Yuezhi/Rouzhi

The migrations of the Yuezhi through Central Asia, from around 176 BCE to 30 CE
Total population
Some 100,000 to 200,000 horse archers, according to the Shiji, Chapter 123.[1] The Hanshu Chapter 96A records: 100,000 households, 400,000 people with 100,000 people able to bear arms.[2]
Regions with significant populations
Western China (pre-2nd century BCE)[3] Central Asia (2nd century BCE-1st century CE) Northern India (1st century CE-4th century CE)
Languages
Unknown, although the epigraphy ranges from Greek to Bactrian, and often considered to have spoken a Tocharian language.[4]
Religion
Iranian deities (Nana), Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Kushans

This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

The Yuezhi, or Rouzhi (Chinese: 月氏; pinyin: Yuèzhī or Ròuzhī; Old Chinese: Tok^war),^[5] were an ancient Central Asian people. They are believed by most scholars to have been an Indo-European people^[6] and may have been the same as or closely related to the Tocharians^[7] (Τοχάριοι) of Classical sources.^[8] They were originally settled in the arid grasslands of the eastern Tarim Basin area, in what is today Xinjiang and western Gansu, in China, before they migrated to Transoxiana, Bactria and then northern South Asia, where they may have had a part in forming the Kushan Empire.^[9][10]

Name[link]

Since the character yuè (月) can stand for the character ròu (肉) in pictograms, it may not mean "moon" here. The character seems to have derived originally from ròu, "meat", as a character component.^[11] However, if the form Yuezhi (月氏) is accepted, the name translates literally as "moon clan", from yuè (月), "moon" and shì (氏), "clan" or "race". According to the Kangxi Dictionary, the name came from that of a country beyond China's borders.^[12]

There are numerous theories about the derivation of the name Yuezhi, and none has yet found general acceptance.^[13][14] According to Zhang Guang-da, the name Yuezhi is a transliteration of their own name for themselves, the Visha ("the tribes"), being called the Vijaya in Tibetan.^[15] Some sources identify the Yuezhi with the ancient Tocharians.^[16]

Origins[link]

The first known references to the Yuezhi are contained in the Yizhoushu (逸周書), Guanzi 管子(Guanzi Essays: 73: 78: 80: 81) and Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven. The dates of the most common version of this book are disputed, however, and it may date to as late as the 1st century BCE.^[17] The book described the Yuzhi 禺氏, or Niuzhi 牛氏, as a people from the northwest who supplied jade to the Chinese.^[18] The supply of jade from the Tarim Basin from ancient times is indeed well documented archaeologically: "It is well known that ancient Chinese rulers had a strong attachment to jade. All of the jade items excavated from the tomb of Fuhao (妇好) of the Shang dynasty, more than 750 pieces, were from Khotan in modern Xinjiang. As early as the mid-first millennium BCE the Yuezhi engaged in the jade trade, of which the major consumers were the rulers of agricultural China." (Liu (2001), pp. 267–268). The suffix Di or Zhi (Chinese:氐) was generally used to describe the Di people, called "Western barbarians", in Han Dynasty-era Chinese annals.

Head of a Yuezhi warrior, from Khalchayan, Surxondaryo Province of southern Uzbekistan, Painted clay.^[19]

According to former USSR scholar Zuev, there was a queen among the large Yuezhi confederation who added to her possessions the lands of the Tochar (Pinyin: Daxia) on the headwaters of the Huanghe c. 3rd century BCE. According to Zuev, the Chinese chronicles began referring to the queen's tribe as the Great Yuezhi (Da Yuezhi) and to the Tochars as the Lesser Yuezhi (Pinyin: Xiao Yuezhi). Together, they were simply called Yuezhi. In the 5th century CE, scholar, translator and monk Kumarajiva, while translating texts into Chinese, used the name Yuezhi to translate Tochar. In the middle of the 2nd century BCE, the Yuezhi conquered Bactria, and the Ancient Greek authors inform us that the conquerors of Bactria were the Asii and Tochari tribes. In the Chinese chronicles Bactria then began to be called the country of Daxia, i.e., Tocharistan, and the language of Bactria/Tocharistan began to be called Tocharian.^[20]

The Yuezhi are also documented in detail in Chinese historical accounts, in particular the 2nd-1st century BCE Records of the Great Historian, or Shiji, by Sima Qian. According to these accounts:

"The Yuezhi originally lived in the area between the Qilian or Heavenly Mountains (Tian Shan) and Dunhuang, but after they were defeated by the Xiongnu they moved far away to the west, beyond Dayuan, where they attacked and conquered the people of Daxia and set up the court of their king on the northern bank of the Gui [= Oxus] River. A small number of their people who were unable to make the journey west sought refuge among the Qiang barbarians in the Southern Mountains, where they are known as the Lesser Yuezhi."^[1]

The Qilian and Dunhuang original homeland of the Yuezhi has recently been argued not to refer to the current locations in Gansu, but to the Tian Shan range and the Turpan region, 1,000 km to the west, Dunhuang being identified with a mountain named Dunhong listed in the Shanhaijing.^[21]

