Yarkand is the modern name of the oasis that the Han Shu calls Suoju, 莎車.[1] It lies at the south-western corner of the Tarim Basin. The southern road of the Han Shu ran from Shanshan along the Southern Mountains to Suoju. West of it the road crossed the Pamirs and led to the Great Yuezhi and to Parthia.[2]

In Han times

The Han Shu gives Suoju 2,339 households, 16,373 people and 3,049 men under arms.[2] It lay 560 li south of Shule, and the Protector’s seat was 4,746 li to the northeast.[2] The state had an iron mountain and produced green jade.[2]

The Han court once put a prince on the throne of Suoju. He was Wannian, the youngest son of a Wusun princess, and the childless king of Suoju had loved him. Wannian was in the Han capital when the king died. The people of Suoju asked the court for him, so as to lean on the Han and to please the Wusun. He ruled harshly, and the people hated him. The king’s younger brother Hutuzheng killed him and the Han envoy and called the states to turn against the Han. A Han officer who was passing with Dayuan guests called up the troops of the states and killed Hutuzheng, and the Han placed another prince of the house on the throne.[2]

After 60 BC

The Xiongnu lost their Commandant of Slaves in 60 BC. Even so, Suoju is said to have sent yearly tribute to the Xiongnu afterwards.[3] The Han farms at Beixuqian opened up its land.[2]

Under the northern dynasties

The Wei Shu names the state Qusha and places it in the old city of Suoju, to the northwest of Zihe.[4] In the report of the Wei envoys, two of the four roads out of the Western Regions started at Suoju. One ran west for a hundred li to the Pamirs and then on to Jiabei. The other ran southwest for five hundred li to the Pamirs and then on to Polu.[4]

References

  1. ^ Herrmann 1910, p. 38
  2. ^ a b c d e f Han Shu, juan 96
  3. ^ Sinor 1990, p. 128
  4. ^ a b Wei Shu, juan 102

Sources

Literature

  • Albert Herrmann, Die alten Seidenstrassen zwischen China und Syrien. Beiträge zur alten Geographie Asiens, Bd. 1 (1910)
  • Denis Sinor (ed.), The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (1990)

Related

What links here1

Institutions and Titles
Trade Routes of the Steppe

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Yarkand.” Turkic Atlas, revised 7 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/places/yarkand/

Last revised: 7 November 2026