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Rider burial mound Tenlik (III.-II. B.C.) The Tenlik kurgan is associated with the Wusun.[1]

The Wusun (Chinese: 烏孫; pinyin: Wūsūn; Wade–Giles: Wū-sūn; literally: "Grandchildren/Descendents of the Crow/Raven") were an Indo-European semi-nomadic steppe people mentioned in Chinese records from the 2nd century BC and the 5th century AD.

The Wusun originally lived between the Qilian Mountains and Dunhuang (Gansu) near the Yuezhi. Around 176 BC the Yuezhi were raided by the Xiongnu, subsequently attacking the Wusun, killing their king and seizing their land. The Wusun prince was subsequently adopted by the Xiongnu ruler and made a Xiongnu general and leader of the Wusun. After the Yuezhi around 162 BC were driven into the Ili Valley of Zhetysu, Dzungaria and Tian Shan formerly inhabited by the Sai (Scythians), the Wusun resettled Gansu as vassals of the Xiongnu. In 133-132 BC, the Wusun drove the Yuezhi from the Ili Valley and settled the area. They subsequently became close allies of the Han dynasty and a powerful force in the region for several centuries. Pressured by the Rouran, the Wusun are last mentioned by the Chinese as having settled the Pamir Mountains in the 5th century AD. They possibly became subsumed into the later Hephthalites. They had conflicts with the Nomadic Xiongnu and the Chinese empires. After having been defeated they migrated further west.


Wusun is a modern pronunciation of the Chinese Characters '烏孫'. The Chinese name '烏孫' ('Wusun') literally means Wu = 'crow' or 'raven' + Sun = 'grandson' or 'descendant'.[2] There are several theories about the origin of the name.[3]

Sinologist Victor H. Mair compared "Wusun" with Sanskrit "aśvin" and Lithuanian "ašva", both meaning 'mare'. The name would thus mean "the horse people." Hence he put forward the hypothesis that the Wusun used a Kentum-like language within the Indo-European languages. However, the latter hypothesis is not supported by Edwin G. Pulleyblank.[4] Christopher I. Beckwith makes a similliar analysis to Mair, reconstructing Chinese term Wusun to the Old Chinese *âswin, which he compares to the Old Indic aśvin "the horsemen", the name of the Rigvedic twin equestrian gods.[5]


Early history[edit]

The Wusun are first mentioned by Chinese sources as vassals of the Yuezhi living between the Qilian Mountains and Dunhuang (Gansu),[6][7][8][9] although different locations however have been suggested for these toponyms.[10] Beckwith suggests that the Wusun were an eastern remnant of the Indo-Aryans, who had been suddenly pushed to the extremities of the Eurasian Steppe by the Iranian peoples in the 2nd millennium BC.[11]

Migration of the Wusun

Around 210-200 BC, prince Modu Chanyu, a former hostage of the Yuezhi and prince of the Xiongnu, who were also vassals of the Yuezhi,[12] became leader of the Xiongnu and conquered the Mongolian Plain, subjugating several peoples.[13] Around 176 BC Mody Chanyu launched a fierce raid against the Yuezhi.[9] Around 173 BC, the Yuezhi subsequently attacked the Wusun,[9] at that time a small nation,[14] killing their king (Kunmi Chinese: 昆彌 or Kunmo Chinese: 昆莫) Nandoumi (Chinese: 難兜靡).[14] According to legend Nandoumi's infant son Liejiaomi was left in the wild. He was miraculously saved from hunger being suckled by a she-wolf, and fed meat by ravens.[15][16][17][18] The Wusun ancestor myth shares striking similarities with those of the Hittites, the Zhou Chinese, the Scythians, the Romans, the Koguryo, Turks, Mongols and Dzungars.[19] Based on the similarities between the ancestor myth of the Wusun and later Turkic peoples, Denis Sinor has suggested that the Wusun and/or Sogdians could represent an Indo-European Iranian influence, or even origin of the royal Ashina Türks.[20]

In 162 BC, the Yuezhi were finally defeated by the Xiongnu, after which they fled Gansu.[9] According to Zhang Qian, the Yuezhi were defeated by the rising Xiongnu empire and fled westward, driving away the Sai (Scythians) from the Ili Valley in the Zhetysu and Dzungaria area.[21] The Sai would subsequently migrate into South Asia, where they founded various Indo-Scythian kingdoms.[9] After the Yuezhi retreat the Wusun subsequently settled the modern province of Gansu, in the valley of the Ushui-he (Chinese Raven Water river), as vassals of the Xiongnu.[14] It is not clear whether the river was named after the tribe or vice versa.

