Editing Wusun (section)

==History==

===Early history===
[[File:Migration route of Wusun in Western Han Dynasty.png|right|upright=1.5|thumb|Migration of the Wusun]]

The Wusun were first mentioned by [[China|Chinese]] sources as living together with the [[Yuezhi]] between the [[Qilian Mountains]] and [[Dunhuang]] ([[Gansu]]).<ref>[http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=66451 Hanshu 《漢書·張騫李廣利傳》] '''Original text'''  臣居匈奴中，聞烏孫王號昆莫。昆莫父難兜靡本與大月氏俱在祁連、焞煌間，小國也。tr. "[I, your majesty's] minister, while living among the Xiongnu, heard that the Wusun king was called Kunmo; Kunmo's father Nandoumi had originally been dwelling together with the Great Yuezhi in a small state between Qilian and Dunhuang."</ref><ref name="Beckwith84">{{harvnb|Beckwith|2009|pp=84–85}}</ref><ref name="ChineseHistory"/><ref name="Benjamin_Marshak">{{cite journal |last=Benjamin |first=Craig |author-link=Craig Benjamin |date=October 2003 |title=The Yuezhi Migration and Sogdia |url=http://www.transoxiana.org/Eran/Articles/benjamin.html |journal=Transoxiana Webfestschrift |publisher=Transoxiana |volume=1 |issue=Ēran ud Anērān |access-date=29 May 2015}}</ref> although different locations have been suggested for these toponyms.<ref>[[Xinru Liu|Liu, Xinru]], [http://www.learner.org/courses/worldhistory/support/reading_11_2.pdf ''Migration and Settlement of the Yuezhi-Kushan: Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042106/http://www.learner.org/courses/worldhistory/support/reading_11_2.pdf |date=2016-03-04 }} (2001)</ref>

Beckwith suggests that the Wusun were an eastern remnant of the [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryans]], who had been suddenly pushed to the extremities of the [[Eurasian Steppe]] by the [[Iranian peoples]] in the 2nd&nbsp;millennium&nbsp;BC.<ref name="Beckwith29">{{harvnb|Beckwith|2009|pp=29–38}}</ref>

Around 210–200&nbsp;BC, prince [[Modu Chanyu]], a former hostage of the Yuezhi and prince of the [[Xiongnu]], who were also vassals of the Yuezhi,<ref name="Beckwith380">{{harvnb|Beckwith|2009|pp=380–383}}</ref> became leader of the Xiongnu and conquered the [[Asian Steppe|Mongolian Plain]], subjugating several peoples.<ref name="EKH">{{harvnb|Enoki|Koshelenko|Haidary|1994|pp=171–191}}</ref> Around 176&nbsp;BC Modu Chanyu launched a fierce raid against the Yuezhi.<ref name="Benjamin_Marshak"/> Around 173&nbsp;BC, the Yuezhi subsequently attacked the Wusun,<ref name="Benjamin_Marshak"/> at that time a small nation,<ref name="Beckwith6">{{harvnb|Beckwith|2009|pp=6–7}}</ref> killing their king Nandoumi.<ref name="Beckwith6"/>

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.<ref name="FH215">{{harvnb|François|Hulsewé|1979|p=215}}</ref><ref>[http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=9036 Shiji 《史記·大宛列傳》] '''Original text''': 匈奴攻殺其父，而昆莫生棄於野。烏嗛肉蜚其上，狼往乳之。</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Beckwith|2009|p=6}}</ref><ref name="Watson237">{{harvnb|Watson|1993|pp=237–238}}</ref> The Wusun ancestor myth shares striking similarities with those of the [[Hittites]], the [[Zhou dynasty|Zhou Chinese]], the [[Scythians]], the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]], the [[Goguryeo]], [[Turkish people|Turks]], [[Mongols]] and [[Dzungar people|Dzungars]].<ref>{{harvnb|Beckwith|2009|p=2}}</ref> 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 languages|Indo-Aryan]] influence, or even the origin of the royal [[Ashina tribe|Ashina]] [[Göktürks|Türks]].<ref name="Sinor328">{{harvnb|Sinor|Klyashtorny|1996|pp=328–329}}</ref>

