View source for Yancai

{{about|a nomadic people of ancient Central Asia|a contemporaneous city state of the Tarim Basin, sometimes known also as Yanqi|Karasahr}}

[[File:ZhangQianTravel.jpg|thumb|350px|Countries described in Zhang Qian's report. Visited countries are highlighted in blue.]]
'''Yancai''' ({{zh|c=奄蔡|p=Yǎncài|w=Yen-ts’ai|l=Vast Steppe}} < [[Eastern Han Chinese|LHC]] *''ʔɨam<sup>A</sup>''-''sɑ<sup>C</sup>'' < [[Old Chinese|OC]] (125 BCE) *''ʔɨam-sɑs'', a.k.a. 闔蘇 '''Hésū''' < *''ĥa̱p-sa̱ĥ''; compare also [[Latin]] ''Abzoae''<ref>Schuessler, Axel (2014). "Phonological Notes on Hàn Period Transcriptions of Foreign Names and Words" [http://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/Files/LL/UploadFiles/MonoFullText/Studies%20in%20Chinese%20and%20Sino-Tibetan%20Linguistics.pdf (PDF)]. Studies in Chinese and Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Dialect, Phonology, Transcription and Text. Language and Linguistics Monograph Series. Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica (53). p. 268</ref><ref>[[Hanshu]], commentated by [[Yan Shigu]], [http://www.guoxue123.com/Shibu/0101/01hsyz/082.htm vol. 70] text: "師古曰：「胡廣云康居北可一千里有國名奄蔡，一名闔蘇。然則闔蘇即奄蔡也。」"</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last= Yu|first= Taishan|title= A Study of Saka History|journal= Sino-Platonic Papers|issue= 80|date= July 1998|url= http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp080_saka_sai.pdf|quote= Yan Shigu's 顏師古 commentary says: "Hu Guang 胡廣 adds: "Some 1,000 li to the north of Kangju was a state named Yancai, which also was named Hesu. Hence Hesu was identical with Yancai." This shows that the Yancai were also called the Hesu in the Han times.}}</ref><ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' IV [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/pliny_elder-natural_history/1938/pb_LCL352.365.xml page 365]</ref><ref>Hulsewé. A. F .P. (1979) ''China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 BC - AD 23: an annotated translation of chapters 61 and 96 of the History of the Former Han Dynasty.'' p. 129, n. 316. cited in John E. Hill. Translator's Notes [https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/notes11_30.html#25_3 25.3 & 25.4] to draft translation of [[Yu Huan]]'s [[Weilüe]]. quote: "Chavannes (1905), p. 558, note 5, approves of the identification of Yen-ts’ai with the ‘Αορσοι mentioned by Strabo, as proposed by Hirth (1885), p. 139, note 1 ; he believes this identification to be strengthened by the later name Alan, which explains Ptolemy’s “Alanorsi”. Marquart (1905), pp. 240-241, did not accept this identification, but Pulleyblank (1963), pp. 99 and 220, does, referring for additional support to HSPC 70.6b where the name Ho-su 闔蘇, reconstructed in ‘Old Chinese’ as ĥa̱p-sa̱ĥ, can be compared with Abzoae found in Pliny VI, 38 (see also Pulleyblank (1968), p. 252). Also Humbach (1969), pp. 39-40, accepts the identification, though with some reserve."</ref>) was the Chinese name of an ancient [[nomadic]] state centered near the [[Aral Sea]] during the [[Han dynasty]] period (206 BC—220 AD). They are generally considered to have been an [[Iranian peoples|Iranian people]] of the [[Sarmatians|Sarmatian]] group. After becoming vassals of the [[Kangju]] in the 1st century BC, Yancai became known as '''Alan''' ({{zh|c=阿蘭|p=Ālán|w=A-lan}}). '''Yancai''' 奄蔡 is often connected to the [[Aorsi]] of [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] records,<ref>[[Yu Huan]], ''[[Weilüe]]''. draft translation by John E. Hill (2004). ''Translator's Notes'' [https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/notes11_30.html#11_2 11.2] quote: "Yăncài, already mentioned in the text as a country northwest of Kāngjū (at that time in the region of Tashkend), has long been identified with the Aorsoi of western sources, a nomadic people out of whom the well-known Alans later emerged (Pulleyblank [1962: 99, 220; 1968:252])".</ref> while 阿蘭 '''Alan''' has been connected to the later [[Alans]].{{efn|According to [[Édouard Chavannes|Chavannes]] (1907), [[Weilüe]] correctly states that Yancai's alternative name is simply 阿蘭 ''Ālán'' instead of 阿蘭聊 ''Ālánliáo'' as recorded in [[Book of Later Han]]; as 聊 ''Liáo'' looks similar to 柳 ''Liǔ'', the name of a separate country already mentioned before 岩 ''Yán'' & 阿蘭 ''Ālán''.<ref>[https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E5%9C%8B%E5%BF%97/%E5%8D%B730#%E8%A5%BF%E6%88%8E ''Weilüe'': "Western Regions"], quoted in Sanguozhi vol. 30</ref><ref>''Houhanshu'', Vol. 88: Xiyu zhuan [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%BE%8C%E6%BC%A2%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B788#%E5%A5%84%E8%94%A1%E5%9C%8B Yancai]" quote: "奄蔡國，改名阿兰聊國，居地城，屬康居。土气温和，多桢松、白草。民俗衣服與康居同。"</ref><ref>Hill, John E. (translator). ''The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu: The Xiyu juan'' “Chapter on the Western Regions” from Hou Hanshu 88 2nd Ed [https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/hhshu/notes19.html "Section 19 – The Kingdom of Alanliao 阿蘭聊 (the Alans)"]</ref>}}

