Red-haired ancient tribes: the Wusun

The Wusun were an ancient semi-nomadic steppe people mentioned in Chinese records from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD. They are generally believed to be an Indo-European people who spoke a language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch.
The Wusun originally lived between the Qilian Mountains and Dunhuang (Gansu) near the Yuezhi people.

The Wusun and neighbouring polities circa 200 BC, before their westward migration

 

Around 173 BC, the Yuezhi attacked the Wusun and killed their king Nandoumi. According to the legend, Nandoumi's infant son Liejiaomi was left in the wild. He was miraculously saved from hunger being suckled by a she-wolf, and fed meat by ravens. Since this myth shares similarities with those of the Hittites, the Zhou Chinese, the Scythians, the Romans, the Goguryeo, Turks, Mongols and Dzungars, scholars have suggested that the Wusun, Sogdians, or both could represent an Indo-Aryan influence.
In 162 BC, the Yuezhi were finally defeated by the Xiongnu (a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples), after which they fled Gansu, a province in Northwestern China. After the Yuezhi retreat, the Wusun settled in Gansu, as vassals of the Xiongnu.
The Xiongnu ruler was impressed with Liejiaomi, considering him a supernatural being, and adopted the child. When the child grew up, he was appointed leader of the Wusun and a Xiongnu general. Thanks to his leadership, the Wusun took over the Ili Valley. After settling in the Ili Valley, the Wusun became so strong that the Han were compelled to win their friendship in alliance. Liejiaomi finally agreed to the alliance, sending tributary horses and accepting Princess Xijun as his wife. Since Liejiaomi was already an old man, Xijun was married to his successor Cenzou.

Xijun wrote a famous poem, the Beichouge, in which she complains about her exile in the land of the "barbarians":

My family sent me off to be married on the other side of heaven. They sent me a long way to a strange land, to the king of Wusun. A domed lodging is my dwelling place with walls of felt. Meat is my food, with fermented milk as the sauce. I live with constant thoughts of my home, my heart is full of sorrow. I wish I were a golden swan, returning to my home country.

Later location of the Wusun after their migration to the Ili Valley at the time of Princess Xijun

Around 80 BC, the Wusun were attacked by the Xiongnu, who inflicted a devastating defeat upon them. In 72 BC, Kunmi, chief of the Wusun, requested assistance from the Han against the Xiongnu. After their crushing victory against the latter, the Wusun increased in strength, achieving significant influence over the city-states of the Tarim Basin.
In the 5th century AD, the Wusun were pressured by the Rouran and may have migrated to the Pamir Mountains. They are last mentioned in Chinese historical sources in 436 AD, when a Chinese envoy was sent to their country and the Wusun reciprocated.


Wusun’s physical appearance

The Book of Han and Shiji do not make any special note of the physical appearance of the Wusun. The first description of the Wusun's physical appearance is found in a Western Han dynasty book of divination, the Forest of Changes by Jiaoshi Yilin, which describes the women of the Wusun as 

"with deep eyesockets, dark, ugly: their preferences are different, past their prime [still] without spouse."

A later 7th century commentary to the Book of Han by Yan Shigu says:

Among the barbarians (戎; Róng) in the Western Regions, the look of the Wusun is the most unusual. The present barbarians (胡人; húrén) who have green eyes and red hair, and look like macaque monkeys, are the offspring of this people.

In Chinese: 烏孫於西域諸戎其形最異。今之胡人青眼、赤須，狀類獼猴者，本其種也。

A Chinese depiction of the Wusun, from Gujin Tushu Jicheng, 18th century.

 

The above English translation is the one we find on Wikipedia, but, apparently, it is not entirely correct, because in the original Chinese the author is not talking about the hair on the head, but about the beard. Also, the term referring to eye colour does not mean only green, but it can be used for all light-coloured eyes (blue/green).
Besides, it is important to understand that here Yan Shigu is not describing the Wusun, but some groups belonging to the peoples called “barbarians” by the Chinese of his time. These groups, according to the author, are the offspring of the Wusun.
So, a better translation would be 

Among the barbarians (戎; Róng) in the Western Regions, the look of the Wusun is the most unusual. Those among the present barbarians (胡人; húrén) who have light-coloured eyes and a red beard, and look like macaque monkeys, are the offspring of this people.

So we have:
青眼、赤須
qīng yǎn, chì xū

where:
• 青 (qīng) = blue, light blue, green
• 眼 (yǎn) = eye, eyes
• 赤 (chi) = red, reddish
• 須 (xū) = beard, moustaches, facial hair

While the red hair on the head would be 赤髮= chì fà.

As for the comparison with the macaque monkey, it is clearly a reference to the Caucasoid peoples being more hairy than peoples from other races. 

Average male body hair in indigenous populations

 

Connection with the Yenisei Kyrgyz
In this previous article we talked about another ancient tribe of central Asia described as red-haired in Chinese records, the Yenisei Kyrgyz.
According to Russian historian Nikolai Aristov (1847 - 1903), a part of the ancient Kyrgyz had remained in the Yenisei, while another migrated southwards. This group was later called Wusun in Chinese records (more information here). Modern archaeological research, however, highlights the close relationship between Wusun and Yenisei Kyrgyz, but scholars don’t go as far as to say they were the same people.
In 2018, a DNA analysis was performed on the remains of four Wusun individuals. The only Y-DNA found was R1a1a-Z93 and as we have seen in the article about the Kyrgyz, the R1a haplogroup is common in Eurasia, extending from Scandinavia and Central Europe to Central Asia, Siberia and South Asia, and the question of the origins of R1a1a is relevant to the ongoing debate concerning the urheimat of the Proto-Indo-European people.

Haplogroup R1a distribution

 

As for the mtDNA (passed from mother to children), four haplogroups have been found: C4a1, HV6, J1c5a and U5b2c.
The Wusun were suggested to be descended from Western Steppe Herders (at a proportion of 47%), who admixed with peoples related to the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (32%) and Late Bronze Age herders (Ancient North-East Asians, 21%). 

 

More articles about ancient red-haired tribes:
the Budini 
the Rutuli 
the Ngāti Hotu 
the island of Toprabane 
the Schytians 
Easter Island 
Genghis Khan 
Various tribes