Five Barbarians
The Five Barbarians, or Wu Hu, is a Chinese historical exonym for five ancient non-Han "Hu" peoples who immigrated to northern China in the Eastern Han dynasty, and then overthrew the Western Jin dynasty and established their own kingdoms in the 4th–5th centuries. The peoples categorized as the Five Barbarians were the Xiongnu, Jie, Xianbei, Qiang and Di.
Out of the five tribal ethnic groups, the Xiongnu and Xianbei were nomadic peoples from the northern steppes. The ethnic identity of the Xiongnu is uncertain, but the Xianbei appear to have been Mongolic. The Jie, another pastoral people, may have been a branch of the Xiongnu, who may have been Yeniseian or Iranian. The Di and Qiang were from the highlands of western China. The Qiang were predominantly herdsmen and spoke Sino-Tibetan languages, while the Di were farmers who may have spoken a Sino-Tibetan or Turkic language.
Although the term "Five Barbarians" is often used alongside the Sixteen Kingdoms, there were in fact more than five relevant ethnic groups during the period, such as the Dingling and Wuhuan. Patrilineally, the ruling family of Cheng-Han descended from the Bandun Man, also known as Cong, but are referred to as Ba-Di as they mingled with the Di tribes. The Juqu clan of Northern Liang, though often classed as Xiongnu, were of Lushuihu ethnicity, while Gao Yun, who can either be interpreted as the last ruler of Later Yan or first ruler of Northern Yan, was an ethnic Goguryeo.
Definition
Chronologicaly, the earliest usage of the phrase "Five Barbarians" or "Wu Hu" comes from an edict written by the Empress Dowager, Chu Suanzi, when she terminated her regency in favour for her son, Emperor Mu of Jin in 357. Her edict can be found in the Book of Jin, which was compiled in 648 during the Tang dynasty. The lead editor of the record, Fang Xuanling, also mentioned the "Five Barbarians" in his evaluation of Emperor Yuan of Jin, but it is unclear which groups they were supposed to represent. Other expressions that generally refer to the non-Chinese groups during this period include the "Four Barbarians " and "Six Barbarians ".Additionally, the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Sixteen Kingdoms also contains a quote in 385 by the Former Qin ruler, Fu Jian, that uses the "Five Barbarians" terminology. Modern historians like Chen Yinke and Zhou Yiliang believe that the "Five Barbarians" in this case was simply in reference to the "Five Virtues of Beginning and End", a theoretical concept often invoked by Chinese dynasties to legitimize their reigns.
The Five Barbarians were only categorized during the 12th century in the Southern Song dynasty, when the official, Hong Mai wrote an essay titled "Wuhu Luanhua" in his book, Rongzhai Suibi. Even so, he did not properly define the term, as the seven rulers he mentioned only accounted for four non-Han groups, namely the Xiongnu, Jie, Xianbei and Di. A later Southern Song official, Wang Yinglin defined the Five Barbarians as "Liu Yuan's Xiongnu, Shi Le's Jie, Murong-Xianbei, Fu Hong's Di and Yao Chang's Qiang." Hu Sanxing's annotation of the Zizhi Tongjian affirms Wang Yinglin's view by listing the five as the Xiongnu, Jie, Xianbei, Di and Qiang, after which it became widely accepted.
They were a mix of tribes from various stocks, such as proto-Mongolic, Turkic, Tibetan and Yeniseian. Others divide them into two Turkic tribes, one Tungusic tribe, and two Tibetan tribes, and yet others into Tibetan and Altaic. While later historians determined that there were more than five, the Five Barbarians has become a collective term for all northern and western non-Han groups that lived during the Jin dynasty and Sixteen Kingdoms period.
Five Barbarians
Since the later Han dynasty, northern China was home to various ethnic groups from the north and west. These peoples were subjects of the Han, taking up agriculture and serving in the military force. While many of them retained their respective tribal identity, they also underwent various degrees of Sinicization. By the Western Jin period, their population had grown substantially, becoming a cause for concern among a few officials within the imperial court as they began to revolt. There were calls to have the tribes relocated outside the borders, most notably by the minister Jiang Tong in his essay, Xi Rong Lun, but these proposals were disregarded. As central authority collapsed due to the War of the Eight Princes, many of these "barbarians" rebelled alongside their Han Chinese compatriots in the Upheaval of the Five Barbarians, although there were also those who initially fought on the side of Jin. Throughout the 4th century and early-5th century, several states were founded by the "Five Barbarians" in northern China and Sichuan, collectively known as the Sixteen Kingdoms.Xiongnu
Ruling over the steppes of East Asia, the Xiongnu empire was once a powerful adversary to the Han dynasty, but by the 1st century AD, their power had greatly declined due to defeats to the Han, internal power struggles and natural disasters. In 50 AD, a few years after the empire was split into two, the Southern Xiongnu branch became a vassal to the Han. The court of the chanyu was moved to Xihe Commandery in Bing province while their people were resettled across the frontier commanderies within the Great Wall. The Southern Xiongnu served the Han by helping them to guard the northern borders, even assisting in destroying the rival Northern Xiongnu. However, tension was evident between the two sides. Being economically dependant on the Han and with the Han court interfering in their politics, the Southern Xiongnu would frequently rebel on the frontiers.In 216, the warlord Cao Cao abolished the chanyu office and divided the Southern Xiongnu into Five Divisions around Taiyuan Commandery. From this point onwards, the Xiongnu declined as a coherent identity, as the Five Divisions became dominated by the Chuge branch, while those excluded mixed with tribes from other ethnicities and were vaguely referred to as "hu" and other terms for the non-Chinese. The "barbarian" tribes of Bing province underwent varying degrees of sinicization; many among the Five Divisions adopted "Liu" as their surname, claiming that their Xiongnu ancestors had married Han princesses through heqin, and their nobility were even allowed to hold government offices under the Western Jin dynasty. Nonetheless, they continued to resent the ruling Chinese dynasties due to their lower status and privileges.
