Chinese History - The Xianbei (www.chinaknowledge.org)

The Xianbei 鮮卑 (old: Xianbi)		Jin Dynasty Sixteen Kingdoms Northern Wei
	The most important and largest Non-Chinese federation of nomadic tribes of the steppe region north of China during the Jin 晉 and Northern Dynasties period (Beichao 北朝). The particular tribes are Tuoba 拓跋 (sometimes written 拓拔), Tufa 禿髮 (actually the same), Qifu 乞伏, Murong 慕容, Yuwen 宇文, and Duanshi (Duan) 段氏. Their most important economical activity was kettle breeding and the production of wool and skins. Once a year the whole nation assembled to trade and to exchange each other. Much of the Xianbei culture is known by tombs discovered in Inner Mongolia. After the mighty federation of the Xiongnu 匈奴 controlled the northern steppe, the Xianbei submitted the the Xiongnu and became a part of their federation. During the Han 漢 period the Xianbei settled the area of modern Hebei and Liaodong. Only from the Later Han Dynasty on the Xianbei set up a regular relationship with the Han court and became their allies after the Xiongnu and the Wuhuan 烏桓 were finally defeated. In the course of the 1st and 2nd century the Xianbei occupied the whole northern steppe area that was before roamed by the Xiongnu. The first ruler of the Xianbei federation was Tang Shihuai 檀石槐 around 150 AD who represented a real danger for the Chinese empire and his neighboring peoples, the Southern Xiongnu 南匈奴, Wuhuan, Di 氐, and Qiang 羌. His son Tan Helian 檀和連 was rather weak, and the only danger for the Chinese northern cities and fields until the end of Han was the chieftain Kebineng 軻比能 who adopted some Chinese administration items and was enfeoffed with the title of king. After his assassination organised by the government of Cao-Wei 曹魏 the Xianbei federation disengaged. The Murong branch divided into a clan settling around modern Beijing where they founded the Yan 燕 empires of the Sixteen Kingdoms (Shiliuguo 十六國), and a clan roaming the area of modern Qinghai that founded the empire of Tuyuhun 吐谷渾. The Duan and Yuwen branches settled modern Liaoning. The most important subtribe of the Xianbei are the Tuoba that founded the Dai 代 kingdom in modern Inner Mongolia, later the Northern Wei empire (Beiwei 北魏) in 386. The Qifu branch founded the Western Qin empire (Xiqin 西秦) in modern Shaanxi, the Tufa branch the Southern Liang empire (Nanliang 南涼) in modern Gansu. All these empires more or less adopted Chinese customs and merged with the Chinese population until the Tang 唐 period.

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Chinese History - The Xianbei (Xianbi)

The Xianbei 鮮卑 (old: Xianbi)