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92-695: The Yueban emerged after the disintegration of the Xiongnu confederation. About 480s, the Yueban split into four Chuy tribes: Chuyue (處月), Chumi (處密), Chumukun (處木昆), and Chuban (處半). One Yueban branch, Chuyue, later intermixing with Göktürks , formed the Shatuo of the Western Göktürk Khaganate . The Yueban-descended Shatuo played an important role in Chinese dynastic history. In

184-660: A Xirong group called Yiqu , who had lived in Shaanbei and had been influenced by China for centuries, before they were driven out by the Qin ty . Qin's campaign against the Xiongnu expanded Qin's territory at the expense of the Xiongnu. After the unification of Qin dynasty, Xiongnu was a threat to the northern board of Qin. They were likely to attack the Qin dynasty when they suffered natural disasters. The first known Xiongnu leader

276-415: A Chanyu died, power could pass to his younger brother if his son was not of age. This system, which can be compared to Gaelic tanistry , normally kept an adult male on the throne, but could cause trouble in later generations when there were several lineages that might claim the throne. When the 12th Chanyu died in 60 BC, power was taken by Woyanqudi , a grandson of the 12th Chanyu's cousin. Being something of

368-705: A Sogdian people who had submitted collectively to the Eastern Turks" Later on, Altï Čub Soğdak were mentioned in Kul Tegin inscription as enemies of the Second Turkic Khaganate , and they were conquered by Bilge Khagan in 701. The Six Prefectures also revolted against Tang, until Tang army dispersed them in 722. According to the Book of Wei , the Yuebans' language and customs were the same as

460-607: A branch led by a "Huyan King" (呼衍王) continued to resist. The Huyan King was last mentioned in 151 when he launched an attack on Yiwu but was driven away by Han forces. According to the fifth-century Book of Wei , the remnants of Northern Chanyu's tribe settled as Yueban (悅般), near Kucha and subjugated the Wusun ; while the rest fled across the Altai mountains towards Kangju in Transoxania . It states that this group later became

552-535: A brother to Tuqi set himself up as Chanyu and was killed by Zhizhi. In 36 BC, Zhizhi was killed by a Chinese army while trying to establish a new kingdom in the far west near Lake Balkhash . In 53 BC Huhanye (呼韓邪) decided to enter into tributary relations with Han China . The original terms insisted on by the Han court were that, first, the Chanyu or his representatives should come to the capital to pay homage; secondly,

644-525: A dualistic system of political organisation with the left and right branches of the Xiongnu divided on a regional basis. The chanyu or shanyu , a ruler equivalent to the Emperor of China , exercised direct authority over the central territory. Longcheng (around the Khangai Mountains , Otuken ) ( Chinese : 龍城; Mongolian : Luut; lit. "Dragon City") became the annual meeting place and served as

736-658: A major defeat to the Xianbei, who killed their chanyu Youliu and took his skin as a trophy. With the Northern Xiongnu in disarray, the Han general, Dou Xian launched an expedition and crushed them at the Battle of Ikh Bayan in 89. After another Han attack in 91, the Northern Chanyu fled with his followers to the northwest, never to be seen again, while the Northern Xiongnu that remained behind surrendered to

828-713: A marquis of the Xubu clan as the new chanyu , but after his death, an elderly nominal king was put in his place. The cohesion of the Southern Xiongnu began to erode, and while the other tribes appear to distant themselves from the ongoing Han civil war, the Xiuchuge stayed on the offensive. In the 190s, the Xiuchuge allied themselves with the Heishan bandits of the Taihang Mountains before retreating west as

920-419: A military campaign against Modu Chanyu . At the Battle of Baideng , he was ambushed, reputedly by Xiongnu cavalry. The emperor was cut off from supplies and reinforcements for seven days, only narrowly escaping capture. The Han dynasty sent random unrelated commoner women falsely labeled as "princesses" and members of the Han imperial family multiple times when they were practicing Heqin marriage alliances with

1012-555: A people of non-Turkic origin who were influenced by neighboring Turkic people and became Turkophones. Most research has been done by Russian linguist experts who trace them as close ethnically to Ket people of Yenisei basin in Siberia due to similarities in name between Old Turkic : 𐰔:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣 , romanized:  az budïn and the Assans , who spoke an extinct Yeniseic Kott dialect. The primary information on their language

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1104-515: A role in defeating the Northern Xiongnu. However, with the decline of their northern counterpart, the Southern Xiongnu continued to suffer the brunt of raids, this time by the Xianbei people of the steppe. In addition to the poor living conditions of the frontiers, the Chinese court would also interfere in the Southern Xiongnu's politics and install chanyu s loyal to the Han. As a result, the Southern Xiongnu often rebelled, at times joining forces with