In 162&nbsp;BC, the Yuezhi were finally defeated by the Xiongnu, after which they fled [[Gansu]].<ref name="Benjamin_Marshak" /> According to [[Zhang Qian]], the Yuezhi were defeated by the rising Xiongnu empire and fled westward, driving away the [[Saka|Sai]] (Scythians) from the [[Ili River|Ili Valley]] in the [[Jetisu|Zhetysu]] and [[Dzungaria]] area.<ref>[http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=66451 Hanshu 《漢書·張騫李廣利傳》] '''Original text''' 時，月氏已為匈奴所破，西擊塞王。</ref> The Sai would subsequently migrate into [[South Asia]], where they founded various [[Indo-Scythians|Indo-Scythian]] kingdoms.<ref name="Benjamin_Marshak" /> After the Yuezhi retreat the Wusun subsequently settled the modern province of Gansu, in the valley of the ''Wushui-he'' ({{lit|Raven-Water River}}), as vassals of the Xiongnu.<ref name="Beckwith6" /> It is not clear whether the river was named after the tribe or vice versa.

===Migration to the Ili Valley===
The Xiongnu ruler was impressed with Liejiaomi, considering him a supernatural being, and adopted the child.<ref name="Beckwith6"/> When the child grew up the ''Chanyu'' made him leader of the Wusun and a Xiongnu general.<ref name="Beckwith6"/> He won many victories for the Xiongnu and the Wusun became powerful.<ref name="Beckwith6"/> Liejiaomi constantly requested the Xiongnu ruler for permission to avenge his father, and around 133–132&nbsp;BC, he successfully attacked the Yuezhi in the Ili Valley.<ref name="Beckwith84"/><ref name="Benjamin_Marshak"/><ref name="Beckwith6"/> 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 the [[Tarim Basin]] to [[Pataliputra]] on the [[Gangetic plain]] and played an important role in the development of the [[Silk Road]] and the [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|transmission of Buddhism]] to China.<ref name="Beckwith84"/>

The Wusun subsequently took over the Ili Valley, expanding over a large area and trying to keep away from the Xiongnu. According to the ''[[Shiji]]'', Wusun was a state located west of the Xiongnu.<ref>[http://ctext.org/dictionary.pl?if=en&id=9036 Shiji 《史記·大宛列傳》] '''Original text''': 匈奴西邊小國也</ref> When the Xiongnu ruler died, Liejiaomi refused to serve the Xiongnu.<ref name="Beckwith6"/> The Xiongnu then sent a force against the Wusun but were defeated, after which the Xiongnu considered Liejiaomi a supernatural being even more than before and avoided conflict with him.<ref name="Beckwith6"/>

===Establishing relations with the Han===
[[File:Asia 200ad.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|right|Wusun and their neighbours around 200&nbsp;AD.]]
After settling in the Ili Valley the Wusun became so strong that the Han were compelled to win their friendship in alliance.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy">{{harvnb|Zadneprovskiy|1994|pp=458–462}}</ref> Chinese sources name the Scythian ''Sai'' (Saka), and the ''Yuezhi'' who are often identified as [[Tocharians]], among the people of the Wusun state in the Zhetysu and Dzungaria area.<ref name="FH145">{{harvnb|François|Hulsewé|1979|p=145}}</ref> The Wusun realm probably included both Yuezhi and Saka.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/> It is clear that the majority of the population consisted of linguistically Iranian Saka tribes.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/>