Migration to the Ili Valley[edit]

The Xiongnu ruler was impressed with Liejiaomi, considering him a supernatural being, and adopted the child.[14] When the child grew up the Chanyu made him leader of the Wusun and a Xiongnu general.[14] He won many victories for the Xiongnu and the Wusun became powerful.[14] Liejiaomi constantly requested the Xiongnu ruler for permission to revenge his father, and around 133-132 BC, he successfully attacked the Yuezhi in the Ili Valley.[14][7][9] The Yuezhi then migrated to Sogdia and then Bactria, where they became unified under Kujula Kadphises and expanded into South Asia, founding the Kushan Empire, which at its peak under Kanishka stretched from Turpan in the Tarim Basin to Pataliputra on the Gangetic plain and played an important role in the development of the Silk Road and the transmission of Buddhism to China.[7]

The Wusun subsequently took over the Ili Valley, expanding over a large area and trying to keep away from the Xiongnu. According to Shiji, Wusun was a state located west of the Xiongnu.[22] When they Xiongnu ruler died, Liejiaomi refused to serve the Xiongnu.[14] The Xiongnu then sent a force to against the Wusun but were defeated, after which the Xiongnu even more than before considered Liejiaomi a supernatural being, avoiding conflict with him.[14]

Wusun and their neighbours around 200 AD.

Establishing relations with the Han[edit]

After settling in the Ili Valley the Wusun became so strong that the Han was compelled to win their friendship in alliance.[1] Chinese sources name the Scythian Sai (Saka), and the Yuezhi who are often identified as Tocharians, among the people of the Wusun state in the Zhetysu and Dzungaria area.[23] The Wusun realm probably included both Yuezhi and Saka.[1] It is clear that the majority of the population consisted of linguistically Iranian Saka tribes.[1]

In 125 BC, under the Han Emperor Wu of Han (156-87 BCE), the Chinese traveller and diplomat Zhang Qian was sent to establish an alliance with the Wusun Against the Xiongnu.[8][24] Qian estimated the Wusun to number 630,000, with 120,000 families and 188,000 men capable of bearing arms.[25] Hanshu described them as occupying land that previously belonged to the Saka (Sai).[26][27] To their north-west the Wusun bordered Kangju, located in modern Kazakhstan. To the west was Dayuan (Ferghana), and to the south were various city states.[28] The Royal Court of the Wusun, the walled city of Chigu (Chinese: 赤谷; pinyin: chìgǔ; literally: "Red Valley"), was located in a side valley leading to Issyk Kul.[1][29] Lying on one of the branches of the Silk Road Chigu was an important trading centre, but its exact location has not been established.[1]

The Wusun approved of a possible alliance and Zhang Qian was sent as ambassador in 115 BC.[1] According to the agreement the Wusun would jointly attack the Xiongnu with the Han, while they were offered a Han princess in marriage and the return of their original Gansu homeland.[1] Due to fear of the Xiongnu, the Wusun however reached second thoughts, and suggested to move send a delegation to the Han rather than moving their capital further west.[8][1]

The Wusun as Han allies[edit]