The Yuezhi may have been a Caucasoid people, as indicated by the portraits of their kings on the coins they struck following their exodus to Transoxiana (2nd-1st century BCE), some old place names in Gansu explainable in Tocharian languages,^[22] and especially the coins they struck in India as Kushans (1st-3rd century CE). However, no direct records for the name of Yuezhi rulers are known to exist (only Chinese accounts mention the names.), and there is some doubt about the authenticity of their earliest coins.^[23] No Caucasoid skulls were found by archaeologists at the Yuezhi homeland,^[24][25] and a site thought to be of Yuezhi and Huns found in the Barkol County showed characteristics similar to a culture in Inner Mongolia.^{[26][27][28][29]}

Ancient Chinese sources do describe the existence of "white people with long hair" (the Bai people of the Shan Hai Jing) beyond their northwestern border. Very well-preserved Tarim mummies with Caucasian features, today displayed at the Ürümqi Museum and dated to the 3rd century BCE, were found at the ancient oasis on the Silk Road, Niya.^[30] However, the attribution of reddish or blond hair to these mummies may be in error, since the reddish color can occur as a result of decomposition over several hundred years (for example, even African mummies also have so-called reddish hair but are clearly not White or European). Notwithstanding, genetic testing and skull examples have shown conclusively that Caucasian genetic material is present in this area. Blond hair among the Tocharian mummies is common, as with certain populations in modern Central Asia and the Middle East.

Evidence of the Indo-European Tocharian languages also has been found in the same geographical area, Although the first known epigraphic evidence dates to the 6th century CE, the degree of differentiation between Tocharian A and Tocharian B and the absence of Tocharian language remains beyond that area suggest that a common Tocharian language existed in the same area of Yuezhi settlement during the second half of the 1st millennium BCE.

According to one theory, the Yuezhi were probably part of the large migration of Indo-European-speaking peoples who were settled in eastern Central Asia at that time. The nomadic people of the Ordos culture, who lived in northern China, east of the Yuezhi, are another example. Also, the Caucasian mummies of Pazyryk, which were probably Scythian in origin, were found around 1,500 kilometers northwest of the Yuezhi and date to around the 3rd century BCE.^[31]

According to Han Dynasty accounts, the Yuezhi "were flourishing" during the time of the first great Chinese Qin emperor, but were regularly in conflict with the neighboring tribe of the Xiongnu to the Northeast."

The Yuezhi exodus[link]

The Yuezhi were settled at the doorstep of Qin China in the 3rd century BCE.

A Scythian horseman from the area invaded by the Yuezhi, Pazyryk, c.300 BCE.

The Yuezhi sometimes practiced the exchange of hostages with the Xiongnu, and, at one time, were hosts to Modu Shanyu (冒頓), son of the Xiongnu leader. Modu stole a horse and escaped when the Yuezhi tried to kill him in retaliation for an attack by his father. Modu subsequently became ruler of the Xiongnu after killing his father.

Shortly before 174 BCE,^{[citation needed]} led by one of Modu's tribal chiefs, the Xiongnu invaded Yuezhi territory in the Gansu region and achieved a crushing victory. Modu boasted in a letter (174 BCE) to the Han emperor^{[citation needed]} that due to "the excellence of his fighting men, and the strength of his horses, he has succeeded in wiping out the Yuezhi, slaughtering or forcing to submission every number of the tribe." The son of Modu, Laoshang Chanyu, subsequently killed the king of the Yuezhi and, in accordance with nomadic traditions, "made a drinking cup out of his skull." (Shiji 123. Watson 1961:231).

Following Chinese sources, a large part of the Yuezhi people therefore fell under the domination of the Xiongnu, and these may have been the ancestors of the Tocharian speakers attested in the 6th century CE. A very small group of Yuezhi fled south to the territory of the Proto-Tibetan Qiang and came to be known to the Chinese as the "Small Yuezhi". According to the Hanshu, they only numbered around 150 families.

Finally, a large group of the Yuezhi fled from the Tarim Basin towards the Northwest, first settling in the Ili valley, immediately north of the Tian Shan mountains, where they confronted and defeated the Sai (Sakas or Scythians): "The Yuezhi attacked the king of the Sai who moved a considerable distance to the south and the Yuezhi then occupied his lands" (Han Shu 61 4B). The Sai undertook their own migration, which was to lead them as far as Kashmir, after travelling through a "Suspended Crossing" (probably the Khunjerab Pass between present-day Xinjiang and northern Pakistan). The Sakas ultimately established an Indo-Scythian kingdom in northern India.^{[citation needed]}

After 155 BCE, the Wusun, in alliance with the Xiongnu and out of revenge from an earlier conflict, managed to dislodge the Yuezhi, forcing them to move south. The Yuezhi crossed the neighbouring urban civilization of the Dayuan in Ferghana and settled on the northern bank of the Oxus, in the region of Transoxiana, in modern-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, just north of the Hellenistic Greco-Bactrian kingdom. The Greek city of Alexandria on the Oxus was apparently burnt to the ground by the Yuezhi around 145 BCE.^[32]

Settlement in Transoxiana[link]

The Chinese mission of Zhang Qian to the Yuezhi in 126 BCE, Mogao Caves, 618-712 CE mural painting

The Yuezhi were visited by a Chinese mission, led by Zhang Qian in 126 BCE,^[33] that was seeking an offensive alliance with the Yuezhi to counter the Xiongnu threat to the north. Although the request for an alliance was denied by the son of the slain Yuezhi king, who preferred to maintain peace in Transoxiana rather than to seek revenge, Zhang Qian made a detailed account, reported in the Shiji, that gives considerable insight into the situation in Central Asia at that time.^[34]

