The Xianbei (Mongolian:Сүнбэ; /ʃjɛnˈbeɪ/; simplified Chinese: 鲜卑; traditional Chinese: 鮮卑; pinyin: Xiānbēi) were an ancient nomadic people in northern East Asia who developed a distinct cultural and political identity by the 1st century BC. They inhabited regions spanning parts of present-day northeastern China, Inner Mongolia, and the eastern Eurasian steppe. The Xianbei were likely not of a single ethnicity, but rather a multilingual, multi-ethnic confederation consisting of mainly Proto-Mongols (who spoke either pre-Proto-Mongolic,[6][7][8][9] or Para-Mongolic languages[9]), and, to a minor degree, Tungusic[10] and Turkic peoples.[6][11] 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 3rd century BC. Following the split, the Xianbei people did not have direct contact with the Han dynasty, residing to the north of the Wuhuan. In the 1st century BC, the Xianbei began actively engaging in the struggle between the Han and Xiongnu, culminating in the Xianbei replacing the Xiongnu on the Mongolian Plateau.

Several Xianbei groups formed ruling regimes, with early political center around present-day Datong in Shanxi.[12][13][14][15][16] In the mid-2nd century, the chieftain, Tanshihuai unified the Xianbei and waged war against the Han dynasty. His confederation threatened the Han's northern borders for many years, but quickly disintegrated following his death in 181 AD. After suffering several defeats by the end of the Three Kingdoms period, the Xianbei migrated southwards and settled in close proximity to Han society, submitting as vassals to the Chinese dynasties. As one of the "Five Barbarians", they fought as auxiliaries for the Western Jin dynasty during the War of the Eight Princes and the Upheaval of the Five Barbarians before eventually distancing themselves and declaring their autonomy while the Jin were pushed out from northern China. During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, the Xianbei founded several short-lived states and established themselves on the Central Plains.[17][18]

The Xianbei were at one point all subjected to the Di-led Former Qin dynasty before it fell apart not long after its defeat in the Battle of Fei River. In the wake of the Qin collapse, the Tuoba founded the Northern Wei dynasty and eventually reunited northern China, ushering China into the Northern and Southern dynasties period. The Northern dynasties, all of which were either led or heavily influenced by the Xianbei, opposed and promoted sinicization at one point or another but tended towards the latter, merging with the general Chinese population by the Tang dynasty.[19][20][21][22][23] The Northern Wei also arranged for ethnic Han elites to marry daughters of the Tuoba imperial clan in the 480s AD.[24] 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.[25]

Etymology

Figure of a Xianbei warrior from the Northern dynasties (286–581) 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 Eastern Han Chinese pronunciation of Xianbei (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).[26]

On the one hand, *Särpi may be linked to the 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').[27] On the other hand, the Book of the Later Han and the 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).[28][29][30]

Schuessler (2014) reconstructs 鮮卑's Old Chinese pronunciation in the 1st century BCE as *sen-pe, and Eastern Han Chinese pronunciation as sian pie; while reconstructing no syllable coda -r for 鮮's pronunciation in any of those two stages, Schuessler remarks that "[i]n syllable-final position n represents foreign n as well as r and perhaps l", and still derives both *sian pie and *sen-pe from foreign *Särbi.[31]

Shimunek (2018) reconstructs *serbi for Xiānbēi and *širwi for 室韋 Shìwéi < MC *ɕiɪt̚-ɦʉi.[32]

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 in the anthology Chu Ci[33] and possibly the chapter "Discourses of Jin 8" in the Guoyu.[34][35][a] However the early appearance of the word xianbei in the Chu ci refers to a belt buckle rather than to a people.[49]

