The disappeared Beidi and Huns

 

The disappeared Beidi and Huns

 

After Teacher Luo Wen and Agudengba met, they had a great conversation. They talked about the history of the barbarians under Sinocentrism, and the topic gradually turned to the Xiongnu in ancient China.

Teacher Luo Wen said:

The Xiongnu were a nomadic empire established in Mobei by the nomadic people in the northern part of the Asian continent. They existed from about the 4th century to 48 BC. They were later divided into the Northern Xiongnu (48-93 AD) who moved westward and the Han Dynasty. Southern Xiongnu (48-216). The ruling domain roughly covers present-day Mongolia, southern Siberia, Central Asia and northern mainland China. From the 4th to 5th centuries AD, the Han-Zhao, Beiliang, Hu-Xia, Gaochang-Beiliang and other regimes were successively established in the Central Plains and Western Regions.

The Huns were a country with a tribal system. They established a set of internal and external official systems with clear distinctions between superior and inferior. They were divided into three jurisdictions: the royal court, the left and the right. They were supervised by the Shanyu and the left and right kings respectively. Each of them was nomadic in their own areas. They each have their own military officers and civil servants, and they also have a strong desire for territory. The royal family is called the Luotang clan, and its leader is called Chanyu. Under him are the kings and the tribes. The Xiongnu practiced polygamy, and the chanyu and the queens and wives of the kings were called the Yan family, which had a certain influence on the politics of the Xiongnu.

Agudenba said:

I have explored the history of the Xiongnu. Because it was the Han people who had a huge bureaucracy at that time to record the records, the information that has been preserved to this day is mainly written by Han historians from another perspective. The specific formation and formation of the Xiongnu There is no correct interpretation of the history of death.

Speaking of the Great Wall of China, people will talk about the Xiongnu. The Han people have always regarded the Xiongnu as the northern enemy of the ancient Central Plains, but are the Xiongnu Chinese? Was the war between Han and Hungary a war between countries, or an internal conflict within the Chinese nation?

Teacher Luo Wen said:

"Historical Records" records that the Xiongnu are descendants of the Xiahou clan, and their ancestor is Chunwei. The Xiongnu is a multi-ethnic country formed by the alliance between many nomadic tribes, and each ethnic group in it can be called the Xiongnu. Its subordinate grassland tribes are respectively derived from the primitive Turks, primitive Mongols, Scythians, Tungus, Han, etc. However, scholars have many guesses about its original main ethnic group. Under the influence of the Hun Empire, the grassland ethnic groups developed many similar characteristics through cultural and genetic exchange, forming the common characteristics of the Altai ethnic group.

"Historical Records" records that in 318 BC, the five kingdoms of Han, Zhao, Wei, Yan, and Qi led the Xiongnu troops to attack Qin. This was the era when the name of the Xiongnu first appeared in ancient documents. By the end of the Warring States Period, nomadic peoples formed alliances with each other outside the Great Wall, forming cross-ethnic alliances, and gradually formed the three major forces of Yuezhi, Donghu and Xiongnu. At this time, countries ruled by the Han began to build the Great Wall to protect against the Huns.

During the Qin Shihuang period, Meng Tian was sent to the north to conquer the Hetao area. The Xiongnu Chanyu Touman led his troops to move north to Mobei. This was the first Xiongnu Chanyu recorded in Chinese history books. After Meng Tian's death, the Qin Dynasty fell into civil war, and the Xiongnu reoccupied the Hetao area. During Touman Chanyu's time, the Xiongnu began to form a large empire. By the time of his son Maodun, the Xiongnu successively defeated the Yuezhi and Donghu, developed into the Central Asian grasslands, and became the most powerful country on the Mongolian grasslands. It is an indisputable fact that the Huns were once a country.

In the early Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty personally conquered the Xiongnu Kingdom, but was besieged by Modun Shanyu. This was the Baideng siege. Afterwards, he recovered lost lands such as Taiyuan and part of the Hetao. Considering the national strength at that time, in order to recuperate and recuperate, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty agreed to marry a daughter of the clan.

During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty changed its policy and engaged in a long-term war with the Xiongnu, which weakened the power of the Xiongnu. However, the Han Dynasty itself also faced a crisis in internal affairs.

When the Xiongnu were strong, they defeated Donghu in the east, merged with Loufan and Henan Kingdom in the south, attacked Yuezhi and other countries in the Western Regions in the west, and conquered Dingling and Jiankun in the northwest in the north. The scope is centered on the Mongolian Plateau and extends to the Greater Khingan Mountains in the east. It was adjacent to the Qin and Han Dynasties along the Qin Great Wall in the south, and once controlled the Hetao and Ordos areas. It is bounded by the Altai Mountains to the west, deep into the Aral Sea and even the Caspian Sea in Central Asia, and reaches around Lake Baikal in the north. It is called "the great country of hundreds of barbarians".