1196-673: A series of Xiongnu migrations (93 CE - circa 380 CE) westward to southern Siberia and Central Asia. The defeat ended the prominence of the Xiongnu as a major power in inner Asia. Tanshihuai expelled the Xiongnu from Dzungaria to beyond the Tarbagatai Mountains , and pushed the Dingling beyond the Sayan Mountains . The defeat had cost the Xiongnu their revenue from the Silk Road in the agricultural dependencies in

1288-521: A surprise attack on the Xiongnu at the border markets. In 127 BC, the Han general Wei Qing retook the Ordos. In 121 BC, the Xiongnu suffered another setback when Huo Qubing led a force of light cavalry westward out of Longxi and within six days fought his way through five Xiongnu kingdoms. The Xiongnu Hunye king was forced to surrender with 40,000 men. In 119 BC both Huo and Wei, each leading 50,000 cavalrymen and 100,000 footsoldiers (in order to keep up with

1380-426: A usurper, he tried to put his own men in power, which only increased the number of his enemies. The 12th Chanyu's son fled east and, in 58 BC, revolted. Few would support Woyanqudi and he was driven to suicide, leaving the rebel son, Huhanye , as the 14th Chanyu. The Woyanqudi faction then set up his brother, Tuqi, as Chanyu (58 BC). In 57 BC three more men declared themselves Chanyu. Two dropped their claims in favor of

1472-663: Is later told about the Eurasian Avars sorcerers in their war with the Franks , and Naiman sorcerers against Chingis-Khan . The Manichaean Chuyue tribe's descendants, Shatuo, later founded the Chinese state Hou Tang (923-936) in Northern China, and adopted a Chinese surname Li (李). The Shatuo had a predominant Dragon cult. Later Tang's founder Li Keyong also came from the Dragon tribe. The annals even noted that

1564-730: Is phonetically closer to the Chunghyl "bones" of the Yugurs . The Chumi (處密) tribe may be identified with the Čömül , another tribe opposing Rūm and spoke both Middle Turkic and their own "gibberish" (Ar. رَطَانَة‎ raṭāna ). The Chumukun (處木昆) were identified by Gumilyov with the Kimek (which existed in the period of 743-1050 AD). Abu Said Gardizi (d. 1061) listed the Kimek khaganate 's seven constituents as Imi , Yemeks , Tatars , Bayandur , Kipchaks , Lanikaz , and Ajlad . Much later, both Chumukun and Kipchaks would possibly contribute to

1656-645: The Altay Mountains , Kazakhstan and nearby Mongolia . To the south, the Ordos culture had developed in the Ordos Loop (modern Inner Mongolia , China ) during the Bronze and early Iron Age from the 6th to 2nd centuries BC, and is of unknown ethno-linguistic origin, and is thought to represent the easternmost extension of Indo-European-speakers. The Yuezhi were displaced by the Xiongnu expansion in

1748-407: The Chanyu should send a hostage prince; and thirdly, the Chanyu should present tribute to the Han emperor. The political status of the Xiongnu in the Chinese world order was reduced from that of a "brotherly state" to that of an "outer vassal" (外臣). Huhanye sent his son, the "wise king of the right" Shuloujutang, to the Han court as hostage. In 51 BC he personally visited Chang'an to pay homage to

1840-575: The Emel River . Gumilyov further identified Yueban with the Altï Čub Soğdak "Six Prefectures' Sogdians". Meanwhile, Sergey Klyashtorny identified the Altï Čub Soğdak with the Sogdian-populated "Six Barbarian Prefectures" (六胡州 Liùhúzhōu) of Lu 魯, Li 麗, Han 含 (or She 舍), Sai 塞, Yi 依, and Qi 契, established by Tang Chinese in 679 from "surrendered Turks" (降突厥), "originally

1932-517: The Gaoche , who were Turkic speakers . Yuebans cut their hair and trimmed their ghee-smeared, sun-dried, glossy eyebrows evenly, and washed before meals three times every day. Between 155 and 166, the Xianbei (* Särpi ) (Ch. 鮮卑, Wade–Giles Hsien-pi, Hsien-pei), a former vassal tribe of the Xiongnu , united under Tanshihuai conducted a series of campaigns against Northern Xiongnu , eventually defeating them and forcing them to flee west, which started

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2024-518: The Han dynasty in a centuries-long conflict , which led to the confederation splitting in two, and forcible resettlement of large numbers of Xiongnu within Han borders. During the Sixteen Kingdoms era, listed as one of the " Five Barbarians ", their descendants founded the dynastic states of Han-Zhao , Northern Liang and Helian Xia in northern China. Attempts to associate the Xiongnu with

2116-809: The Hephthalites conquered the Tiele (495-496), followed by the Rouran in 530s and finally in 551, the Turks, as Rouran's vassals, again quelled Tiele's rebellion. Nevertheless, the four splinter tribes still became major players in the First Turkic Khaganate . After the First Khaganate's disintegration, Chumukun were in the Duolu wing, whereas Chuban were in both Duolu and Nushibi wings of