Zhang Qian, who spent a year with the Yuezhi and in Bactria, relates that "the Great Yuezhi live 2,000 or 3,000 li (832-1,247 kilometers) west of Dayuan (Ferghana), north of the Gui (Oxus) river. They are bordered on the south by Daxia (Bactria), on the west by Anxi (Parthia), and on the north by Kangju (beyond the middle Jaxartes). They are a nation of nomads, moving from place to place with their herds, and their customs are like those of the Xiongnu. They have some 100,000 or 200,000 archer warriors."^[1]

Although they remained north of the Oxus for a while, they apparently obtained the submission of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom to the south of the Oxus. The Yuezhi were organized into five major tribes, each led by a yabgu, or tribal chief, and known to the Chinese as Xiūmì (休密) in Western Wakhān and Zibak, Guishuang (貴霜) in Badakhshan and the adjoining territories north of the Oxus, Shuangmi (雙靡) in the region of Shughnan, Xidun (肸頓) in the region of Balkh, and Dūmì (都密) in the region of Termez.^[35]

A description of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom was made by Zhang Qian after the conquest by Yuezhi:

"Daxia (Greco-Bactria) is located over 2,000 li southwest of Dayuan, south of the Gui (Oxus) river. Its people cultivate the land and have cities and houses. Their customs are like those of Ta-Yuan. It has no great ruler but only a number of petty chiefs ruling the various cities. The people are poor in the use of arms and afraid of battle, but they are clever at commerce. After the Great Yuezhi moved west and attacked the lands, the entire country came under their sway. The population of the country is large, numbering some 1,000,000 or more persons. The capital is called the city of Lanshi (Bactra) (modern Balkh) and has a market where all sorts of goods are bought and sold."^[36]

In a sweeping analysis of the physical types and cultures of Central Asia that he visited in 126 BCE, Zhang Qian reports that "although the states from Dayuan west to Anxi (Parthia), speak rather different languages, their customs are generally similar and their languages mutually intelligible. The men have deep-set eyes and profuse beards and whiskers. They are skilful at commerce and will haggle over a fraction of a cent. Women are held in great respect, and the men make decisions on the advice of their women."^[37]

Invasion of Bactria[link]

Asia in 1 CE, showing location of Tocharian/Yue-Chi tribes.

In 124 BCE, the Yuezhi were apparently involved in a war against the Parthians, in which the Parthian king Artabanus I of Parthia was wounded and died:

"During the war against the Tokharians, he (Artabanus) was wounded in the arm and died immediately" (Justin, Epitomes, XLII,2,2: "Bello Tochariis inlato, in bracchio vulneratus statim decedit").

Some time after 124 BCE, possibly disturbed by further incursions of rivals from the north and apparently vanquished by the Parthian king Mithridates II, successor to Artabanus, the Yuezhi moved south to Bactria. Bactria had been conquered by the Greeks under Alexander the Great in 330 BCE and since settled by the Hellenistic civilization of the Seleucids and the Greco-Bactrians for two centuries.

This event is recorded in Classical Greek sources, when Strabo presented them as a Scythian tribe and explained that the Tokharians—together with the Assianis, Passianis and Sakaraulis—took part in the destruction of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom in the second half of the 2nd century BCE:

"Most of the Scythians, beginning from the Caspian Sea, are called Dahae Scythae, and those situated more towards the east Massagetae and Sacae; the rest have the common appellation of Scythians, but each separate tribe has its peculiar name. All, or the greatest part of them, are nomads. The best known tribes are those who deprived the Greeks of Bactriana, the Asii, Pasiani, Tochari, and Sacarauli, who came from the country on the other side of the Jaxartes, opposite the Sacae and Sogdiani." (Strabo, 11-8-1)

The last Greco-Bactrian king, Heliocles I, retreated and moved his capital to the Kabul Valley. The eastern part of Bactria was occupied by Pashtun people.

As they settled in Bactria from around 125 BCE, the Yuezhi became Hellenized to some degree, as suggested by their adoption of the Greek alphabet and by some remaining coins, minted in the style of the Greco-Bactrian kings, with the text in Greek. The area of Bactria they settled came to be known as Tokharistan, since the Yuezhi were called "Tocharians" by the Greeks.

Commercial relations with China also flourished, as many Chinese missions were sent throughout the 1st century BCE: "The largest of these embassies to foreign states numbered several hundred persons, while even the smaller parties included over 100 members... In the course of one year anywhere from five to six to over ten parties would be sent out." (Shiji, trans. Burton Watson).

The Hou Hanshu also records the visit of Yuezhi envoys to the Chinese capital in 2 BCE, who gave oral teachings on Buddhist sutras to a student, suggesting that some Yuezhi already followed the Buddhist faith during the 1st century BCE (Baldev Kumar (1973)).