In 125&nbsp;BC, under the [[Han dynasty|Han Emperor]] [[Emperor Wu of Han|Wu of Han]] (156–87&nbsp;BC), the Chinese traveller and diplomat [[Zhang Qian]] was sent to establish an alliance with the Wusun against the Xiongnu.{{sfn|Yap|2019|p=164}}<ref name="ChineseHistory">{{cite web |title=Chinese History – Wusun 烏孫 |url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/wusun.html |website=[[Chinaknowledge]] |access-date=1 January 2015}}</ref><ref name="EB_Zhang_Qian">{{cite web |title=Zhang Qian |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/105520/Zhang-Qian |access-date=29 May 2015 }}</ref> Qian estimated the Wusun to number 630,000, with 120,000 families and 188,000 men capable of bearing arms.<ref>Hanshu, ch.61 & 96.{{full citation needed|date=April 2022}}</ref> The [[Book of Han|''Book of Han'']] described them as occupying land that previously belonged to the Saka (Sai).<ref>[http://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%BC%A2%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7096%E4%B8%8B Hanshu  《漢書·卷九十六下》 ] 西域傳  '''Original text:''' 本塞地也，大月氏西破走塞王，塞王南越縣度。大月氏居其地。後烏孫昆莫擊破大月氏，大月氏徙西臣大夏，而烏孫昆莫居之，故烏孫民有塞種、大月氏種雲。</ref><ref>{{harvnb|So|2009|p=133}}</ref> To their north-west the Wusun bordered [[Kangju]], in modern Kazakhstan. To the west was [[Dayuan]] ([[Ferghana]]), and to the south were various city states.<ref>《漢書·卷九十六下》  '''Original text:''' 東與匈奴、西北與康居、西與大宛、南與城郭諸國相接。</ref> The Royal Court of the Wusun, the walled city of Chigu, was located in a side valley leading to Issyk Kul.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/><ref>Hill (2009), "Appendix I: Chigu 赤谷 (Royal Court of the Wusun Kunmo)," pp. 527–531.{{full citation needed|date=April 2022}}</ref> Lying on one of the branches of the [[Silk Road]] Chigu was an important trading centre, but its exact location has not been established.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/>

According to [[Sima Qian]] in the ''[[Shiji]]'':

{{Quote|Wusun as a nation, has its great Kunmi [monarch] presiding at Chigu City which is 8900 ''[[Li (unit)|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 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, the Wusun population is admixed with Sakas and Yuezhi peoples.|Sima Qian, ''Shiji''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Findeisen |first1=Raoul David |title=At Home in Many Worlds: Reading, Writing and Translating from Chinese and Jewish Cultures : Essays in Honour of Irene Eber |date=2009 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-06135-3 |page=133 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Esz2vwNkzNMC&pg=PA133 |language=en}}</ref>}}

The Wusun approved of a possible alliance, and Zhang Qian was sent as ambassador in 115&nbsp;BC.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/> 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|''heqin'']]).<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/> However, due to fear of the Xiongnu, the Wusun had second thoughts and suggested sending a delegation to the Han rather than moving their capital further west.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/><ref name="ChineseHistory"/>

===As Han allies===
Some time after the Han-Wusun negotiations ended, the Han inflicted several blows to the Xiongnu.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/> 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.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/> Along with the Yuezhi and the Kangju of the [[Ferghana Valley]], the Wusun became the main suppliers of horses for the Han.<ref name="Wood53">{{harvnb|Wood|2004|pp=53–54}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/> Since Liejiaomi was already an old man, Xijun was married to his successor Cenzou, which Wu agreed with.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/> Xijun wrote a famous poem, the ''Beichouge'', in which she complains about her exile in the land of the "[[barbarian]]s":

{{Blockquote|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.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/><ref name="Wood57">{{harvnb|Wood|2004|p=57}}</ref>}}

Xijun bore the Wusun a daughter but died soon afterward, at which point the Han court sent [[Princess Jieyou]] to succeed her.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/> After the death of Cenzou, Jieyou married Wengguimi, Cenzou's cousin and successor. Jieyou lived for fifty years among the Wusun and bore five children, including the oldest Yuanguimi, whose half-brother Wujiutu was born to a Xiongnu mother.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/> She sent numerous letters to the Han requesting assistance against the Xiongnu.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/>

Around 80&nbsp;BC, the Wusun were attacked by the Xiongnu, who inflicted a devastating defeat upon them.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/><ref name="ChineseHistory"/> In 72&nbsp;BC, Kunmi, chief of the Wusun requested assistance from the Han against the Xiongnu.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/><ref name="ChineseHistory"/> The Han sent an army of 160,000&nbsp;men, inflicting a crushing defeat upon the Xiongnu, capturing much booty and many slaves.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/> In the campaign the Han captured the [[Tarim Basin]] and the [[city-state]] of [[Cheshi]] ([[Turpan]] region), a previous ally of the Xiongnu, giving them direct contact with the Wusun.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/> Afterwards the Wusun allied with the [[Dingling]] and [[Wuhuan]] to counter Xiongnu attacks.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/> After their crushing victory against the Xiongnu the Wusun increased in strength, achieving significant influence over the city-states of the Tarim Basin.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/> The son of the Kunmi became the ruler of [[Yarkant County|Yarkand]], while his daughter became the wife of the lord of [[Kucha]].<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/> They came to play a role as a third force between the Han and the Xiongnu.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/>

