This is Part 2 of an annotated translation of references in the Book of Han (Han Shu, 汉书) to the Qiang 羌 people during the Western Han period of the last two centuries BC. During this time they seem to have stretched from modern Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang across the Karakoram into northern Pakistan.

1. 1
QIANG 羌 REFERENCES IN THE BOOK OF HAN 汉书
PART 2
(Chapter 79 to Chapter 99)
Rachel Meakin
www.qianghistory.co.uk / qianghistory@gmail.com
See Qiang 羌 References in the Book of Han, Part 1, for an introduction to Part 1 and Part 2.1
Abbreviations:
WQB: the Western Qiang Biography in the Book of the Later Han.2
HHS: Hou Han Shu (Book of the Later Han)3
NAHS: New Annotated Han Shu4
CICA: China in Central Asia (Hulsewé and Loewe, 1979)
The Chinese text of the Book of Han can be found at: http://www.xysa.net/a200/h350/02qianhanshu/s-index.htm
Chapter 79: The Biography of Feng Fengshi (冯奉世传第四十九)
In the autumn of the 2nd Yongguang year of Emperor Yuan (42 BC), the Xianjie Pang type5 of the Longxi Qiang rebelled and the prime minister, Wei Xuancheng, the Imperial Censor, Zheng Hong, the General of the Left, Xu Jia, and the General of the Right, Feng Fengshi, were summoned by imperial order to offer their view of the situation. At that time, not much of the grain had been harvested and a ‘dan’ of grain cost over 200 cash in the capital, 400 cash in the border commanderies and 500 cash to the east of the passes. There was starvation from crop failure everywhere, the court was very worried, and there were Qiang disturbances. Fengshi said: "The Qiang enemies have recently revolted within the borders and this is not because they are sometimes punished. They are fleeing because of the violent suppression of the distant Man (蛮) peoples.6 I am willing to lead a punitive attack against them.” The emperor asked how many troops he would need. He replied, “Your humble servant is good at directing military operations. It won’t be necessary to increase conscripts and we will need less than three loads of supplies…. Today’s rebellious enemies (i.e. the Qiang) number approximately 30,000 people and with the methods they use that is equal to double - the same as 60,000. However, the Qiang Rong only have soldiers armed with bows and spears and their weapons are not sharp so we can use 40,000 people and the matter will be resolved within a month.” The prime minister, the imperial censor and the two generals all thought that it would not be possible to send many
1 Available at http://www.qianghistory.co.uk/qiang-references-in-the-han-shu-part-1.php or at www.slideshare.com.
2 For an English translation of this see Qiang References in the Book of the Later Han, Chapter 117: The Biography of the Western Qiang at http://www.qianghistory.co.uk/western-qiang-biography.php or at www.slideshare.com.
3 For Qiang references in the HHS see: Qiang References in the Book of the Later Han. http://www.qianghistory.co.uk/qiang-references-in-the-hou-han-shu.php or www.slideshare.com.
4 This is an annotated version of the Han Shu in Chinese. Shi, Ding. 1994-7. 汉书新注, 1-4. (New Annotated Han Shu, Vols 1-4) 三秦出版社 (San Qin Publishers). (See bibiography for online details.)
5彡姐旁种: To my knowledge this name only occurs in this context. The Xinhua on-line dictionary notes the usual pronunciation of 彡 as ‘shān’ but in this context as ‘xiǎn’, describing ‘Xianjie’ as a two-character surname used by the Western Qiang. http://xh.5156edu.com/html5/137922.html. ‘Páng (旁)’ in the Han period could mean extensive or numerous but seems to be a name here. (In Chapter 99 of the Xin Tang Shu there is a Qiang chieftain called Pang Xiandi 旁屳地.)
6 蛮: mainly used for peoples in the southwest. Presumably the Qiang had heard how the Han were treating other non-Han and were afraid they would receive the same treatment.

2. 2
because the people were harvesting and reckoned 10,000 from the garrison would be sufficient for the task. Fengshi said, “No way. Everyone is starving, the soldiers and horses are weak, we are not prepared for war, the Yi Di (夷狄)7 all disrespect the border officials and the Qiang are the first to rise in revolt.8 Today, if we use 10,000 divided among the garrisons with some outside, the enemy will see that the soldiers are few and they will be fearless, in which case the battle will humiliate the troops and be difficult and detrimental to the commanders and the garrisons won’t be able to save the common people. In this way the Qiang will see our weakness and use it to their advantage. The various types9 of Qiang will unite together, inciting each other and rising up and then I fear that China’s conscripts will not prevent this even with 40,000 and it won’t be solved with money. …” This was strongly disputed and he was only provided with an extra 2,000 men.
So Fengshi was dispatched in command of 12,000 cavalry …. They reached Longxi and set up garrisons in three places. Qu Shuguo led the ‘Army of the Right’ and set up White Stone Garrison,10 Han Chang led the advance army and set up the Lintao Garrison,11 and Fengshi led the Central Army and set up a garrison in the far west of Shouyang.12 When the advance troops arrived at Jiangtong Slope (降同阪), they sent a colonel ahead to contend with the Qiang for favourable territory13 and also sent a colonel to rescue the people in Guangyang Valley (广阳谷). The Qiang enemies were numerous and defeated them all, killing the two colonels. Fengshi calculated what troops he would need to hold the high ground and requested another 36,000 troops as sufficient to solve the situation. The emperor responded to his appeal with more than 60,000 men and appointed the Taichang official, Ren Qianqiu, as Fenwu General to assist him. Fengshi responded saying, “I would like to have his people but there is no need to trouble a senior general.” …
In his response, the emperor describes the situation of the Qiang and makes it clear that news of the Qiang victories was travelling far and wide, doing great damage to China’s prestige. It had been a grave error to underestimate the number of troops needed to resist them.
“… The Qiang enemy has invaded the borders, killing the officials and people, completely going against the ‘way of heaven.’ Therefore I am dispatching senior military commanders and scholar officials to carry out the ‘punishment of heaven.’ Using the fine qualities of the generals to prepare the crack troops, the punishment will be out of the ordinary, hundred upon hundred fully-trained in every way. Today reports of the traitorous enemy have travelled far, which brings great shame on China. Can we use the excuse of former times that we are not familiar with the enemy? Using kindness and generosity doesn’t help, do they not understand trust? I (the emperor) find this very strange. In your missive you say that the Qiang enemies live deep in the mountains where there are many paths so it will be necessary to divide the troops and block strategic points, after which the battalion soldiers must be sent in and this should settle the
7 A broad term for non-Chinese.
8 A suggestion that the Qiang were the more troublesome of the non-Chinese. Fengshi’s earlier comment that 30,000 Qiang were equivalent to 60,000 on the battlefield also points to them being a formidable fighting force, despite their apparently inferior weaponry.
9 诸种: this is an expression often used of the Qiang but not of other groups like the Xiongnu or Wusun, and seems to stress the diversity of the Qiang groups.
10 白石: Possibly in the area of today’s Qingping township between Lintao and Longxi.
11 临洮: Lintao is south of Lanzhou on the Tao River. It was the southwestern end of a Qin dynasty extension of the Great Wall. See n.62 regarding ‘foreign giants’ seen at Lintao in 221 BC, the year Qin Shi Huang united China.
12 首阳: west of Longxi county. These three garrisons would have been in a NW-SE line roughly from today’s Lintao down to Longxi with the Qiang west of the line in southwestern Gansu and southeastern Qinghai.
13 Taking land for an agricultural garrison would have displaced the Qiang from valuable pasture land.

3. 3
issue…. We must prepare military generals and troops and jointly attack the Qiang enemies.”
In the tenth month, all the troops had reached Longxi. In the eleventh month they joined forces and advanced. The Qiang enemy were severely defeated, with several thousand beheaded. The remainder all fled beyond the borders… The Han sent 10,000 more enlisted recruits, appointing the governor of Dingxiang,14 Han Anguo, as Jianwei General. He had not yet advanced when he heard that the Qiang had been defeated so he went back. The emperor said, “The Qiang enemy are defeated and scattered, full of fear because of the punishment they have received. They have fled far beyond the borders. The officers and men can be dismissed but we must keep many of the agricultural garrisons and defend the strategic places.”15
The following paragraph says about 8,000 Qiang were killed or captured which suggests roughly 22,000 of the original 30,000 Qiang combatants and their dependents fled west from Longxi into southeastern Qinghai with a terrible loss of people and livestock. Han-controlled Jincheng, which extended into eastern Qinghai, was to the north of Longxi, so to go beyond the borders these Qiang could only go west and southwest towards today’s Tongde–Guinan region and the Anyemachen mountains.
In the second month of the following year (41 BC), Fengshi went back to the capital … to his old post. He was given noble rank and an imperial edict was issued: “The Qiang enemies were crafty and cruel, causing harm to officials and the people, attacking official residences in Longxi, burning the horse relay stations, cutting off roads and bridges, and utterly rebelling against the ‘way of heaven.’ The meritorious Guanglu General of the Left, Fengshi, advanced with his troops to mount a punitive attack on them, beheading and capturing over 8,000 of the enemy and seizing several ten thousand horses, cattle, and sheep. Fengshi was ennobled as a ‘marquis within the passes’ with 60 jin of gold and a settlement of 500 households.” More than thirty of the subordinate generals and colonels were given honours.
Further on in the chapter is a summary of Fengshi’s life which includes his victory over the Qiang: “Fengshi’s eldest son was called Tan… when Fengshi attacked the Western Qiang,16 Tan was a colonel and followed his father into successful military service but died of illness before he could be honoured…”
Chapter 84: The Biography of Zhai Fangjin (翟方进传第五十四)
This chapter is during the period of Wang Mang, r. 9-23 AD, known as the Xin Dynasty, at the end of the Western Han period and 40 – 50 years after the time of Fengshi in Chapter 79 above. Wang Mang was particularly hostile towards the Qiang.
The first Qiang reference in this chapter is in the title given to Dou Kuang, the Zhonglang General, who was the ‘Terrifying the Qiang’ Marquis’ (震羌侯).
In the second month of the third Jushe year (8 AD) … the Man Yi (蛮夷) of Yizhou (益州)17 and the Qiang beyond the border of Jincheng had earlier rebelled and at that time the provincial commanderies (州郡) attacked and defeated them. (For a fuller account see Chapter 99 below: the Biography of Wang Mang.)
Chapter 86: The Biography of He Wu, Wang Jia and Shi Dan (何武王嘉师丹传第五十六)
14 定襄: in Shanxi province, east of Shaanxi.
15 I.e. a key defeat of the Qiang in and west of Longxi. It seems from the above that the Han actually pursued them into their mountain areas, which would have pushed them even further back.
16 Despite these Qiang of Longxi having previously submitted to Han rule they are still referred to as Western Qiang.
17 益州: the borders of Yizhou varied but in the Western Han period it extended from Sichuan up to Hanzhong in the Gansu-Sichuan-Shaanxi border region. It was established by Emperor Wu in 106 BC.