It is divided into south and north with the Great Gobi as the center. What is different from today is that there were a large number of trees in the mountainous areas of Monan, such as the Yinshan Mountains, and there were vast grasslands in the flatlands, which were hunting grounds for the Huns. In the Mobei area, the ground is flat, there are few trees, and there is a lot of sand, making life more difficult.

Climate-wise, winter is longer than summer. Minus 20 degrees Celsius is common in winter. Frost and snow began to fall in early September. In the Ulaanbaatar area, temperatures can reach below minus 40 degrees. Plants can grow for about a hundred days a year. In summer, the average temperature is 17.1 degrees, but sometimes it can reach 34.3 degrees. The temperature also varies greatly throughout the day, with the daytime being similar to hot summer and the night being similar to severe winter.

During the reign of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, he cooperated with the Xiongnu in the south to attack the northern Xiongnu. The southern Xiongnu became a vassal of the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty had a fraternal relationship with the southern Xiongnu. Wang Zhaojun married the Xiongnu, which became a famous story.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the strategy of differentiation continued. The Xiongnu kingdom was divided into two parts: the Southern Xiongnu and the Northern Xiongnu: the Southern Xiongnu surrendered to the Han Dynasty; the Northern Xiongnu was defeated by the Eastern Han Dynasty and retreated to the grasslands of Central Asia. There is a lack of records after that. However, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Southern Xiongnu gradually regained their independent status.

During the Western Jin Dynasty, due to the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, the Southern Xiongnu chanyu Liu Yuan took the opportunity to become independent and establish a dynasty, ushering in the period of the Five Hus and Sixteen Kingdoms. After Sinicization, they no longer called themselves Xiongnu.

After that, the Turkic Khanate emerged in the Central Asian steppes and replaced the Huns. The name Xiongnu disappeared from history thereafter.

Agudemba said:

There are many theories about the origin of the Huns. Where is the real source?

Teacher Luo Wen said:

"Historical Records" records that the Xiongnu royal family is one of the descendants of the Xia Hou family, and also believes that the different names such as Hunyi, Maowan, and Quanrong in history all refer to the Huns. Ying Shao, Fu Qian, Wei Zhao and others all had the same opinion. In the process of development, the Xiongnu also merged into different ethnic groups such as Yiqu, Loufan, Linhu, and Yuezhi.

According to records in ancient Chinese books such as "Historical Records", Wang Guowei made a systematic summary of the evolution of the names of the Xiongnu in "Guifang Kunyi Xiong Kao" and believed that Guifang, Hunyi and Maohu in the Shang Dynasty were called "Guifang Kunyi" in the Zhou Dynasty. Xiongnu, Rong and Di in the Spring and Autumn Period, and Hu in the Warring States Period. Some people believe that the Xiongnu should be a nomadic people in the western grasslands, that is, the Scythians. Before the end of the Warring States Period, they had not yet been nomadic to the Monan region of China.

Some scholars also believe that the Xiongnu are descendants of the Xiahou family. Some scholars believe that after the fall of the Xia Dynasty, the Xia people moved northward and became the ancestors of the Huns. Other scholars believe that the Xiongnu are a fusion nation of Altaic nomadic tribes living in the Mongolian grasslands. Beidi, Xirong, Dingling, Hu, etc. are all branches of this fused ethnic group. There is still no clear statement about the origin of the Xiongnu. It is just a debate among scholars, and there is no conclusive evidence.

Agudengba asked again:

How were the relations between the Xiongnu and other ethnic groups handled?

Teacher Luo Wen said:

Scholars generally agree that the Xiongnu was a country formed by an alliance of many nomadic groups, with many different nomadic groups under it. All ethnic groups among them can be called Xiongnu. They may have Tengri beliefs. The Huns in European history may have been named after the Huns, but this is still controversial. According to inferences from linguistic research, some people in Mongolia believe that the Xiongnu are one of the direct ancestors of the present Mongolian people. Some people also think that this view is wrong, and that the direct ancestors of the Mongolians should be a branch of the Mongolian Wu Shiwei.

Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, the people of the Central Plains collectively referred to the nomadic peoples in the north and the city-states in the western regions as "Hu". After the Qin and Han Dynasties, "Hu" mainly referred to the Xiongnu.