Around 64&nbsp;BC, according to the ''Book of Han'', Chinese agents were involved in a plot with a Wusun kunmi known as Wengguimi ("Fat King") and to kill a Wusun kunmi known to the Chinese as Nimi ("Mad King"). A Chinese deputy envoy called Chi Tu who brought a doctor to attend to Nimi was punished with 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.<ref name="Wood59">{{harvnb|Wood|2004|p=59}}</ref><ref name="FH155">{{harvnb|François|Hulsewé|1979|p=155}}</ref>

In 64&nbsp;BC another Han princess was sent to Kunmi Wengguimi, but he died before her arrival. Han emperor [[Emperor Xuan of Han|Xuan]] then permitted the princess to return, since Jieyou had married the new Kunmi, Nimi, the son of Cenzou. Jieyou bore Nimi the son Chimi. 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 [[Heirloom Seal of the Realm|imperial seal]]. After both Yuanguimi and Chimi were dead, Jieyou asked Emperor Xuan for permission to return to China. She died in 49&nbsp;BC. Over the next decades the institution of the Greater and Lesser Kunmi continued, with the Lesser Kunmi being married to a Xiongnu princess and the Greater Kunmi married to a Han princess.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/>

In 5&nbsp;BC, during the reign of [[Wuzhuliu|Wuzhuliu Chanyu]] (8&nbsp;BC{{snd}}AD&nbsp;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 a hostage. The forceful intervention of the Chinese usurper [[Wang Mang]] and internal strife brought disorder, and in 2&nbsp;BC one of the Wusun chieftains brought 80,000&nbsp;Wusun to Kangju, asking for help against the Chinese. In a vain attempt to reconcile with China, he was duped and killed in 3&nbsp;AD.<ref name="kulichki1">{{cite book |author=Gumilev L.N. |title=History of Hun People |location=Moscow |series=Science |chapter=12 |chapter-url=http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/HPH/hph12.htm |language=ru}}</ref><ref name="Taishan45">{{harvnb|Taishan|2004|p=45}}</ref>

In 2&nbsp;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 the statelets of the [[Western Regions]], would not be tolerated.<ref name="FH192">{{harvnb|François|Hulsewé|1979|p=192}}</ref>

In 74&nbsp;AD the Wusun are recorded as having sent tribute to the Han military commanders in Cheshi.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/> In 80&nbsp;AD [[Ban Chao]] requested assistance from the Wusun against the city-state Quchi (Kucha) in the Tarim Basin.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/> The Wusun were subsequently rewarded with silks, while diplomatic exchanges were resumed.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/> During the 2nd&nbsp;century&nbsp;AD the Wusun continued their decline in political importance.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/>

===Later history===
{{Self-contradictory|section|date=November 2024}}
In the 5th&nbsp;century&nbsp;AD the Wusun were pressured by the [[Rouran]] and may have migrated to the [[Pamir Mountains]].<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/><ref name="ChineseHistory"/><ref>[[Book of Wei]], ch.&nbsp;102</ref> They are last mentioned in Chinese historical sources in 436&nbsp;AD, when a Chinese envoy was sent to their country and the Wusun reciprocated.<ref name="ChineseHistory"/> It is possible that they became subsumed into the later [[Hephthalites]].<ref name="Zadneprovskiy"/> After this event the Wusun seem to disappear from Chinese records: the Wusun were last mentioned in 938 AD alongsides [[Tuyuhun]] and Mohe, as [[tributary state]]s to the [[Liao Dynasty|Khitan Liao]].<ref>[[History of Liao|Liaoshi]], vol. 4 "庚子，吐谷渾、烏孫、靺鞨皆來貢。"</ref>