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Kangju (Chinese: ??) was the name of an ancient people and the kingdom they established in central Asia. It was a nomadic federation of unknown ethnic and linguistic origin and became for a couple of centuries the second greatest power in Transoxiana
Transoxiana

Transoxiana is the ancient name used for the portion of Central Asia corresponding approximately with modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and southwest Kazakhstan....
 after the Yuezhi
Yuezhi

The Yuezhi or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people.They are believed by most scholars to have been an Indo-European people, and may have been the same as or closely related to the Tocharians of Classical sources....
.

"The ethnicity of the K'ang-chü people is thought to be Turkic by Shiratori Kurakichi, based on textual studies, although other scholars tend to consider them Iranian or even Tokharian (possibly Indo-European).


Kangju was mentioned by the Chinese traveller and diplomat Zhang Qian
Zhang Qian

Zhang Qian was an imperial envoy to the world outside of China in the 2nd century BCE, during the time of the Han Dynasty. He was the first official diplomat to bring back reliable information about Central Asia to the Chinese imperial court, then under Emperor Wu of Han, and played an important pioneering role in the Chinese colonization an...
 who visited the area c.






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Kangju (Chinese: ??) was the name of an ancient people and the kingdom they established in central Asia. It was a nomadic federation of unknown ethnic and linguistic origin and became for a couple of centuries the second greatest power in Transoxiana
Transoxiana

Transoxiana is the ancient name used for the portion of Central Asia corresponding approximately with modern-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and southwest Kazakhstan....
 after the Yuezhi
Yuezhi

The Yuezhi or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people.They are believed by most scholars to have been an Indo-European people, and may have been the same as or closely related to the Tocharians of Classical sources....
.

"The ethnicity of the K'ang-chü people is thought to be Turkic by Shiratori Kurakichi, based on textual studies, although other scholars tend to consider them Iranian or even Tokharian (possibly Indo-European).


Kangju was mentioned by the Chinese traveller and diplomat Zhang Qian
Zhang Qian

Zhang Qian was an imperial envoy to the world outside of China in the 2nd century BCE, during the time of the Han Dynasty. He was the first official diplomat to bring back reliable information about Central Asia to the Chinese imperial court, then under Emperor Wu of Han, and played an important pioneering role in the Chinese colonization an...
 who visited the area c. 128 BCE:

"Kangju is situated some 2,000 li [832 kilometers] northwest of Dayuan
Dayuan

The Dayuan or Ta-Yuan were a people of Ferghana in Central Asia, described in the Chinese literature historical works of Records of the Grand Historian and the Book of Han, which follow the travels of Chinese explorer Zhang Qian in 130 BCE and the numerous embassies that followed him into Central Asia thereafter....
. Its people are nomads and resemble the Yuezhi
Yuezhi

The Yuezhi or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people.They are believed by most scholars to have been an Indo-European people, and may have been the same as or closely related to the Tocharians of Classical sources....
 in their customs. They have 80,000 or 90,000 skilled archer fighters. The country is small, and borders Dayuan [= Ferghana]. It acknowledges sovereignty to the Yuezhi
Yuezhi

The Yuezhi or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people.They are believed by most scholars to have been an Indo-European people, and may have been the same as or closely related to the Tocharians of Classical sources....
 people in the South and the Xiongnu
Xiongnu

The Xiongnu were a confederation of nomadic tribes from Central Asia with a ruling class of unknown origin and other subjugated tribes. They lived on the steppes north of China, and appear in Chinese sources from the 3rd century BC as controlling an empire stretching beyond the borders of modern day Mongolia....
 in the East."


By the time of the Hanshu (which covers the period from 125 BCE to 23 CE), Kangju had expanded considerably to a nation of some 600,000 individuals, with 120,000 men able to bear arms. Kangju is clearly now a major power in its own right. By this time it had gained control of Dayuan
Dayuan

The Dayuan or Ta-Yuan were a people of Ferghana in Central Asia, described in the Chinese literature historical works of Records of the Grand Historian and the Book of Han, which follow the travels of Chinese explorer Zhang Qian in 130 BCE and the numerous embassies that followed him into Central Asia thereafter....
 (= Sogdiana) in which it controlled “five lesser kings”. The kingdom of Yancai (lit. "Vast Steppe"), strategically centered near the northern shore of the Aral Sea straddling the northern branch of the Silk Route, and which had 100,000 "trained bowmen," had become a dependency of Kangju.

The account in the Hou Hanshu, based on a report to the Chinese emperor c. 125 CE, mentions that both the "old" Yancai (which had changed its name to Alanliao and seems here to have expanded its territory to the Caspian Sea), and Yan, a country to Yancai's north, were both dependencies of Kangju.

The biography of the Chinese General Ban Chao
Ban Chao

Ban Chao , born in Xianyang, Shaanxi, was a Han Dynasty general and cavalry commander in charge of the administration of the "Western Regions" during the Eastern Han dynasty....
 in the Hou Hanshu says in 94
94

Year 94 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar....
 CE that the Yuezhi were arranging a marriage of their king with a Kangju princess. The Chinese then sent "considerable presents of silks" to the Yuezhi successfully gaining their help in pressuring the Kangju to stop supporting the king of Kashgar
Kashgar

Kashgar or Kashi ...
 against them.

The third century Weilüe states that Kangju was among a number of countries that "had existed previously and neither grown nor shrunk," but adds that the "Kingdom of Northern Wuyi" (Khujand
Khujand

Khujand , also transliterated as Khudzhand, , formerly Khodjend or Khodzhent until 1939 and Leninabad until 1992, is the second-largest city of Tajikistan....
 – Alexandria Escharte) was a "distinct kingdom in the northern part of Kangju"

Kangju maintained its independence and continued sending envoys to China up until the end of the third century CE. Shortly after its power began to wane and it was later absorbed into the Hephthalite
Hephthalite

The Hephthalites or White Huns were a Central Asian nomadic confederation whose precise origins and composition remain obscure. They were called Ephthalites by the Huns, and Hunas by the Indian subcontinent....
 empire.

Kangju was referred to simply as the State of Kang during the Sui
Sui

Sui can refer to:* Sui Dynasty of China* Sui , a transcription of two Chinese surnames* Sui , a city in Balochistan, Pakistan* Sui gas field, near Sui, Balochistan, Pakistan...
 and Tang
Tang

Tang or TANG may refer to:...
 dynasties, though by that time the area was ruled by the Gokturk Khaganate.

Footnotes