Editing Alans (section)

===Link to ''Yancai'' (奄蔡) / ''Hesu'' (闔蘇) / ''Alan'' (阿蘭) ===
The Later [[Han dynasty]] Chinese chronicle, the ''[[Book of Later Han|Hou Hanshu]]'', 88 (covering the period 25–220 and completed in the 5th century), mentioned a report that the ''Yancai'' nation (奄蔡 lit "Vast Steppes" or "Extensive Grasslands" < [[Eastern Han Chinese|LHC]] *''ʔɨam<sup>B</sup>''-''sɑ<sup>C</sup>''; a.k.a. ''Hesu'' (闔蘇), compare [[Latin]] ''Abzoae'',<ref>{{cite journal|last= Yu|first= Taishan|title= A Study of Saka History|journal= Sino-Platonic Papers|issue= 80|date= July 1998|url= http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp080_saka_sai.pdf|quote= Yan Shigu's 顏師古 commentary says: "Hu Guang 胡廣 adds: "Some 1,000 li to the north of Kangju was a state named Yancai, which also was named Hesu. Hence Hesu was identical with Yancai." This shows that the Yancai were also called the Hesu in the Han times.}}</ref><ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' IV [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pliny_elder-natural_history/1938/pb_LCL352.365.xml p. 365]</ref> identified with the [[Aorsi]] ([[Ancient Greek]] ''Αορσιοι'')<ref>Schuessler, Axel. (2009) ''Minimal Old Chinese and Later Han Chinese''. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. p. 348</ref><ref>[[Yu Huan]], ''[[Weilüe]]''. draft translation by John E. Hill (2004). ''Translator's Notes'' [https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/notes11_30.html#11_2 11.2] quote: "Yăncài, already mentioned in the text as a country northwest of Kāngjū (at that time in the region of Tashkend), has long been identified with the Aorsoi of western sources, a nomadic people out of whom the well-known Alans later emerged (Pulleyblank [1962: 99, 220; 1968:252])".</ref>) had become a vassal state of the [[Kangju]] and was now known as ''Alan'' (< LHC: *''ʔɑ-lɑn'' 阿蘭)<ref>Schuessler (2009). pp. 211, 246</ref><ref>Hill, John E. 2003. "Annotated Translation of the Chapter on the Western Regions according to the ''Hou Hanshu''." Revised Edition.</ref>{{efn|According to [[Édouard Chavannes|Chavannes]] (1907), [[Weilüe]] correctly states that Yancai's alternative name is simply 阿蘭 ''Ālán'' instead of 阿蘭聊 ''Ālánliáo'' as recorded in [[Book of Later Han]]; as 聊 ''Liáo'' looks similar to 柳 ''Liǔ'', the name of a separate country already mentioned before 岩 ''Yán'' & 阿蘭 ''Ālán''.<ref>[https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E5%9C%8B%E5%BF%97/%E5%8D%B730#%E8%A5%BF%E6%88%8E ''Weilüe'': "Western Regions"], quoted in Sanguozhi vol. 30</ref><ref>''Houhanshu'', Vol. 88: Xiyu zhuan [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%BE%8C%E6%BC%A2%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B788#%E5%A5%84%E8%94%A1%E5%9C%8B Yancai]" quote: "奄蔡國，改名阿兰聊國，居地城，屬康居。土气温和，多桢松、白草。民俗衣服與康居同。"</ref><ref>Hill, John E. (translator). ''The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu: The Xiyu juan'' "Chapter on the Western Regions" from Hou Hanshu 88 2nd Ed [https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/hhshu/notes19.html "Section 19 – The Kingdom of Alanliao 阿蘭聊 (the Alans)"]</ref>}}

Y. A. Zadneprovskiy suggests that the Kangju subjugation of Yancai occurred in the 1st century BCE, and that this subjugation caused various Sarmatian tribes, including the Aorsi, to migrate westwards, which played a major role in starting the [[Migration Period]].<ref name="Zadneprovskiy465" /><ref name="Zadneprovskiy463">{{harvnb|Zadneprovskiy|1994|pp=463–464}}</ref> The 3rd century [[Weilüe]] also notes that Yancai was then known to be Alans, although they were no longer vassals of the Kangju.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html| title = For an earlier version of this translation}}</ref>

Dutch Sinologist [[A. F. P. Hulsewé]] noted that:<ref>Hulsewé. A. F .P. (1979) ''China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC – AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty.'' p. 129, n. 316. cited in John E. Hill. Translator's Notes [https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/notes11_30.html#25_3 25.3 & 25.4] to draft translation of [[Yu Huan]]'s [[Weilüe]]</ref>

{{blockquote|Chavannes (1905), p. 558, note 5, approves of the identification of Yen-ts’ai with the ‘Αορσοι mentioned by Strabo, as proposed by Hirth (1885), p. 139, note 1 ; he believes this identification to be strengthened by the later name Alan, which explains Ptolemy's "Alanorsi". Marquart (1905), pp. 240–241, did not accept this identification, but Pulleyblank (1963), pp. 99 and 220, does, referring for additional support to HSPC 70.6b where the name Ho-su 闔蘇, reconstructed in ‘Old Chinese’ as ĥa̱p-sa̱ĥ, can be compared with Abzoae found in Pliny VI, 38 (see also Pulleyblank (1968), p. 252). Also Humbach (1969), pp. 39–40, accepts the identification, though with some reserve.}}