4. 4
This chapter just has a general comment that there was a year of famine in the Yongguang period (43-39 BC), added to which there was a Western Qiang uprising.
Chapter 87: The Biography of Yang Xiong18 (扬雄传第五十七)
Two brief references within a quotation describing the early Han period: “After this, the Xunyu19 were cruel, the eastern Yi rebelled, the Qiang Rong were glaring angrily at us…” Later in the same paragraph: “the Qiang and Bo were rapidly spreading eastwards.”
Chapter 90: The Biography of Cruel Officials (酷吏传第六十)
In the middle of the Shenjue reign (61-58 BC) the Western Qiang rebelled…and were defeated.20
Chapter 94: The Biography of the Xiongnu (匈奴传第六十四)
The first sentence of this chapter states that the Xiongnu were descendants of Chun Wei (淳维). Chun Wei was the son of a concubine of Jie, the ruler of the Xia dynasty (c.1600 BC). King Jie had a reputation of great cruelty so this supposed ancestry was perhaps chosen with care by the Han who also considered the Xiongnu to be violent and cruel. The first actual reference to a people called Xiongnu by the Chinese only occurs in the 4th century BC. There is a similarity here to the Western Qiang biography (HHS) which indirectly connects the Qiang back to the early Xia dynasty. This points less to reliable history and more to Han inclusion or assimilation policies, absorbing the Xiongnu and Qiang into Chinese ancestry and strengthening the perceived mandate of the Chinese to rule over them. There are only three Qiang references in this chapter but there is much of relevance because the Xiongnu and Qiang were neighbours and oscillated between enmity and alliance. The Xiongnu also had Qiang captives as slaves.21
There were Xiongnu kings of the right (west) and of the left (east). The first reference says that “the King of the Right lives on the western side, westwards from Shangjun22 adjoining the Di and the Qiang.
The Han sent Yang Xin as an envoy to the Xiongnu. At that time, the Han…had established Jiuquan commandery in the west in order to cut off the route of communication between the Hu (Xiongnu) and the Qiang.23
The third Qiang reference is in a speech by a Zhonglang Marquis called Ying who was studying affairs on the border. Having described the Xiongnu as violent and cruel ever since the Zhou and Qin periods, he then says: “Recently, the Western Qiang have been protecting the border passes and are interacting with the Han people. The low-level (Han) officials and people are greedy for profit and violate the rights of the Qiang, stealing their livestock and their wives, which makes them hate and bear grudges and then they rise up and rebel continually from generation to generation. …”
18 A Han scholar and poet (53 BC – 18 AD).
19 熏鬻: Xunyu was another name for the Xiongnu, or possibly just a different transliteration of ‘Xiongnu’.
20 A reference to the conflict between the Qiang and General Zhao Chongguo in Chapter 69 (see Part 1).
21 In the Weilue excerpt in Chapter 30 of the Wei Shu in the Three Kingdoms Annals there is a reference to the Zilu (赀虏) who were a mixed group, including Qiang, who had been slaves of the Xiongnu. See Hill (2004:15).
22 上郡: In the Yulin region of northern Shaanxi. West beyond Shangjun was today’s Tengger desert and to the west of this lay the Gansu corridor. The Xiongnu extended west and the Qiang were to their south in the Qilian mountains and beyond.
23 胡与羌: This is a clear example of Hu indicating Xiongnu. According to Chapter 28 (Part 1), the Gansu corridor commanderies of Jiuquan and Zhangye were established in 104 BC, Wuwei in 101 BC, and Dunhuang was split off from Jiuquan to form a new commandery in 88 BC. The Xiongnu had previously controlled the corridor.

5. 5
One other reference in this chapter is to a ruler called Tangdou, also mentioned in Chapter 96, who may or may not be Qiang. As mentioned in the overview at the beginning of Part 1, the ruler of the Er Qiang to the southwest of the Yang Pass had the title ‘Quhulai’. This title is also used for Tangdou but he is not described as Qiang or clearly connected with the Er Qiang.24
“In the western regions at that time (c. 2 AD), Guju, king of Further Jushi, and Tangdou, the Quhulai king (or ‘king of Quhulai’)25 both held resentment against the Protector Colonel and with their wives and children fled and surrendered to the Xiongnu, as is told in the Western Regions account (Ch 96). The Shanyu (Xiongnu ruler) received them and established them in the territory of the Guli of the Left (a Xiongnu official).”
The Shanyu then informed the Han, who then sent envoys to tell the Shanyu that because the western regions had submitted to the Han, he should hand over Guju and Tangdou, in accordance with an earlier agreement between the Han and Xiongnu. The Shanyu recalls what his father had said on his deathbed, that in the time of Emperors Xuan and Yuan it was agreed that the Xiongnu would keep to the territory north of the Great Wall and the Han would control the regions to the south. His father told him, “Do not receive anyone who surrenders to you from China (the Middle Kingdom). Send them immediately to the border in response to the emperor's great kindness." At that time, however, it was acceptable to receive foreigners who were not under Chinese control.
The Shanyu handed Guju and Tangdou over to the Chinese but requested mercy on their behalf. Wang Meng, the Zhonglang general who had been sent to receive them, reported this but was told to show no mercy. On the contrary, the other western region kings were assembled and
24 See Joseph P. Yap (2009:493-494) for an English translation of Sima Guang’s version of this story in the Zizhi Tongjian. He equates Tangdou with the Er Qiang but without explanation.
25 Tangdou is referred to here as ‘去胡来王唐兜’ alongside the king of Further Jushi who is referred to as 车师后王姑句. A direct translation of the latter could be ‘Guju, the king of Further Jushi’ with Further Jushi known to be a place name. Similarly, Tangdou could be ‘the king of Quhulai’ but Quhulai is not recognised today as the name of a place or people. In Ch 96 the ruler of the Er Qiang is referred to as ‘Quhulai’ but with a clearer indication that it is an assumed name or title: ‘婼羌国王号去胡来王’ which can be translated “the king of the Er Qiang state is called (or ‘bears the title of’) Quhulai king. ‘Quhulai 去 胡来’ can be translated as one who has ‘come over from the Hu’ indicating a change of allegiance from the Xiongnu to the Han. This may well be true of Tangdou, considering the Han-Xiongnu agreement mentioned in the next paragraph, but if ‘quhulai’ is a descriptive title it is surprising not to find it more frequently used for other petty rulers, considering that several states who were previously under Xiongnu domination had yielded to the Han. For example, when King Rizhu of the Xiongnu (Ch 96, see n.70) submitted to the Han he received the title ‘Submitted to Virtue Marquis’ (归德侯). A Han-period seal found in Shaya (沙雅), south of Kucha and north of the west-east flowing Tarim River, bears the characters ‘汉归义羌长’ meaning ‘the Qiang chief who has submitted to the Han’, rather than any reference to ‘quhulai’ (see Zhao and He, 1996). It also seems strange that the Han would refuse to help Tangdou if he had submitted to them, although this is the period of Wang Mang who was hostile to the Qiang and failing to control them. An alternative suggestion has been made that ‘quhulai’ is connected with ethnic identity, being similar phonetically to the 4th century AD ‘Tuhuluo 吐呼罗’ found in Ch 108 of the Wei Shu (Northern Wei) which is seen as a transliteration of ‘Tocharian’. (See Xu Wenkan, 2003:117 and Yu Taishan 2010:55.) Craig Benjamin mentions a reference by Ptolemy (d.168 AD) to a group called the Tagouraioi in Gansu, a name which Benjamin says is “clearly a variation on Tocharian, the Indo- European language spoken by the core Yuezhi.” (Benjamin, 2003) This is problematic because it would suggest that the Er Qiang ruler and Tangdou were both Tocharian rather than Qiang. The problem is compounded rather than elucidated in Chapter 96 because Tangdou’s grievance with the Han and subsequent flight to the Xiongnu is connected with him being troubled by the Chi Shui Qiang, so if he is Qiang he is not in unity with other Qiang nearby. (See n.166).

6. 6
Guju and Tangdou were beheaded as a warning to other rulers not to go over to the Xiongnu.26 Four new regulations were then issued to the Xiongnu: that they must not receive anyone fleeing to them from the Chinese, or surrendering to them from the Wusun (乌孙) or the Wuhuan (乌桓) people, nor should they receive anyone from the western regions who had received the seal and silk ribbon of the Han (indicating official rank given on submission to the Han).27
At this time Wang Mang also issued a highly significant edict which would have affected the Qiang: no-one under Chinese rule was to have a name of two or more syllables (不得有二名). For example, the Shanyu, whose name was Nangzhiyasi (囊知牙斯) was strongly advised by the envoys to submit an official request asking to be known as Zhi (知). He did so and was richly rewarded for his obedience. This would have been a major contributor to loss of distinctive ethnic names in Chinese historiography.
Chapter 95: The Biography of the Southwestern Yi, the two Yue and Chaoxian.28 (西南夷两 粤朝鲜传第六十五)
The section on the southwestern non-Chinese in this chapter is significant for its lack of Qiang references. There is only one reference which is the name, Dang Qiang (当羌),29 of a King of Dian (part of today’s Yunnan). This reference is in the period when Zhang Qian30 had advocated trying to reach Daxia (Bactria) via Yunnan to avoid the Qiang and the Xiongnu so it would have been late 2nd century BC. The envoys were asking permission from Dang Qiang to pass through his territory.
The introductory paragraph is very informative regarding the location of various peoples. I have followed this with information about modern equivalents.
“There were several dozen tribal chiefs31 of the southern Yi, with Yelang (夜郎) being the largest. On their west, there were several dozen submitted to Mimo (靡莫), with Dian (滇) being the largest. North from Dian, there were several dozen tribal groups, Qiongdu (邛都) being the largest. These people all had their hair rolled up into a hammer-shaped top-knot, farmed the land and had village settlements. Apart from these, from Tongshi (桐师) in the west going eastwards, one reaches Yeyu (叶榆) to the north, also known as Sui (巂), and Kunming (昆明), whose people braid their hair, move around with their livestock and don't have permanent settlements. They don't have rulers and their territory covers several thousand li. Northeast of Sui, there are several dozen tribal groups, of which Xi and Zedu (徙, 莋都)32 are the largest. Northeast from Ze (莋) are several dozen tribal groups, Ran and Mang (冉駹) being the largest. As seen by their customs, some of these people are local and some are migrants.33 They are west
26 Wang Mang’s rejection of the Shanyu’s request for mercy would also have emphasised the Shanyu’s inferior and impotent position in the Xiongnu-Han relationship at this time.
27 It seems Tangdou was in this latter category and was therefore allied with the Han but not welcome with his people to actually move into China.
28 This contains content similar to Chapter 116 of the Shiji.
29 This may not indicate any connection with the Qiang people. The MDBG dictionary (www.mdbg.net) defines Qiang as (a) an ethnic group of northwestern Sichuan, (b) a surname, (c) a muntjac deer and (d) a grammar particle indicating nonsense (classical). In the context here it may have been used to transliterate a non-Chinese name.
30 See Chapter 61 (Part 1).
31 The characters here are 君长, meaning tribal chiefs, but the names that follow include the whole tribal groups.
32 See Part 1, n.91, regarding Ze 莋.
33 The Ran and Mang are sometimes taken to be one group called Ranmang but we are told here that the Baima are northeast of the Mang, which implies that the Mang are separate from the Ran. The Ran and Mang were in the Wenshan area, which included the northern part of today’s Qiang area in Aba prefecture.

