Records of the Historian, Dawan Liezhuan

This short cluster is one of the cleanest Chinese maps of the western steppe beyond Dawan. Wusun, Kangju, and Yancai appear as mobile states, counted by archers and situated along the road from China toward the Caspian and the northern sea-world.

For the Scythian shelf, the names matter because they mark the eastern neighbors and possible successor fields of Saka and steppe Iranian history. The page does not collapse them into one people; it preserves the Chinese distinctions.

The translation below is from the Classical Chinese text of the Dawan liezhuan.

Translation

Wusun lies about two thousand li northeast of Dawan. It is a mobile state, following its herds, and its customs are the same as those of the Xiongnu. It has tens of thousands who draw the bow and are brave in war. Formerly it submitted to the Xiongnu. When it became strong, it took in subordinate peoples and would not go to the Xiongnu court assemblies.

Kangju lies about two thousand li northwest of Dawan. It is a mobile state, and its customs are broadly the same as those of the Yuezhi. It has eighty or ninety thousand men who draw the bow. It borders Dawan. The country is small; in the south it is loosely subject to the Yuezhi, and in the east loosely subject to the Xiongnu.

Yancai lies about two thousand li northwest of Kangju. It is a mobile state, and its customs are broadly the same as those of Kangju. It has more than one hundred thousand men who draw the bow. It lies beside a great marsh without shores; this, it is said, is the Northern Sea.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Scythian shelf by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the source text printed below. The English is an independent rendering from the source-language Chinese, with existing public translations used only as controls for difficult or conventional passages.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Shiji, Dawan Liezhuan, Wusun, Kangju, Yancai

Classical Chinese source text from the Shiji. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

烏孫在大宛東北可二千里，行國，隨畜，與匈奴同俗。控弦者數萬，敢戰。故服匈奴，及盛，取其羈屬，不肯往朝會焉。

康居在大宛西北可二千里，行國，與月氏大同俗。控弦者八九萬人。與大宛鄰國。國小，南羈事月氏，東羈事匈奴。

奄蔡在康居西北可二千里，行國，與康居大同俗。控弦者十餘萬。臨大澤，無崖，蓋乃北海云。

Source Colophon

Classical Chinese text inspected from Chinese Text Project, Shiji, Dawan Liezhuan, paragraphs 7-9. The English rendering above is newly prepared from the Chinese, with the CTP English display used only as a control.

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