Some time after the Han-Wusun negotiations had ended, the Han were however able of independently inflict severe defeats upon the Xiongnu.[8] The Han then threatened war upon the Wusun, after which Liejiaomi finally agreed to an alliance, sending tributary horses and accepting princess Xijun (Chinese: 細君公主) as his wife.[8] Along with the Yuezhi and the Kangju of the Ferghana Valley, the Wusun became the main suppliers of horses for the Han.[30] The Xiongnu had however also sent a princess to marry Liejiaomi, and the Xiongnu princess was declared his senior consort, with Xijun becoming his junior wife.[1] Since Liejiaomi was already an old man, Xijun was however married to his successor Cenzou (Chinese: 岑陬), to which Wu agreed.[8] Xijun wrote a famous poem, the Beichouge (Chinese: 悲愁歌), in which she complains about her exile in the land of the "barbarians":

"My family sent me off to be married on the other side of heaven. They sent me a long way to a strange land, to the king of Wusun. A domed lodging is my dwelling place with walls of felt. Meat is my food, with fermented milk as the sauce. I live with constant thoughts of my home, my heart is full of sorrow. I wish i were a golden swan, returning to my home country."[31][8]

Xijun bore the Wusun a daughter but died soon, after which the Han court sent princess Jieyou (Chinese: 解憂公主).[8] After the death of Cenzou Jieyou married Wengguimi (Chinese: 翁歸靡), the latters cousin and successor. Jieyou lived for fifty years among the Wusun and bore five children, including the oldest Yuanguimi (Chinese: 元貴靡), whose half-brother Wujiutu (Chinese: 烏就屠) was born to a Xiongnu mother.[8] She sent numerous letters to the Han requesting assistance against the Xiongnu.[8]

Around 80 BC, the Wusun were attacked by the Xiongnu, who inflicted a devastating defeat upon them.[1][8] In 72 BC, the Kunmi of the Wusun requested assistance from the Han against the Xiongnu.[8][1] The Han sent an army of 160,000 men, inflicting a crushing defeat upon the Xiongnu, capturing much booty and many slaves.[1] In the campaign the Han captured the Tarim Basin city-state of Cheshi (Turpan), a previous ally of the Xiongnu, giving them direct contact with the Wusun.[8] Afterwards the Wusun allied with the Dingling and Wuhuan to counter Xiongnu attacks.[8] After their crushing victory against the Xiongnu the Wusun increased in strength, achieving significant influence over the city-states of the Tarim Basin.[1] The son of the Kunmi became the ruler of Yarkand, while his daughter became the wife of the lord of Kucha.[1] They came to play a role as a third force between the Han and the Xiongnu.[1]

Around 64 BC, according to Hanshu, accounts, the Chinese were involved in a plot with the Wusun involving a "Fat King" and a "Mad King". The Chinese were involved in a plot to kill the mad king, and a Chinese deputy envoy called Chi Tu who brought a doctor to attend to him was punished by castration when he returned to China.[32][33]

In 64 BC another Han princess was sent to the Wusun, but before her arrival the Wusun Kunmi Wengguimi died. Han emperor Xuan then permitted the princess to return, since Jieyou had married the new Kunmi, Nimi (Chinese: 尼靡), the son of Cenzou. Jieyou bore Nimi the son Chimi (Chinese: 鴟靡). Prince Wujiutu later killed Nimi, his half-brother. Fearing the wrath of the Han, Wujiutu adopted the title of Lesser Kunmi, while Yuanguimi was given the title Greater Kunmi. The Han accepted this system and bestowed both of them with the imperial seal. After both Yuanguimi and Chimi were dead, Jieyou asked Emperor Xuan for permission to return to China. She died in 49 BC. Over the next decades the institution of Greater and Lesser Kunmi continued, with the Lesser Kunmi being married to a Xiongnu princess and the Greater Kunmi married to a Han princess.[8]

In 5 BCE, during the reign of Uchjulü-Chanyu (8 BCE – CE 13), the Wusun attempted to raid Chuban pastures, but Uchjulü-Chanyu repulsed them, and the Wusun commander had to send his son to the Chuban court as a hostage. The forceful intervention of the Chinese usurper Wang Mang and internal strife brought disorder, and in 2 BC one of the Wusun chieftains brought 80,000 Wusun to Kangju, asking for help against the Chinese. In a vain attempt to reconcile with China, he was duped and killed in 3 CE.[34][35]

