nomadic confederation · Central Asia and the Steppe

Wusun

161 BCE – 500 CE (approx.) · capital Chigu

Nomads of the Ili valley and Issyk-Kul who became the Han dynasty's chief steppe ally against the Xiongnu, sealed by marriages to Chinese princesses.

Origins

The Wusun first lived near the Yuezhi in the Gansu region and were subject to the Xiongnu. Their ruler, the kunmo Liejiaomi, raised by the Xiongnu, led them west around 161 BCE to the Ili valley and the Issyk-Kul basin, driving out the Yuezhi and the Saka who had settled there.

Rule and society

The Han envoy Zhang Qian visited around 115 BCE seeking an alliance. The Wusun were pastoralists with large horse herds and, by Han count, some 630,000 people, ruled by the kunmo from the Red Valley city of Chigu. Han princesses, including Liu Xijun, who wrote a famous lament on her exile, married Wusun rulers, and in 71 BCE a joint Han-Wusun campaign struck the Xiongnu. A dual kingship of greater and lesser kunmo developed after 53 BCE.

Decline and legacy

The Wusun weakened through internal division and pressure from the Rouran Khaganate, moving into the Pamirs in the 5th century, after which they disappear as a distinct power. Their remnants merged into later Turkic peoples of the Zhetysu region.

Connections (3)

More states of Central Asia and the Steppe →

Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Wusun. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/wusun
MLA
“Wusun.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/wusun. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Wusun.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/wusun.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Wusun’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/wusun (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