How China Lost Central Asia

A History of Mankind (265)

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As the Southern Xiongnu strengthened their hold on China’s northwest late in the 1^st century and early in the 2^nd century, Qiang tribes – named after the root word for “sheep” or “yang” in modern Chinese – became a major problem all along the western borders.

Chinese chronicles had various semi-mythological accounts of the Qiang’s origins. The most colorful has Wuyi Yuanjian, a fugitive slave who ran away from the Qin state during the Warring States era and married a woman with a cut-off nose whom he met in the wild; having survived a fire set by slave-catchers, Wuyi became the Qiang’s leader as they thought he had magical powers, and taught animal husbandry to the barbarian mountain peoples.

The story, even if false, is still highly informative.