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32-701: The Xianyun appear to have been a fairly structured society occupying a broad expanse from the Hetao area of the Yellow River to the Upper Yellow River valley. Xianyun society was fairly uniform culturally, with a high level of concentration at the top, and was capable of coordinated action against the Zhou dynasty . "Xianyun" was probably their self-designated endonym , while the Zhou tended to call them using

64-668: A rather varied diet. The neighboring Xindian culture was roughly contemporary with the Siwa culture and was influenced by it. Some scholars hold that Siwa culture descended from the Qijia culture . There are also those who believe that the culture was a remnant of Xunyu, which is associated with the Xianyun people. However, questions are raised against this theory since Siwa sites are small with low subsistence levels. According to Feng Li, these could not have sustained an advanced society like

96-653: Is a C-shaped region in northwestern China consisting of a collection of flood plains stretching from the banks of the northern half of the Ordos Loop , a large northerly rectangular bend of the Yellow River , that forms the river's entire middle section. The region makes up the northern margin of the Ordos Basin , bounded in the west by the Helan Mountains , the north by the Yin Mountains ,

128-613: The Central Plain and south into the Loess Plateau and Guanzhong Region . Throughout Chinese history, this region was of major strategic importance against northern invaders, particularly during the Han and Tang dynasties . This Chinese location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Siwa culture The Siwa culture ( Chinese : 寺洼文化 ; pinyin : Sìwā wénhuà , ca. 1350-650 BCE)

160-699: The Central Plains of China. The nomadic leaders depicted in Deer stones in Mongolia , dated to 1400–700 BCE, leading large-scale organized nomadic groups, may have affected the late Shang and early Zhou dynasties of China to their south. They were equipped with weapons and instruments of war, such as daggers, shafted axes, or curved rein holders for their horses. These powerful nomadic leaders, leading large-scale organized nomadic groups capable of building monumental decorated stone tombs, may have being part of

192-500: The Han dynasty were transcribed as " Xiongnu " (匈奴). This view was also held by the Tang dynasty commentator Sima Zhen (c. 8th century). Wang Guowei (1877–1927), as a result of phonetical studies and comparisons based on the inscriptions on bronze and the structure of the characters, came to the conclusion that the tribal names " Guifang " (鬼方), " Xunyu " (獯鬻), " Xianyu " (鮮虞), "Xianyun", " Rong " (戎), " Di " (狄), and " Hu " (胡) given in

224-722: The Qin period (221–206 BCE) the Chinese annalists called them 匈奴 Xiongnu . Even so, Paul R. Goldin (2011) reconstructs the Old Chinese pronunciations of 葷粥 ~ 獯鬻 ~ 獯鬻 ~ 薰育 as * xur-luk , 獫狁 as hram′-lun′ , and 匈奴 as * xoŋ-NA ; and comments all three names are "manifestly unrelated". He further states that sound changes made the names more superficially similar than they really had been, and prompted later historians and commentators to conclude that those names must have referred to one same people in different epochs, even though people during

256-672: The Warring States period would never have been thus misled. Li Feng (2006) characterizes Wang Guowei's argument as "essentially deductive " and not based on solid evidence. Following Pulleyblank (1983), Li rejects the identification of the Xianyun with the Xiongnu, and only accepts identification of the Xianyun as one of the 戎 Rong "warlike foreigner" groups. Li proposes that the Xianyun: Further, Li suggests that

288-589: The Xianyun and Quanrong were either closely related or the term Quanrong was invented during Eastern Zhou period to denote the Xianyun. Li points to evidence from the Western Zhou bronze inscriptions , the Classic of Poetry , Guoyu , the Bamboo Annals , and that when the name Xianyun became written graphically pejorative as 獫狁 with the 犭 "dog" radical , the character 獫's notion of dog motivated

320-539: The alluvial Yinchuan Plain ( Chinese : 银川平原 , a.k.a. Ningxia Plain) around Shizuishan , Yinchuan , and Wuzhong , and the Weining Plain ( Chinese : 卫宁平原 ) around Zhongwei . The east section is further divided into two parts — the western " Back Loop " ( Chinese : 后套 ; pinyin : Hòutào ), which includes the Bayannur Plain ( Chinese : 巴彦淖尔平原 ) around Bayannur and Wuhai ; and

352-413: The Siwa sites are small with low subsistence levels, whereas the Xianyun seem to have been more advanced. According to Feng Li, these could not have sustained an advanced society like the Xianyun. The debate remains open. From the 7th century BCE, the Siwa culture was followed by the appearance of Eurasian steppe cultures, particularly Scytic Ordos culture , which again interracted in various ways with