7. 7
of Shu. Northeast from Mang, there are several dozen tribal groups, Baima (白马) being the largest, and they are all of the Di type.34 These are all the southwestern Man Yi (蛮夷) in the southwest beyond the borders of Ba and Shu.”
The second paragraph mentions the people of Ba and Shu sometimes stealing from merchants, taking the horses of the Ze (莋), the boys of the Bo (僰), and the yak, and because of this Ba and Shu were very prosperous.
This highlights how many independent tribes were scattered throughout this large area covering southern and western Sichuan and northern Yunnan. It also shows that no Qiang were specifically recorded in this area at this time by the compilers of the Han Shu, even though the Qiang territory in Aba prefecture today is thought to overlap with that of ancient Ran and Mang.
Yelang included today’s northern and western Guizhou, northeastern Yunnan and southern Sichuan. Dian was centred on today’s Jinning county south of Kunming. Qiongdu was southeast of today’s Xichang in southern Sichuan. From Dian to Qiong were settled farming peoples. Tongshi was in the region around Baoshan and Fengqing near the Myanmar border, southwest of today’s Dali. The Sui (Yeyu) and Kunming stretched from northwestern Yunnan up into southwestern Sichuan. The nomadic customs may indicate a link with the current Tibetan tribes of these areas who still braid their hair into many small braids.35 Nomadic customs also suggest more mountainous terrain which would be to the west of the agricultural area mentioned as stretching from Dian to Qiong.
Chapter 96: The Biography of the Western Regions (西域传第六十六)
The presence of Qiang to the west beyond today’s Qinghai and Gansu is sometimes overlooked in histories of the Xinjiang region.36 However, this chapter has fifteen Qiang references and indicates a ‘Qiang route’ from west of the Karakoram range over to the Kunlun, Altun and Qilian ranges and into Qinghai and western Gansu. Since the whole of chapter 96 can be read with detailed annotations in China in Central Asia (Hulsewé and Loewe, 1979), I have limited the excerpts below to some of the general background followed by entries either directly relating to the Qiang or which help to explain the wider context within which they were located.37
It is clear here that the migrants and the locals had different customs. Archaeological finds in the Qiang area of Maoxian in Aba prefecture, have revealed “the most startlingly heterogeneous archaeological assemblage in East Asia to date.” Von Falkenhausen (1996:29). HHS Ch 116 (Biography of the Southern Man and Southwestern Yi) also mentions a mix of locals and nomadic migrants in the Ran-Mang area and makes a broad comment that there are six Yi, seven Qiang and nine Di in the mountains, each with their own tribes.
34 The Baima (White Horse) are included in the Di peoples here. In the Weilue excerpt in Ch 30 of the Wei Shu (Three Kingdoms period) a Baima Qiang group is mentioned which seems to be west of Dunhuang although the text lacks clarity. Whether or not there is a connection between these two groups is unclear. Chapter 1 of the HHS places Baima in Guanghan, which lay between Shu and Wudu. Today’s Baima are in the Gansu-Sichuan border region around Pingwu and Wenxian and were registered in the 1950s as Tibetans although many do not see themselves as Tibetan. Their language displays some Qiangic features (Chirkova, 2012:139) and DNA findings show a closer genetic link to the Qiang than to the Tibetans (Sun Hongkai, 2003:62). In chapter nine of the Shiji, the first Han emperor, Gaozu, is said to have sacrificed a white horse when he made an oath that only members of the Liu family could become princes (王). White horses were particularly esteemed by the Medes and Persians and were associated with the sun god. Herodotus (Ch 7) mentions the Magi sacrificing white horses before Xerxe’s troops crossed the Strymon River. (See also http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/asb-horse-equus-cabullus-av#pt2)
35 The Tibetan empire gradually absorbed various nomadic groups as it expanded.
36 For example, the Qiang are not mentioned in Millward’s Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang (2007) nor do Valerie Hansen’s The Silk Road: A New History (2012) or Liu Xinru’s The Silk Road in World History (2010) contain Qiang references despite many references to the Xiongnu and Xinjiang.
37 See Through the Jade Gate to Rome (2009) by John Hill for a much wider discussion of this region. Although Hill’s focus is the Eastern Han period, he includes extensive and valuable insights about many places and peoples mentioned in this chapter with discussions referring to a wide variety of authors.

8. 8
Di Cosmo highlights the multi-cultural environment that the Qiang would have been a part of in late BC:
“The presence of so many different physical types demonstrates the occurrence of various migrations into Eastern Central Asia, coming from west, southwest, north and east, some of which seem to have occurred during the first millennium B.C. These migrations, and the presence of so many racial types, show that Xinjiang had become the meeting point of different cultures before the historical opening of communication between East and West.” (2000:405)
The last three centuries BC was a tumultuous time in Central Asia and northwest China. In 329 BC, Alexander the Great defeated Bessus, satrap of Bactria, bringing Persian rule in the region to an end. Alexander then pushed east along the Kabul River into the northern Indus region where he dealt ruthlessly with tribes such as the Aspasioi and Assakenoi, who chose to oppose him rather than submit. Some eventually submitted, many were killed, and some fled eastwards. Although the Indian Mauryans under Chandragupta soon wrested these eastern territories from the Greeks, Greek influence continued in the region. In the mid 3rd century BC, Diodotus declared himself ruler of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. In around 180 BC Demetrius, ruler of Greco-Bactria, invaded the Indian territories Alexander had previously subdued, initiating a series of Indo-Greek rulers whose influence in northern India, interspersed with or co-existing with Saka rule (e.g. Maues c.85 BC), extended through much of the Western Han period.
While these events were happening west of China, the Xiongnu were emerging as a problematic power to the north of China. They are referred to by the Chinese as early as 318 BC, just five years after Alexander’s death. A century later they were pushed north out of the Ordos region by Chinese forces under the Qin emperor but by 198 BC they had returned and forced Gaozu, the first emperor of Western Han, to recognise their dominance of the Mongolian steppe, including the Ordos and areas to the north of the Gansu corridor and northeastern Xinjiang. In c.176 BC, the Xiongnu pushed the Yuezhi west out of the Dunhuang region towards Ili, which caused upheaval among other tribes in the region, such as Wusun and Saka peoples. Some Saka moved to the Alai valley (see Juandu and Xiuxun entries below) and some moved south into areas which had been under Greek control (e.g. Jibin in the region of Peshawar). The Yuezhi were later forced even further west resulting, in around 130 BC, in their conquest of the territory north and south of the Amu Darya, and the defeat of the last Greco-Bactrian king, Heliocles.
In the last two centuries BC, the southern part of the Tarim basin was dominated by the various oasis states from Qiemo west to the Pamirs, with groups of Er Qiang to their south in the Kunlun foothills. These Er Qiang apparently extended from Baltistan in the west, beyond which lay the Indo-Greeks and Saka, to south-eastern Xinjiang in the east, beyond which lay the various Qiang tribes of the Qaidam/Qinghai Lake region and the Qilian mountains. Emperor Wu (r.140-87 BC) was determined to prevent any alliance between the Xiongnu to the north and the Qiang to the south which would block Han access to the western regions. On his return journey from the Yuezhi in c.126 BC, the Han envoy, Zhang Qian, had the choice of travelling via the Qiang or via the Xiongnu. In Ch 61 (see Part 1, p19) he describes the Qiang region as “difficult to access and the Qiang hate us going through their territory.” It seems most likely this reference referred to a route from southeastern Xinjiang over the Altun mountains and via Qinghai to Gansu.38
We don’t know when the Qiang entered the southern Tarim or which direction they came from, although the fact that Qiang are always noted as foreigners west of the Chinese suggests a west to east trajectory is more likely. They were China’s ‘westerners.’ With Qiang being used as an umbrella term for a ‘type’ to the west which was clearly different from the Chinese and the Xiongnu, although possibly with similarities to the Yuezhi, it is also not known if all the tribes known as Qiang had close ethnic affinities with each other or not. Their lack of unity and the fact that they never seem to have formed a strong confederation like the Xiongnu, suggests they were perhaps various groups of a similar type but without strong enough bonds to unite for long. There are few clues as to what appellation any neighbours further west would have used for them, although see n.80 below regarding pronunciation of the ‘Er’ of Er Qiang.
The first part of Chapter 96 is a useful chronological summary of the western regions during the Western Han period:
38 For a detailed account of this route see Tong (2013): The Silk Roads of the Northern Tibetan Plateau during the Early Middle Ages (from the Han to Tang Dynasty).

