Countries described in Zhang Qian's report. Visited countries are highlighted in blue.

Kangju (also known as Kangly) (Chinese: 康居) was the name of an ancient people and the kingdom they established in central Asia. It was mentioned by the Chinese traveller and diplomat Zhang Qian who visited the area c. 128 BCE:

"Kangju is situated some 2,000 li [832 kilometers] northwest of Dayuan. Its people are nomads and resemble the Yuezhi in their customs. They have 80,000 or 90,000 skilled archer fighters. The country is small, and borders Dayuan. It acknowledges sovereignty to the Yuezhi people in the South and the Xiongnu in the East."^[1]

By the time of the Hanshu (which covers the period from 125 BCE to 23 CE), Kangju had expanded considerably to a nation of some 600,000 individuals with 120,000 men able to bear arms. By this time Kangju had gained control of Sogdiana in which it had installed “five lesser kings” (小王五).^[2]

Kangju was referred to simply as the State of Kang (康国) during the Sui and Tang dynasties, though by that time the area was ruled by the Gokturk Khaganate.^{citation needed}

Notes

1. ^ "Records of the Great Historian, Han Dynasty II", Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson, Revised edition (1993) Columbia University Press, p. 234. ISBN 0-231-08167-7
2. ^ Hulsewé, A.F.P. (1979) China in Central Asia: The Early Stage (123 B.C.–A.D. 23). Leiden, E.J. Brill. ISBN 90 04 05884 2, pp. 126, 130-131.

References

• Hill, John E. 2004. The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu. Draft annotated English translation.[1]
• Hill, John E. 2004. 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. [2]
• 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 [3]
• 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 0500051011