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384-575: The Xianyun. The debate remains open. The Siwa culture was followed by the appearance of Eurasian steppe cultures, particularly Saka cultures such as the Ordos culture , which again interracted in various ways with the Central Plains . Siwa culture is divided into two types – Siwa and Anguo. The former is distributed along the Tao River (Taohe) and the latter along the Wei River . The Siwa type

416-508: The Zhou and cast into their own ding ceremonial vessels, all during the reigns of Yih and Xiao (899–886 BCE). Like the Zhou, they also used war chariots, up to 400 in one offensive. They attacked the vicinity of the capital Xi'an , all during the reign of King Xuan (827/25–782 BCE). The earliest archaeological records mentioning the Xianyun appear in great number during the reign of King Xuan of Zhou (827/25–782 BCE). The Book of Songs contains four songs about military actions between

448-543: The Zhou and the Xianyun. The song "Gathering sow thistle" ( Cai qi ) mentions 3,000 Zhou chariots in battle against the Xianyun. The song "Sixth month" ( Liu yue ) says that the battlefield was between the lower courses of the Jing (泾河) and Luo rivers and the Wei valley, very close to the center of the Zhou state. Written records place the first incursions against Zhou under the name Xirong "Western Rong" in 843 BCE. In 840 BCE,

480-578: The annals designated one and the same people, who later entered history under the name Xiongnu. The exact time period when the nomads' ethnonym had the Old Chinese phonetizations ancestral to standard Chinese Xianyun remains determined only vaguely. Using the Bronze Inscriptions and Classic of Poetry , Sinologist Axel Schuessler posited the date of 780 BCE. Using Sima Qian's Shiji and other sources, Vsevolod Taskin concludes that in

512-481: The coining of Quanrong (犬戎; lit. "Dog Barbarians"). Comments about the conflicts against the Xianyun appears in several poems and bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou. On the guiwei (no. 20) day, the Rong attacked Xun and took captives. Duoyou pursued to the west. In the morning of the jiashen (no. 21) day, [he] struck [them] at Qi. Duoyou had cut off heads and captured prisoners to be interrogated: in all, using

544-545: The ducal chariotry cut off 115 heads and captured 3 prisoners. It was that [they] could not capture the [Rong] chariots; they burnt [them]. And it was their (the Xianyun's) horses that they wounded gravely. [Duoyou] recaptured the Jingshi captives. Boshi said: “Buqi, you young man! You are nimble in warfare; [I] award you one bow, a bunch of arrows, five households of servants, ten fields of land, with which [you are] to take up your affairs.” Buqi bowed with [his] head touching

576-470: The ducal chariots and pursue at Jingshi!” (...) Duoyou had cut off heads and captured prisoners to be interrogated: in all, using the ducal chariots to cut off 205 heads, to capture 23 prisoners, and to take 117 Rong chariots". Apparently, the " Western Rong " and Xianyun were the same people here, named in the first case by a generic term meaning "warlike tribes of the west" and in the second case by their actual ethnonym. The Xianyun attacked again in 823 BC,

608-553: The ducal chariots to cut off 2[X]5 heads, to capture 23 prisoners, and to take 117 Rong chariots; [Duoyou] liberated the Xun people captured [by the Xianyun]. Furthermore, [Duoyou] struck at Gong; [he] cut off 36 heads and captured 2 prisoners and took 10 chariots. Following [the Xianyun], [Duoyou] pursued and struck at Shi; Duoyou again had cut off heads and taken prisoners. Thereafter, [Duoyou] rapidly pursued [them] and arrived at Yangzhong;

640-476: The earlier pre-historic period (during the time of legendary Yellow Emperor ) the Xiongnu were called 葷粥 Hunyu , in the late pre-historic period (during the time of legendary Emperor Yao and Emperor Shun ) they were called 戎 Rong , in the literate period starting with the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BCE) they were called 鬼方 Guifang , in the Zhou period (1045–256 BCE) they were called 獫狁 Xianyun , starting from

672-662: The east by the northern portion of Lüliang Mountains , and the south by the Ordos Desert and the Loess Plateau (separated by the course of the Ming Great Wall ). The Hetao region is divided into two main sections — the " West Loop " ( Chinese : 西套 ; pinyin : Xītào ) in Ningxia , and the " East Loop " ( Chinese : 东套 ; pinyin : Dōngtào ) in Inner Mongolia . The west section includes

