Yuezhi (Chinese:月氏, also 月支, Wade-Giles: Yüeh-Chih) or Da Yuezhi (Chinese:大月氏, also 大月支, "Great Yuezhi") is the Chinese name for an ancient Central Asian people. They are believed to have been the same as or closely related to the people named Tocharians (τόχαροι) by ancient Greeks. They were originally settled in the Tarim Basin area, in what is today Gansu and Xinjiang, in China, before they migrated to Transoxiana, Bactria and then northern India, where they formed the Kushan Empire.

Original Chinese pronunciation of 'Yue' should be 'Rou'. 'Rou' literally means meat instead of 'Yue' pronunciation, which means moon. Yuezhi should be Rouzhi, meaning "meat people" ssion of Buddhism">Silk Road transmission of Buddhism.

The Chinese

Yuezhi rulers

• Sapadbizes (c. 20 BCE)
• Agesiles (c. 20 BCE)

References

• "Records of the Great Historian, Han Dynasty II", Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson, Columbia University Press, ISBN 0231081677
• "The Tarim Mummies", J.P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair. Thames & Hudson, ISBN 0500051011

See also

• Hephthalite