Many modern works usually retain the translations of the sources. The Chinese renditions of the geographical, national, tribal, titles, and personal names are expressed in hieroglyph characters that code phonetic sound and carry a range of meanings. The renditions use traditionally accepted hieroglyph characters to recreate the phonetic sounds as they appeared to the Chinese ear of the contemporaries. In addition to serving as a phonetic equivalent, the characters carry a primary meaning of the character, allowing introduction of an alternate connotation to the phonetic word. In most cases there are duplicate Chinese symbols, with positive and negative connotations for the same word, and with phonetic variations. As more correspondences between the Chinese and English names were firmly established, the lingering use of Chinese phonetic rendition for the meaning of the name is anachronistic when the secondary connotations are preserved and used instead of the original word, taxing the reader with a necessity to search for the modern equivalent used in the historical literature. Thus, the “Hsiung-nu“, the Chinese characters for the “ferocious slaves”, proliferated in the literature; instead of the direct translation “Huns“; and the “Chen-uy“, the Chinese characters for the “greatest Ui”, is used in the literature instead of phonetic “Ui Khan“.

Not all renditions are known, or firmly established; that being one of the reasons for use of the spelling of the secondary meaning, and continued controversies even in cases that were long established. There are a number of undeciphered Chinese symbols, with little chance for improvement.

Numerous data about Huns is contained in the Chinese written sources. About Huns one of the first to inform us was the “father of the Chinese history“ Sima Qian, a son of the court astrologist Sima Tan serving at a court of the Han's emperor U-Di (Wu-di, 140-87 BC). Sima Qian (ca.145 or 135-86 BC) is an ancient Chinese historian, the author of the first historical summary of China “Shi ji“ (“Historical notes“). “Shi ji“ covers history of China from most ancient times to the end of 2nd century BC and is an example for all subsequent Chinese dynastic chronicles.

The next official dynastic annals became “Han shu (Jan Han shu)“ - “History of Senior Han dynasty“, about events which during 206 BC - 6 AD. It was written by Ban Gu, a representative of an ancient aristocratic clan Ban which gave China well-known commanders and  talented historiographers. In his work Ban Gu based on “Shi ji“, therefore a number of “Han shu“ chapters practically repeat the work of Sima Qian. At the same time “Han shu“has a section about the western neighbors of China, “Description of the Western territory,“ which in the subsequent dynastic histories became traditional. No doubt that special interest of historian to the events in the Western territory was a result of direct dialogue of Ban Gu with his brother Ban Chao, a successful commander, who was fighting for a long time on the western borders of then China.

After “Jan Han shu“, the Chinese dynastic annals break till the 5th century AD, when a scientist and a statesman of the Southern Empire Sun Fan Ye (398-445) composed “Book of Later Han“, the “Hou Han shu“. The author of the annals lived in the south of China, and a long chronological break of more than two centuries  from the described events affected the detail and quality of the materials “Hou Han shu“ about the Western territory. Information about political events is fragmentary and very laconic, however in that chronicle is a first direct information about the of Alan people in Asia: “Possession Yantsai was renamed to Alania, it is a dependent on Kangüy“. Historical period on this dynastic chronicle is 25-220 AD. In the opinion of some researchers the base for some “Hou Han shu“ sections is the “Review of Wei empire“, a northern, politically dependent splinter of Later Han empire, which disintegrated in 220. This important historical work was written in the 3rd century  AD (i.e. much before the annals of Fan Ye), but it did not survive. Some fragments of that work were used as comments to the compendium of historian Chen Show “San go chzhi “ (“Records of Three Kingdoms“) and probably were used by by Ye.

In the 6th century AD a court chronicler Wei Shou prepared a dynastic history Book of Wei (“History of the Wei state“), with chronological framework of 384-534. The chapter 102 on the Western territory was lost from the compendium, but apparently a part of it was included in the chapter 97 of the chronicle Book of Wei  (“History of Northern dynasties“), written in the beginning of the 7th century  by Li Yanshou. The “Book of Wei“ and “History of Northern dynasties“ are somewhat informative (especially the last).

Information about the Western territory by Linghu Defen, a compiler of “Book of Zhou“ (“History of Northern state“) is poor, its chronological framework is 557-581.

More extensive and more competent information contains in “Shisan Zhou chzhi “(“Description of thirteen districts“), composed by Kan In about 430, much earlier rather than histories of Linghu Defen and Li Yanshou. It was written not as a traditional Chinese dynastic history, but as an ethnological-geographical manual, with elements of sociopolitical chronicle, as a guide for statesmen.

We find interesting information about the C.Asian steppe peoples and the Western territory states in “Sui shu“ (“History of Sui dynasty“). The brief, but a bright rise of Sui dynasty, which ruled China for only 37 years (from 581 to 618), had an active foreign policy carried out under a banner of revival the national greatness of Chinese people. Frequent contacts of that state with the countries of the Asian West allowed the historian Wei Zheng to furnish ethnopolitical dynastic annals. “Sui shu“ describes northwestern countries and peoples in four chapters (81-84), and the 84th chapter, in the “Description Of Tele“, lists 45 tribes of the Asian steppe including a-lan (Alans). Alans are included in the listing of the Turkic-speaking (Tele) tribes.

Important information about early As (Usun/Usün) period of Alan history is in the work of the 19th century Chinese historian He Zhyu-Tao “Shofanbeichen“. Research gives a systematized collection of information from various Chinese historical sources, supplied with detailed comments by both He Zhyu-Tao, and many other Chinese scientists. This work has a special value for its “Research about Usun tribe“,  full translation of which was made by N.V.Küner [Küner, 1961. p. 68-100].

As a minimum six Chinese written sources provide information about Alans and socio-political processes in the Western Mongolia and Central Asia, and the ethnic history of the Sarmato-Alans in episodic, fragmented facts. Five of them are:

“Tongdian“(“Collection of the government statutes“), author Du You, 8th century,
“Chiu Tang shu“ (“Old chronicle of the state Tan“) about 618-907 period of events, author Liu Xu, 10th century;
“Hsin T'ang shu“ (“Modern history of the state Tan“), author Ouyang Xiu, 11th century;
“Tay-pin Huaniui tszi“ (“Description of the universe during rule of Tay-pin sin-go“), period of events 976-984, author Jue Shi, 10th century;
“Yuan Shi“ (“History of Yuan“), period of events 1280-1368, authors Song Lian and others, 14th century.