The first time the Xianbei people appeared in recorded history was in the Book of the Later Han, compiled in the 5th century. According to the Book of the Later Han, the Xianbei were originally a branch of the Donghu people together with the Wuhuan (or Wuwan) and "the language and culture of the Xianbei are the same as the Wuhuan".[49][50] When the Donghu "Eastern Barbarians" were defeated by the Xiongnu leader Modu Chanyu around 208 BC, the Donghu splintered into the Xianbei and Wuhuan.[51] The Xianbei were driven into the Khingan Mountains in northeastern Inner Mongolia. The Xianbei practiced some agriculture, or at least more than the Xiongnu. They wielded bows made of horn and produced fur garments made of sable and other pelts. Archaeological remains of a Han dynasty Xianbei site in northeastern Inner Mongolia include skeletons of roebuck, deer, wild pigs, and hunting tools.[52]

Since the Xianbei are described as identical to the Wuhuan in culture and language, it can be assumed that descriptions of the Wuhuan apply to the Xianbei as well. According to a description of the Wuhuan by a Chinese historian who died in 266, they were nomads who moved to find new land for herds to graze, although they also practiced some agriculture. They took the personal names of their strongmen as their surnames. Family life was matriarchal except when it came to warfare. However these might just be stereotypes to reinforce a non-Chinese "other" by the authors.[53]

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.[54]

In 49, the governor Ji Tong convinced the Xianbei chieftain Pianhe to turn on the Xiongnu with rewards for each Xiongnu head they collected.[54]

In 54, Yuchouben and Mantou of the Xianbei paid tribute to Emperor Guangwu of Han.[55]

In 58, the Xianbei chieftain Pianhe attacked and killed Xinzhiben, a Wuhuan leader causing trouble in Yuyang Commandery.[56]

In 85, the Xianbei secured an alliance with the Dingling and Southern Xiongnu.[54]

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.[57]

In 91, the Northern Xiongnu were defeated by the Han dynasty and the Xianbei began occupying the Mongolian Plateau, absorbing 100,000 Xiongnu tribes and increasing their strength.[58]

In 109, the Wuhuan and Xianbei attacked Wuyuan Commandery and defeated the local Han forces.[59] 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.[59]

The Xianbei under Qizhijian raided Han territory four times from 121 to 138.[60] In 145, the Xianbei raided Dai Commandery.[61]

Xianbei Confederation

Around the mid-2nd century, a chieftain, Tanshihuai, unified the Xianbei tribes and established an imperial court at Mount Danhan (in present-day Shangyi County, Hebei). When he was 14 or 15 years old, another tribe stole cattle and sheep from his family. He pursued the thieves and retrieved their livestock. He became a great chieftain and eventually united the tribes covering all the former Xiongnu lands.[58]

Claiming the title of Daren (大人; "Elder"), Tanshihuai attacked the Wusun in the west and repelled the Dingling from the north and Buyeo from the east. He divided the Xianbei empire into three sections, each governed by an appointed chieftain.[1][2][3]

Throughout his reign, Tanshihuai aggressively raided the Han dynasty's northern borders, with his first recorded raid being in 156. In 166, he allied with the Southern Xiongnu and Wuhuan to attack Shaanxi and Gansu. These raids devastated the border commanderies and claimed many lives. Though the Han was able to repel them at times, they were concerned that they would not be able to subdue Tanshihuai. The Han attempted to appease him by offering him the title of King, but Tanshihuai rejected them and continued to harass their borders. By 168, there were annual raids on the Han frontier.[58]

In 177, Xia Yu, Tian Yan and the Southern Xiongnu chanyu, Tute Ruoshi Zhujiu led a force of 30,000 against the Xianbei. They were defeated and returned with only one-tenth of their original forces.[62] 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.[63]

Iron broadsword, Xianbei nation during the Han dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD), from a Xianbei tomb in Yushu, Jilin Province

Despite the constant raids, the loose Xianbei confederacy lacked the organization of the Xiongnu Empire, and they were struggling to sustain their growing population.[64] Tanshihuai died in 181 and was succeeded by his son, Helian, but he lacked his father's abilities and was killed in a raid on Beidi during the last years of Emperor Ling of Han.[65] Helian's son, Qianman was too young at the time of his father's death, so the chieftains elected his nephew, Kuitou, to succeed him. Once Qianman came of age, however, he challenged his cousin to succession, destroying the last vestiges of unity among the Xianbei.[66]