9. 9
Communication with the western regions39 started in the time of Emperor Wu. There were originally 36 states,40 which later divided into more than 50 states, all to the west of the Xiongnu and south of the Wusun. There are large mountains to the north and south and a river in the centre and the region measures more than 6,000 li from east to west and more than 1,000 li from north to south. On the east it connects with the Han and the strategic Yumen and Yang Passes, with the western border being the Congling.41 Its southern mountains come out of Jincheng in the east, where they adjoin the southern mountains of the Han.42 Its river has two river sources, one coming from the Congling and one from Yutian.43 Yutian is below the southern mountains44 and its river flows north and joins with the river from the Congling. In the east it flows into Puchang Lake.45 Puchang Lake is also called ‘the Salt Swamp’ and is over 300 li from Yumen and Yang Passes and measures 3-400 li in length and breadth. Its water stays the same, not increasing or decreasing in winter or summer, and everyone believes it goes underground and emerges further south at Jishi, becoming the river of China.46
From the Yumen and Yang Passes there are two routes through the western regions. From Shanshan along the northern edge of the southern mountains (Kunlun) following the river47 westwards to Shache,48 the southern route goes west beyond the Congling to the Greater Yuezhi and Anxi.49 The northern route goes from the court of the king of Nearer Jushi50 and follows the
39 I have chosen not to capitalise ‘western regions’ because capitalisation suggests a named region with clearly defined territory, which is not the case here, it is simply anything to the west beyond China’s full control.
40 國 (simplified: 国): the character for ‘state’ used to be 或 which depicted territory口 defended by a wall 一 and with weapons 戈. The outer frame 囗 surrounding 或 was a later addition representing the borders of a nation. The earlier character seems much more appropriate for many of these states which would have been loosely defined territories defended by weapons and sometimes with walled towns.
41 葱岭: Often equated with the Pamirs, this Congling range also seems to have extended into the western end of the Kunlun. In Chapter 108 of the Wei Shu (Northern Wei), Yutian (today’s Hetian/Khotan) is said to be north of the Congling.
42 The southern mountains of the Han would be the Qinling range between Shaanxi and Sichuan which extends into Gansu. Jincheng was a commandery which straddled today’s Qinghai-Gansu border west of Lanzhou. These southern mountains of the western region would be the Qilian range extending from Jincheng in the east, followed by the Altun Mountains and the Kunlun range which form an almost unbroken series of mountains running south of the Gansu corridor and along the southern edge of the Tarim Basin into Central Asia. Where the Kunlun and Altun meet just south of Qiemo, an extension of the Kunlun runs south of Qinghai’s Qaidam basin while the Altun and then the Qilian ranges border the northern edge of Qinghai.
43 于阗: the region of today’s Hetian (和田, Khotan), not today’s Yutian (于田, Keriya) which is to the east of Hetian. The headwaters of the main Tarim River are the Kashgar (Kizil) River which rises in the Pamirs and the Yarkand which rises in the Karakoram. The Hetian River, formed by the Yurungkash and Karakash rivers, flows north from Hetian through the Tarim Basin, joining the Tarim River further downstream.
44 The southern mountains in this context are the Kunlun to the south of the Tarim Basin.
45 蒲昌海: another name for Lopnor Lake.
46 Jishi (积石) is associated with the Anyemachen mountain range of SE Qinghai and SW Gansu around which flow the upper reaches of the Yellow River. The ancient assumption was that Lopnor Lake was the source of the Yellow River.
47 This seems to be the “river in the centre” mentioned in the first paragraph, i.e. the Tarim River, the middle and lower sections of which have changed course many times. The reference here may simply be stressing that the route ran parallel with the river. Ancient Niya, which was on the southern route, was considerably further north than today’s Niya (Minfeng), so it would have been closer to the Tarim River.
48 莎车: Shache (Yarkand).
49 The Da Yuezhi (大月氏) migrated from western China into today’s southern Uzbekistan and southern Tajikistan in the 2nd century BC, eventually also taking control of ancient Bactria (northern Afghanistan). Anxi (安息) is associated with Parthia.

10. 10
northern mountains to Shule51 and then goes west beyond the Congling where it reaches Da Yuan, Kangju and Yancai.52
A large proportion of the inhabitants of the various states of the western regions are long-term residents. They have city walls, fields and livestock and have different customs from the Xiongnu and the Wusun, which is why they have become forced vassals of the Xiongnu.53 King Rizhu of the Xiongnu on the western side established a Tongpu commander54 to oversee the western regions. The Tongpu commander was generally stationed in the area between Yanqi, Weixu and Yuli55 and required taxes from all the states, thus gaining great wealth.56
From when the Zhou dynasty weakened,57 miscellaneous Rong Di58 occupied territory north of the Jing and Wei rivers.59 Emperor Qin Shi Huang60 then pushed the Rong Di back, built the Great Wall and united China61 but went no further than Lintao62 in the west.
50 车师前王庭: west and north of today’s Turpan. See Hill (2009:442ff) for details regarding Nearer and Further Jushi.
51 疏勒: Kashgar. The northern mountains were today’s Tian Shan.
52 Da Yuan (大宛) was the Ferghana region. Kangju (康居) was associated with Sogdia. Yancai (奄蔡) was associated with the Yenisei. Many of these names refer to people groups and the territory they held at that time rather than any firmly fixed borders.
53 These peoples didn’t have enough military strength or unity to resist Xiongnu advances. Although groups like the Wusun and Xiongnu are named, the Han Shu gives no indication of the identity of many people, giving only the names of their settlements. Harmatta suggests both Saka and Indo-European and that the wealth of their settlements attracted the Xiongnu: “Urbanization in the Tarim basin had begun in the third century B.C. when the population still consisted of Saka tribes … But the Saka population was driven towards the west, and the eastern part of the Tarim basin was occupied by an Indo-European people... Both the ancient Saka population and the later Indo-European immigrants continued to develop cities and formed small city-states in Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan, Kucha, Qarashahr and Lou-lan. The wealth and prosperity of the petty kingdoms in the Tarim basin from agriculture, handicrafts and transit trade aroused the interest of the Hsiungnu [Xiongnu], who took over the territory.” Harmatta also mentions Graeco-Bactrian kings (c.250-125 BC) developing trade links to China via the Phryni and Seres and comments that “the rise of the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom as a Central Asian power upgraded the importance of the region.” (1994:488)
54 僮仆都尉: this Xiongnu official seems to have had a role somewhat similar to the Han Protector General.
55 Between today’s Yanqi and Yuli on the northern route.
56 The Xiongnu clearly held a strong position in this area of today’s eastern Xinjiang so it is understandable that the Han would want to break any alliance between the Xiongnu and the Qiang to their south.
57 This was at the start of the Eastern Zhou period in the early 8th century BC when Zhou nobles retreated eastwards from Shaanxi’s Wei River valley.
58 戎狄: a general term for non-Chinese to the west and north of China. A passage in the Book of Rites, quoted by Mu-Chou Poo, says, “the tribes on the east were called Yi,… those on the south were called Man, … those on the west were called Rong, … those on the north were called Di.” Poo emphasises that these were directional terms rather than indicating any specific ethnicity (2005:46). The Qiang were at times referred to as Qiang Rong (羌戎) and were always to the west of central China.
59 The Jing (泾) River rises in Ningxia, crosses Gansu and enters the Wei (渭) River in Shaanxi. The Wei River flows from eastern Gansu across Shaanxi’s Guanzhong plain and enters the Yellow River east of Xi’an. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Weirivermap.png
60 秦始皇: ruler of the Qin state (246-221 BC), unifier of China, and the first Qin emperor (220-210 BC). Contemporary with the first Greco-Bactrian kings.
61中国: which literally translates as the ‘Central Kingdom.’ It is still the modern Chinese name for China. The English term ‘China’ derives from Qin, which was a state from the 9th century BC and then became a short-lived dynasty under Qin Shi Huang from 221-207 BC.
62 临洮: Lintao is south of Lanzhou in Gansu. The name ‘Lintao’ means ‘adjacent to or overlooking the Tao’, the Tao being a river which forms part of Lintao county’s western border today. Ch 28 of the Han Shu says: “The area of Lintao which has the Tao River. This river emerges from among the Western Qiang” (see Part 1, p14). Lintao had marked the western extent of the Qin empire and was a Qiang–Chinese border region.

11. 11
The Han flourished in the time of Emperor Wu (r.140-87 BC), who engaged in attacks on the non-Chinese to north, south, east and west. His reign was widespread, powerful and benevolent and it was during his reign that Zhang Qian began to open tracks in the western regions.63 After this the (Han) Piaoqi General attacked and defeated the Xiongnu of the Right. The Hunye and the Xiutu kings surrendered and then their territory was empty.64 Emperor Wu began building westwards from Lingju,65 first establishing Jiuquan prefecture and sending people to inhabit it. He then established Wuwei, Zhangye, and Dunhuang, setting up four prefectures altogether and seizing the two passes (Yumen and Yang).66 After the (Han) Ershi General defeated Da Yuan
Ch 27 of the Han Shu has a curious entry which states that in 221 BC, twelve giants appeared in Lintao measuring about 50 feet tall, with feet about 2 meters long, wearing foreign (夷狄) clothing. Because this was the year Qin Shi Huang united China, he viewed their appearance as auspicious and had weapons melted down from across his empire and made into 12 golden statues (金人十二) resembling them, despite a taboo regarding emulation of foreign ways. The Han Shu attributes the demise of Qin in 207 BC to this incident (Ch 27: 故大人见于临洮，明祸乱之起). Christopoulos (2012) and Nickel (2013) both suggest these giants which appeared in Lintao were probably statues and Christopoulos, noting that the number 12 is not a particularly significant Chinese number, suggests a possible link with the “the twelve Olympian gods venerated by the Greeks of Bactria.” (2012:11) Although he acknowledges the presence of the Qiang in the Tarim Basin and the Lintao region, he assumes they wouldn’t have had the skill to create such statues and instead suggests that Greek sculptors had reached Lintao (2012:12-13). Nickel points to Greek influence in the Qin period, in particular the life-size figures in pit K9901 of Qin Shi Huang’s terracotta warriors, which, unlike to the regular warriors, show “exceptional anatomical accuracy”, a reflection of Greek sculptural tradition (2013:422). The state of Qin was centred around Tianshui in Gansu and Qin Shi Huang began his rule in 246 BC, only a few decades after the Greeks established the highly Hellenistic settlements of Ai Khanoum and Takhti-Sangin in today’s Tajikistan. The tribesmen to the west of Qin, which were often referred to as Western Rong by the Chinese and included Qiang, would have been key intermediaries between Greek influence to the west and the Qin state to the east. (See Nickel 2013:436.) The Khotanese jade trade of the Yuezhi with China in the mid 1st millennium BC attests to well-established west-east trade routes, as do the multi-ethnic cemetery finds in Xinjiang.
Another indication of Greek influence on Qin Shi Huang’s replication of these giants is the size of the statues and his recasting of weapons from the conquered states, which was a Greek tradition. The Colossus of Rhodes statue, over 30m tall and made from recast enemy weapons, was erected in 280 BC, and as far back as the Greek defeat of the Persians in 479 BC, statues of Zeus and Poseidon were created by the Greeks from the booty of the Persians (Herodotus, 1996:712). When Alexander reached the Beas (Hyphasis) River in northern India he created 12 gigantic altars to the gods, marking the easternmost extent of his campaign and impressing on the locals the greatness of his power. It seems Qin Shi Huang adopted a similar tactic having united China and drawn inspiration from these ‘giants of Lintao.’ The Guanzhong Records (关中记) tell us ten of the bronze statues were smashed with a hammer by Dong Zhuo (190 AD) and the remaining two were melted down by Fu Jian of the Di (氐) state of Former Qin. (See n. 129 for Indo-Greek influences.)
While Greek influence seem likely, Christopoulos’s assumption that the Qiang would not have had the skill to create statues tends to assume pastoral nomads lack such artistry, which is not necessarily the case, particularly if they have migrated from areas where such skills were practiced. The very fact that the Qiang are so often referred to as ‘the various Qiang’ suggests that the different Qiang groups may have been quite diverse, and they were known to be skilled users of iron (see n.86). Whether or not they had any connection to the ‘giants,’ it seems they would have been aware of such a notable phenomenon in relatively close proximity to their territory bordering Lintao.
63 The story of Zhang Qian’s travels as a Han envoy in the late 2nd century BC has been told many times and the term ‘Silk Road’ is well-worn but although Zhang Qian initiated new contacts between the Han and Central Asia, he was a newcomer to a multi-cultural environment with a long history, as evidenced by archaeological finds.
64 See Part 1, n.74 for Hunye and Xiutu. This left the Gansu corridor open to Han control, separating the Xiongnu to the north from the Qiang in the Qilian to the south of the Gansu corridor.
65 令居: in the region of Yongdeng and Tianzhu between Lanzhou and Wuwei in Gansu.
66 This would have been a major turn of events for the Qiang. Not only did it mean Han forces and Han immigrants were now adjacent to the Qiang of the Qilian mountains which lined the southern edge of the

