Perhaps because of The Journey to the West's novel, China people have always had a sense of mystery about the Western Regions. But with the development of history, thirty-six countries in the western regions are not always thirty-six. According to historical records, the so-called thirty-six countries once split into forty or fifty countries, and even developed to more than seventy countries at most. The geographical concept of the Western Regions also includes different regions in different historical periods.
The word "Western Regions" comes from the Western Regions Hufu in Han Dynasty. In other words, the word "Western Regions" was officially used when Xuan Di appointed Ji Zheng as "the protector of the western regions" in the Han Dynasty. At that time, the area under the jurisdiction of the "Western Regions Protection House" was the so-called "36 countries in the Western Regions". As for its specific location, some experts said according to the story of the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty: "The west of Xiongnu, the south of Wusun, the mountains in the north and south, and the river in the center ... bounded by Yangguan and Yumen in the east and Qingji in the west." Here, people can see that the Western Region refers to the present southern Xinjiang. At least at that time, Wusun, a powerful western country, was not included in the jurisdiction of this "Western Protection", but we want to emphasize that "Western Protection" does not mean that Wusun is not a western country.