Possibly worth mentioning that thr Khitans called themselves the Qara Khitai, which is where "Cathay" comes from.
Seeing all these mentions of the Chinese-adjacent northwestern tribes makes me wonder why wasn't there any mention of the Tocharians earlier on in the series? Were they just mostly irrelevant despite the cultural exchanges that have happened?
They're the Xiongnu during Han Dynasty, right? We did cover that briefly while talking about Huo Qubing. But to be honest, China really didn't give much of a fuck about the Kushan Empire (despite it being one of the more significant Empires in the world for its time), possibly because it was too busy dealing with the whole Wei-Jin Period Invasion of Five Barbarians thing.
Possibly worth mentioning that thr Khitans called themselves the Qara Khitai, which is where "Cathay" comes from.
Seeing all these mentions of the Chinese-adjacent northwestern tribes makes me wonder why wasn't there any mention of the Tocharians earlier on in the series? Were they just mostly irrelevant despite the cultural exchanges that have happened?
They're the Xiongnu during Han Dynasty, right? We did cover that briefly while talking about Huo Qubing. But to be honest, China really didn't give much of a fuck about the Kushan Empire (despite it being one of the more significant Empires in the world for its time), possibly because it was too busy dealing with the whole Wei-Jin Period Invasion of Five Barbarians thing.
Apparently they were not a major player until the Five Dynasties. I must've gotten my history mixed up.