A later Chinese annotation in Shiji made by Zhang Shoujie during the early 8th century, quoting Wan Zhen's s (萬震) Strange Things from the Southern Region (Nanzhouzhi (南州志), a now-lost third century text of from the Wu kingdom), describes the Kushans as living in the same general area north of India, in cities of Greco-Roman style, and with sophisticated handicraft. The quotes are dubious, as Wan Zhen probably never visited the Yuezhi kingdom through the Silk Road, though he might have gathered his information from the trading ports in the coastal south.^[23] The Chinese never adopted the term Guishuang and continued to call them Yuezhi:

"The Great Yuezhi [Kushans] is located about seven thousand li (about 3000 km) north of India. Their land is at a high altitude; the climate is dry; the region is remote. The king of the state calls himself "son of heaven". There are so many riding horses in that country that the number often reaches several hundred thousand. City layouts and palaces are quite similar to those of Daqin (the Roman empire). The skin of the people there is reddish white. People are skilful at horse archery. Local products, rarities, treasures, clothing, and upholstery are very good, and even India cannot compare with it."^[38]

Expansion into the Hindu-Kush[link]

The area of the Hindu-Kush (Paropamisade) was ruled by the western Indo-Greek king until the reign of Hermaeus (reigned c. 90 BCE–70 BCE). After that date, no Indo-Greek kings are known in the area, which was probably^{[original research?]} overtaken by the neighbouring Yuezhi, who had been in relation with the Greeks for a long time. According to Bopearachchi, no trace of Indo-Scythian occupation (nor coins of major Indo-Scythian rulers such as Maues or Azes I) have been found in the Paropamisade and western Gandhara.

As they had done in Bactria with their copying of Greco-Bactrian coinage, the Yuezhi copied the coinage of Hermeaus on a vast scale, up to around 40 CE, when the design blends into the coinage of the Kushan king Kujula Kadphises.

The first presumed, and documented, Yuezhi prince is Sapadbizes (probably^{[original research?]} a yabgu's prince of Yuezhi confederation), who ruled around 20 BCE and minted in Greek and in the same style as the western Indo-Greek kings.

Foundation of the Kushan empire[link]

By the end of the 1st century BCE, one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi, the Guishuang (貴霜, origin of name Kushan adopted in the West), managed to take control of the Yuezhi confederation. From that point, the Yuezhi extended their control over the northwestern area of the Indian subcontinent, founding the Kushan Empire, which was to rule the region for several centuries. The Yuezhi came to be known as Kushan among Western civilizations; however, the Chinese kept calling them Yuezhi throughout their historical records over a period of several centuries.

The Yuezhi/Kushans expanded to the east during the 1st century CE to found the Kushan Empire. The first Kushan emperor, Kujula Kadphises, ostensibly associated himself with Hermaeus on his coins, suggesting that he may^{[citation needed]} have been one of his descendants by alliance, or at least wanted to claim his legacy.

The first self-declared Kushan ruler Heraios (1-30 CE) in Greco-Bactrian style.
Obv: Bust of Heraios, with Greek royal headband.
Rev: Horse-mounted King, crowned with a wreath by the Greek goddess of victory Nike. Greek legend: TVPANNOVOTOΣ HΛOV - ΣΛNΛB - KOÞÞANOY "The Tyrant Heraios, Sanav (meaning unknown), of the Kushans".

Depiction of Heraios, from his clearest coins

Possible Yuezhi king and attendants. Gandhara stone palette, 1st century CE.

The unification of the Yuezhi tribes and the rise of the Kushan are documented in the Chinese Historical chronicle, the Hou Hanshu:

"More than a hundred years later, the xihou (Ch:翖侯, "Allied Prince") of Guishuang (Badakhshan and the adjoining territories north of the Oxus), named Qiujiu Que (Ch: 丘就卻, Kujula Kadphises) attacked and exterminated the four other xihou ("Allied Princes"). He set himself up as king of a kingdom called Guishuang (Kushan). He invaded Anxi (Parthia) and took the Gaofu (Ch:高附, Kabul) region. He also defeated the whole of the kingdoms of Puda (Ch: 濮達) and Jibin (Ch: 罽賓, Kapiśa-Gandhāra). Qiujiu Que (Kujula Kadphises) was more than eighty years old when he died.

"His son, Yan Gaozhen (Ch:閻高珍) (Vima Takto), became king in his place. He returned and defeated Tianzhu (Northwestern India) and installed a General to supervise and lead it. The Yuezhi then became extremely rich. All the kingdoms call [their king] the Guishuang (Kushan) king, but the Han call them by their original name, Da Yuezhi." (Hou Hanshu, trans. John Hill,^[39][40]).

The Yuezhi/Kushan integrated Buddhism into a pantheon of many deities and became great promoters of Mahayana Buddhism, and their interactions with Greek civilization helped the Gandharan culture and Greco-Buddhism flourish.

During the 1st and 2nd century, the Kushan Empire expanded militarily to the north and occupied parts of the Tarim Basin, their original grounds, putting them at the center of the lucrative Central Asian commerce with the Roman Empire. When the Han Dynasty desired to advance north, Emperor Wu sent the explorer Zhang Qian to see the kingdoms to the west and to ally with the Yuezhi people, in order to fight the Xiongnu Mongol tribe. The Yuezhi continued to collaborate militarily with the Chinese against nomadic incursion, particularly with the Chinese general Ban Chao against the Sogdians in 84 CE when the latter were trying to support a revolt by the king of Kashgar. Around 85 CE^{[citation needed]}, they also assisted the Chinese general in an attack on Turpan, east of the Tarim Basin.