==History==
Yancai is first mentioned in Chapter 123 of the ''[[Shiji]]'' (whose author, [[Sima Qian]], died c. 90 BC), based on the travels of 2nd century BC Chinese diplomat [[Zhang Qian]]:
{{quote|text=Yancai lies some 2,000 ''li'' [832 km]<ref>The Chinese ''[[li (Chinese unit)|li]]'' of the Han period differs from the modern [[SI base unit]] of length; one ''li'' was equivalent to 415.8 metres.</ref> northwest of [[Kangju]]. The people are nomads and their customs are generally similar to those of the people of Kangju. The country has over 100,000 archer warriors, and borders on a great shoreless lake.<ref>Perhaps what is known in the sources as   the Northern Sea". The "Great Shoreless lake" probably referred to both the [[Aral Sea|Aral]] and [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] seas. Source in Watson, Burton trans. 1993. ''Records of the Grand Historian by [[Sima Qian]]. Han Dynasty II.'' (Revised Edition), p. 234. [[Columbia University Press]]. New York. {{ISBN|0-231-08166-9}}; {{ISBN|0-231-08167-7}} (pbk.)</ref>}}

The people of Yancai are usually considered an [[Iranian peoples|Iranian people]] of the [[Sarmatians|Sarmatian]] group.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy465">{{harvnb|Zadneprovskiy|1994|pp=465–467}}</ref> They are often connected to the [[Aorsi]] of [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] records, who dominated the area between the [[Don River (Russia)|Don]] and the Aral Sea and were both a wealthy mercantile people and a powerful military force.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy465"/><ref name="Osprey7">{{harvnb|Brzezinski|Mielczarek|2002|pp=7–8}}</ref> According to Chinese sources, Yancai belonged to the northern part of the [[Silk Route]], known as the Northern Route.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy465"/> The Chinese sent embassies to Yancai and actively promoted trading relations.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy465"/>

The Later [[Han dynasty]] Chinese chronicle, the ''[[Book of Later Han|Hou Hanshu]]'', 88 (covering the period 25–220 and completed in the 5th century),  mentioned a report that Yancai was now as vassal state of the Kangju known as Alanliao:

{{quote|text=The kingdom of Yancai [lit. ‘Vast Steppe’] has changed its name to the kingdoms of Alan [and] Liao. They occupy the country and the towns. They are dependencies of Kangju [the Talas basin, Tashkent and Sogdiana]. The climate is mild. Wax trees, pines, and ‘white grass’ [aconite] are plentiful. Their way of life and dress are similar to those of Kangju.<ref>Hill, John E. 2015. ''Through the Jade Gate - China to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes 1st to 2nd Centuries CE''. 2nd Edition. Volume I, p. 33.</ref>}}

Y. A. Zadneprovskiy writes that the subjection of Yancai by the Kangju occurred in the 1st century BC.<ref name="Zadneprovskiy465"/> The westward expansion of the Kangju obliged many of the Sarmatians to migrate westwards, and this contributed significantly to the [[Migration Period]] in [[Europe]], which played a major role in [[World history (field)|world history]].<ref name="Zadneprovskiy464">{{harvnb|Zadneprovskiy|1994|pp=464–465}}</ref> The name Alanliao has been connected by modern scholars with that of the [[Alans]].<ref name="Zadneprovskiy465"/>

Yancai is last mentioned in the 3rd century [[Weilüe]]:

{{quote|text=Then there is the kingdom of Liu, the kingdom of Yan [to the north of Yancai], and the kingdom of Yancai [between the Black and Caspian Seas], which is also called Alan. They all have the same way of life as those of Kangju. To the west, they border [[Daqin|Da Qin]] [Roman territory], to the southeast they border Kangju [the Chu, Talas, and middle Jaxartes basins]. These kingdoms have large numbers of their famous sables. They raise cattle and move about in search of water and fodder. They are close to a large shoreless lake. Previously they were vassals of Kangju [the Chu, Talas, and middle Jaxartes basins]. Now they are no longer vassals.<ref>[http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html For an earlier version of this translation]</ref><ref>[https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E5%9C%8B%E5%BF%97/%E5%8D%B730#%E8%A5%BF%E6%88%8E ''Weilüe'': "Western Regions"], quoted in Sanguozhi vol. 30. quote: "又有柳國，又有岩國，又有奄蔡國一名阿蘭，皆與康居同俗。西與大秦東南與康居接。其國多名貂，畜牧逐水草，臨大澤，故時羈屬康居，今不屬也。"</ref>}}

In the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, the Alans emerged as the dominant people of the Sarmatians either through conquering or absorbing other tribes.<ref name="Osprey7"/> At this time they migrated westwards to [[Southern Russia]] and frequently raided the [[Parthian Empire|Parthian]] and [[Roman Empire]].

==See also==
* [[Yuezhi]]
* [[Wusun]]
* [[Xiongnu]]
* [[Dayuan]]
* [[List of ancient Iranian peoples]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==

===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
*{{cite book |last1=Brzezinski |first1=Richard |last2=Mielczarek |first2=Mariusz |date=2002 |title=The Sarmatians, 600 BC-AD 450 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eeGZEgdj9-cC |publisher=[[Osprey Publishing]] |isbn=184176485X |access-date=7 June 2015 }}
*{{cite book |last=Zadneprovskiy |first=Y. A. |chapter=The Nomads of Northern Central Asia After The Invasion of Alexander |editor1-last=Harmatta |editor1-first=János |editor1-link=János Harmatta |date=1 January 1994 |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations, 700 B. C. to A. D. 250 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9U6RlVVjpakC |publisher=[[UNESCO]] |pages=457–472 |isbn=9231028464 |access-date=7 June 2015 }}
* Hill, John E. 2015. ''Through the Jade Gate - China to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes 1st to 2nd Centuries CE''. 2nd Edition. Volume I. CreateSpace. Charleston, S.C.

{{Scythia}}
{{Iranian peoples}}

[[Category:Alans]]
[[Category:Ancient Central Asia]]
[[Category:Sarmatians]]
[[Category:Iranian nomads]]
[[Category:Historical Chinese exonyms]]