Good Works Translation from Volume 97

This Good Works Translation renders selected Western Rong notices from Jin Shu volume 97.

For the Scythian shelf, these passages preserve a Jin-dynasty horizon after the Han histories, naming Yanqi, Kucha, Dawan, Kangju, and Daqin as western frontier witnesses.

The Classical Chinese source text is printed below the translation.

Translation

Yanqi

The state of Yanqi was 8,200 li west of Luoyang. Its land reached south to Yuli and touched Wusun to the north. It was four hundred li square. On all four sides were great mountains, and the roads were dangerous and narrow; if a hundred men guarded them, a thousand could not pass. Their custom was for men to cut their hair; women wore jackets and large trousers. Marriage was like that of China. They liked goods and profit and entrusted themselves to treachery and deceit. The king had several tens of attendants and guards, all arrogant and slow, without rituals of honored and lowly.

In Emperor Wu's Taikang period, their king Long An sent his son to serve in attendance. An's wife was a daughter of the Kuai Hu. She carried a pregnancy for twelve months, then gave birth to a son by cutting open her side. He was named Hui and was established as heir. Hui was brave and outstanding while young. When An was gravely ill, he said to Hui: "I was once shamed by Baishan, king of Kucha, and have not forgotten it in my heart. If you can wipe this away, then you are my son." When Hui came to the throne, he attacked and destroyed Baishan, occupied his state, and sent his own son Xi back to the original state to be king. Hui had courage, spirit, and strategic planning. He then dominated the western Hu, and east of the Congling none failed to submit. Yet relying on bravery, he was careless. Once he lodged outside, and Luo Yun, a man of Kucha, killed him.

Later Zhang Jun sent Yang Xuan, governor of Shazhou, to lead troops and order the Western Regions. Xuan made his subordinate general Zhang Zhi the vanguard, and wherever he went the enemy fell like grass before wind. The army halted in Yanqi. Xi resisted in battle at Benlun city and was defeated by Zhi. Zhi was then stationed at Tiemen, not yet more than ten li away, when Xi again led troops and first intercepted him at Zheliu Valley. As Zhi was about to arrive, someone said: "The Han ancestor was endangered at Bairen, and Cen Peng died at Pengwang. Now this valley is named Zheliu, 'blocking and detaining'; perhaps there is an ambush?" Zhi tried it with a single horseman, and sure enough an ambush came out. Zhi galloped against it and defeated it, advanced and occupied Yuli, and Xi led forty thousand of his subordinates, bare-shouldered, in surrender to Xuan. When Lu Guang campaigned against the Western Regions, Yanqi again surrendered to Guang. When Guang usurped the throne, Xi again sent a son to serve in attendance.

Kucha

The state of Kucha was 8,280 li west of Luoyang. Its custom had walls and cities. Its city had three rings, and within it were a thousand Buddhist stupas and temples. The people made their livelihood by farming, sowing, and raising livestock. Men and women all cut their hair so it hung to the neck. The royal palace was magnificent and bright as if it were the dwelling of spirits.

In Emperor Wu's Taikang period, its king sent a son to serve in attendance. At the end of the reigns of Hui and Huai, because China was in disorder, the king sent envoys with local products to Zhang Chonghua. In Fu Jian's time, Jian sent his general Lu Guang with seventy thousand troops to attack it. King Bai Chun resisted at the border and would not surrender. Guang advanced the army, punished him, and pacified the state.

Dawan

The state of Dawan was 13,350 li from Luoyang. Southward it reached the Great Yuezhi; northward it touched Kangju. It had more than seventy large and small cities. The soil was suitable for rice and wheat. It had grape wine and many fine horses; the horses sweated blood. The people all had deep eyes and many beards. According to their custom, when taking a wife they first used gold concentric finger rings as betrothal gifts, and also tested her with three maidservants. If she did not bear sons, the marriage was cut off. If adultery produced a child, they all held the mother in low regard. When a person rode another man's horse, and the horse was badly matched so that the rider fell and died, the horse's owner provided the burial equipment. They were good at market trade and contended over the profit of the smallest weight. When they obtained Chinese gold and silver, they always made vessels and objects from it and did not use it as currency.

In the sixth Taikang year, Emperor Wu sent the envoy Yang Hao to appoint King Lanyu as King of Dawan. Lanyu died, and his son Mozhi came to the throne and sent envoys presenting blood-sweating horses.

Kangju

The state of Kangju lay about two thousand li northwest of Dawan, neighboring Suyi and Yilie. Its king lived in Suxie city. Its customs, human appearance, and clothing were roughly the same as Dawan. The land was mild and warm, rich in paulownia, willows, and grapes. It had many cattle and sheep and produced good horses. In the Taishi period, its king Nabi sent envoys submitting a sealed memorial and also presented fine horses.

Daqin

The state of Daqin, also called Lijian, lay west of the Western Sea. Its land measured several thousand li in each direction. It had cities and towns; the city wall circuit was more than a hundred li. The buildings all used coral for brackets and rafters, glass for walls, and crystal for column bases. Its king had five palaces, each ten li from the next. Every morning he heard affairs in one palace; when the circuit was finished he began again. If the state had disasters or strange events, they immediately set up a worthy man in his place and banished the old king, and the banished one did not dare complain. There were offices, registers, and records, and the writing followed Hu usage. They also had small carts with white canopies, banners and flags, and relay-post institutions, all like the Central Region.