In recognition of their support to the Chinese, the Kushans requested, but were denied, a Han princess, even after they had sent presents to the Chinese court. In retaliation, they marched on Ban Chao in 86 CE with a force of 70,000 but, exhausted by the expedition, were finally defeated by the smaller Chinese force. The Kushans retreated and paid tribute to the Chinese Empire during the reign of the Chinese emperor Han He (89-106).

About 120 CE, Kushan troops installed Chenpan—a prince who had been sent as a hostage to them and had become a favorite of the Kushan Emperor—on the throne of Kashgar, thus expanding their power and influence in the Tarim Basin,^[41] and introduced the Brahmi script, the Indian Prakrit language for administration, and Greco-Buddhist art, which developed into Serindian art.

Benefiting from this territorial expansion, the Yuezhi/Kushans were among the first to introduce Buddhism to northern and northeastern Asia, by direct missionary efforts and the translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. Major Yuezhi missionaries and translators included Lokaksema and Dharmaraksa, who went to China and established translation bureaus, thereby being at the center of the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism.^{[citation needed]}

The Chinese kept referring to the Kushans as Da Yuezhi throughout the centuries. In the Sanguozhi (三國志, chap. 3), it is recorded that in 229 CE, "The king of the Da Yuezhi, Bodiao 波調 (Vasudeva I), sent his envoy to present tribute, and His Majesty (Emperor Cao Rui) granted him the title of King of the Da Yuezhi Intimate with the Wei (魏) (Ch: 親魏大月氏王, Qīn Wèi Dà Yuèzhī Wáng)."

Fall of Kushan[link]

The Sassanids extended their dominion into Bactria during the reign of Ardashir I around 230 CE.

Presumed Yuezhi rulers[link]

• Sapadbizes (c. 20 BCE)
• Agesiles (c. 20 BCE)

See also[link]

• Kushan Empire
• Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
• Pre-Islamic period of Afghanistan
• Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
• Indo-Greek Kingdom
• Indo-Scythians
• Indo-Parthian Kingdom
• Indo-Sassanid
• Greco-Buddhism
• Hephthalite
• Tocharians
• Uyghers

References[link]

Notes[link]

Reference sources[link]

• Beckwith, Christopher. (2009). Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-13589-2.
• Dorn'eich, Chris M. (2008). Chinese sources on the History of the Niusi-Wusi-Asi(oi)-Rishi(ka)-Arsi-Arshi-Ruzhi and their Kueishuang-Kushan Dynasty. Shiji 110/Hanshu 94A: The Xiongnu: Synopsis of Chinese original Text and several Western Translations with Extant Annotations. Berlin. To read or download go to: [3]
• Hill, John E. 2003. The Peoples of the West from the Weilüe 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. [4]
• Hill, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. John E. Hill. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.
• Liu, Xinru: Migration and Settlement of the Yuezhi-Kushan. Interaction and Interdependence of Nomadic and Sedentary Societies in: Journal of World History, 12 (No. 2) 2001, p. 261-292. See [5]
• "Records of the Great Historian, Han Dynasty II", Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson, Revised edition (1993) Columbia University Press, ISBN 0-231-08167-7
• RICKET,W.A.(1998) Guanzi -Political, Economic, and Philosophic Essays from Early China. Vol.II. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
• The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West. J. P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair. Thames & Hudson. London. (2000), ISBN 0-500-05101-1
• Roux, Jean-Paul, L'Asie Centrale, Histoire et Civilization (French), Fayard, 1997, ISBN 978-2-213-59894-9
• Yap, Joseph P. Wars With The Xiongnu, A Translation From Zizhi tongjian Chapters 2 & 4, AuthorHouse (2009) ISBN 978-1-4490-0604-4
• Mallory, James (2006). The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indoeuropean and the Proto-Indoeuropean world. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-929668-5 

External links[link]

• The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu, trans. John Hill
• Linguistic analysis of the connection between Yuezhi and Kushan
• Overview of Xiongnu history and their wars with the Yuezhi
• Craig Benjamin on Yuezhi migrations
• Kasim Abdullaev on Yuezhi migrations in Central Asia
• Lokesh Chandra on Yuezhi translators
• Yuezhi Sapadbizes coins
• Yuezhi Agesiles coins
• On-line Version of the Guanzi.
• Downloadable article: "Evidence that a West-East admixed population lived in the Tarim Basin as early as the early Bronze Age" Li et al. BMC Biology 2010, 8:15. [6]

Jang Dong-gun
Born	(1972-03-07) March 7, 1972 (age 40) Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Spouse	Ko So-young (2010–present)
Korean name
Hangul	장동건
Hanja	張東健
Revised Romanization	Jang Dong-geon
McCune–Reischauer	Chang Tonggŏn
Website
jangdonggun.co.kr

Jang Dong-gun (born March 7, 1972) is a top South Korean actor.

Early life[link]

Spending his childhood in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, he later went on to the Korea National University of Arts, dropping out before obtaining a degree.