2208-402: The Hephthalites . Coincidentally, the Southern Xiongnu were plagued by natural disasters and misfortunes—in addition to the threat posed by Punu. Consequently, in 50 AD, the Southern Xiongnu submitted to tributary relations with Han China. The system of tribute was considerably tightened by the Han, to keep the Southern Xiongnu under control. The chanyu was ordered to establish his court in

2300-518: The Kushan Empire . According to Persian historian Gardizi , Azi and Tuhsi were remnants of Türgesh , along with Khalaj . Karakhanid linguist Mahmud Kashgari described Tuhsi as a dynastic tribe of Turkic-speaking monoglots . This may suggest that Indo-European peoples underwent language replacement , in the form of " Turkification ", had occurred. The Azi were also alternatively proposed to be Yeniseian -speaking, as Vasily Bartold noted

2392-728: The Laoshang Chanyu (and older sister of Junchen Chanyu and Yizhixie Chanyu) was married to the Xiongnu General Zhao Xin , the Marquis of Xi who was serving the Han dynasty. The daughter of Qiedihou Chanyu was married to the Han Chinese General Li Ling after he surrendered and defected. Another Han Chinese General who defected to the Xiongnu was Li Guangli , general in the War of

2484-465: The Tarim Basin ("Western Territories", Xiyu or Xinjian of the Chinese annals), forcing them to find new dependencies, and the Xiongnu split again. Tribes known as the "Weak Xiongnu" or Yueban took advantage of the vulnerability of the neighboring Uar (a people possibly linked to the Hephthalites and/or the " Avars " who later invaded Eastern Europe) and conquered Zhetysu , where they established

2576-648: The War of the Heavenly Horses against the Kingdom of Dayuan . As a result, the Han gained many Ferghana horses which further aided them in their battle against the Xiongnu. As a result of these battles, the Han Empire controlled the strategic region from the Ordos and Gansu corridor to Lop Nor . They succeeded in separating the Xiongnu from the Qiang peoples to the south, and also gained direct access to

2668-563: The Western Regions and launched raids on the Han borders. In 73, the Han responded by sending Dou Gu and Geng Chong to lead a great expedition against the Northern Xiongnu in the Tarim Basin . The expedition, which saw the exploits of the general, Ban Chao , was initially successful, but the Han soon had to temporarily withdraw due to matters back home in 75. For the next decade, the Northern Xiongnu had to endure famines largely in part due to locust plagues. In 87, they suffered

2760-580: The Western Regions . By the time of Modu's death in 174 BC, the Xiongnu were recognized as the most prominent of the nomads bordering the Chinese Han empire According to the Book of Han , later quoted in Duan Chengshi 's ninth-century Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang : Also, according to the Han shu , Wang Wu (王烏) and others were sent as envoys to pay a visit to the Xiongnu. According to

2852-522: The Western Regions . Because of strong Han control over the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu became unstable and were no longer a threat to the Han Empire. Ban Chao , Protector General (都護; Duhu ) of the Han dynasty, embarked with an army of 70,000 soldiers in a campaign against the Xiongnu remnants who were harassing the trade route now known as the Silk Road . His successful military campaign saw the subjugation of one Xiongnu tribe after another. Ban Chao also sent an envoy named Gan Ying to Daqin (Rome). Ban Chao

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2944-830: The Western Turkic Khaganate On Oq (Ten Arrows) elites. Much later, Chuyue branch, intermixing with Göktürk remnants, formed the Shatuo tribe in Southern Dzungaria , west of Lake Barkol . An 8th-century Tibetan geographer mentioned Chumuhuns in Altai and south of it as the Ibilkur , and associated them with Külüg-Külchur. They were the only Chuy tribe that in the middle of the 8th century preserved their independence, in spite of being sandwiched between Karluks and Turgesh. Their possessions were on

3036-620: The Wuhuan and receiving support from the Xianbei. Meanwhile, the Xiuchuge people, a branch of Xiongnu within China not attached to the Southern Xiongnu, was gaining momentum during the mid-2nd century. During the late 2nd century AD, the Southern Xiongnu were drawn into the rebellions then plaguing the Han court. In 188, the chanyu sent troops to help the Han suppress a rebellion in Hebei —many of

3128-708: The Xirong , Shanrong or Quanrong . These tribes are recorded as harassing Zhou territory, but at the time the Zhou were expanding northwards, encroaching on their traditional lands, especially into the Wei River valley . Archaeologically, the Zhou expanded to the north and the northwest at the expense of the Siwa culture . The Quanrong put an end to the Western Zhou in 771 BC, sacking the Zhou capital of Haojing and killing