12. 12
(Ferghana),67 the western regions were terrified and dispatched envoys to bring tribute. The Han gave the people of the western regions the benefit of (Han) official posts. So from Dunhuang west to the Salt Swamp,68 frequent outposts were built and Luntai and Quli69 both had several hundred agricultural soldiers, and envoy colonels70 were installed for management and defence and to serve as envoys to foreign states.
In the time of Emperor Xuan (74-49 BC), a Sima defence official was dispatched to protect several states to the west of Shanshan. Although he defeated Gushi71 it was not completely wiped out but was divided between the kings of Nearer and Further Jushi and six states north of the mountains.72 At that time the Han only protected the southern route and were not able to completely annex the northern route.73 The Xiongnu were not peaceful. Later King Rizhu betrayed the Shanyu and surrendered to the Han with many people. He was welcomed by Zheng Ji, the Han protector of envoys to the west of Shanshan. King Rizhu was then made ‘Submitting to Virtue’ Marquis74 whilst Zheng Ji became ‘Pacifying the Remote Regions’ Marquis. This was in the 2nd Shenjue year (60 BC).75 Because Zheng Ji had managed to annex and protect the northern route he was given the title of Protector General (都护), a title and position which began with him. From this time on there was no longer a Xiongnu Tongpu commander and the Xiongnu gradually weakened and were unable to get near to the western regions. As a result the agricultural garrisons were moved and garrison cultivation sites extended from Beixujian across to the area of Shache.76 The officials in charge of these agricultural garrisons were under the Protector General who kept an eye on the various foreign states of the Wusun and Kangju,
Gansu corridor, it also meant that the Han who were now controlling the Yang Pass were closer to the Er Qiang in the Altun region of southeastern Xinjiang.
67 The story of this defeat is told in Sima Qian’s Shiji (trans. Watson 1961:280ff.). Ershi was Sutrishna in Ferghana. Li Guangli was appointed (Han) Ershi general and led a military expedition in 104 BC to Ferghana. En route, the Tarim settlements closed their gates, denying provisions, and thousands of General Li’s men died. He later returned with a much stronger force, upon which the oasis states opened their doors to provide supplies for the men, and they were able to advance and defeat Ferghana (Da Yuan). An account of this is also told in Joseph Yap’s Wars with the Xiongnu: A Translation from Zizhi Tongjian (2009:222ff).
68 盐泽: the Lopnor region.
69 Today’s Luntai (轮台) is between Korla and Kucha on the northern Tarim rim. Quli (渠犁) was in today’s Korla-Yuli region. This was roughly where the Xiongnu Tongpu commander had been stationed so it was clearly a good position from which to control the western regions. Even today route 218 runs south from here between the Taklamakan and Kumtag deserts to Ruoqiang (Charkilik) and the southern route.
70 The term xiaowei (校尉), translated here as ‘colonel’, was a military rank just below the level of general. A more specific role was often reflected in the title, for example, Colonel Protector of the Qiang (护羌校 尉).
71 姑师: an old name for the Jushi region. See n.50.
72 Gushi must have been a large state to have been divided into 8 parts. North of the mountains would have been north of the Tian Shan.
73 Because the various Er Qiang groups south of the Tarim Basin were located to the south of this southern route, the Han would have been in relatively close proximity to them. The southern route led west to today’s eastern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.
74 归德侯: although ‘gui 归’ can mean ‘to return’ it frequently occurs in titles given to non-Chinese who were submitting to the Han for the first time and is also used today to indicate submitting to authority, e.g. 归服 (to come over and pledge allegiance, 归附 (to submit).
75 This was also when Zhao Chongguo was confronting the Qiang in eastern Qinghai (see Part 1, Ch 69). The huge effort the Han were expending on their expansion to the north and west would have been of great concern to the various Qiang groups, who in the Qin period were apparently free to roam with their livestock quite close to Gansu’s Lintao region.
76 北胥鞬: this should be Bixujian (比胥鞬), as recorded on at least two Han period bamboo slips used for record keeping. Bixujian was the name of an agricultural garrison (屯田) established by the Han. Liu Guofang suggests it was in the Nearer Jushi region (2006:23-24). The establishment of agricultural garrisons from here across to Shache was a huge advance in Han control of the western regions.

13. 13
listening for sounds of activity that meant changes were happening. Those states that could be pacified were dealt with peacefully but those who resisted were dealt with militarily. The Protector General’s seat of government was Wulei77 town, 2,338 li from Yang Pass and close to the official post of the Quli agricultural garrison. This was a fertile area in the centre of the western regions and therefore became the seat of the Protector General.
In the time of Emperor Yuan (r.48-33) … Zilizhi, the Xiongnu king of eastern Pulei,78 submitted to the Protector General with 1,700 people and settled in Wutanzili79 to the west of Further Jushi… After the reigns of Emperors Xuan and Yuan, the Xiongnu Shanyu became a vassal subject and the western regions submitted…
Following the above chronological account, the individual peoples and places are then described one by one, beginning with the Er Qiang. For the sake of brevity, in the selected entries below I have usually omitted details of the Han-appointed officials in each place.
Leaving the Yang Pass80 and beginning with the nearest, they are called the Er Qiang (婼羌).81
77 乌垒: in the Luntai region on the northern Tarim route.
78 蒲类: the Barkol region north of Hami
79 乌贪訾离: In the region of Shihezi and Manas, northwest of Urumqi.
80 The Yang and Yumen Passes were key Han frontier posts. The Yang Pass was c.70 km southwest of today’s Dunhuang city in the area of the grape-producing Nanhu (南湖) oasis. Its importance is stressed in the Han Shu, with distances to places in the western regions often measured in relation to the Yang Pass, as well as to the Protector General in Wulei and to the capital, Chang’an (Xi’an). The entry here notes that the Er Qiang were the group nearest to the Yang Pass and in Ch 69 (see Part 1, p22) we read of the Qiang leader, Langhe, southwest of the Yang Pass and planning with the Xiongnu to attack Dunhuang. Stein points out how strategic the Yang Pass was for the Han with regard to Qiang raids: “Nan-hu, for those wishing to approach Tun-huang [Dunhuang] by this route from the side of Lop [Lopnor (west)] or Tsaidam [Qaidam in Qinghai (south)], is the first place where water and grazing are obtainable in abundance, and by holding Nan-hu it would be possible to ward off practically any raid which might be attempted upon Tun-huang from the Ältin-tāgh [Altun Mts]. … Considering what we know about the Jo Ch’iang [Er Qiang] … the importance for the Chinese of controlling this route by the ‘barrier’ established at Nan-hu is obvious.” (Stein 1921a:622-623, cited in Hill 2009:136)
81 Er Qiang: the ‘婼’ character used for the Er Qiang has three modern pronunciations: ‘chuo’, ‘ruo’ and ‘er’. (Stein used Jo Ch’iang, see n.80.) However, according to the commentary of Fu Qian of the Eastern Han it was pronounced the same as ‘儿’ (er in modern Chinese). Two later commentators, Su Lin (c. 3rd century AD) and Yan Shigu (541 – 645 AD) represented the sound with儿遮 and而遮 respectively (both today are ér + zhē), using a technique called ‘fanqie’(反切) whereby the initial sound of the first character is combined with the second character minus the latter’s initial consonant – a useful technique when transliterating foreign terms. With pronunciation changes over the centuries it is not clear quite how ér + zhē would have been pronounced but Daf ina suggests n z i a n i a g (982a + 804d) (1982:331-2). (Later 婼 representations, including from the 11th century, are found in the 18th century Kangxi dictionary. See for example: http://hanyu.iciba.com/wiki/467792.shtml)
Fu Qian also states clearly that婼 was a Qiang name (羌名也) so although the character, which means recalcitrant or defiantly unsubmissive, may have been chosen as descriptive by the Han, the pronunciation seems to derive from a Qiang autonym. It was not used to describe any other unsubmissive non-Chinese and it was such a rare character that the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary of 121 AD only gives one example of its usage – the proper name of a male in the Spring and Autumn annals.
The term Er Qiang is used for all the Qiang groups extending west from the group to the southwest of the Yang Pass to the westernmost Er Qiang south of Nandou, in today’s northern Pakistan. There are two other occurrences in the Han Shu. One is in Chapter 69 (Part 1, p23) where Er (婼) and Yuezhi fighters under Marquis Fengshi of Jiuquan in the Gansu corridor are going to fight against the Han Qiang (罕羌) in Qinghai. From the account concerning Marquis Langhe in chapter 69, it seems these were submitted Er Qiang (but sometimes rebellious) who had been southwest of Dunhuang alongside some Yuezhi. The other, in Chapter 73, describes the Qiang south of the Gansu corridor whom Emperor Wu