The Xiongnu may include members of the Mongolian language family, Tungusic language family, Turkic language family, Yenisey language family, Tocharian language family in the Indo-European language family, Iranian language family, and Sino-Tibetan language family, but because Chinese documents only record There is very little Hun language, and there is insufficient evidence for these hypotheses.

"Historical Records" believes that the Xiongnu royal family is the descendant of the Xia royal family, and "Secret History of Mongolia" records that the Mongols are descended from Canglang and White Deer.

The Mobei regime was followed by Xianbei and Rouran after the Xiongnu, then the Turks, then the Uighurs, then the Khitans, and then the Mongols.

Teacher Luo Wen sighed:

Under the influence of the Sinocentric Han ideology, the four barbarians perished and the Xiongnu in Beidi became extinct. The history of the Huns has become a series of question marks:

Did Xiongnu society experience slavery?

Are the Huns in Central Asia related to the Huns north of the Central Plains?

Are Hunnic and Indo-European languages related? Is it possible to belong to the Sino-Tibetan language family?

How were the status of princes determined in the Xiongnu official system?

Teacher Luo Wen said:

The Huns mainly engaged in hunting, nomadic herding and animal husbandry. They mainly relied on three types of livestock: horses, cattle, and sheep. Among them, the Huns, donkeys, mules, mules, 𫘝𫘨, 𫘦𬳿, and 钒奚 were used as riding animals.

In the diet, meat and dairy products are particularly common, and fish is sometimes eaten. It lives by water and grass, and its living location often moves to other places with the seasons.

The Huns used animal clothing as clothing. They had long made pants, boots, robes, pointed hats or hoods, which were very adapted to local life in terms of weight and warmth. The place where they live is called Qionglu, which is a tent made of felt tents with wooden strips as pillars and beams. And use all kinds of pottery and metalware.

The Huns not only cultivated fields and produced grain, but also built granaries to store grain. In addition to farming in the headquarters, there are also riding fields in the Western Regions.

The Huns also attached great importance to commercial exchange, exchanging livestock for luxury goods. They often traded with the Han people and repurchased and shipped Han items to various countries in the Western Regions, including the Roman Empire. This was especially true when the Han's access to the Western Regions was interrupted.

The Xiongnu nation has complete military equipment. Excellent war horses, strong knights, bows and arrows, and the cavalry all have strong armor. Horses played a dual role in the lives of the Huns. They were used as transportation in peacetime and as war horses in wartime. Huns' weapons were mainly made of copper and iron, mainly including bows, arrowheads, crossbows, knives, swords, daggers, spears, axes, meteor hammers, etc.

The Huns worshiped the heaven and earth, worshiped the sun and moon, worshiped their ancestors, and believed in ghosts and gods. In their lives, whether in peacetime or wartime, they are closely related to religious consciousness. The Xiongnu held collective sacrifices on designated days every year. During the war, the Huns also believed in various witchcraft. The Huns attach great importance to the tombs of their ancestors. They not only believe that there are gods after the death of their ancestors, but also gods after the death of other people, who can also bring good and bad luck.

After the descendants of the Xiongnu settled in Han China, they gradually changed their surnames to Han surnames. Some common Han surnames of the descendants of the Xiongnu are: Wang, Long, Zhou, Hu, Bu, Xu, Lin, Qiu, Qiao, Fu, Du, Yu, Shi, Le , He, Fei, Wan, Liu, Lou, Mo, Han, Qiu, Liang, etc.

Teacher Luo Wen impromptu sang a song《Where are the Huns?》:

 

The mighty Huns in history,

His fame once shocked the Han Empire,

The Huns are like ten thousand horses galloping,

Rushing from the north to the Central Plains,

Desire to find a place to stand.

But when they rushed to the Great Wall,

But blocked by the towering Great Wall,

Then the horses roared continuously,

The horse's neigh was louder than the neigh,

The line of the Great Wall stretches thousands of miles,

The smoke of war will last for thousands of years.

The Xiongnu nation, riding their horses and whipping their whips,

Determined tenaciously and tenaciously,

To participate in the creation of Chinese history,

Before the Huns’ energy is exhausted,

They will never look back.

 

The Han-Hungarian War was a disaster;

There is no justice in ethnic division.

The militaristic Han Dynasty,

Sweeping away the power of the Huns.

The Northern Huns were forced to flee to Europe,

The Southern Xiongnu annexed and integrated into the Han Dynasty.

As an independent nation,

The Xiongnu nation has gradually faded,

Those who settled in Han areas were gradually Chineseized.

Where are the Huns of the past?

History has not been able to give an answer.

Nowadays no one will say it loudly,

I am a descendant of the Huns.

History tells us ruthlessly,

There are no Xiongnu in the Chinese nation.