3220-857: The Yuezhi in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu , where his son, Jizhu, made a skull cup out of the Yuezhi king. Modu also retook the original homeland of Xiongnu on the Yellow River , which had previously been taken by the Qin general Meng Tian. Under Modu's leadership, the Xiongnu became so strong that they began to threaten the Han dynasty. In 200 BC, Modu besieged the first Han dynasty emperor Gaozu (Gao-Di) with his 320,000-strong army at Peteng Fortress in Baideng (present-day Datong, Shanxi). Gaozu (Gao-Di) after agreed to all Modu's terms, such as ceding

3312-480: The Yuezhi , the Xiongnu became the dominant power on the steppes of East Asia , centred on the Mongolian Plateau . The Xiongnu were also active in areas now part of Siberia , Inner Mongolia , Gansu and Xinjiang . Their relations with adjacent Chinese dynasties to the south-east were complex—alternating between various periods of peace, war, and subjugation. Ultimately, the Xiongnu were defeated by

3404-512: The Zhou , who often conquered and enslaved the nomads in an expansion drift. During the Warring States period , the armies from the Qin , Zhao and Yan states were encroaching and conquering various nomadic territories that were inhabited by the Xiongnu and other Hu peoples. The Zhao–Xiongnu War is a notable example of these campaigns. Pulleyblank argued that the Xiongnu were part of

3496-528: The 10th century the remaining Shatuo branch of the Chuy tribe possibly joined Mongolic-speaking Tatar confederation in the territory of the modern Mongolia , and became known as Ongud or White Tatars branch of the Tatars. Another Yueban-descended tribe, Chumukun, might be associated with the Kimek confederation . Yury Zuev reconstructed 悅般 Yueban' s underlying form as * Örpen ~ Ürpen , identifiable with

3588-406: The 2nd century BC, and had to migrate to Central and Southern Asia. Western Han historian Sima Qian composed an early yet detailed exposition on the Xiongnu in one liezhuan (arrayed account) of his Records of the Grand Historian ( c.  100 BC), wherein the Xiongnu were alleged to be descendants of a certain Chunwei , who in turn descended from the "lineage of Lord Xia", a.k.a. Yu

3680-415: The 3rd century BC. Genetic research indicates that the Slab Grave people were the primary ancestors of the Xiongnu, and that the Xiongnu formed through substantial and complex admixture with West Eurasians. During the Western Zhou (1045–771 BC), there were numerous conflicts with nomadic tribes from the north and the northwest, variously known as the Xianyun , Guifang , or various "Rong" tribes, such as

3772-448: The Chinese general Li Ling , grandson of the famous Han dynasty general Li Guang . Li Ling was captured by the Xiongnu and defected in the first century BCE. And since the Tang royal Li family also claimed descent from Li Guang, the Kirghiz Khagan was therefore recognized as a member of the Tang Imperial family. This relationship soothed the relationship when Kyrgyz khagan Are (阿熱) invaded Uyghur Khaganate and put Qasar Qaghan to

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3864-404: The Donghu to be the Hu proper, yet elsewhere he considered Xiongnu to be also Hu. Ancient China often came in contact with the Xianyun and the Xirong nomadic peoples. In later Chinese historiography, some groups of these peoples were believed to be the possible progenitors of the Xiongnu people. These nomadic people often had repeated military confrontations with the Shang and especially

3956-508: The Great . Even so, Sima Qian also drew a distinct line between the settled Huaxia people (Han) to the pastoral nomads (Xiongnu), characterizing them as two polar groups in the sense of a civilization versus an uncivilized society: the Hua–Yi distinction . Sima Qian also mentioned Xiongnu's early appearance north of Wild Goose Gate and Dai commanderies before 265 BCE, just before the Zhao-Xiongnu War ; however, sinologist Edwin Pulleyblank (1994) contends that pre-241-BCE references to

4048-403: The Han court with tribute. But having failed to pay homage personally, he was never admitted to the tributary system. In 36 BC, a junior officer named Chen Tang , with the help of Gan Yanshou, protector-general of the Western Regions, assembled an expeditionary force that defeated him at the Battle of Zhizhi and sent his head as a trophy to Chang'an. Tributary relations were discontinued during

4140-492: The Han court, but at this time the Han court was in disorder from the clash between Grand General He Jin and the eunuchs, and the intervention of the warlord Dong Zhuo . The chanyu had no choice but to settle down with his followers around Pingyang , south of the Fen River in Shanxi . In 195, he died and was succeeded as chanyu by his brother Huchuquan . North of the Fen River, the rebels prevented Yufuluo and his family from returning to their home. They initially elected

4232-404: The Han. In 94, dissatisfied with the newly appointed chanyu, the surrendered Northern Xiongnu rebelled and acclaimed Fenghou as their chanyu, who led them to flee outside the border. However, the separatist regime continued to face famines and the growing threat of the Xianbei, prompting 10,000 of them to return to Han in 96. Fenghou later sent envoys to Han intending to submit as a vassal but