14. 14
The king of the Er Qiang state is called ‘Quhulai’.82 They are 1,800 li from the Yang Pass and 6,300 li from Chang’an, tucked away to the southwest with no easy access.83 There are 450 households with 1,750 people including 500 fighters.84 They connect with Qiemo in the west. They accompany their livestock seeking water and pasture and do not cultivate the land, relying on Shanshan and Qiemo for grain.85 The mountains have iron and they make their own weapons, later having bows, spears, daggers, swords, and armour.86 Shanshan is to the northwest of the Er
wanted to separate from the Xiongnu but in all other contexts these latter Qiang are simply described as Qiang or Western Qiang, not as Er Qiang.
‘Er Qiang’ is not a term found in the WQB or the HHS generally but it is found twice in the Three Kingdoms Annals (Wei Shu, Ch 30) in a remnant of an earlier 3rd century text called the Weilue by Yu Huan (see Hill, 2004, for translation and notes). In both instances the term refers to Qiang of the southern mountains west of Dunhuang along the southern route, which seems to confirm that it was the westernmost Qiang who were particularly of the name ‘Er.’ Today’s Qiang in Sichuan have no written language but an autonym of sorts has survived which is often recorded as ‘erma’ (尔玛, 日玛) or ‘rma, rme’. This is sometimes taken just to mean ‘us’ as opposed to ‘them’ (see Wang 2008:72) and its origin is unclear. Whether it has any connection with the ‘Er’ of the Er Qiang is not known. Zeisler (2010:412) suggests that the Tibetan name for the Yellow River, ‘Rmachu’ might refer to the Rma (or Rmu) tribe whom she connects with ancient Zhangzhung. (For further discussion of ‘rma’ (also ‘rmu’) see Zeisler forthcoming Chapter 4 § 2.4). Bailey, in his study of Khotanese texts, found a reference to “the city among the Erma”, a reference which comes between Yanqi and Bulayiq (north of Turpan) in a long list of place names. He also gives a reference to “travellers to Erma” and to people who “carried woollen cloth to the Erma” (2009 (1985):18).
82 去胡来: this most likely indicated one who had ‘come over from the Xiongnu’ but see Ch 94, n.25 above regarding the suggestion that it is a transcription of Tochari.
83 This ‘southwest’ is in relation to the Yang Pass, which is also how Langhe’s location is described in Chapter 69 (Part 1) although we don’t know how far Langhe was from this frontier pass. 1,800 li is roughly equivalent to 750km and would probably have been in the mountains south and southeast of today’s Ruoqiang and east of Qiemo. ‘No easy access’ and the following reference to them moving around with their livestock and having iron in the mountains suggests they were pastoral nomads on the slopes of the Altun mountains on the Qinghai-Xinjiang border. Just south of Qiemo there is a bifurcation with the Altun mountains extending northeast towards the Qilian while the Kunlun continues east along the southern edge of the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai. For a description of the region see Thubron’s account of his journey from Dunhuang south to the Qaidam Basin and then west over the Altun to Charklik (Ruoqiang) and Cherchen (Qiemo). (2007:96-103)
84 户: household / family. The Er Qiang were nomadic and most probably tent-dwellers. Four people per family unit seems quite low. It may just be unreliable statistics, or perhaps related to a low rate of infant survival? The ratio of fighters to population is high compared to some of the following settlements.
85 The Er Qiang clearly had considerable interaction with the peoples of Qiemo to the west and Shanshan to the northwest, both of which lay on the main southern route so trading with these places would also have brought the Er Qiang into contact with people travelling along the route and stopping in Qiemo or Shanshan (Loulan, see n.87.) Pastoral nomads relying on others for grain was still practiced in the Kunlun in the late 19th century. Younghusband comments that Shahidulla (Xaidulla) in the western Kunlun had to get grain from “the villages of Turkestan.” (1896:223-4)
86 后有弓、矛、服刀、剑、甲. The Kunlun range is rich in high-grade iron ore and the Er Qiang clearly knew how to extract and use it. Qiemo has mining remains from roughly the Han era, as does the Khotan region which had Qiang to the south. Rhie points out that Lopu, just east of Khotan, was “a centre of iron ore and iron making, a factor which undoubtedly contributed to the prosperity of the region and to international trade.” (1999:273, n.57.) If the Er Qiang were particularly skilled in the use of iron, this would have been a key trading element in their relationship with neighbouring peoples and settlements. In ‘The Earliest Use of Iron in China’ Wagner (1999) points to the use of iron by the northern nomadic neighbours of Zhou, while the Zhou were still using bronze. “Available evidence now shows that smelted iron was used in northwest China long before it was used in the south. A direct implication is that the technique of iron smelting came to northwest China from the West through Scythian intermediaries connected with Siberia.” Guo also suggests that “the appearance of iron in Xinjiang around the 9th-8th century BC could have resulted from cultural interaction between Xinjiang and western Asia.” (2009:107) Wu gives several examples of items found in cemeteries in Xinjiang (e.g. Yanghai and Subeixi in the Turpan region) with notable Neo-Assyrian (935-612 BC) similarities. For an English series on the Yanghai

15. 15
Qiang and on reaching there, as is said, one is on the main route.
Shanshan state (鄯善国):87 this was originally called Loulan and its king governed from Yuni town.88 It is 1,600 li from Yang Pass and 6,100 li from Chang’an. It had 1,570 households and 14,100 people, with 2,912 able to fight. Official positions include a ‘Repulsing the Hu (Xiongnu)’ Marquis and an ‘Attacking Jushi’ Commander.89 … It is 1,890 li northwest to Jushi. The ground is sandy and salty with few fields and they rely on neighbouring states for agricultural land.90 Their state produces jade91and there are many reeds, Chinese tamarisk, Euphrates poplar and white grass.92 They accompany and lead their livestock seeking water and pasture. They have donkeys, horses and many camels. They are trained for warfare, just like the Er Qiang.93
cemetery by China Network Television (CNTV) see: http://so.cntv.cn/language/english/?qtext=Journeys%20in%20time%20Yanghai%20tombs
87 Shanshan (鄯善) occupied a very significant location with access to the northern and southern routes. Today’s Shanshan county stretches from west of Turpan southwards towards Lopnor Lake. However, in the Han period it extended quite far south and included today’s Ruoqiang region. Hill suggests it was controlled by the Yuezhi until the Xiongnu defeated them in 176 BC (2009:86). It was known as Kroraina (Kroran,) in Kharosthi documents, transcribed as Loulan 楼兰 in Chinese. Han Kangxin described his findings at the Loulan cemetery: “Among six skulls from the cemetery five belong to males and one is that of a female. Only one skull shows Mongoloid characteristics and the rest possess clear European characteristics; elongated and high cranial vaults, narrow nasal aperture, high arched nasal bones, and high orbits. These characteristics are similar to that of the Saka population of the south Pamir within the former USSR about the sixth century B.C.E. In other words, they are close to that of the East Mediterranean in morphological character.” (Han, 1994:3) Han suggests an Eastern Han dating for the cemetery but radio-carbon dating indicates it dates from the Western Han period (Mallory and Mair, 2000:335), so it is quite possible that Er Qiang would have traded with these very people for grain.
Hansen also comments on these corpses: “The extreme dryness of the Niya and Loulan sites has preserved about one hundred ancient corpses of the residents. At Loulan Stein found one corpse with “fair hair,” while another had a “red moustache.” Both he and Hedin sensed that these desiccated corpses did not look either Chinese or Indian. All subsequent excavators in the region have marveled at the excellent state of preservation of corpses whose light skin, fair hair, and heights nearing six feet (1.8 m) mark them as Caucasoid. It seems most likely that the original inhabitants of the Kroraina Kingdom, like many others living in Central Asia, originally came from somewhere on the Iranian plateau.”(Hansen, 2012, Kindle location 758.) Among the fabrics found at Loulan “from the time of Christ and before”, Stein noted that there were “fragments of exquisitely worked tapestries in wool which display a style unmistakably Hellenistic” (1933:153), an indication of the cultural variety of the region.
88 扜泥城: thought to be in the region of today’s Ruoqiang.
89 These titles are a strong indication of the role the Han expected the people of Shanshan to play.
90 寄田: this was an old term for a practice whereby those who didn’t have enough agricultural land would arrange with neighbouring peoples to use their land for crops. It’s surprising that Shanshan had to use other people’s agricultural land and yet were able to supply the Er Qiang with grain. However, although the people of Shanshan sought water and food for their animals, they seem only to have had camels, horses, and donkeys, so perhaps they traded their grain for sheep-related or cattle-related produce from the Qiang and possibly iron goods. What kind of livestock the Qiang had is not specified in this chapter but those further east in Qinghai had sheep and cattle. Felt hats, woollen clothing, and leather/lambskin footwear were all found in burials of the Loulan area and it seems that nomads with sheep had been in the region a considerable time: “The presence of woollen textiles in the Tarim Basin indicates that by the early 2nd millennium BC domestic sheep from the west (along with domestic wheat, possibly barley) had been introduced to the Tarim Basin.” Mallory and Mair (2000:184-187, 213).
91 Jade, iron and many other deposits are mined in the Ruoqiang and Altun region today. For a list of sites and deposits see http://www.mindat.org/loc-157181.html.
92 胡桐 (Hutong): the Euphrates poplar. It is also called胡杨 (Huyang) or ‘the poplar of the Hu,’ which suggests the Chinese saw it as coming from non-Chinese in the northwest. The Euphrates poplar, common to the Middle East, still grows in the Tarim basin today. 白草 (white grass): Pennisetum centrasiaticum Tzvel or perennial whitegrass.
93 The fact that this is remarked on for Shanshan and the Er Qiang suggests that they were better trained and equipped militarily than some other states.

16. 16
In the beginning, Emperor Wu was impressed by Zhang Qian’s reports and wanted to connect with the various states of Da Yuan (Ferghana)… The route via Loulan and Gushi (Jushi) was tough and the Han envoy, Wang Hui, was attacked and robbed. The locals often spied for the Xiongnu, telling the Shanshan soldiers to block the Han envoys. …
The next part of the Shanshan section tells of the struggle between the Han and Xiongnu for control of Loulan, a state whose loyalty vacillated between the two for some time. In 77 BC the name of Loulan was changed by the Han to Shanshan and Wei Tuqi was installed as king and given a seal and a wife from the palace as well as chariots and wagons.94 Shanshan served as a very important thoroughfare for the Han route, connecting with Qiemo 720 li to the west. From Qiemo onwards there were all kinds of crops and good vegetation95 and livestock products as well as weapon-making, quite similar to the Han. The authors are careful to state that they have noted anything out of the ordinary, for example, they note that Qiemo has grapes, which presumably were a rarity at that time within China proper.
Qiemo state (且末国):96 the king governs from Qiemo town which is 6,820 li from Chang’an and has 230 households with 1,610 people and 320 able to fight. … The protector general is 2,258 li to the northwest.97 It connects with Yuli in the north and Xiao Yuan in the south. It has grapes and various fruits. Jingjue is 2,000 li to the west.
94 A useful insight into how the Han forged alliances with these non-Chinese rulers.
95 This is indicative of how much the climate has changed since the Han period. As Daniel Waugh explains, “The first centuries CE witnessed a rise in temperatures and precipitation, creating the favorable conditions in which the towns of the southern Silk Road could flourish. But then beginning around the end of the third century, the climate shifted to one of lower temperatures and less moisture. While work is still needed to see whether the correlations can be made more precise, this shift seems to have precipitated the demise of cities such as Loulan and Niya.” (Waugh, 2008.)
96 Qiemo (Khotanese: Calmadana). The Er Qiang connected with Qiemo to the west and traded with them for grain. The Zaghunluq (扎滚鲁克) cemetery just west of today’s Qiemo may eventually provide more information about this relationship. This cemetery, which has several hundred tombs, existed before the walled settlement of Qiemo was established. It would have provided a watering hole for migrants on the southern route and may well have been used by nomads who had summer pastures for their flocks and herds in the Altun and Kunlun foothills. Qiemo lies just north of the western end of the Altun mountains at a significant junction of the southern route and a route which led up into the Altun past Ayakkum Lake and into Qinghai’s Qaidam region. Earlier finds at Zaghunluq include horse-riding equipment, bovine drinking horns and a baby’s ‘bottle’ made using a sheep’s teat (dating to c.800 BC), indicating cattle, sheep, riders and pastoral nomadism. Dating estimates vary. Zhang et al, referring to three different excavations there, suggest “a broad range of dates within these three groups of excavated burials, from as early as 1400 BC down to the Western Han period of c. 200 BC.” (2007:6) Cui et al suggest a later end date of c. 100 AD (2009:3917).
Cultural links were surprisingly broad in the Qiemo region. Lawergren (2010:123) comments on ‘steppe harps’ found at Zaghunluq and notes the presence of two similar harps in the Pazyryk region dated c.350 BC and of similar harps in Assyrian art. He suggests that Scythians who had served as Assyrian mercenaries provide the link: “I surmise such equestrian people brought the harp to Xinjiang. The small size and light weight of these harps facilitated this migration.” According to Lu Enguo of the Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology these harps or konghou (箜篌), which were made of a single piece of poplar and sheep’s gut strings, spread from the Middle East to the Central Plains and were popular at the Han court. (Yanghai TV series, Part 4, see n.86. See also n.119 for the steppe harp found at Jirzankal.)
One early male found in Zaghunluq was wearing white deerskin boots. The WQB mentions a people called the Quanrong (犬戎) who, like the Qiang, were to the west of the Chinese. The WQB and chapter 10 of the Shiji of Sima Qian both record that King Mu of Zhou (d. c.920 BC), who is reputed to have gone as far as the Kunlun, went west and attacked the Quan Rong and returned with four white deer and four white wolves. No direct link can be assumed but white deer seem to have featured in the lives of the early inhabitants of the Qiemo oasis and of the Quan Rong. The presence of Khotanese jade in the c.1200 BC tomb of Fu Hao, consort of the Shang king, in Anyang, Henan, is testimony to early links along this southern route into the heartland of ancient China.
97 The protector general was in Wulei (乌垒) which was in the Luntai region between Kucha and Korla on the northern rim of the Tarim basin.

