Transcriptions | |
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Standard Mandarin | |
Hanyu Pinyin | Xīróng |
Wade–Giles | Hsi-jung |
Xirong (Chinese : 西戎 ; pinyin :Xīróng; Wade–Giles :Hsi-jung;lit.'Western warlike people') or Rong were various people who lived primarily in and around the western extremities of ancient China (in modern Gansu and Qinghai). They were known as early as the Shang dynasty (1765–1122 BCE), [1] as one of the Four Barbarians that frequently (and often violently) interacted with the sinitic Huaxia civilization. They typically resided to the west of Guanzhong Plains from the Zhou dynasty (1046–221 BCE) onwards. [2] [3] They were mentioned in some ancient Chinese texts as perhaps genetically and linguistically related to the people of the Chinese civilization. [4]
The historian Li Feng says that during the Western Zhou period,since the term Rong "warlike foreigners" was "often used in bronze inscriptions to mean 'warfare',it is likely that when a people was called 'Rong',the Zhou considered them as political and military adversaries rather than as cultural and ethnic 'others'." [6] Paul R. Goldin also proposes that Rong was a "pseudo-ethnonym" meaning "bellicose". [7]
After the Zhou dynasty,the term usually referred to various peoples in the west during early and late medieval times. Xirong was also the name of a state during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of Chinese history.[ citation needed ]
The Xirong together with the eastern Dongyi,northern Beidi,and southern Nanman were collectively called the Sìyí ( 四夷 ;'Four Barbarians'). The Liji "Record of Rites" details ancient stereotypes about them.
The people of those five regions –the Middle states,and the [Rong],[Yi],(and other wild tribes round them) –had all their several natures,which they could not be made to alter. The tribes on the east were called [Yi]. They had their hair unbound,and tattooed their bodies. Some of them ate their food without its being cooked. Those on the south were called Man. They tattooed their foreheads,and had their feet turned in towards each other. Some of them (also) ate their food without its being cooked. Those on the west were called [Rong]. They had their hair unbound,and wore skins. Some of them did not eat grain-food. Those on the north were called [Di]. They wore skins of animals and birds,and dwelt in caves. Some of them also did not eat grain-food. The people of the Middle states,and of those [Yi],Man,[Rong],and [Di],all had their dwellings,where they lived at ease;their flavours which they preferred;the clothes suitable for them;their proper implements for use;and their vessels which they prepared in abundance. In those five regions,the languages of the people were not mutually intelligible,and their likings and desires were different. To make what was in their minds apprehended,and to communicate their likings and desires,(there were officers) –in the east,called transmitters;in the south,representationists;in the west,[Di-dis];and in the north,interpreters. [11] [The term 狄鞮didi (ti-ti) is identified as:"(anc.) Interpreter of the Di,barbarians of the west." [12] Translated and adapted from the French.]
Note:"middle states" (Chinese : 中國 ; pinyin :Zhōngguó) in this quotation refers to the "Middle Kingdom",i.e. China.
Spade-foot three-legged pottery vessels as well as one and two handled pots were primary cultural characteristics of the Xirong.[ citation needed ]
William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart (2014) [13] reconstruct the Old Chinese name of Róng as 戎 , OC: * nuŋ, mod. róng. Today,similar-sounding self-designated ethnonyms among modern-day Tibeto-Burman peoples in western China include Rgyalrong of Sichuan,and Nung and Trung of northwestern Yunnan (see also Rung languages ). Průšek suggests relations between the Rong during the Zhou dynasty and the Rén (人 <OC *ni[ŋ]) tribes during Shang dynasty, [14] however,the Rén (人) dwelt in southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu,thus east,not west,of the Shang. [15]
According to Nicola Di Cosmo, [16] 'Rong' was a vague term for warlike foreigner. He places them from the upper Wei River valley and along the Fen River to the Taiyuan basin as far as the Taihang Mountains. This would be the northwestern edge of what was then China and also the transition zone between agricultural and steppe ways of life.