Career[link]

Jang Dong-gun first entered the entertainment world in a talent contest in 1992. He began by acting in TV dramas such as The Last Match, co-starring Shim Eun-ha, and he eventually made his film debut in Repechage (1997) together with Kim Hee-sun.^[1]

By the late 1990s he had become quite popular in Korea, but he also became one of the very first Korean stars to garner a fan following in other parts of Asia, after several of his TV dramas were screened there in the late nineties. In 1999, after acting in the critically acclaimed Nowhere to Hide as Park Joong-hoon's younger partner, Jang moved on to star in a feature that was filmed on location in Shanghai. Titled Anarchists, this tale of five young terrorists from 1930s China helped to elevate his status even further.^[1]

Jang's real breakout came in early 2001 in Friend, which smashed the box office record set by Shiri to become (at the time) the biggest Korean film of all time. After playing the nice guy in almost all his previous roles, this portrayal of a tough-talking gangster from Pusan led him to local stardom. The following year he also starred in the popular action blockbuster 2009 Lost Memories set in a futuristic Great Japan.^[1]

After appearing in the low-budget film The Coast Guard by controversial director Kim Ki-duk, Jang then took the lead role in Kang Je-gyu's Taegukgi, an epic film about two brothers set during the Korean War. Sure enough, this film would beat Friend's record with an astounding 11 million tickets sold. By this time, Jang's name had become known widely throughout Asia.^[1]

Jang followed this up with The Promise, a $30 million pan-Asian production by Chinese director Chen Kaige in which he played opposite Hong Kong star Cecilia Cheung. Meanwhile, he was cast in Typhoon as a modern-day pirate who has been betrayed by both North and South Korea. Directed by Friend's Kwak Kyung-taek, Typhoon set a new record in 2005 for the highest production budget in Korean film history at $15 million.^[1]

For the next four years, Jang kept a low profile in the Korean entertainment sphere as he worked on his Hollywood debut The Warrior's Way, also starring Kate Bosworth and Geoffrey Rush. The film encountered problems with post-production and distribution, and was only released in 2010.^[2][3][4]

He returned to the silver screen in 2009 as the nation's youngest (and most eligible) head of state in Jang Jin's comedy Good Morning, President.^[5][6]

He reunited with director Kang Je-gyu in My Way, a film set during World War II based on the true story of a Korean soldier who is drafted by the Japanese army to fight in the Battle of Normandy.^[7][8][9] A large-scale, ambitious pan-Asian collaboration co-starring Japanese actor Joe Odagiri and Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, My Way is the most expensive Korean movie to date (with an estimated budget of $28 million).^[10] My Way was simultaneously released in Korea and Japan in December 2011.^[11]

His next film Dangerous Liaisons is a Chinese adaptation of the French literature classic set in 1930s Shanghai, directed by Hur Jin-ho and co-starring Zhang Ziyi and Cecilia Cheung.^[12][13][14] It premieres during Directors' Fortnight at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.^[15]

Jang will make his highly-anticipated return to television dramas in A Gentleman's Dignity, described as a 40-something male version of Sex and the City.^[16][17]

Jang is one of the highest paid actors and celebrity endorsers in Korea,^[18] consistently topping surveys by industry insiders of most bankable stars.^[19] He remains one of Korea's most beloved stars, not only for his projects but because of his gentle, kind image.^[20]

Personal life[link]

The famously private actor surprised the country in November 2009 when he went public with his two-year romance with Ko So-young.^[21][22] Since co-starring together in the 1999 film Love Wind Love Song, rumors about Jang and Ko had spread several times in the past, but both had consistently denied them. The announcement immediately sparked speculation of an impending marriage although it wasn't until March 2010 that Jang officially told his fans at a fan meeting that he would be marrying Ko in May.^[23] After months of media frenzy leading up to their nuptials,^{[24][25][26][27]} the two tied the knot on May 2, 2010 in an extravagant wedding ceremony at Seoul's Shilla Hotel which was attended by their A-list celebrity friends, swarms of reporters and fans from around the world.^[28][29][30]

Their son was born on October 4, 2010.^{[31][32][33][34]}

Jang is a practicing Buddhist, having first explored Buddhist writings while hospitalized in high school, after undergoing chest surgery.^[35]

Movies[link]

All movies below are from South Korea except as indicated.

Cover of KoreAm, December 2010

• Dangerous Liaisons (2012 )
• My Way (2011)
• The Warrior's Way (2010 )
• Good Morning, President (2009)
• The Promise (2005 )
• Typhoon (2005)
• Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)
• The Coast Guard (2002)
• 2009 Lost Memories (2002)
• Friend (2001)
• Anarchists (2000)
• Nowhere to Hide (1999)
• Love Wind Love Song (1999)
• First Kiss (cameo, 1998)
• Holiday In Seoul (1997)
• Repechage (1997)

Television dramas[link]

• A Gentleman's Dignity (2012)
• All About Eve (2000)
• Ghost (1999)
• Springtime (1999)
• Love (1998)
• Ready Go! (1998)
• Myth of a Hero (1997)
• Model (1997)
• Medical Brothers (1997)
• Icing (1996)
• The Last Match (1994)
• Il Ji Mae (1993)
• Our Heaven (1992)

Discography[link]

• Dong-gun & Bon-seung (1998)
• Flying (1995)
• Friendship by Jang Dong-gun & Jun Chul (1994)
• Jang Dong-kun (Our Heaven OST) (1993)

Awards[link]

