloid admixture. Later, in a more thorough study by Soviet archaeologists of eighty-seven skulls of Zhetysu , the six skulls of the Wusun period were determined to be purely Caucasoid or close to it. The Wusun are generally believed to be an Indo-European people and speak
13200-510: The other hand seriously considers the possibility that the word is genuinely Turkish. Whatever the truth may be, there is no connection with Turkish berk , Mongolian berke 'strong' or Turkish bögü , Mongolian böge 'wizard, shaman.'" According to the Shiji (c. 123) and the Hanshu (c. 96), Liu Xijun , a daughter of the Han prince Liu Jian , was sent to the ruler (Kunmi or Kunmo) of
13332-605: The pattern for relations between the Han and the Xiongnu for sixty years. Up to 135 BC, the treaty was renewed nine times, each time with an increase in the "gifts" to the Xiongnu Empire. In 192 BC, Modun even asked for the hand of Emperor Gaozu of Han widow Empress Lü Zhi . His son and successor, the energetic Jiyu, known as the Laoshang Chanyu , continued his father's expansionist policies. Laoshang succeeded in negotiating with Emperor Wen terms for
13464-548: The people of the Wusun state in the Zhetysu and Dzungaria area. The Wusun realm probably included both Yuezhi and Saka. It is clear that the majority of the population consisted of linguistically Iranian Saka tribes. In 125 BC, under the Han Emperor Wu of Han (156–87 BC), the Chinese traveller and diplomat Zhang Qian was sent to establish an alliance with the Wusun Against the Xiongnu. Qian estimated
13596-604: The primary ancestors of the Xiongnu, and that the Xiongnu formed through substantial and complex admixture with West Eurasians. During the Western Zhou (1045–771 BC), there were numerous conflicts with nomadic tribes from the north and the northwest, variously known as the Xianyun , Guifang , or various "Rong" tribes, such as the Xirong , Shanrong or Quanrong . These tribes are recorded as harassing Zhou territory, but at
13728-664: The pronunciation of 烏孫' Wūsūn as in Middle Chinese as ou-suən , from Old Chinese aĥ-smən and linked the Wusun to the Άσμίραιοι Asmiraioi , who inhabited modern Issyk-Kul and Semirechiye and were mentioned in Ptolemy 's Geography (VI.16.3). Another theory links them to the Issedones . Sinologist Victor H. Mair compared Wusun with Sanskrit áśva 'horse', aśvin 'mare' and Lithuanian ašvà 'mare'. The name would thus mean 'the horse people'. Hence he put forward
13860-445: The reign of Emperor Wen , the break did not come until 133 BC, following an abortive trap to ambush the chanyu at Mayi . By that point the empire was consolidated politically, militarily and economically, and was led by an adventurous pro-war faction at court. In that year, Emperor Wu reversed the decision he had made the year before to renew the peace treaty. Full-scale war broke out in autumn 129 BC, when 40,000 Han cavalry made
13992-607: The reign of Huduershi (18 AD–48), corresponding to the political upheavals of the Xin dynasty . The Xiongnu took the opportunity to regain control of the western regions, as well as neighboring peoples such as the Wuhuan . In 24 AD, Hudershi even talked about reversing the tributary system. The Xiongnu's new power was met with a policy of appeasement by Emperor Guangwu . At the height of his power, Huduershi even compared himself to his illustrious ancestor, Modu. Due to growing regionalism among
14124-580: The royal title while the second syllable referred to the royal family name. Beckwith specifically suggests an Indo-Aryan etymology of the title Kunmi. In the past, some scholars suggested that the Wusun spoke a Turkic language. Chinese scholar Han Rulin, as well as G. Vambery , A. Scherbak, P. Budberg, L. Bazin and V.P. Yudin, noted that the Wusun king's name Fu-li 拊離 ( OC (20 BC) * phoʔ-rai > LHC * pʰuoᴮ-liai ~ *pʰuoᴮ-lie ), as reported in Chinese sources and translated as 'wolf', resembles Proto-Turkic * bȫrü 'wolf'. This suggestion however
14256-589: The sense of a civilization versus an uncivilized society: the Hua–Yi distinction . Sima Qian also mentioned Xiongnu's early appearance north of Wild Goose Gate and Dai commanderies before 265 BCE, just before the Zhao-Xiongnu War ; however, sinologist Edwin Pulleyblank (1994) contends that pre-241-BCE references to the Xiongnu are anachronistic substitutions for the Hu people instead. Sometimes
14388-645: The so-called Aygîrdzhal group, are found together with the Chil-pek tombs from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD, and have been attributed to the Yuezhi. Graves of the Wusun period typically contain personal belongings, with the burials of the Aygîrdzhal group often containing weapons. A famous find is the Kargali burial of a female Shaman discovered at an altitude of 2,300 m, near Almaty , containing jewellery, clothing, head-dress and nearly 300 gold objects. A beautiful diadem of