In 2 CE, Wang Mang issued a list of four regulations to the allied Xiongnu that the taking of any hostages from Chinese vassals, i.e. Wusun, Wuhuan and the statelets of the Western Regions, would not be tolerated.[36]

In 74 AD the Wusun are recorded as having sent tribute to the Han military commanders in Cheshi.[8] In 80 AD Ban Chao requested assistance from the Wusun against the city-state Quchi (Kucha) in the Tarim Basin.[8] The Wusun were subsequently rewarded with silks, while diplomatic exchanges were resumed.[8] During the 2nd century AD the Wusun continued their decline in political importance.[8]

Later history[edit]

In the 5th century the Wusun were pressured by the Rouran and may have migrated to the Pamir Mountains.[37][8][1] They are last mentioned in Chinese historical sources in 436 CE, when a Chinese envoy was sent to their country and the Wusun reciprocated.[8] It is possible that they became subsumed into the later Hephthalites.[1] After this event the Wusun seem to disappear from Chinese records, though their name was last mentioned on an offering to the court of Liao Dynasty on September 22, 938.[38]

Physical appearance[edit]

The evidence from ancient Chinese texts on the appearance of the Wusun is contradictory. Hanshu and Shiji, which mentioned the Wusun, did not note any unusual ethnic appearance of the Wusun. The actual first description of Wusun may be found in a Western Han dynasty book of divination, the Jiaoshi Yilin, where the Wusun women were described as "ugly and dark colored people with deep eye sockets,"[39][40] and the reported dark skin complexion may suggest South Asian origin.[41] However, a very brief pejorative quote from an ancient book of divination may not be a reliable source for determining ethnic characteristics. A later 7th century commentary to the Hanshu by Yan Shigu, which is probably based on an earlier source,[42] says:

"Among the barbarians in the Western Regions, the look of the Wusun is the most unusual. The present barbarians who have green eyes and red hair, and look like macaque monkeys, are the offspring of this people."[43][44][42]

Initially, when only a few number of skulls from Wusun territory were known, the Wusun were recognized as an Europoid people with slight Mongoloid admixture.[42] Later, in a more thorough study by Soviet archaeologists of eighty-seven skulls of Zhetysu, the six skulls of the Wusun period were determied to be purely Europoid or close to it.[42][45]


The Wusun are generally believed to have been an Indo-European-speaking people.[46][47][48][49] They are thought to be Iranian-speaking by the archaeologist Elena Kuzmina,[50] linguist János Harmatta,[51] Joseph Kitagawa,[52] David Durand-Guédy,[53] Turkologist Peter B. Golden[54][55] and Central Asian scholar Denis Sinor.[56][20] The Sinologist Edwin G. Pulleyblank has suggested that the Wusun, along with the Yuezhi, the Dayuan, the Kangju and the people of Yanqi, could have been Tocharian-speaking.[57][58][59] Colin Masica and David Keightley also suggest that the Wusun were Tocharian-speaking.[60][61] Sinor finds it difficult to include the Wusun within the Tocharian category of Indo-European until further research.[46] Indo-Europeanist J. P. Mallory has suggested that the Wusun contained both Tocharian and Iranian elements.[62][55] Central Asian scholar Christopher I. Beckwith suggests that the Wusun were Indo-Aryan-speaking.[5] The first syllable of the Wusun royal title Kunmi was proably the royal title while the second syllable referred to the royal family name.[63][5] Beckwith specifically suggests an Indo-Aryan etymology of the title Kunmi.[5]