• 2009: Andre Kim Star Awards - Best Star Award
• 2007: Korea Broadcast Advertising Festival - Best Couple Award with Soo Ae for Maxim CF
• 2007: Chunsa Film Art Awards - Korean Wave Cultural Award
• 2005: Max Movie Awards - Best Actor for Typhoon
• 2004: Blue Dragon Film Awards - Best Actor for Taegukgi
• 2001: Blue Dragon Film Awards - Popularity Award
• 2001: Asia Pacific Film Festival - Best Supporting Actor for Friend
• 2000: Blue Dragon Film Awards - Popularity Award
• 1999: Blue Dragon Film Awards - Best Supporting Actor for Nowhere to Hide
• 1999: Baeksang Arts Awards - Popularity Award
• 1997: Blue Dragon Film Awards - Best New Actor for Repechage
• 1997: MBC Drama Awards - Best Actor for Medical Brothers
• 1994: Baeksang Arts Awards - Best New Actor, TV category for The Last Match

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Site of Korea Tourism Org.: Jang Dong Gun
• Adonis Official JDG story
• Adonis International Fan Club
• Just Jang Dong Gun
• Jang Dong Gun América Latina

This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (July 2010)

Natalie Cole
Natalie Cole performing in 2005
Background information
Birth name	Natalie Maria Cole
Born	(1950-02-06) February 6, 1950 (age 62) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	R&B, soul, pop, soft rock, jazz, quiet storm, adult contemporary
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, pianist, actress
Instruments	Vocals, piano
Years active	1955–present
Labels	Capitol (1975–1981) Epic (1982–1984) Modern (1984–1986) EMI-Manhattan (1986–1990) Elektra (1991–2001) Verve (2001–2007) DMI / Rhino (2008–2010)
Associated acts	Nat King Cole
Website	www.nataliecole.com

Natalie Maria Cole (born February 6, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)", "Inseparable" and "Our Love". After a period of failing sales and performances due to a heavy drug addiction, Cole reemerged as a pop artist with the 1987 album, Everlasting, and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". In the 1990s, she re-recorded standards by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable... with Love, which sold over seven million copies and also won Cole numerous Grammy Awards.

Early life[link]

Natalie Cole was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of crooner Nat King Cole and former Duke Ellington Orchestra singer Maria Cole. Raised in the affluent Hancock Park district of Los Angeles;^[1] regarding her childhood, Cole has referred to her family as "the black Kennedys" and was exposed to many great singers of jazz, soul, and blues. At the age of six Natalie sang on her father's Christmas album and later began performing at age 11.

Cole grew up with older adopted sister Carole "Cookie" (1944–2009) (her mother Maria's younger sister's daughter); adopted brother Nat "Kelly" Cole (1959–95), and younger twin sisters Timolin and Casey (born 1961).^[2][3]

Her paternal uncle Freddy Cole is a singer and pianist with numerous albums and awards. Cole enrolled in Northfield Mount Hermon School, an elite New England preparatory school, at age 15 afer her father died of lung cancer in February 1965. Soon afterwards she began having a difficult relationship with her mother. She enrolled in the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She briefly transferred to University of Southern California where she pledged the Upsilon chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She later transferred back to the University of Massachusetts, where she majored in Child Psychology and minored in German, graduating in 1972.

Music career[link]

Early career[link]

Following graduation, Cole, who grew up listening to a variety of artists from soul artists such as Aretha Franklin to psychedelic rock icon Janis Joplin, began singing at small clubs with her band, Black Magic. Initially welcomed to the clubs due to her being Nat King Cole's daughter only to be disappointed when she began covering R&B and rock numbers. While performing, she was noted by a couple of producers in the Chicago area, Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy, who then approached her to do records. After cutting several records together, they passed off the music to several record labels. Most labels turned them down with one ironic exception. Capitol Records, her father's label, heard the records and agreed to sign her.

Cole, Yancy and Jackson went into studios in Los Angeles to polish the recordings they had shipped, resulting in the release of Cole's debut album, Inseparable, which included songs that reminded listeners of Aretha Franklin. In fact, Franklin later contended that songs such as "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)", "I Can't Say No" and others were originally offered to her while she was recording the You album. Franklin turned most of the songs down but agreed to record the title track for her album. Cole also recorded "You". Released in 1975, the album became an instant success thanks to "This Will Be", which became a top ten hit and later winning Cole a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. A second single, "Inseparable", also became a hit. Both songs reached number-one on the R&B chart. Cole also won Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards for her accomplishments. Due to the media's billing of Cole as the "new Aretha Franklin", it inadvertently started a rivalry between the two singers.

Initial stardom[link]

Becoming an instant star, Cole responded to critics of an impending sophomore slump with Natalie, released in 1976. The album, like Inseparable, became a gold success thanks to the funk-influenced cut, "Sophisticated Lady (She's a Different Lady)" and the jazz-influenced "Mr. Melody".

Cole released her first platinum record with her third release, Unpredictable, mainly thanks to the number-one R&B hit, "I've Got Love on My Mind". Originally an album track, the album's closer, "I'm Catching Hell", nonetheless became a popular Cole song during live concert shows. Later in 1977, Cole issued her fourth release and second platinum album, Thankful, which included another signature Cole hit, "Our Love". To capitalize on her fame, Cole starred on her own TV special, which attracted such celebrities as Earth, Wind & Fire, and in 1978, released her first live album, Natalie Live!

In early 1979, the singer was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That same year, she released two more albums, I Love You So and the Peabo Bryson duet album, We're the Best of Friends. Both albums reached gold status in the U.S. continuing her popularity.

