Xianbei

The Xianbei (/ʃjɛnˈbeɪ/; simplified Chinese: 鲜卑; traditional Chinese: 鮮卑; pinyin: Xiānbēi) were an ancient nomadic people that once resided in the eastern Eurasian steppes in what is today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China. The Xianbei were strongly suggested to be a multi-ethnic confederation with Mongolic (including proto-Mongolic[1][2][3][4] and para-Mongolic[3][4]), Tungusic[4][5] and Turkic peoples.[6][7] They originated from the Donghu people who splintered into the Wuhuan and Xianbei when they were defeated by the Xiongnu at the end of the third century BC. The Xianbei were largely subordinate to larger nomadic powers and the Han dynasty until they gained prominence in 87 AD by killing the Xiongnu chanyu Youliu. However unlike the Xiongnu, the Xianbei political structure lacked the organization to pose a concerted challenge to the Chinese for most of their time as a nomadic people.

Xianbei
Traditional Chinese鮮卑
Simplified Chinese鲜卑
Flying Horse plaque, Xianbei culture, Inner Mongolia province, China. 1st century BC to 1st century AD.
The Xianbei state (1st–3rd century).

After suffering several defeats by the end of the Three Kingdoms period, the Xianbei migrated south and settled in close proximity to Han society and submitted as vassals, being granted the titles of dukes. As the Xianbei Murong, Tuoba, and Duan tribes were one of the Five Barbarians who were vassals of the Western Jin and Eastern Jin dynasties, they took part in the Uprising of the Five Barbarians as allies of the Eastern Jin against the other four barbarians, the Xiongnu, Jie, Di and Qiang.[8][9]

The Xianbei were at one point all defeated and conquered by the Di-led Former Qin dynasty before it fell apart not long after its defeat in the Battle of Fei River by the Eastern Jin. The Xianbei later founded their own dynasties and reunited northern China under the Northern Wei dynasty. These states opposed and promoted sinicization at one point or another but trended towards the latter and had merged with the general Chinese population by the Tang dynasty.[10][11][12][13][14] The Northern Wei also arranged for ethnic Han elites to marry daughters of the Tuoba imperial clan in the 480s.[15] More than fifty percent of Tuoba Xianbei princesses of the Northern Wei were married to southern Han men from the imperial families and aristocrats from southern China of the Southern dynasties who defected and moved north to join the Northern Wei.[16]

Etymology
Figure of a Xianbei warrior from the Northern Dynasties (286–581 AD) era. The figure wear a covered "wind hat", trousers, short upper tunic and a cape tied around the neck, designed to protect against the wind and dust.

Paul Pelliot tentatively reconstructs the Later Han Chinese pronunciation of 鮮卑 as */serbi/, from *Särpi, after noting that Chinese scribes used 鮮 to transcribe Middle Persian sēr (lion) and 卑 to transcribe foreign syllable /pi/; for instance, Sanskrit गोपी gopī "milkmaid, cowherdess" became Middle Chinese 瞿卑 (ɡɨo-piᴇ) (> Mand. qúbēi).[17]

According to Schuessler, however, the Later Han Chinese pronunciation of 鮮卑 is /sian pie/, and he does not reconstruct syllables ending in -r for this stage. His reconstruction of the Later Han pronunciation of 室韋 is /śit wui/.[18]

On the one hand, *Särpi may be linked to Mongolic root *ser ~*sir which means "crest, bristle, sticking out, projecting, etc." (cf. Khalkha сэрвэн serven), possibly referring to the Xianbei's horses (semantically analogous with the Turkic ethnonym Yabaqu < Yapağu 'matted hair or wool', later 'a matted-haired animal, i.e. a colt')[19] On the other hand, Book of Later Han and Book of Wei stated that: before becoming an ethnonym, Xianbei had been a toponym, referring to the Great Xianbei mountains (大鮮卑山), which is now identified as the Greater Khingan range (simplified Chinese: 大兴安岭; traditional Chinese: 大興安嶺; pinyin: Dà Xīng'ān Lǐng).[20][21][22]

Shimunek (2018) reconstructs *serbi for Xiānbēi and *širwi for 室韋 Shìwéi < MC *ɕiɪt̚-ɦʉi.[23]

History
Mural paintings of court life in Xu Xianxiu's Tomb, Northern Qi Dynasty, 571 AD, located in Taiyuan, Shanxi province

Origin

Warring States period's Chinese literature contains early mentions of Xianbei, as in the poem "The Great Summons" (Chinese: 大招; pinyin: Dà zhāo) in the anthology Verses of Chu[24] and possibly the chapter "Discourses of Jin 8" in Discourses of the States.[25][26][lower-alpha 1]

When the Donghu "Eastern Barbarians" were defeated by Modu Chanyu around 208 BC, the Donghu splintered into the Xianbei and Wuhuan.[40] According to the Book of the Later Han, "the language and culture of the Xianbei are the same as the Wuhuan".[41]

The first significant contact the Xianbei had with the Han dynasty was in 41 and 45, when they joined the Wuhuan and Xiongnu in raiding Han territory.[42]

In 49, the governor Ji Tong convinced the Xianbei chieftain Pianhe to turn on the Xiongnu with rewards for each Xiongnu head they collected.[42] In 54, Yuchouben and Mantou of the Xianbei paid tribute to Emperor Guangwu of Han.[43]

In 58, the Xianbei chieftain Pianhe attacked and killed Xinzhiben, a Wuhuan leader causing trouble in Yuyang Commandery.[44]

In 85, the Xianbei secured an alliance with the Dingling and Southern Xiongnu.[42]

In 87, the Xianbei attacked the Xiongnu chanyu Youliu and killed him. They flayed him and his followers and took the skins back as trophies.[45]

Xianbei Confederation

After the downfall of the Xiongnu, the Xianbei established their confederation in Mongolia starting from AD 93.

In 109, the Wuhuan and Xianbei attacked Wuyuan Commandery and defeated local Han forces.[46] The Southern Xiongnu chanyu Wanshishizhudi rebelled against the Han and attacked the Emissary Geng Chong but failed to oust him. Han forces under Geng Kui retaliated and defeated a force of 3,000 Xiongnu but could not take the Southern Xiongnu capital due to disease among the horses of their Xianbei allies.[46]

The Xianbei under Qizhijian raided Han territory four times from 121 to 138. .[47] In 145, the Xianbei raided Dai Commandery.[48]

Around 155, the northern Xiongnu were "crushed and subjugated" by the Xianbei. Their chief, known by the Chinese as Tanshihuai, then advanced upon and defeated the Wusun of the Ili region by 166. Under Tanshihuai, the Xianbei extended their territory from the Ussuri to the Caspian Sea. He divided the Xianbei empire into three sections, each ruled by twenty clans. Tanshihuai then formed an alliance with the southern Xiongnu to attack Shaanxi and Gansu. Han dynasty successfully repulsed their attacks in 158, 177. The Xianbei might have also attacked Wa (Japan) with some success.[49][50][51]

In 177 AD, Xia Yu, Tian Yan and the Tute Chanyu led a force of 30,000 against the Xianbei. They were defeated and returned with only a quarter of their original forces.[52] A memorial made that year records that the Xianbei had taken all the lands previously held by the Xiongnu and their warriors numbered 100,000. Han deserters who sought refuge in their lands served as their advisers and refined metals as well as wrought iron came into their possession. Their weapons were sharper and their horses faster than those of the Xiongnu. Another memorial submitted in 185 states that the Xianbei were making raids on Han settlements nearly every year.[53]

Three Kingdoms
Xianbei musician, tomb of Sima Jinlong, 484 CE.[54]

The loose Xianbei confederacy lacked the organization of the Xiongnu but was highly aggressive until the death of their khan Tanshihuai in 182.[55] Tanshihuai's son Helian lacked his father's abilities and was killed in a raid on Beidi in 186.[56] Helian's brother Kuitou succeeded him, but when Helian's son Qianman came of age, he challenged his uncle to succession, destroying the last vestiges of unity among the Xianbei. By 190, the Xianbei had split into three groups with Kuitou ruling in Inner Mongolia, Kebineng in northern Shanxi, and Suli and Mijia in northern Liaodong. In 205, Kuitou's brothers Budugen and Fuluohan succeeded him. After Cao Cao defeated the Wuhuan at the Battle of White Wolf Mountain in 207, Budugen and Fuluohan paid tribute to him. In 218, Fuluohan met with the Wuhuan chieftain Nengchendi to form an alliance, but Nengchendi double crossed him and called in another Xianbei khan, Kebineng, who killed Fuluohan.[57] Budugen went to the court of Cao Wei in 224 to ask for assistance against Kebineng, but he eventually betrayed them and allied with Kebineng in 233. Kebineng killed Budugen soon afterwards.[58]

Kebineng was from a minor Xianbei tribe. He rose to power west of Dai Commandery by taking in a number of Chinese refugees, who helped him drill his soldiers and make weapons. After the defeat of the Wuhuan in 207, he also sent tribute to Cao Cao, and even provided assistance against the rebel Tian Yin. In 218 he allied himself to the Wuhuan rebel Nengchendi but they were heavily defeated and forced back across the frontier by Cao Zhang. In 220, he acknowledged Cao Pi as emperor of Cao Wei. Eventually, he turned on the Wei for frustrating his advances on another Xianbei khan, Sui. Kebineng conducted raids on Cao Wei before he was killed in 235, after which his confederacy disintegrated.[59]

Many of the Xianbei tribes migrated south and settled on the borders of the Wei-Jin dynasties. In 258 Tuoba Liwei's people settled in Yanmen Commandery.[8] The Yuwen tribe settled between the Luan River and Liucheng. The Murong and Duan tribes became vassals of the Sima clan. An offshoot of the Murong tribe moved west into northern Qinghai and mixed with the native Qiang people, becoming Tuyuhun.[42] A branch of the Tuoba, the Tufa tribe, settled in the Hexi corridor. In 270, their chieftain, Tufa Shujineng, became the leader of a multi-ethnic rebellion against the Jin dynasty in Qin and Liang provinces but was defeated in 279 by Ma Long.[49] The Qifu tribe initially settled around the Yellow River in Ningxia before moving inwards to Longxi Commandery.

Sixteen Kingdoms, Nirun and Northern Wei
Northern dynasties horseman
Northern Wei cavalry
Northern Wei cavalry
See also: Dai (Sixteen Kingdoms), Tuyuhun, and Tuoba

The third century saw both the fragmentation of the Xianbei in 235 and the branching out of the various Xianbei tribes.

Around 308 or 330 AD, the Rouran tribe was founded by Mugulü, but formed by his son, Cheluhui.[60] The Xianbei tribes Tuoba, Murong and Duan submitted to the Western Jin dynasty as vassals, the Tuoba were made Dukes of Dai (Sixteen Kingdoms), the Murong were made Dukes of Liaodong, and the Duan were made Dukes of Liaoxi. The three Xianbei tribes fought on the Western Jin side against the other four barbarians in the Uprising of the Five Barbarians after a Xiongnu and Jie led slave revolt toppled Western Jin rule in northern China. Mass number of Chinese officers, soldiers and civilians fled south to join the Eastern Jin or north to join the Xianbei duchies which remained in direct communication with the Eastern Jin in southern China, receiving orders.

The Xianbei later establish six significant empires of their own such as the Former Yan (281–370), Western Yan (384–394), Later Yan (384–407), Southern Yan (398–410), Western Qin (385–430) and Southern Liang (397–414). The Xianbei were all conquered by the Di Former Qin empire in northern China before its defeat at the Battle of Fei River and subsequent collapse.

Most of them were unified by the Tuoba Xianbei, who established the Northern Wei (386–535), which was the first of the Northern Dynasties (386–581) founded by the Xianbei.[61][62][63]

Xianbei belt buckles, 3–4th century AD

Sinicization and assimilation

Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei established a policy of systematic sinicization that was continued by his successors. Xianbei traditions were largely abandoned. The royal family took the sinicization a step further by changing their family name to Yuan. Marriages to Han elite families were encouraged.

The Northern Wei started to arrange for Han Chinese elites to marry daughters of the Xianbei Tuoba royal family in the 480s.[15] More than fifty percent of Tuoba Xianbei princesses of the Northern Wei were married to southern Han Chinese men from the imperial families and aristocrats from southern China of the Southern dynasties who defected and moved north to join the Northern Wei.[64] Some Han Chinese exiled royalty fled from southern China and defected to the Xianbei. Several daughters of the Xianbei Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei were married to Han Chinese elites, the Liu Song royal Liu Hui (刘辉), married Princess Lanling (蘭陵公主) of the Northern Wei,[65][66][67][68][69] Princess Huayang (華陽公主) to Sima Fei (司馬朏), a descendant of Jin dynasty (266–420) royalty, Princess Jinan (濟南公主) to Lu Daoqian (盧道虔), Princess Nanyang (南阳长公主) to Xiao Baoyin (萧宝夤), a member of Southern Qi royalty.[70] Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei's sister the Shouyang Princess was wedded to The Liang dynasty ruler Emperor Wu of Liang's son Xiao Zong 蕭綜.[71]

When the Eastern Jin dynasty ended, Northern Wei received the Han Chinese Jin prince Sima Chuzhi (司馬楚之) as a refugee. A Northern Wei Princess married Sima Chuzhi, giving birth to Sima Jinlong. Northern Liang Xiongnu King Juqu Mujian's daughter married Sima Jinlong.[72]

In 534, the Northern Wei split into an Eastern Wei (534–550) and a Western Wei (535–556) after an uprising in the steppes of North China inhabited by Xianbei and other nomadic peoples.[73] The former evolved into the Northern Qi (550-577), and the latter into the Northern Zhou (557-581), while the Southern Dynasties were pushed to the south of the Yangtze River. In 581, the Prime Minister of Northern Zhou, Yang Jian, founded the Sui dynasty (581–618). His son, the future Emperor Yang of Sui, absorbed the Chen dynasty (557–589), the last kingdom of the Southern Dynasties, thereby unifying much of China. After the Sui came to an end amidst peasant rebellions and renegade troops, his cousin, Li Yuan, founded the Tang dynasty (618–907). Sui and Tang dynasties were founded by Han generals who also served the Northern Wei dynasty.[74][75] Through these political establishments, the Xianbei who entered China were largely merged with the Chinese, examples such as the wife of Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Duchess Dou and Emperor Taizong of Tang's wife, Empress Zhangsun, both have Xianbei ancestries,[76] while those who remained behind in the northern grassland emerged as later powers to rule over China as Mongol Yuan dynasty and Manchu Qing dynasty.

In the West, the Xianbei kingdom of Tuyuhun remained independent until it was defeated by the Tibetan Empire in 670. After the fall of the kingdom, the Xianbei people underwent a diaspora over a vast territory that stretched from the northwest into central and eastern parts of China. Murong Nuohebo led the Tuyuhun people eastward into central China, where they settled in modern Yinchuan, Ningxia.

Art
Xianbei head ornament with horse motif. Northern Dynasties (A.D. 386 - 581)
Northern Wei earrings. Northern Wei Dynasty, 5th century

Art of the Xianbei portrayed their nomadic lifestyle and consisted primarily of metalwork and figurines. The style and subjects of Xianbei art were influenced by a variety of influences, and ultimately, the Xianbei were known for emphasizing unique nomadic motifs in artistic advancements such as leaf headdresses, crouching and geometricized animals depictions, animal pendant necklaces, and metal openwork.[77]

Leaf headdresses
Main article: Buyao

The leaf headdresses were very characteristic of Xianbei culture, and they are found especially in Murong Xianbei tombs. Their corresponding ornamental style also links the Xianbei to Bactria. These gold hat ornaments represented trees and antlers and, in Chinese, they are referred to as buyao ("step sway") since the thin metal leaves move when the wearer moves. Sun Guoping first uncovered this type of artifact, and defined three main styles: "Blossoming Tree" (huashu), which is mounted on the front of a cap near the forehead and has one or more branches with hanging leaves that are circle or droplet shaped, "Blossoming Top" (dinghua), which is worn on top of the head and resembles a tree or animal with many leaf pendants, and the rare "Blossoming Vine" (huaman), which consists of "gold strips interwoven with wires with leaves."[78] Leaf headdresses were made with hammered gold and decorated by punching out designs and hanging the leaf pendants with wire. The exact origin, use, and wear of these headdresses is still being investigated and determined. However, headdresses similar to those later also existed and were worn by women in the courts.[77][78]

Animal iconography

Another key form of Xianbei art is animal iconography, which was implemented primarily in metalwork. The Xianbei stylistically portrayed crouching animals in geometricized, abstracted, repeated forms, and distinguished their culture and art by depicting animal predation and same-animal combat. Typically, sheep, deer, and horses were illustrated. The artifacts, usually plaques or pendants, were made from metal, and the backgrounds were decorated with openwork or mountainous landscapes, which harks back to the Xianbei nomadic lifestyle. With repeated animal imagery, an openwork background, and a rectangular frame, the included image of the three deer plaque is a paradigm of the Xianbei art style. Concave plaque backings imply that plaques were made using lost-wax casting, or raised designs were impressed on the back of hammered metal sheets.[79][80]

Horses

The nomadic traditions of the Xianbei inspired them to portray horses in their artwork. The horse played a large role in the existence of the Xianbei as a nomadic people, and in one tomb, a horse skull lay atop Xianbei bells, buckles, ornaments, a saddle, and one gilded bronze stirrup.[81] The Xianbei not only created art for their horses, but they also made art to depict horses. Another recurring motif was the winged horse. It has been suggested by archaeologist Su Bai that this symbol was a "heavenly beast in the shape of a horse" because of its prominence in Xianbei mythology.[79] This symbol is thought to have guided an early Xianbei southern migration, and is a recurring image in many Xianbei art forms.

Figurines

Xianbei figurines help to portray the people of the society by representing pastimes, depicting specialized clothing, and implying various beliefs. Most figurines have been recovered from Xianbei tombs, so they are primarily military and musical figures meant to serve the deceased in afterlife processions and guard their tomb. Furthermore, the figurine clothing specifies the according social statuses: higher-ranking Xianbei wore long-sleeved robes with a straight neck shirt underneath, while lower-ranking Xianbei wore trousers and belted tunics.[82]

Buddhist influences

Xianbei Buddhist influences were derived from interactions with Han culture. The Han bureaucrats initially helped the Xianbei run their state, but eventually the Xianbei became Sinophiles and promoted Buddhism. The beginning of this conversion is evidenced by the Buddha imagery that emerges in Xianbei art. For instance, the included Buddha imprinted leaf headdress perfectly represents the Xianbei conversion and Buddhist synthesis since it combines both the traditional nomadic Xianbei leaf headdress with the new imagery of Buddha. This Xianbei religious conversion continued to develop in the Northern Wei dynasty, and ultimately led to the creation of the Yungang Grottoes.[77]

Language
Xianbei
Serbi
Native toXianbei state
RegionMongolian–Manchurian grassland
EthnicityXianbei
Erac. 3rd century BC – c. 3rd century AD
Language codes
ISO 639-3–
See also: Para-Mongolic languages
Painting of the Tuoba-Xianbei Northern Zhou general Li Xian (504–569 AD)

The Xianbei are thought to have spoken Mongolic or Para-Mongolic languages, with early and substantial Turkic influences, as Claus Schönig asserts:

The Xianbei derived from the context of the Donghu, who are likely to have contained the linguistic ancestors of the Mongols. Later branches and descendants of the Xianbei include the Tabghach and Khitan, who seem to have been linguistically Para-Mongolic. [...] Opinions differ widely as to what the linguistic impact of the Xianbei period was. Some scholars (like Clauson) have preferred to regard the Xianbei and Tabghach (Tuoba) as Turks, with the implication that the entire layer of early Turkic borrowings in Mongolic would have been received from the Xianbei, rather than from the Xiongnu. However, since the Mongolic (or Para-Mongolic) identity of the Xianbei is increasingly obvious in the light of recent progress in Khitan studies, it is more reasonable to assume (with Doerfer) that the flow of linguistic influence from Turkic into Mongolic was at least partly reversed during the Xianbei period, yielding the first identifiable layer of Mongolic (or Para-Mongolic) loanwords in Turkic.[3]

It is also possible that the Xianbei spoke more than one language.[84][4][5][6]

Anthropology

According to Sinologist Penglin Wang, some Xianbei had mixed west Eurasian-featured traits such as blue eyes, blonde hair and white skin due to absorbing some Indo-European elements. The Xianbei were described as white on several occasions. The Book of Jin states that in the state of Cao Wei, Xianbei immigrants were known as the white tribe. The ruling Murong clan of Former Yan were referred to by their Former Qin adversaries as white slaves. According to Fan Wenlang et al. the Murong people were considered "white" by the Chinese due to the complexion of their skin color. In the Jin dynasty, Xianbei Murong women were sold off to many Han Chinese bureaucrat and aristocrats and they were also given to their servants and concubines. The mother of Emperor Ming of Jin, Lady Xun, was a lowly concubine possibly of Xianbei stock. During a confrontation between Emperor Ming and a rebel force in 324, his enemies were confused by his appearance, and thought he was a Xianbei due to his yellow beard.[85] Emperor Ming's yellowish hair could have been inherited from his mother, who was either Xianbei or Jie. During the Tang dynasty, the poet Zhang Ji described the Xianbei entering Luoyang as "yellow-headed". During the Song dynasty, the poet and painter Su Shi was inspired by a painting of a Xianbei riding a horse and wrote a poem describing an elderly Xianbei with reddish hair and blue eyes.[86]

There was undoubtedly some range of variation within their population. Yellow hair in Chinese sources could have meant brown rather than blonde and described other people such as the Jie rather than the Xianbei. Historian Edward H. Schafer believes many of the Xianbei were blondes, but others such as Charles Holcombe think it is "likely that the bulk of the Xianbei were not visibly very different in appearance from the general population of northeastern Asia."[84] Chinese anthropologist Zhu Hong and Zhang Quan-chao studied Xianbei crania from several sites of Inner Mongolia and noticed that anthropological features of studied Xianbei crania show that the racial type is closely related to the modern East-Asians, and some physical characteristics of those skulls are closer to modern Mongols, Manchu and Han Chinese.[87]

Genetics
See also: Donghu people § Genetics, Rouran Khaganate § Genetics, Xiongnu § Genetics, Huns § Genetics, Pannonian Avars § Genetics, and Goktürks § Genetics

A genetic study published in The FEBS Journal in October 2006 examined the mtDNA of 21 Tuoba Xianbei buried at the Qilang Mountain Cemetery in Inner Mongolia, China. The 21 samples of mtDNA extracted belonged to haplogroups O (9 samples), D (7 samples), C (5 samples), B (2 samples) and A.[88] These haplogroups are characteristic of Northeast Asians.[89] Among modern populations they were found to be most closely related to the Oroqen people.[90]

A genetic study published in the Russian Journal of Genetics in April 2014 examined the mtDNA of 17 Tuoba Xianbei buried at the Shangdu Dongdajing cemetery in Inner Mongolia, China. The 17 samples of mtDNA extracted belonged to haplogroups D4 (four samples), D5 (three samples), C (five samples), A (three samples), G and B.[91]

A genetic study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in November 2007 examined 17 individuals buried at a Murong Xianbei cemetery in Lamadong, Liaoning, China ca. 300 AD.[92] They were determined to be carriers of the maternal haplogroups J1b1, D (three samples), F1a (three samples), M, B, B5b, C (three samples) and G2a.[93] These haplogroups are common among East Asians and some Siberians. The maternal haplogroups of the Murong Xianbei were noticeably different from those of the Huns and Tuoba Xianbei.[92]

A genetic study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in August 2018 noted that the paternal haplogroup C2b1a1b has been detected among the Xianbei and the Rouran, and was probably an important lineage among the Donghu people.[94]

Northern Qi hunting scene
Northern Qi hunting scene

Notable people
Female Xianbei figure

Pre-dynastic
  • Tanshihuai (檀石槐, 130–182), Xianbei leader who led the Xianbei State until his death in 182
  • Kebineng (軻比能, died 235), a Xianbei chieftain who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period
  • Tufa Shujineng (禿髮樹機能, died 279), a Xianbei chieftain who lived during the Three Kingdoms period

Yan

Dai
  • Tuoba Yilu (拓跋猗盧, died 316), son of Tuoba Shamohan, who was head of the Tuoba clan, Duke of Dai, and later, Prince of Dai, being the founder of this Xianbei kingdom

Northern dynasties
Painting depicting a Xianbei Murong archer in a tomb of the Former Yan (337–370).

Tribe

Khaganate

Sui Dynasty

Tang Dynasty

Modern descendants
See also: Change of Xianbei names to Han names

Most Xianbei clans adopted Chinese family names during Northern Wei Dynasty. In particular, many were sinicized under Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei.

The Northern Wei's Eight Noble Xianbei surnames 八大贵族 were the Buliugu 步六孤, Helai 賀賴, Dugu 獨孤, Helou 賀樓, Huniu 忽忸, Qiumu 丘穆, Gexi 紇奚, and Yuchi 尉遲.

The "Monguor" (Tu) people in modern China may have descended from the Xianbei who were led by Tuyuhun Khan to migrate westward and establish the Tuyuhun Kingdom (284–670) in the third century and Western Xia (1038–1227) through the thirteenth century.[95] Today they are primarily distributed in Qinghai and Gansu Province, and speak a Mongolic language.

The Xibe or "Xibo" people also believe they are descendants of the Xianbei, with considerable controversies that have attributed their origins to the Jurchens, the Elunchun, and the Xianbei.[96][97]

Xianbei descendants among the Korean population carry surnames such as Mo 모 Chinese: 慕; pinyin: mù; Wade–Giles: mu (shortened from Murong), Seok Sŏk Sek 석 Chinese: 石; pinyin: shí; Wade–Giles: shih (shortened from Wushilan 烏石蘭, Won Wŏn 원 Chinese: 元; pinyin: yuán; Wade–Giles: yüan (the adopted Chinese surname of the Tuoba), Dokgo 독고 Chinese: 獨孤; pinyin: Dúgū; Wade–Giles: Tuku (from Dugu).[98][99][100][101][102][103][104]

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Xianbei.

Notes
  1. Zhang Zhengming (2017) accepts the reading 鮮卑[27] (also seen in the early 19th century version published by Jinzhang bookstore (錦章図書局) in Shanghai[28]) as the ethnonym of the people who accompanied the Chu. However, 鮮卑 Xianbei is likely a scribal error for 鮮牟 Xianmou (as in other versions like Sibu Congkan (四部叢刊),[29] or Siku Quanshu (四庫全書)[30]). Eastern Wu scholar Wei Zhao states that the 鮮牟 Xianmou were an Eastern Yi nation,[31][32] while the 鮮卑 Xianbei were of Mountain Rong origin.[33][34] The apparent scribal error results in contradicting statements, apparently by Wei Zhao, that the Xianbei were an Eastern Yi nation[35] and a people of Mountain Rong origin.[36] Huang Pilie (1763-1825) states that the reading 鮮卑 Xianbei was inauthentic and identifies the 鮮牟 Xianmou with 根牟 Genmou, an Eastern Yi nation conquered by the Lu state in the 9th year of Duke Xuan of Lu's reign (600 BCE).[37][38][39]

References
  1. Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (1983). "The Chinese and Their Neighbors in Prehistoric and Early Historic China," in The Origins of Chinese Civilization, University of California Press, p. 452 of pp. 411–466.
  2. Kradin N. N. (2011). "Heterarchy and hierarchy among the ancient Mongolian nomads". Social Evolution & History. 10 (1): 188.
  3. Janhunen 2006, pp. 405–6.
  4. Shimunek, Andrew. "Early Serbi-Mongolic-Tungusic lexical contact: Jurchen numerals from the 室韦 Shirwi (Shih-wei) in North China". Philology of the Grasslands: Essays in Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic Studies, Edited by Ákos Bertalan Apatóczky et al. (Leiden: Brill). Retrieved 22 September 2019. quote: "Asdemonstrated by Ratchnevsky (1966: 231), the Shirwi confederation was a multiethnic, multilingual confederation of Tungusic-speaking Mo-ho 靺鞨 people (i.e. ancestors of the Jurchen), the Meng-wa 蒙瓦 ~ Meng-wu 蒙兀, whom Pelliot (1928) and others have shown were Proto-Mongolic speakers, and other groups. The dominant group among the Shirwi undoubtedly were ethnolinguistic descendants of the Serbi (鮮卑 Hsien-pei), and spoke a language closely related to Kitan and more distantly related to Mongolic."
  5. Xu Elina-Qian (2005). Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan. University of Helsinki. p. 173-179
  6. Golden 2013, p. 47, quote: "The Xianbei confederation appears to have contained speakers of Pre-Proto-Mongolic, perhaps the largest constituent linguistic group, as well as former Xiongnu subjects, who spoke other languages, Turkic almost certainly being one of them."
  7. Wolfgang-Ekkehard Scharlipp Die frühen Türken in Zentralasien, Darmstadt 1992, p. 10
  8. de Crespigny 2017, p. 502.
  9. Theobald, Ulrich. "Xianbei 鮮卑". Chinaknowledge.de. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  10. "The Sixteen States of the Five Barbarian Peoples 五胡十六國". Chinaknowledge.de.
  11. Gernet, Jacques (1996). A History of Chinese Civilization. Cambridge University Press. pp. 186–87. ISBN 9780521497817.
  12. Tanigawa, Michio; Fogel, Joshua (1985). Medieval Chinese Society and the Local "community". University of California Press. pp. 120–21. ISBN 9780520053700.
  13. Van Der Veer, Peter (2002). "Contexts of Cosmopolitanism". In Vertovec, Steven; Cohen, Robin (eds.). Conceiving Cosmopolitanism: Theory, Context and Practice. Oxford University Press. pp. 200–01. ISBN 9780199252282.
  14. Dardess, John W. (2010). Governing China: 150–1850. Hackett. p. 9. ISBN 9781603844475.
  15. Rubie Sharon Watson (1991). Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society. University of California Press. pp. 80–. ISBN 978-0-520-07124-7.
  16. Tang, Qiaomei (May 2016). Divorce and the Divorced Woman in Early Medieval China (First through Sixth Century) (PDF) (A dissertation presented by Qiaomei Tang to The Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of East Asian Languages and Civilizations). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University. pp. 151, 152, 153.
  17. Toh, Hoong Teik (2005). "The -yu Ending in Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Gaoju Onomastica. Appendix I: the ethnicon Xianbei" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers. No. 146: 10–12.
  18. Schuessler, Axel (2007). ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2975-9.
  19. Golden, Peter B. “The Stateless Nomads of Central Eurasia”, in Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity Edited by DiCosmo, Maas. p. 347-348. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316146040.024
  20. Hou Hanshu vol. 90 "鮮卑者，亦東胡之支也，別依鮮卑山，故因號焉" "the Xianbei people branched off from the so-called 'Eastern Hu' and came to settle around Mt. Xianbei after which name they were designated" translated by Toh (2005)
  21. Weishu vol. 1
  22. Tseng, Chin Yin (2012). The Making of the Tuoba Northern Wei: Constructing Material Cultural Expressions in the Northern Wei Pingcheng Period (398–494 CE) (PhD). University of Oxford. p. 1.
  23. Shimunek, Andrew (January 2018). "Early Serbi-Mongolic-Tungusic lexical contact: Jurchen numerals from the 室韦 Shirwi (Shih-wei) in North China". Philology of the Grasslands: Essays in Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic Studies, Edited by Ákos Bertalan Apatóczky et al. (Leiden: Brill): 331. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
  24. Chu Ci, "Da Zhao". quote: "小腰秀頸，若鮮卑只。". translation (by Gopal Sukhu, 2017): "And she is as small-waisted and long-necked [a]s a Xianbei woman."
  25. Guoyu, "Jinyu 8" quote: "昔成王盟諸侯于岐陽，楚為荊蠻，置茅蕝，設望表，與鮮卑守燎，故不與盟。" translation: "Of yore, King Cheng convened an alliance-covenant ceremony with the various vassals at (Mt.) Qi's south-side, the Chu, being barbarians from Jing, held up bundles of cogon grass (through which to pour sacrificial wine), set up spirit tablets (for making offerings to the spirits of mountains and streams), and tended to the torches along with the Xianbei, therefore (the Chu) were not present at the alliance-covenant ceremony."
  26. Zhang, Zhengming. (2019) A History Of Chu (Volume 1) Honolulu: Enrich Professional Publishing. p. 42-46
  27. Zhang, Zhengming. (2019) A History Of Chu (Volume 1) Honolulu: Enrich Professional Publishing. p. 45. quote: "and tending the shrine flames together with the Xianbei 鮮卑 clan leader."
  28. Guoyu, explained by Wei Zhao, "Jinyu 8". Jinzhang Bookstore's version, vol. 2 p. 36 Waseda University Library's copy
  29. Guoyu, explained by Wei Zhao, "Jinyu 8". 1st edition Sibu Congkan version, vol. 3 p. 140 of 154
  30. Guoyu, explained by Wei Zhao, "Jinyu 8". Siku Quanshu version, vol. 3-7, p. 42 of 148
  31. Guoyu, "Jinyu 8", explained by Wei Zhao, 1st edition Sibu Congkan version, vol. 3 p. 140 of 154. quote: "鮮牟東夷國"
  32. Guoyu, "Jinyu 8", explained by Wei Zhao. Siku Quanshu version, vol. 3-7, p. 43 of 148. quote: "鮮牟東夷國"
  33. Guoyu, explained by Wei Zhao, "Qiyu", 1st edition Sibu Congkan version, vol. 2, p. 90 of 160, quote: "山戎今之鮮卑"
  34. Guoyu, explained by Wei Zhao, "Qiyu". Siku Quanshu version, vol. 6-8, p. 28 of 111, quote: "山戎今之鮮卑"
  35. Guoyu, explained by Wei Zhao, "Jinyu 8". Jinzhang Bookstore's version, vol. 2 p. 36. quote: "鮮卑東夷國". Waseda University Library's copy
  36. Guoyu, explained by Wei Zhao, "Qiyu". Jinzhang Bookstore's version, p. 42. quote: "山戎今之鮮卑". Waseda University Library's copy
  37. Chunqiu Zuo Zhuan "Duke Xuan's 9th year" jing; quote:（ 秋，取根牟。）; rough translation: "In autumn, [Lu] conquered Genmou." zhuan; quote:（秋，取根牟，言易也。）; rough translation: "In autumn, [Lu] conquered Genmou. It's said that was easy."
  38. Du Yu, 《春秋經傳集解》 Chunqiu Zuozhuan - Collected Explanations, "vol. 2" p. 151 of 190. quote:（ 根牟東夷國也 ）
  39. Xu Yuangao & Wang Shumin (2002). 國語集解 (Discourses of the States - Collected Explanations) Publisher: Zhonghua Book Company. p. 430. quote:（ 黃丕烈曰：「鮮牟，一本作『鮮卑』，非。『鮮牟』即宣九年之『根牟』也，…… 。」）; rough translation: "Huang Pilie said: 'Xianmou (鮮牟), in one copy it is written as Xianbei (鮮卑), which is inauthentic. The Xianmou (鮮牟) are the Genmou (根牟) in (Duke) Xuan's 9th year. [...].'"
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