The people were tall and large. Their appearance resembled Chinese people, but they wore Hu clothing. The land produced much gold, jade, precious things, bright pearls, and large cowries. There were night-shining discs, rhinoceros horn that frightens chickens, and fire-washed cloth. They could also embroider with gold thread and make layered brocade and thread carpets. They used gold and silver as money, ten silver coins equaling one gold coin. Anxi and Indian people traded with them in the sea, and the profit was a hundredfold. When envoys from neighboring states arrived, they were always provisioned with gold coins. The road passed through the great sea. The seawater was salty and bitter and could not be eaten; merchants going and returning all carried three years' grain, and therefore arrivals were rare.

In Han times, the protector-general Ban Chao sent his subordinate Gan Ying as envoy to this state. When he reached the sea, the sailors said: "In the sea there is something that causes longing. None who go fail to become sad at heart. If the Han envoy does not long for father and mother, wife and children, he may enter." Ying could not cross. In Emperor Wu's Taikang period, its king sent envoys with tribute.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from selected Classical Chinese passages in Jin Shu volume 97, Biographies 67, Four Barbarians, preserved in the local Scythian expansion source base.

The translation is complete for the source body printed below.

Compiled for the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Classical Chinese

### Yanqi

焉耆國西去洛陽八千二百里，其地南至尉犁，北與烏孫接，方四百里。四面有大山，道險隘，百人守之，千人不過。其俗丈夫翦髮，婦人衣襦，著大褲。婚姻同華夏。好貨利，任姦詭。王有侍衛數十人，皆倨慢無尊卑之禮。

武帝太康中，其王龍安遣子入侍。安夫人獪胡之女，妊身十二月，剖脅生子，曰會，立之為世子。會少而勇傑，安病篤，謂會曰：「我嘗為龜茲王白山所辱，不忘於心。汝能雪之，乃吾子也。」及會立，襲滅白山，遂據其國，遣子熙歸本國為王。會有膽氣籌略，遂霸西胡，葱嶺以東莫不率服。然恃勇輕率，嘗出宿於外，為龜茲國人羅雲所殺。

其後張駿遣沙州刺史楊宣率眾疆理西域，宣以部將張植為前鋒，所向風靡。軍次其國，熙距戰於賁崙城，為植所敗。植時屯鐵門，未至十餘里，熙又率眾先要之於遮留谷。植將至，或曰：「漢祖畏於柏人，岑彭死於彭亡，今谷名遮留，殆將有伏？」植單騎嘗之，果有伏發。植馳擊敗之，進據尉犁，熙率群下四萬人肉袒降于宣。呂光討西域，復降于光。及光僭位，熙又遣子入侍。

### Kucha

龜茲國西去洛陽八千二百八十里，俗有城郭，其城三重，中有佛塔廟千所。人以田種畜牧為業，男女皆翦髮垂項。王宮壯麗，煥若神居。

武帝太康中，其王遣子入侍。惠懷末，以中國亂，遣使貢方物於張重華。苻堅時，堅遣其將呂光率眾七萬伐之，其王白純距境不降，光進軍討平之。

### Dawan

大宛國去洛陽萬三千三百五十里，南至大月氏，北接康居，大小七十餘城。土宜稻麥，有蒲陶酒，多善馬，馬汗血。其人皆深目多鬚。其俗娶婦先以金同心指鐶為娉，又以三婢試之。不男者絕婚，姦淫有子，皆卑其母。與人馬乘不調墜死者，馬主出斂具。善市賈，爭分銖之利，得中國金銀，輒為器物，不用為幣也。

太康六年，武帝遣使楊顥拜其王藍庾為大宛王。藍庾卒，其子摩之立，遣使貢汗血馬。

### Kangju

康居國在大宛西北可二千里，與粟弋、伊列鄰接。其王居蘇薤城。風俗及人貌、衣服略同大宛。地和暖，饒桐柳蒲陶，多牛羊，出好馬。泰始中，其王那鼻遣使上封事，并獻善馬。

### Daqin

大秦國一名犁鞬，在西海之西，其地東西南北各數千里。有城邑，其城周回百餘里。屋宇皆以珊瑚為棁栭，琉璃為牆壁，水精為柱礎。其王有五宮，其宮相去各十里，每旦於一宮聽事，終而復始。若國有災異，輒更立賢人，放其舊王，被放者亦不敢怨。有官曹簿領，而文字習胡，亦有白蓋小車、旌旗之屬，及郵驛制置，一如中州。其人長大，貌類中國人而胡服。其土多出金玉寶物、明珠、大貝，有夜光璧、駭雞犀及火浣布，又能刺金縷繡及積錦縷罽。以金銀為錢，銀錢十當金錢之一。安息、天竺人與之交市於海中，其利百倍。鄰國使到者，輒廩以金錢。途經大海，海水鹹苦不可食，商客往來皆齎三歲糧，是以至者稀少。

漢時都護班超遣掾甘英使其國，入海，船人曰：「海中有思慕之物，往者莫不悲懷。若漢使不戀父母妻子者，可入。」英不能渡。武帝太康中，其王遣使貢獻。

Source Colophon

The Classical Chinese source body was extracted from the local source-text page Good Works Library Ready/Scythian/Expansion Bench 2026-05-11/Jin Shu — Dawan, Kangju, and Daqin in the Western Rong Biography — Classical Chinese Source Text.md and copied for this translation pass at Tulku/Tools/scythian/sources/expansion_bench_2026-05-11/jinshu_western_rong_chinese_source_manual96.txt.

The local source page identifies its inspection route as Chinese Text Project, CTP URN ctp:ws282778, with Wikisource used as a comparison route.

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