It is believed that the Quanrong during the Western Zhou-Warring States period (1122–476 BC) spoke a Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages,and united with the Jiang clan to rebel against the Zhou. [20] [21] Mencius mentioned that even King Wen of Zhou had ancestries from the "western barbarians" (西夷). [22]
7th-century scholar Yan Shigu made these remarks about the Wusuns,one group included to the "western barbarians":"Among the barbarians (戎;Róng) in the Western Regions,the look of the Wusun is the most unusual. The present barbarians (胡人;húrén) who have green eyes and red hair,and look like macaque monkeys,are the offspring of this people"; [23] [24] [25] the exonym 胡人Húrén "foreigners,barbarians", [23] was used from the 6th century to denote Iranian peoples,especially Sogdians,in Central Asia,besides other non-Chinese peoples. [26]
Genetic data on ancient Qiang remains associated with the Xirong were determined to display high genetic affinity with contemporary Sino-Tibetan peoples as well as with ancient 'Yellow River farmers' of the Yangshao culture. [27] [28]
The Zhou dynasty was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from c. 1046 BC until 256 BC,the longest of such reign in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period,the royal house,surnamed Ji,had military control over ancient China. Even as Zhou suzerainty became increasingly ceremonial over the following Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC),the political system created by the Zhou royal house survived in some form for several additional centuries. A date of 1046 BC for the Zhou's establishment is supported by the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project and David Pankenier,but David Nivison and Edward L. Shaughnessy date the establishment to 1045 BC.
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:
Jin,originally known as Tang (唐),was a major state during the middle part of the Zhou dynasty,based near the centre of what was then China,on the lands attributed to the legendary Xia dynasty:the southern part of modern Shanxi. Although it grew in power during the Spring and Autumn period,its aristocratic structure saw it break apart when the duke lost power to his nobles. In 403 BC,the Zhou court recognized Jin's three successor states:Han,Zhao,and Wei. The Partition of Jin marks the end of the Spring and Autumn period and the beginning of the Warring States period.
The Di (Chinese:氐;pinyin:Dī;Wade–Giles:Ti1;<Eastern Han Chinese *tei <Old Chinese (B-S):*tˤij) were an ancient ethnic group that lived in western China,and are best known as one of the non-Han Chinese peoples known as the Five Barbarians that seized power in northern China during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. This ethnic group should not be confused with the earlier Dí(狄),which refers to unrelated nomadic peoples in northern China during the earlier Zhou dynasty. The Di are thought to have been of proto-Tibetan origin,though there is a widespread belief among Chinese scholars that the Di spoke a Turkic language. The Ba-Di (巴氐) were a branch of the Di that intermixed with another ethnic group known as the Cong people (賨).
The Dongyi or Eastern Yi was a collective term for ancient peoples found in Chinese records. The definition of Dongyi varied across the ages,but in most cases referred to inhabitants of eastern China,then later,the Korean peninsula and Japanese Archipelago. Dongyi refers to different group of people in different periods. As such,the name "Yí" 夷 was something of a catch-all and was applied to different groups over time. According to the earliest Chinese record,the Zuo Zhuan,the Shang dynasty was attacked by King Wu of Zhou while attacking the Dongyi and collapsed afterward.
The Di or Beidi were various ethnic groups who lived north of the Chinese (Huaxia) realms during the Zhou dynasty. Although initially described as nomadic,they seem to have practiced a mixed pastoral,agricultural,and hunting economy and were distinguished from the nomads of the Eurasian steppe who lived to their north. Chinese historical accounts describe the Di inhabiting the upper Ordos Loop and gradually migrating eastward to northern Shanxi and northern Hebei,where they eventually created their own states like Zhongshan and Dai. Other groups of Di seem to have lived interspersed between the Chinese states before their eventual conquest or sinicization.
Donghu was a tribal confederation of "Hu" (胡) nomadic people that was first recorded from the 7th century BCE and was taken over by the Xiongnu in 150 BCE. They lived in northern Hebei,southeastern Inner Mongolia and the western part of Liaoning,Jilin and Heilongjiang along the Yan Mountains and Greater Khingan Range.
