Hsiung-nu

During this period the Hsiung-nu were weak and failed to assert their power in the region. The more powerful states, Shan-shan (75) in the Lop region, So-ch'e (76) (Yarqand) and Yü-t'ien (77) (Khotan) had begun to absorb their lesser neighbors.

1964, William Samolin, East Turkistan to the Twelfth Century, The Hague: Mouton & Co, page 27

The founder of the Han dynasty, the emperor Kao-ti, hastened to the scene, drove back the Hsiung-nu, but was then blockaded by them on the Paiteng plateau near Pingcheng, in the present-day district of Tatung, on the frontiers of Shansi.

1970, René Grousset, translated by Naomi Walford, The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 127

In the 3rd century B.C. the "first emperor of Ch’in" — Ch’in Shih Huang Ti — after uniting China, linked up some already existing walls and built new sections to create the Great Wall, defending China from the Hsiung-nu or Huns on the north.

1972, Owen Lattimore, “GREAT WALL OF CHINA”, in Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 10, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 779, column 2

The men of Lou-Ian thought that they would not again see the Hsiung-nu. They had heard that the Han had routed the nomads and they were not beyond believing the rumors. They had been told by travelers that there were Han stations at Chiu-ch'üan and Tun-huang, once Hsiung-nu strongholds, that the Great Wall had been extended to Chiu-ch'üan, that to the west of Tun-huang there were numerous beacon towers and strong points, among them the Jade Gate and the Yang Barrier, and that communication routes between Han China and the Western Marches had been secured.

1979, Yasushi Inoue, “Lou-lan”, in Edward Seidensticker, transl., Lou-lan and Other Stories, Kodansha International, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 14

There are instances in which a state accepted a princess both from Han and from the Hsiung-nu, and "once Lou-lan had surrendered and presented tributary gifts [to the Han emperor], the Hsiung-nu heard of those events and sent out troups to attack [Lou-lan]. Whereupon [the king of] Lou-lan sent one son as a hostage to the Hsiung-nu and and one as hostage to Han."

1979, Anthony François Paulus Hulsewé, China in Central Asia: The Early Stage: 125 BC - AD 23, page 61