Wusun

The Wusun (烏孫) are a nomadic people living in Central Asia and described in Chinese historical annals.

Geography

Originally, the Wusun people lived near the Yuezhi people, probably in the region of the Gansu Mountains . Later they moved to the Ili valley and the Issyk Kol basin.

Anthropology and archeology

According to Chinese archeologists the excavated skeletal remains of the presumed Wusun people are short-headed Europoid of the Central Asian, Transoxanian type.

The Wusun were stereotypically described by the Chinese historical annals as "barbarians", having "green eyes and red beards with a macaque physical shape" (An commentary added by Yan Shigu in the Hanshu, c.96 during the 7th century), i.e., of Caucasoid appearance. Though no descriptions of Yuezhi was given.

According to Shiji (c.123), and the Hanshu (c.96), a daughter from the Han prince Liu Jian was sent to the ruler (kunmo or kunmi) of the Wusun between 110 BC-105 BC. She describes them as nomads who lived in felt tents, ate meat and drank fermented mare's milk.

History

At the beginning of what is known about the history of the Wusun, they lived near the Yuezhi people. The Yuezhi were defeated by the rising Xiongnu empire and fled westward. En route they overran the Wusun, and the Wusun ruler (kunmo), Nandoumi, lost his life. According to Hanshu, his infant son, Liejiaomi, was left in the wild, then miraculously saved from hunger by sucking from a she-wolf. The Xiongnu ruler (chanyu) was impressed and adopted the child. When the child grew up the chanyu gave him command in the west and as an act of revenge, the Wusun attack the Yuezhi, who had taken refuge in the Ili Valley. The Yuezhi were crushed completely and fled further west to the Ferghana, and finally settled in the Bactria. The Wusun took over the Ili Valley and then expanded to occupy a large area and tried to keep away from the Xiongnu. They were said to number 630,000 and became a powerful force in Central Asia (Hanshu, ch.96).

When the Han empire began the counter-offensive against the Xiongnu. The Wusun had became a bitter enemy of the Xiongnu after getting series of threats from them. Thereafter, the Wusun were won over to the Chinese side in a martial alliance, sealed by a political marriage. After Han retreat from Central Asia, not much was recorded about the Wusun anymore. They were pressed by the Rouran (柔然), also named as Juan Juan (蠕蠕), and have been migrated to the Congling (葱嶺) Mountains (Pamir Mountains) in the 5th century (Weishu, ch.102). After this event the Wusun seem to disappear from history, though their name was last mentioned on an offering to the court of Liao Dynasty on September 22, 938 (Liaoshi, ch.4). From the 6th century onward the former habitat of the Wusun formed a part of the western empire of the Göktürks.

Language

It is possible the Wusun spoke a Turkic language. Through the legend of an infant son, left in the wild, miracelously saved from hunger by sucking from a she-wolf, the Wusun shared a similar ancestor myth with the ruling Ashin (Asena) clan of the Göktürks. So they might be a Turkic people. There was a Wusun king called Fu-li, and the Chinese scholar Han Rulin suggested a likeness to Turkic "bori = wolf".

On the other hand, there might have been Sai (Saka) and Yuezhi (Tocharian?) peoples among the Wusun, since they probably formed a confederation of tribes. They spoke Tocharian or an Iranian-based language.

Wusun and Issedones

There are theories that the Wusun may have been identical with the ethnoi described by Herodotus and by Ptolemaios as Issedones. According to Ptolemaios these Issedones lived in the western part of the Tarim Basin. Herodotus does not give an exact location, but this may be inferred as around Lake Balkhash.

References

• Hill, John E. 2003. "Annotated Translation of the Chapter on the Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu." 2nd Draft Edition.[1]

• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE (sic.). Draft annotated English translation. [2]

• Mallory, J.P. and Mair, Victor H. 2000. The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West. Thames & Hudson. London.

• Stein, Aurel M. 1921. Serindia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China, 5 vols. London & Oxford. Clarendon Press. Reprint: Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass. 1980. [3]

• Watson, Burton. Trans. 1961. Records of the Grand Historian of China: Translated from the Shih chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien. Chap. 123. The Account of Ta-yüan. Columbia University Press.

• Gardiner-Garden, J.R., Chang-Ch'ien and Central Asian Ethnography, Bloomington 1986 (Papers on Far Eastern History 33), a survey of theories of etnic affiliations and identification of the Wusun and the Yuezhi.