During the late Zhou dynasty,the inhabitants of the Central Plains began to make a distinction between Hua and Yi,referred to by some historians as the Sino–barbarian dichotomy. They defined themselves as part of cultural and political region known as Huaxia,which they contrasted with the surrounding regions home to outsiders,conventionally known as the Four Barbarians. Although Yi is usually translated as "barbarian",other translations of this term in English include "foreigners","ordinary others","wild tribes" and "uncivilized tribes". The Hua–Yi distinction asserted Chinese superiority,but implied that outsiders could become Hua by adopting their culture and customs. The Hua–Yi distinction was not unique to China,but was also applied by various Vietnamese,Japanese,and Koreans regimes,all of whom considered themselves at one point in history to be legitimate successors to the Chinese civilization and the "Central State" in imitation of China.
The Quanrong or Dog Rong were an ethnic group,classified by the ancient Chinese as "Qiang",active in the northwestern part of China during and after the Zhou dynasty. Their language or languages are considered to have been members of the Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages.
The Marquess of Shen was a Qiang ruler of the ancient Chinese state of Shen during Ancient China's Zhou dynasty. An important vassal state responsible for guarding the western Guanzhong region against Xirong incursions,Shen state roughly covered the area of modern-day Mei County in Shanxi province.
The Xianyun was an ancient nomadic tribe that invaded the Zhou dynasty. This Chinese exonym is written with xian獫 or 玁 "long-snouted dog",and this "dog" radical 犭is commonly used in graphic pejorative characters. "Xianyun" was the preferred designation for northern tribes during the Zhou dynasty,earlier designations being the Xunyu,Guifang,and later ones being the Xiongnu,during the Han dynasty.
Guifang was an ancient ethnonym for a northern people that fought against the Shang dynasty. Chinese historical tradition used various names,at different periods,for northern tribes such as Guifang,Rong,Di,Xunyu,Xianyun,or Xiongnu peoples. This Chinese exonym combines gui and fang,a suffix referring to "non-Shang or enemy countries that existed in and beyond the borders of the Shang polity."
The Siwa culture was a Bronze Age culture in southeast Gansu Province,China. It was discovered by Swedish geologist Johan Gunnar Andersson in 1924 at Mount Siwa (寺洼山) in Lintao County,hence its name. It flourished circa 14th to 11th century BC,it is tentatively attributed to the cultures of the Northern Di,Qiang,and Xunyu peoples.
Qiang was a name given to various groups of people at different periods in ancient China. The Qiang people are generally thought to have been of Tibeto-Burman origin,though there are other theories.
Shanrong,or Rong were an Old Chinese nomadic people of ancient China.
"Four Barbarians" was a term used by subjects of the Zhou and Han dynasties to refer to the four major people groups living outside the borders of Huaxia. Each was named for a cardinal direction:the Dongyi,Nanman,Xirong,and Beidi. Ultimately,the four barbarian groups either emigrated away from the Chinese heartland or were partly assimilated through sinicization into Chinese culture during later dynasties. After this early period,"barbarians" to the north and the west would often be designated as "Hu" (胡).
Some historical Chinese characters for non-Han peoples were graphically pejorative ethnic slurs,where the racial insult derived not from the Chinese word but from the character used to write it. For instance,written Chinese first transcribed the name Yáo "the Yao people " with the character for yáo猺 "jackal". Most of those terms were replaced in the early 20th-century language reforms;for example,the character for the term yáo was changed,replaced this graphic pejorative meaning "jackal" with another one –a homophone meaning yáo瑤 "precious jade".
Yiqu,was an ancient Chinese state which existed in the Hetao region and what is now Ningxia,eastern Gansu and northern Shaanxi during the Zhou dynasty,and was a centuries-long western rival of the state of Qin. It was inhabited by a semi-sinicized people called the Rong of Yiqu,who were regarded as a branch of western Rong people by contemporary writers,whom modern scholars have attempted to identify as one of the ancestors of the minority people in Northwest China.
Qi Wannian,or Qiwannian,was an ethnic Di chieftain and rebel leader during the Western Jin dynasty of China. In 296,he became the leader of a tribal uprising against Jin in Qin and Yong provinces that lasted until 299. The rebellion raised concerns among some ministers regarding the tension between the Han and tribal people while also triggering mass displacement and migration of refugees into Hanzhong and Sichuan.
Hu also Huren or Huzu,was a rather vague term to designate ancient barbarians,namely populations beyond the Central Plains,generally to the north and west of the Huaxia realm. The Hu are usually horse or mounted nomads.
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