17. 17
Xiao Yuan state (小宛国):98 the king governs from Yuling town and it is 7,210 li to Chang’an. There are 150 households with 1,050 people and 200 able to fight. … It is 2,558 li northwest to the protector general. It adjoins the Er Qiang on the east and there is no route to the south.
Jingjue state (精绝国):99 the king governs from Jingjue town which is 8,820 li from Chang’an. It
98 Xiao Yuan was south of Qiemo, possibly today’s Aqqan (阿羌) which has the Kunlun mountains immediately to its south. With Qiang to the east and Qiang to the southwest (south of Ronglu), Xiao Yuan may have interrupted Qiang east-west continuity because no route went south from it. Hulsewé and Loewe (1979:93 n.130) suggest Xiao Yuan (Lesser Yuan) may contrast in some way with Da Yuan (大宛, Greater Yuan, i.e. Ferghana). Zeisler notes an “ancient convention, attested in Indian, Chinese and Tibetan nomenclature, by which Lesser means Closer to a particular reference point.” (2010:372) The Xiao (Lesser) Yuezhi were closer to China and also fewer in number than the Da (Greater) Yuezhi but there is no such clarity about any small Ferghanian group associated with Xiao Yuan. However, the Da Yuan account in Sima Qian’s Shiji (Ch 123) says Yumi and Yutian (i.e. today’s Keriya and Hetian regions on the southern route) were to the east of Da Yuan, which is a surprising choice of locations seeing as Kashgar or settlements on the northern route would have been closer to Ferghana. Perhaps this is because the southern route was more frequented than the northern route in this period but might it suggest an established route between Da Yuan and the southern Tarim, including Xiao Yuan? Brough hesitantly allows that Pulleyblank’s suggestion of Da Yuan being a transcription of Tochari ( Taχwār) (1962:90), and the possibility of Xiao Yuan being the Tuhuluo country mentioned by Xuanzang, may point to Ferghana and Xiao Yuan having a Tocharian connection (1996:593). (See n.25 re Tuhuluo.) Lebedynsky points out that Ferghana’s population included Greek settlers and suggests that, “The Chinese name [Da Yuan] could conceal the Iranian or Indian name for the “Greeks” (Yawana, preceded by Chinese da “big”?).” (2006:61, cited in Hill 2009:167.) This raises the possibility of Xiao Yuan being a Greek settlement closer to China than Da Yuan. If either of these are correct, the Qiang east of Xiao Yuan would have had either Tocharian or Greek-related neighbours.
99 Jingjue (Khotanese: Cadota) was ancient Niya, about 100 km north of today’s Niya (Minfeng) town in Minfeng county (Hill 2009:80). South of Jingjue was Ronglu and some Er Qiang were further south beyond Ronglu. Finds in ancient Niya include a robe “cut in a non-Chinese style, with narrow cuffs and a wide skirt, that is more convenient for horseback-riding than the straight Chinese cut, suited to a more sedentary lifestyle.” (Sheng, 2010:41-42.) Sheng suggests that the oases were inhabited by both pastoral nomads and settlers who often embellished their clothing with woven tapestry strips. She describes “stylized flora in a tapestry weave as the central decoration of a cosmetic bag with strap.” (2010:38-39, photo p40.) One of the main cultural symbols of the Qiang today is the floral embroidery on their shoes and aprons and on the edges of their robes, although this is not woven tapestry. The Niya bag’s floral design includes pink flowers on a black background which is also a feature of today’s Qiang embroidery.
(For examples of Qiang embroidery see: http://image.baidu.com/i?tn=baiduimage&ct=201326592&lm=- 1&cl=2&fr=ala0&word=%C7%BC%D7%E5%B4%CC%D0%E5) The nomads, be they Qiang or others, would probably have been seasonal visitors to the oases, perhaps trading goods for agricultural produce, as the Er Qiang did with Shanshan and Qiemo.
Hansen, referring to early AD information from the Kharosthi wooden tablets found mainly at Niya, also emphasises a mixed society in Niya with locals, immigrants from India, Chinese traders, refugees from Khotan, and “the elusive hill people” all having their own religious practices (2001:297-8, cited in Hill 2009:78-79). I assume this reference to “elusive hill people” indicates pastoral nomads in the Kunlun foothills. The Kharosthi wooden tablets found on the southern route and dating to roughly 230- 325 AD (Brough, 1996:297, n.772) mention a people called the Supi or Supiya who were making raids on Niya and Qiemo. People known as Supi don’t appear in Chinese documents until the Sui-Tang period. In the Sui Shu a Supi clan with a female leader lives south of the Congling mountains (Pamirs and western Kunlun) and in the Xin Tang Shu (western regions chapter) the Supi (苏毘) are described, without explanation, as originating from the Western Qiang. The Supi of the Kharosthi documents are, in the 3rd – 4th century AD, in similar locations to the Er Qiang of the Western Han period and are feared by those of the oasis settlements because of their raids. This suggests either that these Supi are descendants of the Er Qiang of the Han Shu or that the Supi were later arrivals who displaced the Er Qiang. We don’t know if the name, apparently written down for the first time in Kharosthi, was transcribed from a Supi autonym, was a name applied to them by the migrants who brought the Kharosthi script, or was learned from the earlier occupants of the southern route. Bailey suggests the name Supiya is connected with “‘strong’ from a Northern Iranian sau-p-“ (2009:80). (As they are clearly skilled horsemen it is tempting to try and find

18. 18
has 480 households with 3,360 people and 500 able to fight. … It is 2,723 li north to the protector general. It is four days journey south to the Ronglu state (戎卢), a narrow area. Yumi (扜弥) is 460 li to the west.
Ronglu state (戎卢国):100 the king governs from Beipin town which is 8,300 li to Chang’an. It has 240 households with 1,610 people and 300 able to fight. It is 2,850 li northeast to the protector general. Xiao Yuan is to the east and the Er Qiang101 are to the south. Qule is to the west. Ronglu is tucked away off the beaten track to the south.
Yumi state (扜弥国):102 the king governs from Yumi town which is 9,280 li to Chang’an. It has
some kind of parallel with the Iranian ‘aspa’ for horse, as found in the Aspasioi who had resisted Alexander in the Swat region.)
A fragment of a brocade armguard found at Niya bears the characters ‘讨南羌’, meaning ‘a military expedition against the southern Qiang.’ This dates to the late Eastern Han (Pankenier, 2000:16) or early Jin period (Zhang et al, 2013). Zhang et al suggest this might be connected with soldiers from Niya joining Chinese troops led by officers of the Han state of Former Liang in a mid 4th century campaign against the southern Qiang (2013:109). (See Jin Shu, Ch 7: “张骏遣其将和驎、谢艾讨南羌于阗和，大破 之。”) This indicates that some Qiang were still a force to be reckoned with in northwestern China. It may even be that this refers to those called Supiya on the Kharosthi documents who were simply known as Qiang by the Chinese.
100 Ronglu. Hill (2009:82) equates Ronglu with the region of modern Niya (Minfeng), which would have been roughly a four day journey from Jingjue. Stein (1921a:1323) suggested Ronglu may have been near modern Aqqan 阿羌, which is quite far southwest of modern Niya on the Aqqan River in the Kunlun foothills. (Not to be confused with another Aqqan 阿羌 south of Qiemo).
101 The Er Qiang to the south of Ronglu would have been in the Kunlun foothills, perhaps dependent on the upper tributaries of the Niya river and/or around the Aqqan river where Stein located Ronglu. They would have moved extensively with their livestock. From this point westwards none of the Er Qiang groups are mentioned as a state, which suggests lack of fixed territory and possibly even that the Er Qiang were actually migrants rather than pastoral nomads of a particular region. Evidence of earlier pastoralists in the Aqqan area from roughly the 10th to the 6th century BC is found in the 4000 m2 Liushui cemetery (流 水墓地) in Aqqan township at the confluence of an eastern branch of the upper Keriya River and the Liushui River in the Kunlun mountains. Jadeware was found in the cemetery (Tang et al 2013:40) so the area may have been frequented by the Yuezhi or others providing jade to the Central Plains. 160 skeletons have been excavated and “about half of the graves had an additional small stone circle on the eastern side in which ashes, pot sherds, and burned bones of sheep/goats were found.” (Wagner et al, 2011:15733.) Other finds included pottery, Scythian-style metal ornaments, bronzeware, strings of beads, and iron knives. According to Wagner, the people buried at Liushui were “a commoner group of mobile pastoralists” who were moving between upland summer pastures and lower winter settlements. Some settlements were abandoned during the 1st millennium BC due to an increasingly dry climate and deglaciation of the Kunlun and the lower date of the Liushui burials seems to be c.600-500 BC so it may be these people were forced to move. Wagner suggests the pottery of Liushui differs from that of most other Xinjiang sites but has some similarity with that of Xiabandi cemetery in today’s Tashkurgan county (see n.119 below) and of Yuansha (Djumbulak Kum) on the lower Keriya River (see n.102). Yuansha was established at roughly the end of the Liushui period. Tang et al (2013:40) also suggest some connections with Zaghunluq (Qiemo) and North Niya (c.43km north of ancient Niya), based on pottery finds. In their craniofacial research of skulls at Liushui, Tan et al found both western Eurasian traits and eastern Eurasian traits and some with an admixture of both (2012:301). Artefacts indicate later use of the area but without burials, which could perhaps suggest seasonal activity but with burials elsewhere lower down. See n.105 re secondary burials of those who died up in the summer pastures. For an introduction to the Liushui cemetery see: http://kaogu.cn/html/en/backup_new/new/2013/1026/42232.html
102 Yumi was sometimes transcribed as Wumi and was known as Jumi 拘弥 in the HHS and Hanmi 扞弥 in the Tang Shu. Yumi was centred on the Keriya river in the region of today’s Yutian county and had the largest population of the settlements along the southern route, although this decreased considerably in the Eastern Han period. In ancient times a north-south route connected with Kucha via the Keriya River, along which lay the ancient settlements of Yuansha (圆沙, Djumbulak Kum) and Kaladun (喀拉墩,

