Records of the Historian, Dawan Liezhuan

This passage is the gateway through which Han historical vision first enters the far western steppe. The report is brutal and precise: the Xiongnu broke the Yuezhi king and used his head as a drinking vessel; the Yuezhi fled and wanted revenge.

For the Scythian shelf, this is eastern evidence for the chain of pressure that moved peoples across Central Eurasia: Xiongnu, Yuezhi, Dawan, Kangju, Bactria, and the western world beyond them.

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

Translation

The trace of Dawan first became visible with Zhang Qian. Zhang Qian was a man of Hanzhong. In the Jianyuan period he served as a palace gentleman. At that time the Son of Heaven questioned Xiongnu who had surrendered. They all said that the Xiongnu had broken the king of the Yuezhi and made his head into a drinking vessel. The Yuezhi had fled and always held hatred against the Xiongnu, but had no ally with whom to strike them.

Han was then preparing to destroy the Hu. Hearing this report, the court wished to send an envoy and establish communication. The road necessarily passed through the midst of the Xiongnu, so a capable envoy was sought. Qian, being a palace gentleman, answered the call. He was sent to the Yuezhi, going out from Longxi with Ganfu, a Hu slave belonging to the Tangyi family.

They passed through Xiongnu territory, and the Xiongnu seized him and conveyed him to the Chanyu. The Chanyu detained him and said, The Yuezhi are north of us; how can Han send an envoy there? If I wished to send an envoy to Yue, would Han consent? He detained Qian for more than ten years. Qian took a wife and had a son, yet he held the Han envoy's tally and did not lose it.

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.

🌲

Source Text: Shiji, Dawan Liezhuan, Zhang Qian's Mission

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

大宛之跡，見自張騫。張騫，漢中人。建元中為郎。是時天子問匈奴降者，皆言匈奴破月氏王，以其頭為飲器，月氏遁逃而常怨仇匈奴，無與共擊之。漢方欲事滅胡，聞此言，因欲通使。道必更匈奴中，乃募能使者。騫以郎應募，使月氏，與堂邑氏（故）胡奴甘父俱出隴西。經匈奴，匈奴得之，傳詣單于。單于留之，曰：「月氏在吾北，漢何以得往使？吾欲使越，漢肯聽我乎？」留騫十餘歲，與妻，有子，然騫持漢節不失。

Source Colophon

Classical Chinese text inspected from Chinese Text Project, Shiji, Dawan Liezhuan, paragraph 1. The English rendering above is newly prepared from the Chinese, with the CTP English display used only as a control.

🌲