Yan Shigu (581-645) was a Tang minister who wrote a commentary to the Hanshu (see source 2.8), drawing heavily on an earlier commentary by his uncle. This passage is from Yan’s commentary to the Hanshu chapters on the Western Regions. It concerns the Wusun people of the Ili River valley, who became the Han empire’s allies against the Xiongnu.

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The Wusun were the most unusual in appearance among the barbarians (Rong) of the Western Regions. Among the Hu people of today, the ones who have blue-green eyes and red beards and look like macaques are all descended from their kind (zhong 種).