Kangju

Kangju (Chinese: 康居) was the name of an ancient people and the kingdom they established in central Asia. It was a nomadic federation of unknown ethnic and linguistic origin and became for a couple of centuries the second greatest power in Transoxiana after the Yuezhi. ["The Nomads of northern Central Asia," p. 463. Y. A. Zadneprovsky in: "History of civilizations of Central Asia Volume II: The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 B.C. to A.D. 250". Editor: János Harmatta. UNESCO publishing. Paris. ISBN 92-3-102846-4.]

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 [= Ferghana] . It acknowledges sovereignty to the Yuezhi people in the South and the Xiongnu in the East." ["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]

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. Kangju is clearly now a major power in its own right. By this time it had gained control of Dayuan (= Sogdiana) in which it controlled “five lesser kings” (小王五). [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, 130-132.] The kingdom of Yancai (lit. "Vast Steppe"), strategically centered near the northern shore of the Aral Sea straddling the northern branch of the Silk Route, and which had 100,000 "trained bowmen," had become a dependency of Kangju. [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, p. 129, n. 316.]

The account in the "Hou Hanshu", based on a report to the Chinese emperor c. 125 CE, mentions that both the "old" Yancai (which had changed its name to Alanliao and seems here to have expanded its territory to the Caspian Sea), and Yan, a country to Yancai's north, were both dependencies of Kangju. [The draft edition of "The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu," Sections 18 and 19. Translated and annotated by John E. Hill. [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/hhshu/hou_han_shu.html#sec18] ]

The biography of the Chinese General Ban Chao in the "Hou Hanshu" says in 94 CE that the Yuezhi were arranging a marriage of their king with a Kangju princess. The Chinese then sent "considerable presents of silks" to the Yuezhi successfully gaining their help in pressuring the Kangju to stop supporting the king of Kashgar against them. ["Trois généraux chinois de la dynastie des Han orientaux," by Édouard Chavannes, p. 230. In: "T'ouang pao" 7 (1906)]

The third century Weilüe states that Kangju was among a number of countries that "had existed previously and neither grown nor shrunk," but adds that the "Kingdom of Northern Wuyi" (Khujand – Alexandria Escharte) was a "distinct kingdom in the northern part of Kangju" [The draft edition of "The Peoples of the West from the Weilüe" 魏略 by "Yu Huan" translated and annotated by John E. Hill [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html] ]

Kangju maintained its independence and continued sending envoys to China up until the end of the third century CE. Shortly after its power began to wane and it was later absorbed into the Hephthalite empire. ["The Nomads of northern Central Asia," p. 463. Y. A. Zadneprovsky in: "History of civilizations of Central Asia Volume II: The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations: 700 B.C. to A.D. 250". Editor: János Harmatta. UNESCO publishing. Paris. ISBN 92-3-102846-4.]

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. ["Tangshu" chapter 221b, p. 1, translated (into French) by Édouard Chavannes in "Documents sur les tou-kiue [turcs] occidentaux", pp. 132-147. Paris. (1900).]

Footnotes

References

* Hill, John E. 2004. "The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu." Draft annotated English translation. [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/hhshu/hou_han_shu.html]
* 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. [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html]
*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 [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jwh/]
*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