14520-461: The son of Cenzou. Jieyou bore Nimi the son Chimi ( Chinese : 鴟靡 ). Prince Wujiutu later killed Nimi, his half-brother. Fearing the wrath of the Han, Wujiutu adopted the title of Lesser Kunmi, while Yuanguimi was given the title Greater Kunmi. The Han accepted this system and bestowed both of them with the imperial seal . After both Yuanguimi and Chimi were dead, Jieyou asked Emperor Xuan for permission to return to China. She died in 49 BC. Over
14652-686: The source of numerous, mostly small, rivers and creeks that flow northeast, enabling irrigated agriculture in the Hexi Corridor (Gansu Corridor) communities, and eventually disappearing in the Alashan Desert . The best known of these streams is the Ejin (Heihe) River . The region has many glaciers , the largest of which is the Touming Mengke . These glaciers have undergone acceleration in their melting in recent decades. Lake Hala
14784-563: The south, the Ordos culture had developed in the Ordos Loop (modern Inner Mongolia , China ) during the Bronze and early Iron Age from the 6th to 2nd centuries BC, and is of unknown ethno-linguistic origin, and is thought to represent the easternmost extension of Indo-European-speakers. The Yuezhi were displaced by the Xiongnu expansion in the 2nd century BC, and had to migrate to Central and Southern Asia. Western Han historian Sima Qian composed an early yet detailed exposition on
14916-478: The south-east were complex—alternating between various periods of peace, war, and subjugation. Ultimately, the Xiongnu were defeated by the Han dynasty in a centuries-long conflict , which led to the confederation splitting in two, and forcible resettlement of large numbers of Xiongnu within Han borders. During the Sixteen Kingdoms era, listed as one of the " Five Barbarians ", their descendants founded
15048-528: The statelets of the Western Regions , would not be tolerated. In 74 AD the Wusun are recorded as having sent tribute to the Han military commanders in Cheshi. In 80 AD Ban Chao requested assistance from the Wusun against the city-state Quchi (Kucha) in the Tarim Basin. The Wusun were subsequently rewarded with silks, while diplomatic exchanges were resumed. During the 2nd century AD
15180-549: The study found that the Wusun and Kangju had less East Asian admixture than the Xiongnu and the Saka . Both the Wusun and Kangju were suggested to be descended from Western Steppe Herders (WSHs) of the Late Bronze Age who admixed with Siberian hunter-gatherers and peoples related to the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex . One theory has suggested that the Uissun tribe of Kazakhstan
15312-529: The sword. The news brought to Chang'an by Kyrgyz ambassador Zhuwu Hesu (註吾合素). The Han dynasty made preparations for war when the Han Emperor Wu dispatched the Han Chinese explorer Zhang Qian to explore the mysterious kingdoms to the west and to form an alliance with the Yuezhi people in order to combat the Xiongnu. During this time Zhang married a Xiongnu wife, who bore him a son, and gained
15444-483: The third who was defeated by Tuqi in that year and surrendered to Huhanye the following year. In 56 BC Tuqi was defeated by Huhanye and committed suicide, but two more claimants appeared: Runzhen and Huhanye's elder brother Zhizhi Chanyu . Runzhen was killed by Zhizhi in 54 BC, leaving only Zhizhi and Huhanye. Zhizhi grew in power, and, in 53 BC, Huhanye moved south and submitted to the Chinese. Huhanye used Chinese support to weaken Zhizhi, who gradually moved west. In 49 BC,
15576-645: The throne. In 48 AD, a confederation of eight Xiongnu tribes in Bi's power base in the south, with a military force totalling 40,000 to 50,000 men, seceded from Punu's kingdom and acclaimed Bi as chanyu . This kingdom became known as the Southern Xiongnu . The rump kingdom under Punu, around the Orkhon (modern north central Mongolia) became known as the Northern Xiongnu , with Punu, becoming known as
15708-582: The time of Modu's death in 174 BC, the Xiongnu were recognized as the most prominent of the nomads bordering the Chinese Han empire According to the Book of Han , later quoted in Duan Chengshi 's ninth-century Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang : Also, according to the Han shu , Wang Wu (王烏) and others were sent as envoys to pay a visit to the Xiongnu. According to the customs of the Xiongnu, if
15840-624: The time the Zhou were expanding northwards, encroaching on their traditional lands, especially into the Wei River valley . Archaeologically, the Zhou expanded to the north and the northwest at the expense of the Siwa culture . The Quanrong put an end to the Western Zhou in 771 BC, sacking the Zhou capital of Haojing and killing the last Western Zhou king You . Thereafter the task of dealing with
15972-475: The trust of the Xiongnu leader. While Zhang Qian did not succeed in this mission, his reports of the west provided even greater incentive to counter the Xiongnu hold on westward routes out of the Han Empire, and the Han prepared to mount a large scale attack using the Northern Silk Road to move men and material. While the Han dynasty was making preparations for a military confrontation since