19. 19
3,340 households with 20,040 people and 3,540 able to fight. … It is 3,550 li northeast to the protector general. Qule is to the south and Kucha to the northeast. Yumi adjoins Gumo in the northwest and Yutian is 390 li to the west. The name changed from Yumi to Ningmi.103
Qule state (渠勒国):104 the king governs from Jiandu town (鞬都). It is 9,950 li to Chang’an and
Karadong). Yuansha lies about 190km north of today’s Yutian town and dates to c.500-0 BC so it existed during the Western Han period. Finds there include iron and bronzeware and sheep remains and as mentioned in n.101, some pottery finds show a similarity to the earlier Liushui cemetery. Debaine- Francfort describes Yuansha as a 10 hectare fortified city with residents who “had connections with areas of the neighboring piedmonts to the north and south, and, before the Silk Road, with regions farther away, including Chinese mainland, the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent, and Central Asian oases and steppes” (2009:193, 195). Qiang were in the Kunlun ‘piedmont’ southwest of Yumi, to the west of Qule, so it seems likely they were among those who had connections with Yuansha.
In their study of Yuansha mitochondrial DNA, Gao et al discovered an alignment with the modern populations of Shugnan in Tajikistan and of the Indus Valley and they suggest the Yuansha population originated in the eastward migration of Indo-Afghan (Eastern Mediterranean) types in the mid to late first millennium BC (Gao et al 2008). Kaladun, c.40km south of Yuansha, was a main settlement on the Keriya River established in the late Western Han period when the Yuansha site could no longer sustain its population. “In 2.2 ka BP, Keriya River’s avulsion imposed central place migration to Karadun as Yuansha was progressively abandoned. The migrants and their descendants became part of the Wumi Kingdom known from the historical literatures of the Western Han times. About 1.9 ka BP, the river channel at Yuansha again carried water and a new settlement developed, only to be (as with Loulan and
Jingjue) eventually abandoned around 1.6 ka BP.” (Zhang et al, 2011:1979). Zhang et al also point out that ancient Yuansha, is “about 60km west of the present river course,” (2011:1972) which shows how much river-dependent settlements were at the mercy of natural influences, especially those like Yuansha in the delta regions. Art found in Kaladun (Karadong) shows Indo-Gandharian influence. Today’s settlement of Daheyan (大河沿, or Darya-Boyi) lies 20km southeast of Karadong and is inhabited by the only modern Xinjiang population so far showing evidence of sub-haplogroup U3 (Cui et al 2010) which was also found at the ancient Shanpula and Niya grave sites (Cui et al 2009) and originates from the Near East and Iran. Cui et al suggest this U3 indicates a remnant of immigrants from the Near East / Caucasus area, most of whom subsequently migrated away from the Keriya River region (2010:6). See Cariou (2008) for a Keriya map.
Di Cosmo (2000:405) speculates that the lack of fortresses pre-400 BC in the Tarim oasis regions may point to a fairly rapid development of the oasis states around 400-300 BC, with the building of fortresses perhaps indicating antagonism between different cultures, between newcomers and earlier populations, and indicating territorial competition between pastoral and agricultural lifestyles. With water and useable land both precious commodities in the Tarim, such competition seems highly likely. This also accords with the tradition recorded by Stein that Khotan was “conquered and colonized” in late BC by immigrants from Taxila in today’s Pakistan (1933:49, see n.105 below) and raises the question of whether the newly established colonies would have obstructed the seasonal movement of local residents between their winter settlements in the Tarim basin and their summer pastures in the Kunlun. With life so dependent on access to water, a newly established fortified colony could easily cut off or hinder movement along these rivers flowing north out of the Kunlun and into the Tarim basin, crossing the ‘southern route.’ If their lifelines cut off, would this have forced pastoral people like the Qiang to move elsewhere? As evidenced by finds at Niya and Shanpula, Sheng (2010:38) suggests that pastoral nomads and settlers developed a measure of co-existence, but with migration, river movement, climate change, as well as Han expansion and power struggles with the Xiongnu, it seems there was no such thing as an extended status quo.
103 宁弥: can mean ‘pacified Mi’.
104 Qule, south of Yumi, was 300 li (c.125km) further from the protector general than Yumi so it may have extended as far south as today’s Pulu in the Kunlun foothills. The absence of any Qiang directly south of Qule is perhaps explained by the bleakness of the western branch of the upper Keriya River. In their 1892 expedition up the Keriya River and across the Kunlun to northern Tibet, Fernand Grenard and Dutreuil de Rhins found it to be an uninhabited, desolate route that resulted in the loss of 12 of their 36 horses. According to Grenard, Pulu (Polur) was the last settlement into the Kunlun on the Keriya River and the locals from Pulu who accompanied them soon begged to return to Pulu, so bad were the conditions further up into the Kunlun. (1904:8, 13.) Aurel Stein wrote of this route via Pulu that “it can never have

20. 20
has 310 households with 2,170 people and 300 able to fight. It is 3,850 northeast to the protector general. Ronglu is to the east, the Er Qiang are to the west and Yumi is to the north.
Yutian state (于阗国):105 The king governs from Xicheng (西城, Western Town) which is 9,670 li
served for movements of any consequence…. The difficulties presented by the precipitous rock slopes of the deep-cut gorges…are exceptionally great and make portions of the route practically impossible for laden animals.” (1921:1323-4.) The presence of Er Qiang to the west of Qule may indicate they were in the foothills south of today’s Qira (Cele) where several tributaries of the Yurungkash River (meaning ‘White Jade River’) flow south out of the Kunlun.
105 Yutian was in today’s Khotan region (Hetian 和田) and the capital is thought to have been at Yoktan, about 10 miles west of today’s Khotan city. Although it has a significant Chinese population nowadays and movement is restricted by modern national boundaries, descriptions by travellers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries indicate close connections with Central Asia and northern India, in part due to Khotan’s relative proximity to the Karakoram Pass. Aurel Stein, commenting on the Indian Prakrit with Sanskrit admix of the Kharoshthi documents of this region noted that “Their discovery in this region seems curiously bound up with the old local tradition, recorded by Hsüan-tsang and also in old Tibetan texts, that the territory of Khotan was conquered and colonized about two centuries before our era by Indian immigrants from Takshasila, the Taxila of the Greeks, in the extreme north-western corner of the Panjab.” (1933:49.) According to Xuanzang, Khotan was founded by officials banished by the Indian ruler Ashoka (r. 269-232 BC) of the Mauryan Dynasty. [For this and other accounts of the founding of Khotan see http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/asoka-mauryan-emperor]. Christopoulos (2013:18) suggests these migrants were “perhaps an ethnically mixed army of mercenaries from Taxila” and refers to them as “Greco-Bactrians and their Hellenized Scythian troops.” (2013:2) Harmatta refers to them as Indo- Europeans (1994:488, see n.53 above). Whether the founders of Khotan were Indo-Greek, Indian, or an ethnic mix, this helps to explain why Chinese documents of the Han period do not mention Sai along the southern route. Although Bailey suggests they were Saka and that “the language of Khotan is a Saka dialect,” he points out that “The local texts of Khotan and Tumshuq do not use the name Saka of themselves.” (1970:68-69) Shache (Yarkand), northwest of Khotan and whose name is associated with Saka, defeated Khotan in 56 AD but was then defeated by Khotan in 61 AD, after which Khotan dominated the western part of the southern route.
The extensive Shanpula (Sampul/Sampula) cemetery, which dates from roughly 200 BC to 200 AD, (i.e. the whole Han period) lies about 40km southeast of ancient Yoktan and 14km southwest of Lopu, so it seems to have been more associated with Luopu and the foothills to the south than with Khotan. It is not clear whether any of the Er Qiang to the south of Khotan would have been buried here but if they wintered in the Kunlun foothills it’s a possibility. Bunker (2001:16) points out that Shanpula is not an elite burial site. “A preliminary study of the archaeological evidence reveals a complex cultural mixture of distant Iranian artistic elements, evidence for long-distance contact with dynastic China, and burial practices related to the agro-pastoral lifestyle of the local population that are not duplicated elsewhere in Central Asia.” Debaine-Francfort (1989:205) refers to two large collective burial tombs at Shanpula containing mainly adults of an Indo-Afghan (i.e. Eastern Mediterranean) type and some much smaller collective burials. Besides these there are also some individual ‘second burial’ tombs with sheep bones found in many tombs and young children wrapped in foliage rather than placed in coffins. Second burials were sometimes the reburial of those who had died up in the summer pastures and whose bodies were brought back at the end of the season for a proper burial.
Physical anthropologist Han Kangxin, in his study of skulls in various Xinjiang cemeteries including Shanpula concluded that, “Several centuries B.C.E. or a little earlier, other racial elements close to that of the East Mediterranean in physical character entered into the western part of Xinjiang from the Central Asian region of the former USSR. Their movement was from west to east (Xiangbaobao, Tashkurgan, Shanpula-Luopu, Loulan cemeteries). In other words, some of them gradually moved along the southern margin of the Tarim Basin to the Lopnor area and converged with the existing population in the region.” (Han 1994:6) Related to this, a genetic study by Cui et al (2009) which included Zaghunluq, Niya and Shanpula, found many genetic mtDNA similarities between the ancient population and today’s residents but one marked difference was the presence of U3 in the ancient population and not in the modern (except for in Daheyan, see Cui et al, 2010). U3 was particularly evident in Niya and Shanpula (2009:3917): “Previous studies indicated U3 originates from Near East and Iran, the east area of Mediterranean, and the physical anthropological characters of the extant populations in these two regions also belong to the Eastern Mediterranean type. Thereby, it was reasonable to conjecture that