Some scholars historically suggested that the Wusun spoke a Proto-Turkic language. Chinese scholar Han Rulin, as well as G. Vambery, A. Scherbak, P. Budberg, L. Bazin and V.P. Yudin, noted that the Wusun king's name Fu-li, as reported in Chinese sources and translated as "wolf", resembles Proto-Turkic "böri" = "wolf". Classical Chinese Literature expert Francis K. H. So, Professor at National Sun Yat-sen University, rejects this comparasion as nonsense.[27] Other words listed by these scholars include the title "bag/beg" = "lord".[64] The above-mentioned theories have been criticized by modern Turkologists, including Peter B. Golden and Carter V. Findley, who explain that none of the mentioned words are actually Turkic in origin.[65][66][67] Carter V. Findley notes that the term böri is probably derived from one of the Indo-European Iranian languages of Central Asia,[66] while the title beg is certainly derived from the Sogdian baga ("lord"),[67] a cognate of Middle Persian baγ (as used by the rulers of the Sassanid Empire), as well as Sanskrit bhaga and Russian bog.[68]


According to the Shiji (c.123) and the Hanshu (c.96), a daughter from the Han prince, Liu Jian, was sent to the ruler (Kunmi or Kunmo) of the Wusun between 110 BCE and 105 BCE. She describes them as nomads who lived in felt tents, ate raw meat and drank fermented mare's milk.[69] Some early Chinese descriptions of the people were pejorative, describing them as "bad, greedy and unreliable, and much given to robbery", but their state was also described as very strong.[70] However, the Wusun were also noted for their harmony towards their neighbours, even though they were constantly raided by the Xiongnu and Kangju.

The principal activity of the Wusun was cattle-raising, but they also practiced agriculture. Since the climate of Zhetysu and Dzungaria did not allow constand wandering, they probably wandered with each change of season in the search of pasture and water. Numerous archaeological finds have found querms and agricultural implements and bones of domesticated animals, suggesting a semi-nomadic pastoral economy.[1]

Social structure[edit]

The social structure of the Wusun resembled that of the Xiongnu. They were governed by the Great Kunmi, whose power was heredetary. The Great Kunmi and his two sons, who commanded the east and left flanks of the Wusun realm, each commanded a force of 10,000 men.[1] The Wusun also fielded a regular army, with each freeman[disambiguation needed] being considered a warrior. Their administrative apparatus was fairly sophisticated, consisting of sixteen officials.[1] The Great Kunmi was assisted by a council of elders, which limited his power to some degree.[1] The Wusun elite maintained itself through tribute from conquered tribes, war booty and trading profits. The booty acquired by the Wusun in their frequent conflicts enabled the administrative elite and members of the Kunmi's guard to amass enormous riches.[1]

Wusun society seems to have been highly stratified. The main source of this stratification seems to have been property ownership.[1] The wealthiest Wusuns are believed to have owned as many as 4,000 to 5,000 horses, and there is evidence pointing to privileged use of certain pastures.[1] Typical of early patriarchal stratified societies, Wusun widows were obliged to remain within the family of their late husband by marrying one of his relatives.[1] Y. A. Zadneprovskiy writes that the social inequality among the Wusun created social unrest among the lower strata.[1] Wusun society also included many slaves, mostly prisoners of war. The Wusun are reported as having captured 10,000 slaves in a raid against the Xiongnu.[1] Wusun slaves mainly laboured as servants and craftsmen, although the freemen formed the core of the Wusun economy.[1]


Numerous cites belonging to the Wusun period in Zhetysu and the Tian Shan have been excavated. Most of the cemeteries are burial grounds with the dead interred in pit-graves, referred to as the Chil-pek group, which probably belong the local Saka population.[1] A second group of kurgans with burials in lined "catacomb" chamber graves, of the so-called Aygîrdzhal group, are found together with the Chil-pek tombs from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD, and have been attributed to the Yuezhi.[1] Graves of the Wusun period typically contain personal belongings, with the burials of the Aygîrdzhal group often containing weapons.[1]

A famous find is the Kargali burial of a female Shaman discovered at an altitude of 2,300 m, near Almaty, containing jewellery, clothing, head-dress and nearly 300 gold objects. A beaufiful diadem of the Kargali burial attest to the artistic skill of these ancient jewellers.[1] Another find at Tenlik in eastern Zhetysu contained the grave of a high-ranking warrior, whose clothing had been decorated with around 100 golden bosses.[1]

Connection to Western histography[edit]

