502 Yuezhi the Han emperor Wu sent an envoy Zhang Qian (Chang Ch’ien) west to seek out the Da Yuezhi for an alliance against their mutual enemy the Xiongnu After many tribulations Zhang did find them, not in the Ili Valley, but in Afghanistan They had however settled down and refused to cross swords with the Xiongnu again See also Han Wudi (Han Wu-ti); Wen and Wu Further reading: Grousset, Rene The Empire of the Steppe, a History of Central Asia Trans by Naomi Walford New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994; Hsu, Choyun, and Kathryn Linduff Western Chou Civilization New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988; Hulsewe, A F P China in Central Asia: The Early Stage 125 B.C.–A.D 23 Introduction by M A N Loewe Leiden, Netherlands: E J Brill, 1979; Twitchett, Denis, and Michael Loewe, eds The Cambridge History of China, Vol 1, The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 B.C.–A.D 220 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986 Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur