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Escape from Hengyang by Qiong Yao |
THE HUNS - PART I
The Huns are the immortal topic of human pioneering spirits. They are the first Asiatic nomads to make the trans-continental expeditions, precursors to the Turks and the Mongols. Their impact was felt in ancient Rome as well as in ancient China. They were a group of intriguing people as could be seen in the claim by Charles Hucker (China's Imperial Past, page 129) that some Roman legionaries could be found in the ranks of the Zhizhi Chanyu Huns who relocated to Jiankun Statelet in 51 BC. The name 'Hun', however, could be just a categorical designation of early Asian nomadic people, and there is no definite link between the Huns in Asia and their compatriots in Europe. In China, a Hunnic King, Liu Yuan of Eastern Huns, taking advantage of the rebellion by Xianbei nomads in AD 304, left the Jinn Chinese court to organize anti-Xianbei forces on behalf of Jinn and then proclaimed himself emperor of the Hunnic Han Dynasty in AD 308. Hunnic Han Dynasty, also known as Anterior Zhao Dynasty, was centered around today's Henan and Shanxi-Shaanxi provinces. As to the so-called Western Huns, they, in the second half of the 4th Century, attacked the Alans between the Volga and the Don Rivers, went on to conquer the Ostrogoths and drive the Visigoths westwards, triggering the chain reaction that led to the demise of the Roman Empire. In 5th century, the Huns pushed into Western Europe, and Attila the Hun fought the Battle of Châlons in Gaul in 451 AD, rerouted towards Italy in 452 AD, crossed over the Alps and swept through Milan and Northern Italy. Who are the Huns? What do they look like? And what language do they speak? While today's Mongolian Mongols and Uygur Turks both claim that they are the descendants of the Huns, they could be both right or both wrong. In 1991, the Mongolians celebrated the 2000 year-anniversary of the first Hun (Hsiung-nu) state, established in 209 BC. The Mongolian claim could be built on basis of the nomadic tribal groups which never left the Mongolian plateau. Chingiz Khan or Genghis Khan, after defeating Naimans, Keraits, Merkits and Tatars in central Mongolia, would obtain the vassalage of two tribes of Kirgizs of the Yenisei River in AD 1207, the vassalage of the Karluks in AD 1209 and the vassalage of the Uygurs in AD 1211. Earlier, in 10th century, the Kirghiz [Kyrgyz] people were defeated by the Khitans who at one time appealed to Huihe (Uygur) in returning the land of Mongolia. The Khitans, in 9-10th centuries, had conquered Dadan, Tanguts, Bohai [Palhae] & Shiwei Tribes, of which the Mengwu Shiwei subtribe would be Genghis Khan's ancestors. Before Khitan's replacement of Kirghiz, the Kirghiz expelled the Huihe (Uygurs) from Mongolia in AD 840. The Huihe, and the Turks whom the Huihe had defeated even earlier, were recorded to be the descendants of the Huns. The name "Mongols", however, did not come about till the time of Khubilai Khan. Both Genghis Khan's Mongols and the Uygurs, and the Tatars and the Kirghiz, are nomadic peoples active in Mongolia, from the Altai Mountains to Lake Bajkal and the Siberian forests, the same ground where the Huns had existed hundreds of years earlier. The Uygur claim could be built on basis of their ancestor (Huihe)'s membership in the Tiele Tribes, a group of people sanwiched between the Huns/Turks and the original dwellers of Xinjiang or Chinese Turkistan. Uygurs claimed they descended from 'Chunwei', the son of Last Xia Dynasty Lord Jie. Xia originally meant for the land of southern Shanxi Prov, but later appropriated to northern Shanxi/Shenxi areas. After the Hunnic Han/Zhao statelets, there appeared a statelet called 'Xia' [AD 407-431] set up by Helian Bobo of Tie-fu Huns, which derived its name from the fact that the Huns were recorded to be of Xiahou origin, namely, Xia Dynasty descendants. Helian Bobo, in his eulogy about the founding of Xia, traced his ancestors to Da Yu or Lord Yu. Later, the Tanguts, who were of Tuoba & Qiangic heritage, established their Western Xia in about the same place (around West and north Yellow River Bends) and in the same name. The Huns are a group of people who constantly preyed on the Chinese to the south, the tribal states in western China and the Asia Minor, and the Eastern Hu nomads to the east. Below, we will trace the Huns to a group of people driven out of Hetao area by Qin Emperor Shihuangdi and detail the history of the Rong & Di(2) barbarians as recorded in ancient China. Hunnic Successors The distinctiveness of early Huns from other groups of people (Yuezhi, for example) is clear. The Hunnic ancestry & successors, however, pose some ambiguity. Before touching on the origin of the Huns, we will have some discussion of the successors of the Huns. The successors will include the Ruruans, Gaoche, the Tiele Tribes and the Turks etc. Most European history books pointed out that the Ruruans (Juan-juan or Rouran) were 'Mongolian', and they claimed that the Genghis Mongols were descendants of the Ruruans. This false claim could be built on basis of one comment in History Of Toba Wei Dynasty, namely, the founder of Ruruan might have origin in Eastern Hu nomads, i.e., a group of people related to the Tunguzic people of Manchuria and eastern Mongolia. My research into various records, however, shows that the Ruruans were more Hunnic than anything else. After the Ruruan founder fled to the Altai Mountains, he conquered and absorbed remnant Hunnic tribes and Gao-che people. Toba Wei Dynasty, claiming heritage from a son of China's Huangdi (i.e., the Yellow Lord or Emperor), had united northern China in AD 386. Toba (Tuoba) treated the Ruruans as the descendants of the Huns and commented that "though Ruruans were Hunnic in nature but their ancestry was hard to corroborate". On another occasion, Tuoba Wei Emperor agreed to Rouran asylum-seeker that they were in deed from the same family, i.e., Eastern Hu nomads. Both Ruruan founder and Toba originated from the east of Mongolia. The Hunnic relationship with the Ruruans would be explored in the section on Hunnic Split of AD 89, a time when Northern Huns, under the attack of General Dou Xian and Dou Xian's Southern Hun allies, fled westward to the ancient Kang-chu territory. The Ruruans, after being defeated by the Turks, were said to have migrated towards the west to become the ancestors of the Avars (? no record in Chinese chronology). Ruruans who stayed behind in Mongolia and the Altai Mountains were absorbed by the Turks. Numerous Hunnic rebels rose up against the Toba, but the two states which ultimately replaced both Western Toba Wei and Eastern Toba Wei were not Hunnic in nature, but Xianbei. The Huns merely played the role of contributing to the decline and disintegration of Toba's Wei Dynasty. After Toba put down the Hunnic rebellion, some of the Huns would be relocated to Hebei Province by the Tobas in AD 523. After Toba, the Huns lost its prominence, and would be difficult to trace for the five-six hundreds between Toba Wei Dynasty and Genghis Khan's Mongols. During early Toba period, Toba Wei Emperor Daowudi (reign 386-409) launched numerous western / northwestern campaigns against the Ruruans as well as the Gaoche people, in a similar fashion as Han Emperor Wudi's campaigns against the Huns. Chinese history put Gaoche (descendants of Chidi or Red Di people, also known as Dingling, who once resided in central China during the Zhou Dynasty time period), in a different category from the dozens of tribal states in Chinese Turkistan. Record showed that the Gaoche people had similar traits as the early Huns, and they were called the 'nephews' of the Huns. Among the Gaoche would be family names like Hulü. The words Gao-che mean "high wheeled carts" which was to point out that the Gaoche people liked to ride in high-wheeled carts. Gao-che had zigzag wars with the Ruruans, and there was a similar story about using the skull of a dead chieftan as drinking utensil [i.e., wine vessel]. (The earliest reference to skull as a utensil for holding wine could be traced to Zhao Xiang-zi's killing the opponent Zhi-bo during the Warring States time period. See Sima Qian's Shi Ji, Section On Assassins.) During late Toba Wei Dynasty, there appeared many references to the 'Tiele' or 'Chile' tribes and their rebellions against the Toba. History said that Tiele Tribes derived from the Gaoche people. The Tiele Tribes, with many of later familiar Huihe family names, were recorded to have spread everywhere, i.e, north of the Luo River, west of Yiwu & north of Yanqi, southwest of the Altai Mountains, and north of ancient Kangju Statelet. Turks were said to be an alternative race of the Huns, and they originally sought protection with the Ruruan by fleeing to the Altai and worked for the Ruruan as iron miners (i.e., iron smith). The hint here is to link the ancestors of Turks to the Huns under Juqu's Northern Liang Dynasty. The Turks later took advantage of Tiele's wars against Ruruans, attacked the Tiele Tribes from the rear, and absorbed 50,000 Tiele households to become a powerful entity. Turks, after their proposal for inter-marriage with their Ruruan master was rejected, would attack the Ruruans and kill the Ruruan khan. After the son of Ruruan khan fled to Northern Qi, the uncle of Ruruan khan was to become the new Ruruan khan. Turks then drove the new Ruruan Khan into Northern Zhou territories. Turks defeated the Ye-tai in the west, the Khitans in the east and the Qigu in the north, and built the Turkic empire. Origins Of The Huns - Rong & Di Huns were called 'Xiongnu' or 'Hsiung-nu ', ferocious slaves, in Chinese. 'Hu'was Hunnic self-designation. Some linguists pointed out that ancient categorical name of 'Hu' for nomads could be a fast-paced pronunciation of two characters of 'Xiongnu'. Some scholars believe Xiongnu was the same as ancient names like 'Xunyu' or 'Xianyun'. According to Sima Qian, among the northern nomads would be 'Shanrong' (Mountain Rong) or Xunyu or Xianyun at times of Lord Yao and Lord Shun, Chunwei tribe at times of Xia Dynasty, Guifang (ghost domain) at times of Shang Dynasty, again Xianyun at times of Zhou Dynasty, and Xiongnu (Huns) at times of Han Dynasty. Huns were said to have originated from 'Chunwei' (or Xunyu), the son of last Xia Dynasty Lord Jie. Uygurs claimed they descended from this very person. Sima Qian's "Shi Ji" mentioned that Jie was driven to Youcao area (Caohu Lake of Anhui Province) in the southeast; that Jie's son married Jie's concubines; and that son Chunwei fled to the northern plains where he became ancestors of the Huns. Wang Zhonghan cited Shang oracle bones to equate one of major Shang vassals, i.e., Marquis Jiu-hou (i.e., Gui-hou of Gui-fang [ghost domain]), as equivalent to the descendants of overthrown Xia people. Both Sima Qian's "Shi Ji" and Ban Gu's "Han Shu" said that the Huns were the descendants of Xiahou-shi (i.e., Xia descendant); that they migrated to the Western Rong areas during the demise years of Xia Dynasty; and that they would attack the ancestors of Zhou founder in a place called 'Bin'. Zhou ancestor was forced to relocate to Qishan Mountain. Zhou kings had zigzag wars with the Rongs. Two ancient categorical designation of barbarians would be 'Rong(2)' and 'Di(2)'. Rong was used mostly with the word 'Xi' for west, while 'Di' with the word 'Bei' for north. Rong would be a categorical designation of barbarians in the west & northwest. (Shanrong or Mountain Rong, however, belonged to southern Manchuria.) Rongs are differentiated into "Jiangrong" (carrying the name Jiang of the tribe of Yandi the Fiery Lord), "Xirong" (Western Rong), "Quanrong" (Doggy Rong, a derogatory designation, similar to Mongols' calling the Tartars "Noghai" the running dogs), and "Shanrong" (Mountain Rong) or "Beirong" (Northern Rong, who are most likely the ancestors of ancient Koreans who lost large patch of land to the allied forces of Yan and Qi principalities of Zhou Dynasty). Scholar Wang Zhonghan pointed out that ancient Chinese did not distinguish between 'Rong(2)' and 'Di(2)' till after the middle Spring & Autumn time period of Zhou Dynasty, with those barbarian statelets to the north of Jinn, Zheng, Wey & Xing titled 'Di92)" while those to inside and to the south of Jinn titled "Rong(2)". Nomads, by the name of 'Shanrong' or 'Xunyu' or 'Xianyun', had been roaming on the east-west Asian steppe over 4000 years ago, prior to Xia-Shang-Zhou dynasties. (The steppe ancients texts referred to was Inner Mongolia, not Outer Mongolia.) The demise of Xia Dynasty would see Chunwei, the son of last Xia Dynasty Lord Jie, fleeing to the northwest to join the nomads and becoming the de facto ancestor of the later Huns. Sima Qian's section on Shang Dynasty did not mention too much on the steppe people other than the "Jie" legend. Ban Gu commented that Huns did not usually carry family names and that beginning from Tou-man [i.e., Mote's father], the names of Hunnic chanyu rulers were recorded in the Chinese chronicles. Shang King Wuding's wife, Fuhao, would be the famous female warrior of China who had led a campaign against ancient Gui-fang (ghost domain) barbarians (speculated to be either on the northern steppe or in Shanxi Prov). Shang Dynasty also warred with Jiang-fang in the west and Ren-fang in the east. As expounded below, Rong people in the west, sharing possibly the same blood-line with Xia Chinese but differring in 'Culture' such as cuisine, clothing, money and language, appeared to be an early offshoot of Sino-Tibetan speaking Qiangic people. After the demise of Shang Dynasty, records from Zhou Dynasty mentioned a group of Rong people under King Bo in northwestern China. Qin Lord Wengong (r. BC 765-716) would defeat King Bo's Rong and gave the land east of Qishan Mountain back to Zhou court. This would be a Xirong lord by the title of 'Bo' in a place called 'Dang(4) She' where the character 'dang' was said to be a mutation of the Shang Dynasty founder, 'Shang-Tang'. Ancient classics said that this group of people claimed heritage from Shang-Tang and used the ancient Shang capital name 'Bo' for the title of their king. Later, Qin Lord Ninggong (r. BC 715-704) would defeat King Bo and drove King Bo towards the Rong people during the 3rd year reign, i.e., in 713 BC. Ninggong conquered King Bo's Dang-shi clan during the 12th year reign, i.e., 704 BC. Rong's Possible Link To Qiangic People Shallow-minded and opportunistic Chinese, who never hesitated to be a traitor or a broker-dealer since the Opium War of 1839-42, had speculated a purported link to non-Mongoloid on basis of incomplete analysis of Linzi DNA on the tomb remains of people living in Shandong Peninsula 2500-3000 years ago. Such racial demeaning approach led to claims that ancient Rong-di people were non-Mongoloid or that ancient Chang-di barbarian & Zhongshan-guo people were non-Mongoloid. A thorough perusal of ancient history only leads to one conclusion, i.e., ancient Rong-di people and their offsprings were ancestors of today's Tibetans. http://mbe.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/20/2/214 carried an article about the new research paper by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, claiming that "The reanalysis of two previously published ancient mtDNA population data sets from Linzi (same province) then indicates that the ancient populations had features in common with the modern populations from south China rather than any specific affinity to the European mtDNA pool". (Prof Wei Chu-Hsien, in China & America, had research into 'bat cave' drawings on Taiwan Island and concluded that ancient Taiwan aboriginals had migrated there from coastal China.) The compositions of the Rong in the west and northwest are many-layered. In light of King Bo, we could say that some descendants or affiliates of Shang would be related to the King Bo's Rong people. Huangfu Mi of Jinn Dynasty had doubts about King Bo's ancestry in Shang-Tang. Huangfu Mi of Jinn Dynasty treated King Bo as a branch of 'Xi-yi' or Western Yi aliens. Yi is more an inclusive word to mean aliens, and the Qiangs and Di(1) people could be called Xi Yi, i.e., Yi in the west, while some southwestern barbarians would be called Xi-Nan Yi, namely, southwestern Yi. In this sense, some of the Rongs at the time of Zhou Dynasty could be of Qiangic or Di(1) nature. In deed, scholar Wang Zhonghan researched into the ethnicity of ancient Rong-di people, analyzed the ancient ambiguity in regards to bundling the 'Qiang' and 'Hu' barbarians, and concluded that ancient barbarians were more likely Qiangic [Sino-Tibetan] from the west than the Huns from the north. (Latter Han Dynasty adopted the segregation policty of 'Qiang' from 'Hu' by controlling the He-xi [West of the Western Yellow River Bend] and the Silk Road.) The Qiangs, in turn, would be the descendants of the Yandi (Fiery Lord or Fiery Emperor) tribal group carrying the tribal name "Jiang". "Xin Tang Shi" (New History Of Tang Dynasty) said that the Tibetans belonged to the Xi Qiang, namely, the western Qiangic peoples. There were 150 different groups of Qiangic peoples, widely dispersed among Sichuan, Ganshu, Qinhai and Shenxi Provinces. Ancient classics stated that the word 'qiang' means the shepherds in the west. The book which was called 'Continuum To Hou Han Shu' stated that the Qiangs were alternative race of the Jiang surname tribes of San Miao. According to Sima Qian, the 'SanMiao' people, who originally resided in the middle Yangtze River area where the later Chu Statelet was, were mostly relocated to western China to guard against the western barbarians. Lord Shun, who took over the overlord post from Lord Zhi (reign 2366-2358 BC ?, the son of Lord Diku), relocated them to western China as a punishment for their aiding Dan Zhu (the son of Lord Yao reign 2357-2258 BC ?) in rebellion. (This could lead to a sound speculation that Sino-Tibetan speaking San Miao people had dwelled in Gansu much earlier than the later Indo-European Yuezhi people, by about 1000 years at minimum.) Reading through China's history, we could distinguish three groups of Rong in the west, Xirong or Western Rong, Quanrong or Doggy Rong, and the Rongdi or Rong-Di Rong. (Borrowing "Shan Hai Jing", Quan-yi or Quan-rong, one of the varieties of Rong people, could have derived from Huangdi the Yellow Lord since Huangdi bore Miao-long, Miaolong bore Nong-ming, Nongming bore Bai-quan [White dog] which was the ancestors of Quanrong. ) All three groups could be of same family, could be related to Jie the son of last Xia Lord as "Shi Ji" claimed, and could be related to descendants of Shang Dynasty (as detailed in the story of King Bo of Shang heritage). Qin's ancestors absorbed eight Xirong Tribes, and Qin was also responsible for helping Zhou drive the Doggy Rong out of Zhou capital. The Rongdi Rongs had migrated to the central plains of China, and the Jinn Principality and its three successor states have very close connection with them. Rongdi Rongs had inter-marriage with Zhou Kingdom, and they later split into Chidi and Baidi as explained below. Xia Chinese versus Rong - Differing In 'Culture', Not 'Blood-Line' What distinguished Chinese from Rong or Di would mostly likely lie in the customs, not the ethnicity. Zhou Dynasty's founder, per "Shi Ji", Gugong abolished Rong & Di customs, built city in a plain called Zhou-yuan under the foot of Qishan, and devised five posts of si tu, si ma, si kong, si shi, & si kou per Shang Dynasty system. Similar to Zhou founder, Qin's ancestors had emerged from the barbaric West to become the ruler of China. In both cases, they discarded the Rong & Di(2) customs and adopted the rituals of the central China of the time. Shang Yang [the Reformer for Qin Dynasty] claimed that he should be ascribed great contributions to Qin because he was responsible for i) renovating Qin's Rong-Di customs such as parent and son living in same bedroom and ii) differentiating the protocol of men from women. Scholar Liu Qiyu stated that the difference between Rong and Chinese lied in 'culture', not 'blood-line'. In article "The Rong People In Nine Ancient Prefectures versus Rong-yu Xia People", Liu Qiyu cited ancient classics Zhou Yu's paragraph: "In the ancient times, Gong-gong-shi ... had first worked on repairing the 100 rivers (including the flooding of the Yellow River) ... Gong-gong-shi's descendant, Count Yu (i.e., Lord Yu), repented over his father Gun's mistake in flood control ... Gong-gong-shi's grandson, Si-yue, had acted as an assistant to Lord Yu in flood control ... Hence, Si-yue was conferred the fief of Si-yue-guo Statelet and assigned the surname of 'Jiang' which included the clan name of 'Luu' ... Today (i.e., in Zhou Dynasty times), the clan names of Shen and Luu had declined in prestige and influence but the 'Jiang' family still prevailed in Qi Principality." Liu Qiyu further cited ancient classics Zuo Zhuan and listed the statement of Ju-zhi, a son or prince of Jiang-rong barbarians, as paraphrased below: "Everyone had said that our folks, i.e., miscellaneous Rong people, belonged to the descendants of Si-yue ... Our various Rong peoples differed from Hua (i.e., Xia) people in cuisine, clothing, money and language." Liu Qiyu speculated that the clan names of Shen-Luu-Qi-Xu etc, who entered China during Western Zhou Dynasty, had been the Rong people who came eastward to China earlier, while Jiang-rong would be the original Rong people who came into China during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty time period. Yuezhi versus 'Jiang' Surname Tribe Of SanMiao People More detailed accounts about Yuezhi would come after Zhang Qian's visit to Central Asia, unfortunately. "Gua Di Zhi", written by Li Tai of Tang Dynasty [AD 705-907], stated that Yuezhi country included ancient Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Yanzhou and Shazhou [Dunhuang], i.e., today's Gansu, Ningxia and western Shenxi Provinces. Hence there was the speculation that in the West Yellow River Bend area could also be found Yuezhi people, which might not be true. The place names like Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Yanzhou and Shazhou were all products of late Han Dynasty. "Gua Di Zhi" was a much later book that could have error in extrapolating the presence of Yuezhi beyond the Western Corridor. ("Gua Di Zhi" was a much later book that could have error in extrapolating the presence of Yuezhi beyond the Western Corridor 1000 years ahead of its time. Further, some historian [maybe just me, after hiccup in my thoughts], who believed Yuezhi country more likely centered around Turpan [Urumqi] as evidenced by Lake Koko Nor [Lop Nur, i.e., Luobupo] mummies, had expressed doubts about Sima Qian's "Shi Ji" as far as the sentence in regards to Yuezhi's original dwelling place is concerned: Sima Qian claimed that Yuezhi, before the migration, lived between Qilian Mountain and Dunhuang hill [i.e., Tianshan Mountain Range], and that satellite Yuezhi statelets, after migrating to Central Asia, still adopted as their clan name ancient city of 'Zhaowu' [??? nowhere to be found on map].) The section on Huns, in Sima Qian's "Shi Ji" and Ban Gu's "Han Shu", stated that the "Donghu nomads and the Yueh-chih [Yüeh-chih or Yuezhi] people were stronger than the Huns". Extrapolating on this sentence, I could say that the Yuezhi people, who had arrived in Gansu Prov 1000 years later than Sino-Tibetan SanMiao people, might have been steadily exerting pressure on the Qiangic 'Rong' & 'Di' peoples and could have driven the Qiangic people towards Shenxi-Shanxi-Henan provinces for 1000 years, from the Zhou Dynasty ancestor Gugong (12th c BC ?) to Qin China's expelling the Huns from the Ordos Plains (3th c BC). This speculation could be totally wrong since Yuezhi people were never warriors: Alternative historical accounts validated an important characteristics of ancient Yuezhi people, i.e., a trade profession entity having long term relationship with China as supplier of horses. Scholar Wang Zhonghan studied the ancient designation of Rong-di, concluded that it would be in Han Dynasty that Chinese would make a distinction between the Qiangs and Hu [Huns], and speculated that early nomadic groups like Rong-di were Qiangic in nature, something that would revert back to the paradox as to how Sino-Tibetan Qiangic language had evolved into Altaic speech that was to be observed among the later Turks. Rond-di barbarians, who had made peace with Jinn Principality, had later split into Bai-di and Chi-di. Baidi (White Di) dwelled in ancient Yanzhou (today's Yan'an), Suizhou (today's Suide) and Yinzhou (today's Ningxia on west Yellow River Bend). Zuo Shi Chunjiu stated Jinn defeated Baidi and remnants were know as Bai-bu-hu later. Chidi (Red Di) dwelled in a place called Lu(4), near today's Shangdang. Zuo Shi Chunjiu stated that Jinn Principality destroyed the Lu(4) tribe of the Chidi, and the remnants were know as Chi-she-hu nomads later. Yuezhi versus Xia People According to ancient records, after Shang Dynasty overthrew Xia, remnant Xia people fled northward and westward, and majority of them returned to their ancestral home in southern Shanxi Prov, i.e., ancient 'ji-zhou' prefecture or 'zhongguo' the central statelet. Some of those Xia people who fled northward and westward, per early 20th century scholar Wang Guowei, would become the Yuezhi (?) in the west and the Huns in the north. Should we buy Wang Guowei's speculation as to Yuezhi, then it would throw the discussion into an ethnicity dispute unless we discount the actual linkage between the Yuezhi of Gansu Province and the Loulan Mummies in Xinjiang [new dominion] Autonomous Region. It is understandable that Wang Guowei might have blundered in early 20th century since Loulan mummies were not known at that time. I would now expound on the underlying logic behind Wang Guowei's fallacy. Scholar Liu Qiyu cited Guo Yu's statement in regards to You-yu-shi as proof that Yu-shi clan had deep connection with Xia people. Liu Qiyu claimed that Yu-shi and Xia-hou-shi might have generations of inter-marriage the same way as Ji-surname and Jiang-surname or Khitan's Yeluu-shi and Xiao-shi did to each other. The statement from Guo Yu could be paraphrased like this: "In ancient times, Count Chong-bo Gun also reigned in the land of You-yu-shi clan." Count Chong-bo Gun was the father of Lord Yu and dwelled in southern or southwestern Shanxi Prov, i.e., the east bank of today's East Yellow River Bend. Yu-shi clan's locality, considered the second 'Xia Ruins' in archaeology, would be in today's eastern Shenxi Prov, i.e., Hancheng (west bank of the today's East Yellow River Bend) and Pucheng (west bank of Luo-shui River). Today's East Yellow River Bend was known as 'Xi-he' or western river because the Yellow River did not flow horizontally into the sea via Shandong Prov but made a eastern bend northward for exit into the sea via Hebei Prov. It is widely agreed upon that after Shang Dynasty overthrew Xia in 1766 BC, remnant Xia people fled northward and westward, and majority of them returned to their ancestral home in southern Shanxi Prov. Those remnant Xia people remained on the two banks of the Yellow River Bend, across Shanxi-Shenxi provinces, for another 1100 years at minimum. Per section Qi Yu of Guo Yu, Qi Lord Huan'gong (r. 685-643 BC), who proclaimed himself a 'hegemony lord' in 679 BC and destroyed the statelets of Shan-rong and Guzhu in Manchuria in 664 BC, had campaigned against Bai-di barbarians in the west in 651 BC (i.e., 9th year of Lu Lord Xigong). Qi Huan'gong was recorded to have occupied 'da xia' (i.e., Grand Xia land) and might have crossed the river to subjugate 'xi yu' (i.e., western Yu-shi clan's land). Grand Xia land, by the 7th century BC, would probably be lying in northern Shanxi Prov only since Qin Emperor Shihuangdi (r. 246-210 BC) had his accomplishments of unification of China inscribed with such words as "reaching as far as 'da xia' land in the north", namely, Taiyuan of northern Shanxi Prov. 'xi yu' certainly pointed to the areas west of the East Yellow River Bend, namely, Hancheng and Pucheng of eastern Shenxi Prov. My conclusion is that Yuezhi people had nothing to do with the You-yu-shi or Yu-shi clan of the Xia people who were defeated by Shang people in 1766 BC. Alternative studies of Indo-European migrations could be checked for timing and movement. Wang Guowei and Xu Zhongshu, including Liu Qiyu, had all mistakenly pointed to the You-yu-shi clan as the origin for mutation into the first syllable of Yuezhi. Xia Chinese vs Huns, Qiangic Tibetans vs Tokharai Yuezhi, & Yuezhi vs Loulan Mummies Nova, in its TV series, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/chinamum/taklamakan.html shows the excavations of mysterious 3000-year-old mummies in China's western desert, inside today's New Dominions Province. I could not find definite link between the Yuezhi and the Loulan Mummies. The dating used here, however, shows that the Qiangic San Miao people arrived in Gansu Province earlier than the Yuezhi people no matter whether Yuezhi were Indo-European or not. Note that the 'SanMiao' people were mostly relocated to western China to guard against the western barbarians by Lord Shun as a punishment for their aiding Dan Zhu (the son of Lord Yao reign 2357-2258 BC ?) in rebellion. Hence, the Sino-Tibetan speaking San Miao people had dwelled in Gansu much earlier than the later Indo-European Yuezhi people, by about 1000 years at minimum. Also note more Tang Chinese mummies were found in this area than Indo-Europeans mummies. http://homepages.utoledo.edu/nlight/uyghhst.htm had a good exposition of the "remarkably racialized ideas" and approaches built on basis of the mummies. http://www.taklamakan.org/allied_comm/commonv-1-8.html carried an article by Takla entitled "The Origins of Relations Between Tibet and Other Countries in Central Asia", stating that "according to the researches of Sir Aurel Stein [i.e., the arch thief of China's Dunhuang Grotto treasures] on the origins of the people of Khotan, most were the descendants of the Aryans. They also had in them Turkic and Tibetan blood, though the Tibetan blood was more pronounced. He discovered ancient documents at a place called Nye-yar [Niya] in Khotan and he has stated that the script of these documents contained no Pali, Arabic (Muslim) or Turkic terminology. All were Tibetan terms and phrases." Tibetans, clearly the descendants of Sino-Tibetan-speaking Qiangic SanMiao people, had their influences reaching the southern Chinese Turkistan in addition to the He-xi Corridor. P.T. Takla stated further that "according to Wu Hriu(2), the facial features of the people of Khotan were dissimilar to those of the rest of the Horpa nomads of Drugu (Uighurs belonging to the Turkic people) and similar, to an extent, to the Chinese. Khotan in the north-west was called Li-yul by the ancient Tibetans. Since Khotan was territorially contiguous with Tibet, there are reasons to believe that the inhabitants of Khotan had originated from Tibet." Concluding this episode, my unchanged belief is still that Sino-Tibetan-speaking Qiangic SanMiao people first reached the He-xi Corridor of Gansu Prov 4000 years ago and onward to Khotan area of southern Chinese Turkistan. It is never an accident that early Chinese legends were full of events about the west, including Mt Kunlun, Queen Mother of the West, Khotan jade, and Mt Kunwu Diamond Ore etc. Tokharai, possibly related to the Indo-Scythians, reached the areas of Lake Koko Nor and later Tunhuang Grotto thereafter. In the 3rd century BC, the Hun Chanyu ordered that his king attack the Yuezhi as a punishment for disturbing peace at the Chinese border. Majority of the Yuezhi fled to the region of Amu Daria river, and some fled across the mountains to live among Qiangic people in the south. Albert von Le Coq's Observations Albert von Le Coq, in his 1928 book "Buried Treasures Of Chinese Turkestan", had tackled the issue of human migrations that occurred in the New Dominion Province. Albert von Le Coq, after personably excavating and observing sculptures and statutes, gave sound judgments as to the timeline of the said migrations by people from the west, east and south. Albert von Le Coq's conclusion would be the same as what I had expounded via written historical chronicles, i.e., Mongoloid people fully Turkistanized the territory by 10th century. Albert von Le Coq believed that Scythians had come over to Chinese Turkestan from today's Russian domain that was to the north of the Caspian Sea. Buddhism spread to Kabul River area. Greek Historian Herodotus called the people in Kabul River [Hindu Kush Valley] area by Aparytai, i.e., Jian-tuo-luo [Gandhara], who had served under ancient Persian King Xerxes. At this time, the images of buddha still retained the modeling on basis of Greek gods Apollo and Dionysus. Alexandre the Great then exerted Greek influences over Central Asia, including Bactria, i.e., today's Afghanistan. By 130 BC, Greeks were overtaken by Parthians and Kushan Yuezhi. With the faciliation of the Kushan Yuezhi, Buddhism spread into Chinese Turkestan with Iranian & Indian inputs via two routes, i) Bactria -> Pamirs -> Kashgar-Shache-Khotan, 2) Kashmir -> Kara-Kunlun Pass [Karakorum Pass] -> Kashgar-Shache-Khotan. Then, Buddhism arrived in Turpan oasis and onward to China. Albert von Le Coq concluded that three racial inputs converged in Chinese Turkestan, namely, Indo-European to the west, Indo-Iranian to the south and west, and Indians [should be Qiangic per translator Zhan Hongzhi of "Buried Treasures Of Chinese Turkestan"] to the south. Albert von Le Coq classified Su-te [Sogdians] as Iranian who distributed mainly in Samarkand and Bokhara area. Albert von Le Coq classified the ruling class from Kuqa to Turpan as Tochari, i.e., Indo-Europeans, but also pointed out that Tochari designated 100 as 'kand' similar to Latin 'centum'. Albert von Le Coq pointed out that Tochari tombs contained similar bronze burials as Crimea Schythian tombs. (Zhan Hongzhi pointed out that it was Yuezhi who were a branch of Tochari, not the other way around. Yuezhi meant for 'protector of the moon' per Ban Gu's "Hou Han Shu", which was to corrobate the fact that Yuezhi people revered the moon god. The moon certainly is what today's Islamic nations revered the most. Zhan Hongzhi also mentioned that Tochari tombs could be as old as 4000 years.) Albert von Le Coq cited Chinese records [? possible possessing the source of the same fallacy as Wang Guowei's extrapolation of Yu-shi clan as equivalent to the first syllable of Yuezhi] in claiming that Tochari had intruded into the Yellow River bend in 3rd century BC till they were defeated by the Huns in 170 BC approximately [should be 177-176 BC]. Being defeated by the Huns repeatedly, the Tochari [i.e., Yuezhi] fled to the West to take over Scythian land, and Scythian fled south to take over Bactria from Greeks in 135 BC. Yuezhi went further to take over Bactria from Scythians. Kushan, the major tribe among five Yuezhi tribes, would build the Kushan Yuezhi empire after conquering India and Sistan. Buddhism flourished throughout Kushan reign till 5th century AD. Albert von Le Coq stated that the Turks began to attack oasis in Chinese Turkestan around 760 AD. Uygurs [i.e., Uighurs] reached Gaochang [Karakhoja], i.e., near Turpan, and became subject to Buddhism influences. However, Uygur king was a Manichaen, while some of his subjects adopted Christianity. Except for Turkic clothing, Chinese chopsticks, and calligraphy pens, the Uygurs had adopted Su-te [Sogdian] lettering and medicine. Albert von Le Coq claimed that for the next two hundred years, Uygurs would control the whole area of Chinese Turkistan and became 'westernized' except for their Mongoloid facial outlooks. By 9th century, however, Uygurs suffered a defeat in the hands of the Kirghiz. Then, the Uygurs would surrender to the Mongols who had recruited so many young people that the irrigated lands would be abandoned to the moving sands. Yuezhi versus Scythians The Chinese recorded that the Scythians were called 'Sai' (aka 'Sai Ren' or 'Sai Zhong'), and this group of people were described to be located to the west of the Yueh-chih (Yuezhi) people. Yuezhi people were said to be Indo-European, a subgroup related to the Scythians. Gua Di Zhi stated that Yuezhi country included ancient Liangzhou, Ganzhou, Suzhou, Yanzhou and Shazhou, i.e., today's Gansu and Shenxi Provinces. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+mn0013) claimed that in the vast area "from the Korean Peninsula in the east, across the northern tier of China to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic and to the Pamir Mountains and Lake Balkash in the west ... this has been an area of constant ferment from which emerged numerous migrations and invasions to the southeast (into China), to the southwest (into Transoxiana--modern Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, Iran, and India), and to the west (across Scythia toward Europe). By the eighth century B.C., the inhabitants of much of this region evidently were nomadic Indo-European speakers, either Scythians or their kin. Also scattered throughout the area were many other tribes that were primarily Mongol in their ethnologic characteristics." There are numerous excavations of Scythian tombs in the Caucasus and the Central Asia, with artifacts like 1500 BC bronze axes in Siberia, 1200 BC Cimerian bronze north of the Black sea, 800 BC Scythian gold artifacts north of the Caspian, but not in East Asia. 600 BC bronze artifacts from Baikal were labelled as Hunnic. More, Russian archaeologists pointed out that Hunnic excavations of Mongolia pointed to the nature of agricultural settlements among the early Huns. Do remember that one son of the Yellow Overlord left for the north 4000 years ago. It would be difficult to make a distinction between the two nomadic groups by pre-defining their domains. Could the early human beings reject each other simply by bodily appearance and hence maintain their separate physique till today? I might updold this argument by making an analogy to the relationship of dog versus wolf. It is reported via DNA studies that the dogs split from the wolves about 135,000 years ago, that they did not change in appearance till 15,000 years ago, and that they had undergone inbreeding in the last several hundreds of years, only (see Mercury News, July 25th, 2000 edition). I would not know when the Mongoloid and the Caucasoid split from each other; however, the physique of the Caucasoid points to the likelihood that their ancestors had lived in the severe cold weather of the northern hemisphere much longer than others, where they developed the lighter skin, high nose bridge and bodily hairs. For further discussions on Barbarians & Chinese, please refer to
Relationship Between Shang Dynasty, Succeeding Zhou Dynasty & Barbarians Difference Between Rong and Chinese In 'Culture', Not 'Blood-line' Merging and Subjugating Barbarians By Zhou Dynasty & Principalities Assertions By Luo Xianglin & Wang Zhonghan Continuing Zigzags With Barbarians Where Were Yuezhi, Wusun & Sai-ren [Scythians]? Aside from the Rongdi Rong, Xirong, Jiangrong & Quanrong (aka Kunyi/Hunyi or Quanyi) in northwestern China, there were the Mountain Rongs (Beirong or Wuzhong) in the northeast and Chang-Di barbarian in Shandong. Across the areas of Yellow River Bend and northern Shanxi-Shenxi provinces would be numerous small 'Rong' statelets, Chi-di and Bai-di etc. Now back to Rong people at the time of Zhou Dynasty. Sima Qian's Shi Ji and Ban Gu's Han Shu said that the Quanrongs (possibly ancestors of the Huns), at one time, attacked the ancestor of Zhou people, forcing Zhou people into a move to Qishan Mountain where they set up the Zhou statelet. The Rongdi's relationship with Doggy Rong was not clear, but could be of same family. History book mentioned that Rongdi was of dog ancestry, related to Pan-hu the ancestor of San-Miao people who were exiled to Gansu Prov by Lord Shun. Count of West, Xibo, namely, Zhou Ancestor Ji Chang, once attacked the Doggy Rongs (said to be same as Xianyun barbarian on the steppe). Dozen years later, Zhou King Wuwang exiled the Rongs north of the Jing & Luo Rivers. The Rongs were also called Huangfu at the time, a name to mean their 'erratic submission'. 200 years later, during 17th year reign [i.e., 985 BC per Bamboo Annals], Zhou King Muwang was noted for defeating the barbarians, reaching Qinhai-Gansu regions in the west, meeting with Queen Mother of West on Mt Kunlun [possibly around Dunhuang area], and then relocating the barbarians eastward to the starting point of Jing-shui River for better management [in a similar fashion to Han Emperor Wudi's relocating Southern Huns to the south of the north Yellow River Bend]. Zhou King Muwang attacked the Doggy Rongs and history recorded that he captured four white wolves & four white deers (white deer and white wolf being the titles of ministers of Rongdi barbarians) during his campaign. The Huangfu (Doggy Rong) people then no longer sent in yearly gifts and tributes. Zhou King Yiwang, the grandson of King Muwang (r. 1,001 - 946 BC), would be attacked by the Rongs. The great grandson, King Xuanwang (reign 827 - 782), finally fought back against the Rongs. Shi Jing eulogized King Xuanwang's reaching "Taiyuan" [i.e., Ningxia area the origin of Jing-shui River] and fighting the Jiangrong. Dongzhou Lieguo Zi said that King Xuanwang would be futile in fighting the Jiang-Rong nomads at Taiyuan. (Jiangrong could mean the same as Quanrong or later Rongdi Rong.) Thereafter, King Youwang (reign 781-771) was killed by the Doggy Rongs at the foothill of Lishan Mountain and capital Haojing was sacked. Quanrong & Xirong had come to aid Marquis Shenhou (father-in-law of King Youwang of Western Zhou, c 11 cent - 770 BC) in killing King Youwang of Zhou Dynasty in 770 BC. Rongs who stayed on at Lishan were called Li-rong. The Rongs moved to live between the Jing & Wei Rivers. Lord Qin Xianggong was conferred the old land of Zhou by Zhou King Pingwang (reign 770-720). Zhou King Pingwang encouraged the Qin Lord to drive out the Quanrongs. Geography: The Jing River is renowed for its clearness. It originated in today's Ningxia, entered Shenxi, converged with the Wei River, and then flew into the Yellow River. The Wei River originated from Gansu, entered Shenxi, converged with Jing River, and flew into the Yellow River. The Luo River originated from Shenxi, flew through Henan, and then entered the Yellow River. Quanrong or Doggy Rong of the west were also named Quan-yi-shi (Doggy alien tribe) or Hunyi / Kunyi (Kunlun Mountain aliens?, but was commented to be the same as character 'hun4' for the meaning of mixing-up). Shan Hai Jing legends stated that Huangdi or Yellow Lord bore Miao-long, Miaolong bore Nong-ming, Nongming bore Bai-quan (White dog) which was the ancestors of Quanrong. Shan Hai Jing also stated that Quan-yi had human face but beast-like body. An ancient scholar called Jia Kui stated that Quan-yi was one of the varieties of Rong people. Among the above names, one group of barbarians would be called the Rong-di(2) people. Some Rong and Di must have mixed up, and one more designation would be Rongdi Rong which later split into Chidi and Baidi. (Wang Zhonghan cited scholar Wang Guowei in pointing out that 'Rong' was a barbarian designation from Zhou King Youwang to Lu Lord Yin'gong & Lu Lord Huan'gong, while 'Di[2]' designation came about after Lu Lord Zhuanggong & Lu Lord Min'gong. "Rong" was equivalent to weaponry, ferociousness and other derogatory meanings. Ancient classics, like "Shi" and "Shu" interpreted Di[2] as "faraway barbarians".) Qin warred with various Rong peoples over a time span of over 600 years. When Zhou King Liwang was ruling despotically, the Xi Rong (Xirong or Western Rong) people rebelled in the west and killed most of the Daluo lineage of Qin people. Zhou King Xuanwang conferred Qin Lord 'Qin Zhong' (r. BC 845-822 ?) the title of 'Da Fu' and ordered him to quell the Xirong. Qin Lord Zhuanggong's senior son, Shifu, would swear that he would kill the king of the Rong people to avenge the death of Qin Zhong before returning to the Qin capital. Zhuanggong's junior son would be Qin Lord Xianggong (Ying Kai) who assisted Zhou King Pingwang (reign 770-720) in cracking down on both the Western Rong and the Dogggy Rong. Shifu was taken prisoner of war by Xi Rong during the 2nd year reign of Qin Lord Xianggong and did not get released till one year later. During the 7th year reign of Qin Lord Xianggong, i.e., 771 BC, Doggy Rong barbarians sacked Zhou capital and killed Zhou king at the invitation of Marquis Shen (i.e., Shenhou). Qin Lord Xianggong (Ying Kai) died during the 12th year of his reign (766 BC) when he campaigned against the Rong at Qishan. Qin Lord Wengong (r. BC 765-716), during his 16th year reign, Wengong defeated Rong at Qishan. Wengong would give the land east of Qishan back to Zhou court. Qin Lord Ninggong (r. BC 715-704) would defeat King Bo and drove King Bo towards the Rong people during the 3rd year reign, i.e., 713 BC. Ninggong conquered King Bo's Dang-shi clan during the 12th year reign, i.e., 704 BC. Qin Lord Wugong (r. BC 697-677), during the 10th year reign, exterminated Gui-rong (Shanggui of Longxi) and Ji-rong (Tiansui Commandary), and the next year, exterminated Du-bo Fief (southeast of Xi'an), Zheng-guo Fief (Zheng-xian County) and Xiao-guo Fief (an alternative Guo Fief, different from the Guo domain conferred by Zhou King Wenwang onto his brother, Guo-shu). Xiao-guo Fief was said to be a branch of the Qiang people. Meanwhile, lord of the Jinn Principality, Jinn Xian'gong (r. 676-651 BC), attacked Li-rong (Xi Rong) barbarians during his 5th year reign, i.e., 672 BC approx, and captured a Li-rong woman called Li-ji. In 664 BC, Qi Lord Huangong destroyed the statelets of Shan-rong and Guzhu. (Guzhu was formerly Zhu-guo Statelet, a vassal of ex-Shang dynasty.) In the northeast, The Shan-rong or Mountain Rongs went across the Yan Principality of Hebei Province to attack Qi Principality in today's Shandong Province. 44 years later, they attacked Yan. Around 664 BC, Yan-Qi joint armies destroyed the Mountain Rong Statelet as well as the Guzhu Statelet under the command of Qi Counsellor Guan Zhong, Marquis Qi Huanggong, and Count Yan. Around 664 BC, Yan-Qi joint armies drove them out, penetrated into the Rong land, and destroyed the Mountain Rong Statelet as well as the Guzhu Statelet. The story of 'old horses knew the way home' would be about the joint army being lost after they penetrated deep into the Rong land. Hence, Yan Statelet extended by 500 li to the northwest, in addition to the eastward 50 li which was given to Count Yan for his escorting Marquis Qi all the way into Qi Statelet. During the 16th year of Zhou King Huiwang (reign 676-652), namely, 661 BC, the Chang Di barbarians who were located near today's Jinan City of Shandong Province, under Sou Man, attacked the Wey and Xing principalities. The Di barbarians, hearing of Qi army's counter-attacks at Mountain-rong, embarked on a pillage in central China by attacking Wey and Xing statelets. The Di barbarians killed Wey Lord Yigong (r. BC 668-660 ?) who was notorious for indulging in raising numerous birds called 'he' (cranes), and the barbarians cut him into pieces. A Wey minister would later find Yigong's liver to be intact, and hence he committed suicide by cutting apart his chest and saving Yigong's liver inside of his body. Jin (Jinn) Principality also helped Zhou King by attacking the Rongs and then escorted the king back to his throne 4 years after the king went into exile. Rong-di moved to live in a place called Luhun, and they would later be forced to relocate elsewhere by Qin-Jinn principalities. When Qin intended to get rid of Luhun-rong & Jiang-rong around capital Yong in 638 BC, Jinn Principality adopted a policy of allowing remotely-related barbarian clan to stay closer to the land between Qin, Jinn and Zhou Dynasty capitals: Jinn Lord Huigong, for his mother's tie with Luhun-rong clan, relocated Luhun-rong to Yi-chuan and Jiang-rong to southern Shanxi Pro, i.e., namely, the southward migration to Mt Songshan area of Yun-surnamed Xianyun [Huns] clan whose Qiangic nature was validated about 80 years later by the dialogue between Fan Xuan-zi of Jinn Principality and the descendant of Jiang-rong. Jinn Principality began the process of expansion that would merge and conquer dozens of barbarian statelets to the east of east Yellow River Bend, with Jinn Lord Xiangong merging 17 statelets and subjugating 38 others [per "Haan Fei-zi"]. In 636 BC approx, the Rongdi nomads attacked Zhou King Xiangwang (reign 651-619) at the encouragement of Zhou Queen who was the daughter of Rongdi ruler. Jinn Principality helped Zhou King by attacking the Rongs and then escorted the king back to his throne 4 years after the king went into exile. After the defeat in the hands of Jinn, the Rongs moved to the land between the west segment of the Yellow River loop or bend and the Luo River, and two groups were known at the time, Chidi (Red Di) and Baidi (White Di). (Note that ancient West Yellow River Bend is the same as today's East Yellow River Bend. Ancient Yellow River Bend did not equate to today's inverse U-shaped course with the North Bend lying inside Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, but the U-shaped Bend with South Bend in southern Shanxi Prov and then a south-to-north turn in Hebei Province for exit into the sea.) Baidi (White Di) dwelled in ancient Yanzhou (today's Yan'an), Suizhou (today's Suide) and Yinzhou (today's Ningxia on west Yellow River Bend). Zuo Shi Chunjiu stated Jinn defeated Baidi and remnants were know as Bai-bu-hu later. Chidi (Red Di) dwelled in a place called Lu(4), near today's Shangdang. Zuo Shi Chunjiu stated that Jinn Principality destroyed the Lu(4) tribe of the Chidi, and the remnants were know as Chi-she-hu nomads later. Back in 659 BC, Qin Lord Mugong conquered Maojin-rong. Two years after Xiao'er defeat, in 625 BC, Qin Mugong dispatched Mengmingshi on another campaign against Jinn. Incidentally, Jiang-rong barbarians had assisted Jinn in ambushing Qin army at the Battle of Mt Xiao'shan [Xiao'er]. Then, Qin turned around to expand westward. Qin Lord Mugong conquered 8 Western Rong tribes. In 623 BC, i.e., during the 37th year reign, Qin Mugong, using You Yu as a guide, campaigned against the Xirong nomads and conquered the Xirong Statelet under their lord Chi Ban. Once Chi Ban submitted to Qin, the rest of Western Rong nomads in the west acknowledged the Qin overlordship. Qin Mugong would conquer altogether a dozen (12) states in Gansu-Shaanxi areas and controlled the western China of the times. Zhou King dispatched Duke Zhaogong to congratulate Qin with a gold drum. During the 3rd year reign of Qin Gonggong, i.e., 606 BC, Lord Chu Zhuangwang campaigned northward against the Luhun-rong barbarians and inquired about the Zhou cauldrons when passing through the Zhou capital. Luhun-rong barbarians, according to Hou Han Shu, had relocated to northern China from ancient "Gua-zhou" prefecture. Alternatively speaking, per ancient scholar Du Yu, Luhun-rong barbarians, with clan name of Yun-shi, originally dwelled to the northwest of Qin and Jinn principalities, but Qin/Jinn seducingly relocated them to Yichuan area (i.e, Xincheng, Henan Prov) during the 22nd year reign of Lu Lord Xigong (r. BC 659-627), i.e., in 638 BC. As to barbarian groups, there were Mianzu-Quanrong-Di-Wanrong to the west of Qin Principality, Yiqu-Dali-Wushi-Xuyan etc to the north of Qin Principality, Linhu-Loufan to the north of Jin (Jinn) Principality, and Donghu-Shanrong to the north of Yan Principality. Mianzu could be pronounced Raozhu. Quanrong was know as Kunrong or Hunrong or Hunyi. The character 'hun4' for Hunyi or Hun-yi is the same as Hunnic King Hunye or Kunye and could mean the word of mixing-up. Wan-rong dwelled in today's Tianshui, Gansu Prov. Yiqu was one of the Xirong or Western rong stateles at ancient Qingzhou and Ningzhou areas. Dali-rong dwelled in today's Fengxu County. Wushi was originally Zhou land, but it was taken over by Rong. Qin King Huiwang took it back from Rong later. Linhu was later destroyed by General Li Mu. Loufan belonged to Yanmen'guan Pass area. During the 13th year reign of Zhou King Jianwang, i.e., 573 BC, Jinn Lord Ligong was killed by Luan Shu and Zhongxing Yan, and Jinn dispatched emissaries (led by a Zhi family member) to the Zhou court to retrieve Zi-zhou as Lord Daogong. Jinn Lord Daogong made peace with Rongdi (who attacked Zhou King Xiangwang earlier), and the Rongdi sent in gifts and tributes to Jinn. Another one hundred years, Zhao Xiang-zi of Zhao Principality took over Bing and Dai areas near Yanmen'guan Pass. Zhao, together with Haan and Wei families, destroyed another opponent called Zhi-bo and split Jinn into three states of Haan, Zhao & Wei. Yiqu-Rong built castles to counter Qin. Qin King Huiwang took over 25 cities from Yiqu. Barbarian statelets like Dali & Yiqu built dozens of castles. Yiqu-Rong built castles to counter Qin. After about one century of relative peace, Qin began to expand by attacking Dali & Yiqu. Qin King Huiwang took over 25 cities from Yiqu-rong. At the time of Qin King Zhaowang, Qin Queen Xuantaihou killed Yiqu-rong King. (King Zhaoxiangwang's mother, Queen Dowager Xuantaihou, adultered with the former Rong king from Yiqu Statelet, with two sons born.) In 461 BC, Qin Lord Ligong, with 20,000 army, attacked Dali-rong barbarians and took over Dali-rong capital. In 444 BC, Qin Lord Ligong attacked Yiqu-rong barbarians in the areas of later Qingzhou and Ningzhou and captured the Yiqu-rong king. Around 430 BC, Yiqu-rong barbarians counter-attacked Qin and reached south of Wei-shui River. Qin Lord Xiaogong (r. BC 361-338), during the first year reign, Qin Xiaogong made an open announcement for seeking talents all over China in the attempt of restoring Qin Mugong's glories. In the east, Qin Xiaogong took over Shaancheng city, and in the west, he defeated and killed a Rong king by the name of Huan-wang near Tiansui, Gansu Prov. The Building Of The Walls Qin, under Qin King Zhaoxiangwang, continued wars against Wei & Zhao principalities. King Zhaoxiangwang's mother, Queen Dowager Xuantaihou, adultered with a Rong king from Yiqu Statelet in today's northwestern Shenxi Province. She had two sons born with Yiqu Rong King, but she killed the new Yiqu King and incorporated the lands of Longxi (Gansu), Beidi (today's Yinchuan of Ningxia) and Shangjun (Yulin, Shenxi Prov) on behalf of Qin. Qin took over Shangjun from Wei. Qin built the Great Wall at Longxi of Gansu, Beidi and Shangjun of Shenxi land. The two successive Jinn states which bordered the northern nomads, Wei & Zhao, plus Qin and Yan, would be busy fighting the nomads for hundreds of years, and they built separate walls to drive the nomads out. Zhao King Wulingwang adopted reforms by wearing Hu cavalry clothing and he defeated Linhu / Loufan and built Great Wall from Dai to Yinshan Mountain. Zhao set up Yunzhong, Yanmen and Dai prefectures. A Yan Principality General by the name of Qin-kai, after returning from Donghu as a hostage, would attack Donghu and drive them away for 1000 li distance. Yan built Great Wall and set up Shanggu, Yuyang, You-beiping, Liaoxi and Liaodong prefectures. Qin State founded the first united empire of Qin in 221 BC. After Qin unification of China, Emperor Shihuangdi ordered General Meng Tian on a campaign that would drive the so-called Hu nomads or the Huns out of the areas south of the Yellow River. The Huns under Modok's father, Dou-man (Tou-man), fled northward and would not return till General Meng Tian died ten years later. Details about barbarians were also covered at prehistory section. Ban Gu, in his three sections on the Huns, just summed up the nomadic history indiscriminately. I could not find any corroborative explanations as to those barbarians, and the literal interpretation would be like this: Chi meaning red, Bai meaning White, Chang meaning long or tall, while Rong meaning woooly (against 'mao' character for hairy skin). To make sense of those Rong & Di people, Quanrong means the Doggy Rongs, Linhu the Forest Hu nomads, Donghu the Eastern Hu nomads, and Shanrong the Mountain Rongs. "Loufan" would be a group of people to be conquered by the Huns around the turn of Qin-Han Dynasties. "Donghu" would be denoting the Tunguzic ancestors of later Xianbei and Wuhuan nomads. "Shanrong" were the people dwelling in the place bordering Korea, from whom the Yan-Qi joint armies took over large patches of land. Note that white or red were designations of tribal clothing customs or related symbols, and they had nothing to do with hair or skin. Shang Dynasty used black bird as a totem, for example, and Clyde Winters' appropriation in claimng a Negroid origin of Shang people was fallacious. Similarly, minoriy people in Southwest China, like Bai-zu and Yi-zu, had derived from Bai-man (white barbarian) and Hei-man (black barbarian) of Di-Qiang people or ancestors of today's Tibetans. The closest affiliation to the Huns would be the Rongdi Rongs who had inter-marriage with the Zhou Kingdom and later split into Red Di and White Di. The later group of people called 'Dingling' were said to have derived from Chi Di or Red Di. Gaoche people, ancestors of Huihe (Uygurs), were said to have derived from Dingling. ('Dingling', in my opinion, was a much abused categorical name, and it was used in many places of ancient Chinese records where satisfactory explanations were lacking.) The Doggy Rongs' relationship to the Western Rong was not clear. The Doggy Rongs were called Huangfu as we mentioned above, and they were said to be the same as 'Xianyun' barbarians on the steppe. Then came the Rongdi nomads who had inter-marriage with Zhou Kingdom at one time. It is possible the Rongdi nomads were the same as the Huangfu while the Huangfu would be the same as the Doggy Rongs. The safest bet would be to go to those Rongdi nomads for Hunnic origin. If so, that means the Hunnic ancestors had at one time lived in the heart of Zhou China. By the time of Qin Empire (221 - 206 BC), Emperor Shihuangdi (Shi Huangdi), being given a necromancy note stating that the people who would destroy Qin would be named 'Hu' (which turned out to be the name of his junior son, Hu Hai or Hu-hai), would embark on a northern expedition against a people called Xiongnu (i..e, Huns) who were categorically called Hu nomads at that time. The record shows that the Huns lived not far away from the Chinese after all. Ban Gu, in his History Of Han Dynasty, said that the Rongdi nomads were inter-spersed in the land north of the Jing River and the Wei Rivers, that Qin Emperor Shihuangdi drove them out, and that Qin China went as far west as Lintao (Tao being the Tao River in today's Gansu Province). Qin empire would take over today's Hetao (the sleeve-shaped land surrounded by the Yellow River Bend on three sides) areas and set up 44 counties. Thereafter, Qing emperor ordered general Meng Tian to cross the Yellow River, and Yinshan Mountains of Inner Mongolia were taken, where 43 more counties were set up. In both campaigns, Qin migrated convicts to the new counties. It is very clear to me that the Huns had been driven out of China from the very beginning. When Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) reunited China, Xiongnu (Huns) would be the name for the nomads in north and northwest of China, while Donghu (Eastern Hu nomads) would be the name given to the nomads to the east of the Huns. The word "nu" of Xiongnu means 'slave' literally, while the word "Xiong" means forocious'. (In latter times, Manchurian kings and emperors would call anyone serving them as "nu cai", i.e., slaves.) For further discussions on Barbarians & Chinese, please refer to