4324-409: The Heavenly Horses , who also married a daughter of the Hulugu Chanyu. The Han Chinese diplomat Su Wu married a Xiongnu woman given by Li Ling when he was arrested and taken captive. Han Chinese explorer Zhang Qian married a Xiongnu woman and had a child with her when he was taken captive by the Xiongnu. The Yenisei Kyrgyz khagans of the Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate claimed descent from

4416-577: The Huns and/or the Huna , although this is disputed. Other linguistic links—all of them also controversial—proposed by scholars include Turkic , Iranian , Mongolic , Uralic , Yeniseian , or multi-ethnic. The pronunciation of 匈奴 as Xiōngnú [ɕjʊ́ŋnǔ] is the modern Mandarin Chinese pronunciation, from the Mandarin dialect spoken now in Beijing, which came into existence less than 1,000 years ago. The Old Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as * xiuoŋ-na or * qhoŋna . Sinologist Axel Schuessler (2014) reconstructs

4508-410: The Left was normally the heir presumptive. Next lower in the hierarchy came more officials in pairs of left and right: the guli , the army commanders, the great governors, the danghu and the gudu . Beneath them came the commanders of detachments of one thousand, of one hundred, and of ten men. This nation of nomads, a people on the march, was organized like an army. After Modu, later leaders formed

4600-403: The Meiji district of Xihe Commandery and the Southern Xiongnu were resettled in eight frontier commanderies. At the same time, large numbers of Chinese were also resettled in these commanderies, in mixed Han-Xiongnu settlements. Economically, the Southern Xiongnu became reliant on trade with the Han. The Southern Xiongnu served as auxillaries to defend the northern borders for the Han and played

4692-478: The Northern Chanyu . In 49 AD, the Northern Xiongnu was dealt a heavy defeat to the Southern Xiongnu. That same year, Zhai Tong , a Han governor of Liaodong also enticed the Wuhuan and Xianbei into attacking the Northern Xiongnu. Soon, Punu began sending envoys on several separate occasions to negotiate peace with the Han dynasty, but made little to no progress. In the 60s, the Northern Xiongnu resumed hostilities as they attempted to expand their influence into

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4784-465: The Rouran would have had to pass through the Yueban state to attack the Sabirs. No records address the Yueban religion, though Chinese annals depict some manifestations of religious rites and magic. A narration about the Yuebans tells about sorcerers, able to cause frost and rainstorm. During a war with the Rouran, Chuban sorcerers incited a snowstorm against them, making the Rouran so frostbitten they had to stop their campaign and retreat. A similar legend

4876-589: The Shatuo were praying "old services following the custom of the North" at the Thunder-mountain, at the Gates of Dragon. Within China, Chuy Shatuo became active adherents and protectors of Buddhism and Taoism , and initiated construction of many Buddhist temples. Subsequent to Shatuo, most of these temples were demolished. The Chuyue (處月) were often identified with the Čigil , a Middle Turkic -speaking tribe "opposing Rūm " mentioned by 10th century Karakhanid scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari ; still, Atwood (2010) doubts this Chuyue-Chigil identification and notes that Chuyue

4968-402: The Xiongnu are anachronistic substitutions for the Hu people instead. Sometimes the Xiongnu were distinguished from other nomadic peoples; namely, the Hu people ; yet on other occasions, Chinese sources often just classified the Xiongnu as a Hu people , which was a blanket term for nomadic people . Even Sima Qian was inconsistent: in the chapter "Hereditary House of Zhao", he considered

5060-456: The Xiongnu capital. The ruins of Longcheng were found south of Ulziit District, Arkhangai Province in 2017. North of Shanxi with the Tuqi King of the Left was holding the area north of Beijing and the Tuqi King of the Right was holding the Ordos Loop area as far as Gansu . When the Xiongnu had been driven north, to today's Mongolia. In the winter of 200 BC, following a Xiongnu siege of Taiyuan , Emperor Gaozu of Han personally led

5152-476: The Xiongnu feared that it would set a precedent for unending military service to the Han court. At the time, the Xiuchuge had rebel in Bing province and kill the Chinese provincial inspector. The rebellious faction among the Southern Xiongnu allied with the Xiuchuge and killed their chanyu as well. His son Yufuluo , entitled Chizhisizhu ( 持至尸逐侯 ), succeeded him, but was then overthrown by the rebels in 189. He travelled to Luoyang (the Han capital) to seek aid from

5244-433: The Xiongnu from the threat of the Qin dynasty , Modu Chanyu united the Xiongnu into a powerful confederation . This transformed the Xiongnu into a more formidable polity, able to form larger armies and exercise improved strategic coordination. Two years later, in 207 BC, the Qin dynasty fell, and after a period of internal conflict , it was replaced by the Western Han dynasty in 202 BC. This period of Chinese instability