16104-459: The velar nasal medial -ŋ- , after a short vowel, seemingly played the role of a general nasal – sometimes equivalent to n or m –, Schuessler proposes that 匈奴 Xiongnu < * hɨoŋ-nɑ < * hoŋ-nâ might be a Chinese rendition, Han or even pre-Han, of foreign * Hŏna or * Hŭna , which Schuessler compares to Huns and Sanskrit Hūṇā . However, the same medial -ŋ- prompts Christopher P. Atwood (2015) to reconstruct * Xoŋai , which he derives from
16236-532: The women of the Wusun as "with deep eyesockets, dark, ugly: their preferences are different, past their prime [still] without spouse." A later 7th century commentary to the Hanshu by Yan Shigu says: Among the barbarians (戎; Róng ) in the Western Regions, the look of the Wusun is the most unusual. The present barbarians (胡人; húrén ) who have green eyes and red hair, and look like macaque monkeys, are
16368-471: Was allowed to leave the siege. Although Gaozu was able to return to his capital Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), Modu occasionally threatened the Han's northern frontier and finally in 198 BC, a peace treaty was settled. Xiongnu in their expansion drove their western neighbour Yuezhi from the Hexi Corridor in year 176 BC, killing the Yuezhi king and asserting their presence in the Western Regions . By
16500-442: Was born to a Xiongnu mother. She sent numerous letters to the Han requesting assistance against the Xiongnu. Around 80 BC, the Wusun were attacked by the Xiongnu, who inflicted a devastating defeat upon them. In 72 BC, Kunmi, chief of the Wusun requested assistance from the Han against the Xiongnu. The Han sent an army of 160,000 men, inflicting a crushing defeat upon the Xiongnu, capturing much booty and many slaves. In
16632-515: Was created the Marquess of Dingyuan (定遠侯, i.e., "the Marquess who stabilized faraway places") for his services to the Han Empire and returned to the capital Luoyang at the age of 70 years and died there in the year 102. Following his death, the power of the Xiongnu in the Western Regions increased again, and the emperors of subsequent dynasties did not reach as far west until the Tang dynasty . When
16764-406: Was dispatched for negotiations. The peace settlement eventually reached between the parties included a Han princess given in marriage to the chanyu (called heqin ) ( Chinese : 和親 ; lit. 'harmonious kinship'); periodic gifts to the Xiongnu of silk , distilled beverages and rice ; equal status between the states; and a boundary wall as mutual border. This first treaty set
16896-690: Was fairly sophisticated, consisting of sixteen officials. The Great Kunmi was assisted by a council of elders, which limited his power to some degree. The Wusun elite maintained itself through tribute from conquered tribes, war booty and trading profits. The booty acquired by the Wusun in their frequent conflicts enabled the administrative elite and members of the Kunmi's guard to amass enormous riches. Wusun society seems to have been highly stratified . The main source of this stratification seems to have been property ownership . The wealthiest Wusuns are believed to have owned as many as 4,000 to 5,000 horses, and there
17028-683: Was located in a side valley leading to Issyk Kul. Lying on one of the branches of the Silk Road Chigu was an important trading centre, but its exact location has not been established. According to Sima Qian in the Shiji : Wusun as a nation, has its great Kunmi [monarch] presiding at Chigu City which is 8900 li [3700km] away from Chang'an (...) It land is bare and flat, rainy and chilly. Its hills are covered with pines. Its people do not plow of plant but follow their flocks to where water and grass are found. Its customs are similar to those of
17160-401: Was normally the heir presumptive. Next lower in the hierarchy came more officials in pairs of left and right: the guli , the army commanders, the great governors, the danghu and the gudu . Beneath them came the commanders of detachments of one thousand, of one hundred, and of ten men. This nation of nomads, a people on the march, was organized like an army. After Modu, later leaders formed
17292-470: Was rejected. The Northern Xiongnu were scattered, with most of them being absorbed the Xianbei. In 118, a defeated Fenghou brought around a mere 100 followers to surrender to Han. Remnants of the Northern Xiongnu held out in the Tarim Basin as they allied themselves with the Nearer Jushi Kingdom and captured Yiwu in 119. By 126, they were subjugated by the Han general, Ban Yong , while
17424-410: Was the problem of supplying food across long distances. Secondly, the weather in the northern Xiongnu lands was difficult for Han soldiers, who could never carry enough fuel. According to official reports, the Xiongnu lost 80,000 to 90,000 men, and out of the 140,000 horses the Han forces had brought into the desert, fewer than 30,000 returned to the Han Empire. In 104 and 102 BC, the Han fought and won
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