20 Facts About Yuezhi

1.

Yuezhi were an ancient people first described in Chinese histories as nomadic pastoralists living in an arid grassland area in the western part of the modern Chinese province of Gansu, during the 1st millennium BC.

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2.

The Greater Yuezhi initially migrated northwest into the Ili Valley, where they reportedly displaced elements of the Sakas.

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3.

The Greater Yuezhi have consequently often been identified with peoples mentioned in classical European sources as having overrun the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, like the Tokharioi and Asii .

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4.

Lesser Yuezhi migrated southward to the edge of the Tibetan Plateau.

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5.

Account begins with the Yuezhi occupying the grasslands to the northwest of China at the beginning of the 2nd century BC:.

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6.

The Yuezhi often attacked their neighbour the Wusun to acquire slaves and pasture lands.

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7.

The Yuezhi attacked the Wusuns, killed their monarch Nandoumi and took his territory.

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8.

The Yuezhi wanted to kill Modu, the son of the Xiongnu king Touman kept as a hostage to them, but Modu stole a good horse from them and managed to escape to his country.

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9.

Yuezhi subsequently killed his father and became ruler of the Xiongnu.

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10.

From this war, a large area of the territory originally belonging to the Yuezhi was seized by the Xiongnu and the hegemony of the Yuezhi started to shake.

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11.

The Lesser or Little Yuezhi moved to the "southern mountains", believed to be the Qilian Mountains on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau, to live with the Qiang.

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12.

The Yuezhi passed through the neighbouring urban civilization of Dayuan and settled on the northern bank of the Oxus, in the region of northern Bactria, or Transoxiana .

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13.

Yuezhi were visited in Transoxiana by a Chinese mission, led by Zhang Qian in 126 BC, which sought an offensive alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu.

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14.

Yuezhi set himself up as king of a kingdom called Guishuang .

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15.

Yuezhi defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda and Jibin .

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16.

Yuezhi returned and defeated Tianzhu and installed a General to supervise and lead it.

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17.

Some Lesser Yuezhi settled among the Qiang people of Huangzhong, Qinghai, according to archaeologist Sophia-Katrin Psarras.

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18.

Elements of the Lesser Yuezhi are said to have been a component of the Jie people, who originated from Yushe County in Shanxi.

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19.

In Tibet, the Lesser Yuezhi constituted the Gar or mGar – a clan name associated with blacksmiths.

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20.

Yuezhi thus referred to the newly discovered languages as "Tocharian", which became the common name for both the languages of the Tarim manuscripts and the people who produced them.

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