5336-443: The Xiongnu in order to avoid sending the emperor's daughters. The Han sent these "princesses" to marry Xiongnu leaders in their efforts to stop the border raids. Along with arranged marriages, the Han sent gifts to bribe the Xiongnu to stop attacking. After the defeat at Pingcheng in 200 BC, the Han emperor abandoned a military solution to the Xiongnu threat. Instead, in 198 BC   , the courtier Liu Jing  [ zh ]

5428-461: The Xiongnu, however, Huduershi was never able to establish unquestioned authority. In contravention of a principle of fraternal succession established by Huhanye, Huduershi designated his son Punu as heir-apparent . However, as the eldest son of the preceding chanyu , Bi (Pi)—the Rizhu King of the Right—had a more legitimate claim. Consequently, Bi refused to attend the annual meeting at the chanyu ' s court. Nevertheless, in 46 AD, Punu ascended

5520-416: The battles between the Göktürks and the Kyrgyz . According to the Bayan-Kol inscriptions, the Az were divided to many clans living in the region of Mugur west of the Tannu-Ola mountains. There are also writings from the 8th century (around 714 AD) in Uyghur sources about the uprising of the Az against the Göktürks. The origin of the Az is disputed; but most researchers agree that they are without much doubt

5612-401: The course of the events, there was no peace, and the nomadic empire of Rouran began to decline. In the late 5th century the Yueban were attacked by the Tiele , who had split from the Rouran in 487. The Yueban principality ceased to existed during the 480s and split into four tribes, known as the Chuyue, Chumi, Chumuhun, and Chuban. The dominance of Yueban's Tiele enemies was short-lived: first,

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5704-425: The customs of the Xiongnu, if the Han envoys did not remove their tallies of authority, and if they did not allow their faces to be tattooed, they could not gain entrance into the yurts. Wang Wu and his company removed their tallies, submitted to tattoo, and thus gained entry. The Shanyu looked upon them very highly. The ruler of the Xiongnu was called the Chanyu . Under him were the Tuqi Kings . The Tuqi King of

5796-410: The emperor on the Lunar New Year . In the same year, another envoy Qijushan (稽居狦) was received at the Ganquan Palace in the north-west of modern Shanxi . On the financial side, Huhanye was amply rewarded in large quantities of gold, cash, clothes, silk, horses and grain for his participation. Huhanye made two further homage trips, in 49 BC and 33 BC; with each one the imperial gifts were increased. On

5888-446: The ethnogenesis of the Polovtsy . Xiongnu The Xiongnu ( Chinese : 匈奴 , [ɕjʊ́ŋ.nǔ] ) were a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources , inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu , the supreme leader after 209 BC, founded the Xiongnu Empire . After overthrowing their previous overlords,

5980-404: The imperial retreat at Yong. In 158 BC, his successor sent 30,000 cavalry to attack Shangdang and another 30,000 to Yunzhong . The Xiongnu also practiced marriage alliances with Han dynasty officers and officials who defected to their side by marrying off sisters and daughters of the Chanyu (the Xiongnu ruler) to Han Chinese who joined the Xiongnu and Xiongnu in Han service. The daughter of

6072-409: The last Western Zhou king You . Thereafter the task of dealing with the northern tribes was left to their vassal, the Qin state . To the west, the Pazyryk culture (6th-3rd century BC) immediately preceded the formation of the Xiongnus. A Scythian culture, it was identified by excavated artifacts and mummified humans, such as the Siberian Ice Princess , found in the Siberian permafrost , in

6164-482: The last trip, Huhanye took the opportunity to ask to be allowed to become an imperial son-in-law. As a sign of the decline in the political status of the Xiongnu, Emperor Yuan refused, giving him instead five ladies-in-waiting. One of them was Wang Zhaojun , famed in Chinese folklore as one of the Four Beauties . When Zhizhi learned of his brother's submission, he also sent a son to the Han court as hostage in 53 BC. Then twice, in 51 BC and 50 BC, he sent envoys to

6256-427: The maintenance of a large scale government sponsored market system. While the Xiongnu benefited handsomely, from the Chinese perspective marriage treaties were costly, very humiliating and ineffective. Laoshang Chanyu showed that he did not take the peace treaty seriously. On one occasion his scouts penetrated to a point near Chang'an . In 166 BC he personally led 140,000 cavalry to invade Anding , reaching as far as

6348-440: The mobility of the Xiongnu, many of the non-cavalry Han soldiers were mobile infantrymen who traveled on horseback but fought on foot), and advancing along different routes, forced the chanyu and his Xiongnu court to flee north of the Gobi Desert . Major logistical difficulties limited the duration and long-term continuation of these campaigns. According to the analysis of Yan You (嚴尤), the difficulties were twofold. Firstly there