Some scholars have proposed that the Wusun may have been identical with the people described by Herodotus (IV.16–25) and in Ptolemy's Geography as Issedones.[71][72] Their exact location of their country in Central Asia is unknown. The Issedones are "placed by some in Western Siberia and by others in Chinese Turkestan," according to E. D. Phillips.[73]

French historian Iaroslav Lebedynsky suggests that the Wusun may have been the Asii of Geographica.[74]

See also[edit]



  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah Zadneprovskiy 1994, p. 458-462
  2. ^ Mayor, Adrienne (September 22, 2014). The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World. Princeton University Press. p. 421. ISBN 1400865131. Retrieved February 13, 2015. 
  3. ^ 王明哲, 王炳華 (Mingzhe Wang & Binhua Wang): 從文獻與考古資料論烏孫歷史的幾個重大問題 (Important questions about the history of Wusun arising from the contemporary documents and archaeological investigations). In: 烏孫研究 (Wusun research), 1, 新疆人民出版社 (People's publisher Xinjiang), Ürümqi 1983, S. pp. 1–42.
  4. ^ Edwin G. Pulleyblank: XII.Why Tocharians?. In: Central Asia and non-Chinese peoples of ancient China (English), 1, Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot, Hampshire; Burlington, VT 2002, ISBN 0-86078-859-8, S. 426-427.
  5. ^ a b c d Beckwith 2009, pp. 376–377
  6. ^ Hanshu 《漢書·張騫李廣利傳》 Original text 臣居匈奴中，聞烏孫王號昆莫。昆莫父難兜靡本與大月氏俱在祁連、焞煌間，小國也。
  7. ^ a b c Beckwith 2009, pp. 84–85
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "Chinese History - Wusun 烏孫". Chinaknowledge. Retrieved 1 January 2015. 
  9. ^ a b c d e f Benjamin, Craig (October 2003). "The Yuezhi Migration and Sogdia". Transoxiana Webfestschrift (Transoxiana) 1 (Ēran ud Anērān). Retrieved 29 May 2015. 
  10. ^ Liu, Xinru, Migration and Settlement of the Yuezhi-Kushan: Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies (2001)
  11. ^ Beckwith 2009, pp. 29–38
  12. ^ Beckwith 2009, pp. 380–383
  13. ^ Enoki, Koshelenko & Haidary 1994, p. 171-191
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Beckwith 2009, pp. 6–7
  15. ^ François & Hulsewé 1979, p. 215
  16. ^ Shiji 《史記·大宛列傳》 Original text: 匈奴攻殺其父，而昆莫生棄於野。烏嗛肉蜚其上，狼往乳之。
  17. ^ Beckwith 2009, p. 6
  18. ^ Watson 1993, p. 237-238
  19. ^ Beckwith 2009, p. 2
  20. ^ a b Sinor & Klyashtorny 1996, p. 328-329
  21. ^ Hanshu 《漢書·張騫李廣利傳》 Original text 時，月氏已為匈奴所破，西擊塞王。
  22. ^ Shiji 《史記·大宛列傳》 Original text: 匈奴西邊小國也
  23. ^ François & Hulsewé 1979, p. 145
  24. ^ "Zhang Qian". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 29 May 2015. 
  25. ^ (Hanshu, ch.61 & 96)
  26. ^ Hanshu 《漢書·卷九十六下》 西域傳 Original text: 本塞地也，大月氏西破走塞王，塞王南越縣度。大月氏居其地。後烏孫昆莫擊破大月氏，大月氏徙西臣大夏，而烏孫昆莫居之，故烏孫民有塞種、大月氏種雲。
  27. ^ a b So 2009, p. 133
  28. ^ 《漢書·卷九十六下》 Original text: 東與匈奴、西北與康居、西與大宛、南與城郭諸國相接。
  29. ^ Hill (2009), "Appendix I: Chigu 赤谷 (Royal Court of the Wusun Kunmo)," pp. 527–531.