Though the Xiongnu were no longer a unified entity by the 4th-century, their descendants continued to invoke their ancestors as a form of legitimacy. In 304, at the height of the War of the Eight Princes, Liu Yuan of the Five Divisions rebelled and founded the Han-Zhao dynasty. He claimed direct descent from the Southern Xiongnu chanyus and, by extension, the Han princesses, as he portrayed his state as a restoration of the Han dynasty. The Tiefu tribe also descended from a member of the Southern Xiongnu imperial family, but had intermingled with the Xianbei and were pushed out from Bing to the Hetao region. When their member, Helian Bobo founded the Helian Xia dynasty in 407, he began emphasising his Xiongnu lineage to claim descent from the Xia dynasty, which the Xiongnu traditionally regarded as their ancestors.
Jie
The Jie were one of the many miscellaneous hu tribes in Bing province. The most famous Jie, Shi Le, was a descendant of the Qiangqu tribe of the Southern Xiongnu. Their exact origins is still debated by modern scholars, as theories range from them originating from the Tocharian or Eastern Iranian people of Sogdia to the Yeniseian people, but with no general consensus. When a great famine broke out in Bing province in 303, many of the Jie and other hu people were displaced before being captured and sold into slavery by the provincial inspector. The Jie and hu were thus scattered throughout Hebei and Shandong.Despite their seemingly small population, the Jie were thrusted into prominence by Shi Le, who founded the Later Zhao dynasty in 319. The Later Zhao dominated northern China for a majority of its existence before its demise in 351. Following Ran Min's culling order and the wars that followed the Later Zhao collapse, the Jie ceased to appear in records, though some key figures in later history may have descended from them.
Xianbei
When the Xiongnu empire defeated them in the 3rd century BC, the Donghu people splintered into the Xianbei and Wuhuan. The Xianbei began occupying the Mongolian plateau in around 93 AD after the Northern Xiongnu were forced to the northwest by the Han dynasty. In the mid-2nd century, the chieftain, Tanshihuai unified the Xianbei and launched incessant raids on the Han's northern borders. Following his death, however, his descendants failed to maintain the support of the chieftains and his confederation fell apart. In the northeast, several Xianbei tribes near the border became Chinese vassals and were allowed to live within the Great Wall such as the Murong and Tuoba tribes after the defeat of the Wuhuan at the Battle of White Wolf Mountain in 207. Others migrated west to live around the Hexi Corridor, with a branch of the Murong even subjugating the Qiang people of Qinghai and founding the Tuyuhun.At the height of the Jin princely civil wars, the Inspector of You province, Wang Jun allied himself with the local Xianbei and Wuhuan tribes, most notably the Duan-Xianbei who was granted a dukedom in Liaoxi Commandery for their services. The Xianbei were a deciding factor in the civil wars, and when the Han-Zhao broke away from Jin, the Tuoba joined forces with Jin and were also given a dukedom in Dai Commandery. Meanwhile, the Murong in Liaodong, isolated from the conflicts of the Central Plains, expanded their influence in the region by providing refuge to fleeing Chinese officials and peasants. As the Jin were pushed out of northern China, however, the Xianbei distanced themselves from Jin and established full autonomy over their fiefdoms.
The Xianbei founded several states during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. The Murong were a prominent player during this period, as they founded the Former Yan, Later Yan, Western Yan and Southern Yan that ruled over the Central Plains. After the Battle of Fei River, the Qifu and Tufa tribes in the Hexi founded the Western Qin and Southern Liang, respectively, competing for control over the region among themselves and other rival claimants. Most importantly, the Tuoba of Dai later founded the Northern Wei dynasty, which reunified the north in 439 and ushered China into the Northern and Southern dynasties period.