6440-417: The nearby Sakas and Sarmatians were once controversial. However, archaeogenetics has confirmed their interaction with the Xiongnu, and also possibly their relation to the Huns . The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses, because only a few words, mainly titles and personal names, were preserved in the Chinese sources. The name Xiongnu may be cognate with that of

6532-445: The northern provinces to the Xiongnu and paying annual taxes, he was allowed to leave the siege. Although Gaozu was able to return to his capital Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), Modu occasionally threatened the Han's northern frontier and finally in 198 BC, a peace treaty was settled. Xiongnu in their expansion drove their western neighbour Yuezhi from the Hexi Corridor in year 176 BC, killing the Yuezhi king and asserting their presence in

6624-605: The pattern for relations between the Han and the Xiongnu for sixty years. Up to 135 BC, the treaty was renewed nine times, each time with an increase in the "gifts" to the Xiongnu Empire. In 192 BC, Modun even asked for the hand of Emperor Gaozu of Han widow Empress Lü Zhi . His son and successor, the energetic Jiyu, known as the Laoshang Chanyu , continued his father's expansionist policies. Laoshang succeeded in negotiating with Emperor Wen terms for

6716-780: The principality of Yueban. Later, some Uar returned to Zhetysu, and in cooperation with the Mukrins , a Xianbei tribe, occupied the Tianshan slopes in the 2nd century, retaining their independence for some time as the Western Xianbei Horde. Zhetysu was also populated by the Azi (who lived between Suyab and Uzkent ) and the Tuhsi . The Azi and Tuhsi are sometimes linked to Asii and Tukharas ; Indo-European peoples who had conquered Bactria six centuries earlier, and formed

6808-651: The pronunciations of 匈奴 as * hoŋ-nâ in Late Old Chinese (c. 318 BCE) and as * hɨoŋ-nɑ in Eastern Han Chinese ; citing other Chinese transcriptions wherein the velar nasal medial -ŋ- , after a short vowel, seemingly played the role of a general nasal – sometimes equivalent to n or m –, Schuessler proposes that 匈奴 Xiongnu < * hɨoŋ-nɑ < * hoŋ-nâ might be a Chinese rendition, Han or even pre-Han, of foreign * Hŏna or * Hŭna , which Schuessler compares to Huns and Sanskrit Hūṇā . However,

6900-445: The reign of Emperor Wen , the break did not come until 133 BC, following an abortive trap to ambush the chanyu at Mayi . By that point the empire was consolidated politically, militarily and economically, and was led by an adventurous pro-war faction at court. In that year, Emperor Wu reversed the decision he had made the year before to renew the peace treaty. Full-scale war broke out in autumn 129 BC, when 40,000 Han cavalry made

6992-555: The reign of Huduershi (18 AD–48), corresponding to the political upheavals of the Xin dynasty . The Xiongnu took the opportunity to regain control of the western regions, as well as neighboring peoples such as the Wuhuan . In 24 AD, Hudershi even talked about reversing the tributary system. The Xiongnu's new power was met with a policy of appeasement by Emperor Guangwu . At the height of his power, Huduershi even compared himself to his illustrious ancestor, Modu. Due to growing regionalism among

7084-607: The same medial -ŋ- prompts Christopher P. Atwood (2015) to reconstruct * Xoŋai , which he derives from the Ongi River ( Mongolian : Онги гол ) in Mongolia and suggests that it was originally a dynastic name rather than an ethnic name. The territories associated with the Xiongnu in central/east Mongolia were previously inhabited by the Slab Grave Culture ( Ancient Northeast Asian origin), which persisted until

7176-574: The similarities between Old Turkic 𐰔 Az and the ethnonym Assan of a people who spoke an extinct Yeniseic Kott dialect. In 448 the Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei received an envoy from the Yueban to negotiate a war with the Rouran . If the Yueban would pressure them from the west, the Rouran would lose any freedom to maneuver. Though no direct records exist about the war in Dzungaria, by

7268-529: The sword. The news brought to Chang'an by Kyrgyz ambassador Zhuwu Hesu (註吾合素). The Han dynasty made preparations for war when the Han Emperor Wu dispatched the Han Chinese explorer Zhang Qian to explore the mysterious kingdoms to the west and to form an alliance with the Yuezhi people in order to combat the Xiongnu. During this time Zhang married a Xiongnu wife, who bore him a son, and gained

7360-483: The third who was defeated by Tuqi in that year and surrendered to Huhanye the following year. In 56 BC Tuqi was defeated by Huhanye and committed suicide, but two more claimants appeared: Runzhen and Huhanye's elder brother Zhizhi Chanyu . Runzhen was killed by Zhizhi in 54 BC, leaving only Zhizhi and Huhanye. Zhizhi grew in power, and, in 53 BC, Huhanye moved south and submitted to the Chinese. Huhanye used Chinese support to weaken Zhizhi, who gradually moved west. In 49 BC,