Career detour and resurgence[link]

Following the release of her eighth album, 1980's Don't Look Back, Cole's career began to take a detour. While Cole scored an adult contemporary hit with the soft rock ballad "Someone That I Used To Love" off the album, the album itself failed to go gold. In 1981, Cole's personal problems including battles with drug addiction began to take public notice and her career suffered as a result. In 1983, following the release of her album, I'm Ready, released on Epic, Cole entered a rehab facility in Connecticut reportedly staying there for a period of six months.

Following her release, she signed with the Atco imprint, Modern Records, releasing Dangerous, which started a slow resurgence for Cole in terms of record sales and chart success. In 1987, she changed to EMI-Manhattan Records and released the Everlasting album, which returned her to the top of the charts thanks to singles such as "Jump Start (My Heart)", the top ten ballad, "I Live For Your Love" and her dance-pop cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". That success helped Everlasting reach one million in sales becoming Cole's first platinum album in ten years. In 1989, she released her follow-up to Everlasting, Good to Be Back, which produced the number two hit, "Miss You Like Crazy", which also achieved international success reaching the top ten in the United Kingdom.

Cole released her best-selling album with 1991's Unforgettable... with Love on Elektra Records, which saw Cole singing songs her famous father recorded, nearly 20 years after she initially had refused to cover her father's songs during live concerts. Cole produced vocal arrangements for the songs, with piano accompaniment by her uncle Ike Cole. Cole's label released an interactive duet between Cole and her father on the title song, "Unforgettable". The song eventually reached number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and number ten on the R&B chart, going gold. Unforgettable...with Love eventually sold more than seven million copies in the U.S. alone winning several Grammys including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance for the top song.

Cole followed that success with another album of jazz standards titled Take a Look, in 1993, which included her recording of the title track in the same styling that her idol Aretha Franklin had recorded nearly 30 years earlier. The album eventually went gold while a holiday album, Holly & Ivy, also became gold. Another standards release, Stardust, went platinum and featured another duet with her father on a modern version of "When I Fall in Love", which helped Cole earn another Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

Later works[link]

In 1999, Cole returned to her 1980s-era urban contemporary recording style with the release of Snowfall on the Sahara on June and second holiday album The Magic of Christmas on October, which recorded with London Symphony Orchestra. A year later, the singer collaborated on the production of her biopic, Livin' For Love: The Natalie Cole Story, which featured Theresa Randle in the role of Cole. She also released the compilation Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 to fulfill her contract with Elektra. She changed to Verve Records and released two albums. 2002's Ask a Woman Who Knows continued her jazz aspirations, while 2006's Leavin' again featured Cole singing pop, rock and R&B standards. Her cover of Aretha Franklin's "Daydreaming", became a minor hit on the R&B charts. In 2008, seventeen years after Unforgettable... with Love, Cole released Still Unforgettable, which included not only songs made famous by her father but other artists, including Frank Sinatra. The album later resulted in Grammy wins for Cole.

In April of 2012, she appeared as a Pennington Great Performers series artist with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.

Television and film[link]

Cole has carved out a secondary career in acting. She has also appeared several times in live concerts or other music related programs, including the 1998 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute with sidemen Richard Campbell, Jeffrey Worrell, Eddie Cole and Dave Joyce. In 1990, she (along with jazz vocalist Al Jarreau) sang the song "Mr. President" (written by Ray Reach, Mike Loveless and Joe Sterling) on HBO's Comic Relief special, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams and Billy Crystal. After Johnny Mathis appeared on a special of Cole's in 1980, the two kept in contact, and in 1992, he invited Cole to be a part of his television special titled "A Tribute To Nat Cole" for BBC-TV in England. It had high viewer ratings and was successful. From that project, an album with the same name was released, and featured several medley and solo numbers.

In 1992, following the success of the Unforgettable: With Love album, PBS broadcast a special based on the album. Unforgettable, With Love: Natalie Cole Sings the Songs of Nat "King" Cole received emmy nominations for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program; and Cole received a nomination for Outstanding Individual Performance, losing to Bette Midler.

In 1993, she was among the Guests of Honor attending Wrestlemania IX at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada. She was interviewed by television staff after the conclusion of the Money Incorporated vs Megamaniacs tag team match regarding her upcoming work. The same year she performed at 65th Academy Awards performing medley of two Oscar nominated songs: "Run to You" and "I Have Nothing", both originally performed by Whitney Houston in The Bodyguard.

Cole has made a number of dramatic appearances on television, including guest appearances on I'll Fly Away, Touched by an Angel, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2006, she made a memorable guest appearance on the popular ABC show Grey's Anatomy as a terminally ill patient. Her character visited Seattle Grace Hospital to have a fork removed from her neck that her husband had stabbed her with during a mishap; the couple had been having sex in public.^[4]

Cole has also made several appearances in feature films, most recently in the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely. She has appeared in several made-for-TV movies, most notably as the lead in Lily in Winter. Cole was featured on Macy Gray's album Big, singing "Finally Make Me Happy".

In 2001 she starred as herself in Livin' for Love: the Natalie Cole Story, for which she received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television, Mini-Series of Dramatic Special.

She also sang the national anthem with the Atlanta University Center Chorus at Super Bowl XXVIII.

On December 2, 2006, Cole performed for the first time in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, as part of the annual Cayman Jazz Fest.^[5]

On the February 5, 2007 episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Cole sang "I Say a Little Prayer" at a benefit dinner for Harriet Hayes (Sarah Paulson).