Relationship Between Shang Dynasty, Succeeding Zhou Dynasty & Barbarians Difference Between Rong and Chinese In 'Culture', Not 'Blood-line' Merging and Subjugating Barbarians By Zhou Dynasty & Principalities Assertions By Luo Xianglin & Wang Zhonghan Continuing Zigzags With Barbarians Where Were Yuezhi, Wusun & Sai-ren [Scythians]? A research via linguistics could help in determining the ethnicity of the Huns. There are three branches in the Altaic language family: Mongolian, Turkic and Tunguzic. While Mongolian and Turkic share many similarities, possibly because of the fact that the Mongolians relied on Uygur Turks for creation of the Mongolian written language and consequent inter-exchange, the Tunguzic branch is very much a separate branch which would include today's Manchurians, Koreans and some Yayoi-origin Japanese. Conventional wisdom points to some speculation that the Huns belong to the Turkic branch. Though no linguist existed at that time to study the Hun language, it seemed that the Han Chinese had no difficulty in communicating with the Huns. Zhang Qian the Han emissary had hired a Hun guide for the purpose of travelling to Central Asia, not for interpretation. The Huns were very enthusiastic in retaining Chinese as ministers in their court. At one point in time, the Huns had worn Chinese clothes sent over by the Han emperors. They discarded the Chinese clothing after they were told that the Chinese emperors tried to 'sinicize' them by tricking them into silk clothing instead of the cavalry clothing. Most linguists assert that the Huns were Turkic-speaking. My point is that Altaic language family could be a derivative to Tibetan branch of Sino-Tibetan language family. It could be a bold proposal to suggest that the language branches did not distinguish themselves till much later. Alternatively speaking, the relationship between Qiangic Proto-Tibetan and Altaic Proto-Hun activities, per Assertions By Wang Zhonghan, could be discerned by the observations from history annals. In section on northern barbarians, Scholar Wang Zhonghan pointed out that the northern barbarians and western barbarians were similar [i.e., Qiangs] at Spring-Autumn time period of Zhou Dynasty, but by the time of late Warring States of Zhou Dynasty, Chinese began to see the northern barbarians as different from the western barbarians. Northern barbarians would be ancestors of i) later Huns to the north and northwest, and ii) the Donghu [Xianbei & Wuhuan] to the north and northeast, who were to evolve into so-called Altaic speaking nomadic people. Wang Zhonghan's points are: western barbarians, i.e., Qiangs, originated from Mt Longshan [Gansu], while northern barbarians originated from north of Mt Yinshan [Inner Mongolia] and beyond. What is important here is the speculation that those northern barbarians from north of Yinshan [i.e., King'an Ridge of Manchuria] might be related to Shang Chinese refugees who fled to northeast after a defeat by Zhou Dynasty, not to mention the historical record in regards to dispatching of Shang Prince Ji-zi to Manchuria and Korea as a Zhou vassal. Wang Zhonghan touched upon the mixing-up between the western barbarians [Qiangs] and northern barbarians [Hu], which was was similar to the mix-up of Xianbei and Xiongnu [Hun] in later Han Dynasty and Three Kingdon time periods. To reconcile the historical disputes as to 'the Barbarians', I would agree with Wang Zhonghan in pointing out that the ancestors of Tunguzic people, by the time of late Warring States of Zhou Dynasty, had spread across the northern plains to be ancestors of Huns, Turks and Mongols, overpowered the Qiangic barbarians, and subdued the Yuezhi. Incidentally, ancient classical Chinese language had totally different syntax from today's commonly-spoken Chinese: e.g., the inverse of object and noun was concerned. Alternatively speaking, Zhu Xueyuan, a contemporary Chinese, had speculated that the multiple syllable given names of Qin Statelet and other Zhou vassals could point to some Altaic origin. What Zhu Xueyuan might not know is that ancient Sono-Tibetan and ancient Altaic might be more closely related than people could imagine. While the Huns left no written language, the Turks had possessed a so-called Orkhon scripts which, like the lost languages of the Khitans, Tanguts and Jurchens, had all appeared to contain some kind of revision on top of Chinese. A simple comparison of some words in later Mongolian language yields the following interesting points: The word for the Mongolinas, Mongqol irgen, is the same word 'irgen' as used in ancient Chinese pronunciation which could be corrobated by the Cantonese pronunciation of 'irgen' and Japanese pronuncitation of 'nin' or 'dgen'. Still more interesting is the fact that Genghis Khan's name, Timuchin, shared the same prefix as some of his brothers and sister, with Ti meaning nothing more than a Chinese word 'Tie' for iron or smith. JOHANN WILHELM ADOLF KIRCHHOFF (1826-1908) mentioned two Kara-Kirghiz groups, i.e., "the On or "Right" in the east, with seven branches (Bogu, Sary-Bagishch, Son-Bagishch, Sultu or Solye, Cherik, Sayak, Bassinz), and the Sol or "Left" in the west, with four branches (Kokche or Kfichy, Soru, Mundus, Kitai or Kintai)". As stated at http://57.1911encyclopedia.org/K/KI/KIRGHIZ.htm, the "Sol section occupies the region between the Talass and Oxus headstreams in Ferghana (Khokand) and Bokhara, ... The On section lies on both sides of the Tian-shan, about Lake Issyk-kul, and in the Chu, Tekes and Narin (upper Jaxartes) valleys." Once again, ancient Chinese words, like right for 'you' (mutated into 'on') and left for 'zuo' (mutated into 'sol'), were adopted by nomadic tribes on the steppe. Note that the Huns used to designate their officials into rightside and leftside virtuous kings, similar to Qin Principality's adoption of rightside and leftside prime ministers. Isenbike Togan of Middle East Technical University stated that "written Chinese is also a system of signs... Central Asian people who were not Chinese used this system at some time in the past, including the Turks." Isenbike Togan concluded that the Turkish word for 'freezing' came from Chinese word 'dong[4]'. Reader jianx mentioned that "...many words have similar sound and meaning as chinese -- the madarin... A few examples: Chinese: Bo2: father's brother --> turkish: Bey: same meaning( more general); Wa(1)Di(4): low land --> Vadi: valley; Shui(3): water --> Sui: water; Jie(2): sister --> ajia: female relative, sister. ...Turkish people have chinese last names. For example, Turkish 'Tan' is obviously a chinese last name. In turkish, it means 'sunrise', which is nearly identical to 'Dan(4)' in chinese --- the Zhou Dynasty's famous Zhou(1)Gong(1) Dan(4) --- you should know it means that the sun is rising over the horizon." As to Turkic language, there had existed a much earlier version of language than the Orkhon script. There is on record a poem written by the wife of a Chinese officer under the Di[1] nomads' Anterior Qin Dynasty (AD 351-394), and it was said that this love poem was sent to her husband who was exiled to the border post on China's silk road. The points to make here is that it was written in so-called 'Hui Wen' language, namely, a terminology that was to be used for denoting Turkic language later. Hui means something self-looping or percolating, in a similar fashion to the Iranian languages. The poem could be read from right to left and from left to right. However, languages should not be the determinant factor in determining ethnicity since people could adopt other languages by inter-exchanges. The so-called Turkic language was a term denoting some common pronunciation components among the various nomadic groups of peoples roaming the Euroasian continent, and it is exactly due to this kind of mobility that could lead to the result that the Magyar or Hungarian language (which belongs to the Finno-Ugric family) contains many words of Turkish origin, relating to animal husbandry and political and military organization. It is said that the Magyars had migrated (c.460) from the Urals to the Northern Caucasus region. Remained there for about 400 years, they were allied with the Khazars of Turkish origin. Late in the 9th cent, the Pechenegs |
![Though, Anna Wang [Anneliese Martens], in her memoirs, expressed jealousy over Gong Peng by stating that the Anglo-American reporters had flattered the Chinese communists and the communist movement as a result of being entranced with the goldfish-eye'ed personal assistant of Zhou Enlai](GongPeng.jpg)