  30. ^ Wood 2004, p. 53-54
  31. ^ Wood 2004, p. 57
  32. ^ Wood 2004, p. 59
  33. ^ François & Hulsewé 1979, p. 155
  34. ^ Gumilev L.N., "History of Hun People", Moscow, 'Science', Ch.12, http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/HPH/hph12.htm (In Russian)
  35. ^ Taishan 2004, p. 45
  36. ^ François & Hulsewé 1979, p. 192
  37. ^ Book of Wei, ch.102
  38. ^ (Liaoshi, ch.4)
  39. ^ 《焦氏易林 – Jiaoshi Yilin》 Original text:烏孫氏女，深目黑醜；嗜欲不同，過時無偶。
  40. ^ Wang Mingzhe, Wang Binghua (1983). Research on Wusun (乌孙研究). Ürümqi: Xinjiang People's Press. p. 43. 
  41. ^ Chen Liankai (1999). Outlines on China's Ethnicities. China Financial and Economic Publishing House. p. 380-381
  42. ^ a b c d Maenchen-Helfen 1973, p. 369-375
  43. ^ Book of Han, with commentary by Yan Shigu Original text:　烏孫於西域諸戎其形最異。今之胡人青眼、赤須，狀類彌猴者，本其種也。
  44. ^ So 2009, p. 134
  45. ^ Mallory & Mair 2000, pp. 93–94
  46. ^ a b Sinor 1990, p. 153
  47. ^ Mair 2013
  48. ^ Baumer 2012, p. 212
  49. ^ So 2009, p. 131
  50. ^ Kusmina 2007, p. 78, 83
  51. ^ Harmatta 1994, p. 488-489
  52. ^ Kitagawa 2013, p. 228
  53. ^ Durand-Guédy 2013, pp. 24–25
  54. ^ Golden 2011, p. 29
  55. ^ a b Golden 2010
  56. ^ Sinor 1997, p. 236
  57. ^ Pulleyblank 1966, pp. 9–39
  58. ^ Loewe & Shaughnessy 1999, pp. 87–88
  59. ^ Benjamin 2007, p. 52
  60. ^ Masica 1993, p. 48
  61. ^ Kneightley 1983, pp. 457–460
  62. ^ Mallory 1989, pp. 59–60
  63. ^ Jixu, Zhou (July 2003). Mair, Victor H., ed. "Correspondences of Cultural Words Between Old Chinese and Proto-Indo-European" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers (Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania) 125. Retrieved 26 May 2015. 
  64. ^ Zuev, Yu.A. (2002) Early Türks: Essays on history and ideology, p. 35
  65. ^ Golden 1992, pp. 121–122
  66. ^ a b Findley 2005, p. 39 "The term böri, used to identify the ruler's retinue as 'wolves,' probably also derived from one of the Iranian languages."
  67. ^ a b Findley 2005, p. 45 "Many elements of non-Turkic origin also became part of Türk statecraft. Important terms, for example, often came from non-Turkic languages, as in the cases of khatun for the ruler's wife and beg for “aristocrat,” both terms of Sogdian origin and ever since in common use in Turkish."
  68. ^ Peter Jackson, "Beg", in Encyclopaedia Iranica, Columbia University, Online ed.
  69. ^ Hanshu 《漢書·卷九十六下》 西域傳 Original text: 昆莫年老，言語不通，公主悲愁，自為作歌曰：「吾家嫁我兮天一方，遠托異國兮烏孫王。穹廬為室兮旃為牆，以肉為食兮酪為漿。居常土思兮心內傷，願為黃鵠兮歸故鄉。」
  70. ^ Hanshu, Original text: 民剛惡，貪狼無信，多寇盜，最為強國。
  71. ^ Yong & Bingua 1994, p. 225
  72. ^ Gardiner-Garden, Chang-Ch'ien and Central Asian Ethnography, pp. 23–79 gives a survey of theories of ethnic affiliations and identification of the Wusun and the Yuezhi.
  74. ^ "Les Saces", Iaroslav Lebedinsky, p. 60-63, ISBN 2-87772-337-2