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704-536: The eastern " Front Loop " Chinese : 前套 ; pinyin : Qiántào ), which includes the Tumochuan Plain ( Chinese : 土默川平原 ) around Baotou and Hohhot . Unlike the arid desert / steppe environment nearby, the Hetao plains are fertile grasslands quite suitable for pastoral and agricultural activities, and was frequently used by various Eurasian nomads as a staging area for raiding east into

736-453: The fifth year of reign of King Xuan. Some scholars (e.g. Jaroslav Průšek ) suggest that their military tactics characterized by sudden attacks could only have been carried out by highly mobile troops, most likely on horseback and relate the appearance of the Xianyun to migrations from the Altai region in Chinese or, more specifically, the appearance of Scythians and Cimmerians migrating from

768-459: The fourteenth year of reign of King Li of Zhou (877–841 BCE), the Xianyun reached the Zhou capital Haojing , as reported in the inscription of the Duo You ding : "It was in the tenth month, because the Xianyun greatly arose and broadly attacked Jingshi, [it] was reported to the king. The king commanded Duke Wu: “Dispatch your most capable men and pursue at Jingshi!” Duke Wu commanded Duoyou: “Lead

800-511: The general term Rong , (戎, "Warlike people"). These terms were rather interchangeable: a poem probably composed during the reign of Yih (899–892 BCE) describes incursions alternatively by the Rong (戎) and the Di (狄), and concludes that the Xianyu destroyed everything. The Xianyun used bronze objects, such as bronze helmets, spears, ding (鼎) and pu (铺) vessels, which were captured and recorded by

832-442: The ground, [and extols the] the beneficence. [Buqi] herewith makes for my august grandfather Gongbo and Mengji [this] sacrificial gui-vessel, with which to entreat much good fortune, longevity without limits, and eternal pureness without end. May [my] sons’ sons and grandsons’ grandsons eternally treasure and use [it] in offerings. Hetao Hetao ( Chinese : 河套 ; pinyin : Hétào ; lit. 'river loop')

864-598: The increased mobility of the Xianyun is related to the emergence of mounted nomads armed with bows and arrows. Due to pressure from the Xianyun or the Quanrong, the Western Zhou dynasty collapsed in 771 BCE and had to withdraw from the Wei River valley, moving the capital away from Xi'an , to Luoyang about 300 km to the east. The Xianyun may have been related to the archaeologically identified Siwa culture , but questions are raised against this theory because

896-809: The nomadic challenge to the early Chinese dynasties. The Upper Xiajiadian culture was a Bronze Age archaeological culture in Northeast China derived from the Eurasian steppe bronze tradition. It is associated with the Donghu ("Eastern Barbarians") of Chinese history. Later Chinese annals contain a number of references to the Xianyun, such as by Sima Qian (c. 145/135 – 86 BCE), Ying Shao (140–206 AD), Wei Zhao (204–273), and Jin Zhuo (late 3rd–4th century AD). They stated that Xunyu (獯鬻) or Xianyun were terms that designated nomadic people who later during

928-469: The people of the Central Plains . The Siwa culture has often been associated with the tribes appearing in Chinese historical sources, such as the Rong ( Xirong , Shanrong , Quanrong ...) or the Qiang . These tribes, whose captives sometimes were sacrificed in Shang dynasty rituals, ultimately toppled the Western Zhou dynasty in 771 BCE. The Siwa people produced relatively abundant ceramics, reflecting

960-458: The sites at Lintao, Zhuoni, Lintan, and Heshui; and, the final phase during the late Shang and proto-Zhou periods associated with the Jiuzhan, Xujianian, and Lanquiao sites. Siwa culture is known for producing a type of pottery that had saddle-shaped mouths. The Siwa culture followed the disintegration of the Qijia culture . This opened a period of interaction and conflict between the Siwa and

992-423: The west. However, there is no definite evidence that the Xianyun were nomadic warriors; moreover, a Duo You bronze ding vessel inscription unearthed in 1980 near Xi'an tells that c. 816 BCE Xianyun forces attacked a Jing (京) garrison in the lower Ordos region, drawing a Zhou military response. It indicated that like the Zhou, the Xianyun fought on horse-drawn chariots; contemporary evidence does not indicate that

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1024-551: Was a Bronze Age culture in southeast Gansu Province, China. It was discovered by Swedish geologist Johan Gunnar Andersson in 1924 at Mount Siwa ( 寺洼山 ) in Lintao County , hence its name. It flourished circa 14th to 11th century BC, it is tentatively attributed to the cultures of the Northern Di , Qiang , and Xunyu peoples. The archaeological culture is divided into two phases: the early phase associated with

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