7452-645: The throne. In 48 AD, a confederation of eight Xiongnu tribes in Bi's power base in the south, with a military force totalling 40,000 to 50,000 men, seceded from Punu's kingdom and acclaimed Bi as chanyu . This kingdom became known as the Southern Xiongnu . The rump kingdom under Punu, around the Orkhon (modern north central Mongolia) became known as the Northern Xiongnu , with Punu, becoming known as

7544-579: The toponym Örpün mentioned in Bilge Khagan inscription . Zuev also compared * Örpen ~ Ürpen to the prefecture 咽麫 Yànmiàn (supposedly from MC < * iet-mien < * ermen ~ örmen ?) at the Irtysh headwaters in the 7th century. Meanwhile, Vladimir Tishin compared 咽麫 Yànmiàn (< LMC * ʔjianˊ-mjianˋ < EMC * ʔɛn-mjian < * Emän ) to the names of the Chumukun's "town of Yan" (咽城) and

7636-475: The trust of the Xiongnu leader. While Zhang Qian did not succeed in this mission, his reports of the west provided even greater incentive to counter the Xiongnu hold on westward routes out of the Han Empire, and the Han prepared to mount a large scale attack using the Northern Silk Road to move men and material. While the Han dynasty was making preparations for a military confrontation since

7728-519: The warlords Cao Cao and Yuan Shao established control over the north. The Xiuchuge were eventually defeated by Cao Cao in 214. Az (people) The Az were a Turkic -speaking people from present-day Russia whose origins are still vague. Their existence is confirmed by the Tannu-Ola mountains inscriptions of Mugur-Sargol and Bayan-Kol and certain verses of the Göktürks , while describing

7820-583: The west side of the Tarbagatai range. Chinese chroniclers listed Chumukun (處木昆), led by a * Külüg čor ([屈]律啜 [Qu]lü chuo ), as the first of five Duolu tribes in the On-Ok union. Based on a reconstruction of Yueban history, Lev Gumilev argued against a then-widespread view that the Rouran were synonymous with the " Avars " or "Pseudo-Avars" (who attacked the Sabirs before invading Eastern Europe), because

7912-543: Was Touman , who reigned between 220-209 BC. In 215 BC, Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang sent General Meng Tian on a military campaign against the Xiongnu. Meng Tian defeated the Xiongnu and expelled them from the Ordos loop , forcing Touman and the Xiongnu to flee north into the Mongolian Plateau . In 210 BC, Meng Tian died, and in 209 BC, Touman's son Modu became the Xiongnu Chanyu . In order to protect

8004-542: Was a time of prosperity for the Xiongnu, who adopted many Han agriculture techniques such as slaves for heavy labor and lived in Han-style homes. After forging internal unity, Modu Chanyu expanded the Xiongnu empire in all directions. To the north he conquered a number of nomadic peoples, including the Dingling of southern Siberia. He crushed the power of the Donghu people of eastern Mongolia and Manchuria as well as

8096-659: Was collected by Matthias Castrén in 1845, with further research and information added later by the anthropologist Dmitry Anuchin . Meanwhile, Az were also hypothesized to be Turkicized descendants of the Iranian-speakers, particularly Asiani - Wusun . The name Az has been suggested to live on in the names of several other peoples of southern Siberia: the Kamas ("Mountain Az"), the Karagas ("Black Az" or "Plains Az"), and

8188-580: Was created the Marquess of Dingyuan (定遠侯, i.e., "the Marquess who stabilized faraway places") for his services to the Han Empire and returned to the capital Luoyang at the age of 70 years and died there in the year 102. Following his death, the power of the Xiongnu in the Western Regions increased again, and the emperors of subsequent dynasties did not reach as far west until the Tang dynasty . When

8280-406: Was dispatched for negotiations. The peace settlement eventually reached between the parties included a Han princess given in marriage to the chanyu (called heqin ) ( Chinese : 和親 ; lit. 'harmonious kinship'); periodic gifts to the Xiongnu of silk , distilled beverages and rice ; equal status between the states; and a boundary wall as mutual border. This first treaty set

8372-530: Was rejected. The Northern Xiongnu were scattered, with most of them being absorbed the Xianbei. In 118, a defeated Fenghou brought around a mere 100 followers to surrender to Han. Remnants of the Northern Xiongnu held out in the Tarim Basin as they allied themselves with the Nearer Jushi Kingdom and captured Yiwu in 119. By 126, they were subjugated by the Han general, Ban Yong , while

8464-410: Was the problem of supplying food across long distances. Secondly, the weather in the northern Xiongnu lands was difficult for Han soldiers, who could never carry enough fuel. According to official reports, the Xiongnu lost 80,000 to 90,000 men, and out of the 140,000 horses the Han forces had brought into the desert, fewer than 30,000 returned to the Han Empire. In 104 and 102 BC, the Han fought and won

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