Xianbei

The Xianbei (Mongolian:Сүнбэ; ; ) 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, or Para-Mongolic languages), and, to a minor degree, Tungusic and Turkic peoples. 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. 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.

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. The Northern Wei also arranged for ethnic Han elites to marry daughters of the Tuoba imperial clan in the 480s AD. 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.

Etymology

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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).

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'). 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 ().

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.

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

History

Origin

Warring States period's Chinese literature contains early mentions of Xianbei, as in the poem The Great Summons in the anthology Chu Ci and possibly the chapter "Discourses of Jin 8" in the Guoyu.Template:Efn However the early appearance of the word xianbei in the Chu ci refers to a belt buckle rather than to a people.

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". When the Donghu "Eastern Barbarians" were defeated by the Xiongnu leader Modu Chanyu around 208 BC, the Donghu splintered into the Xianbei and Wuhuan. 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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Tanshihuai of the Xianbei divided his territory into three sections: the eastern, the middle and the western. From the You Beiping to the Liao River, connecting the Fuyu and Mo to the east, it was the eastern section. There were more than twenty counties. The darens (chiefs) (of this section) were called Mijia 彌加, Queji 闕機, Suli 素利 and Huaitou 槐頭. From the You Beiping to Shanggu to the west, it was the middle section. There were more than ten counties. The darens of this section were called Kezui 柯最, Queju 闕居, Murong 慕容, et al. From Shanggu to Dunhuang, connecting the Wusun to the west, it was the western section. There were more than twenty counties. The darens (of this section) were called Zhijian Luoluo 置鞬落羅, Rilü Tuiyan 曰律推演, Yanliyou 宴荔游, et al. These chiefs were all subordinate to Tanshihuai.

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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.

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. 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.

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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. 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. 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.

Three Kingdoms

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Han-era Xianbei belt fasteners from a Xianbei tomb in Yushu, Jilin

By the Jian'an era (196–220), the Xianbei had already split into many different groups, including Kuitou in Inner Mongolia, Kebineng in northern Shanxi, and Suli, Mijia and Queji in northern Liaodong. Following his death in 205, Kuitou's territory was divided between his brothers, Budugen and Fuluohan. The fractured Xianbei tribes began to pay tribute and offer their vassalage to the Chinese court after the Han warlord Cao Cao defeated the Wuhuan at the Battle of White Wolf Mountain in 207. In 218, Fuluohan formed an alliance with a group of Wuhuan rebels led by Nengchendi (能臣氐), but the rebels double crossed him and called in Kebineng, who killed Fuluohan. Budugen went to the court of Cao Wei in 224 to ask for assistance against Kebineng, but he eventually betrayed them and allied with Kebineng in 233. Kebineng killed Budugen soon afterwards.

Kebineng was initially from a minor Xianbei tribe. He rose to power west of Dai Commandery by taking in Chinese refugees who helped him drill his soldiers and make weapons and armor. After the Wuhuan's defeat in 207, he sent tribute to Cao Cao, and later provided assistance against the rebel Tian Yin. In 218, Kebineng killed Fuluohan, absorbing his followers and Wuhuan allies. In 218 he allied himself to the Wuhuan rebel Nengchendi but they were heavily defeated and forced back across the frontier by Cao Zhang. In 220, he acknowledged Cao Pi as Emperor of Cao Wei, but soon turned on Wei for impeding his advances on another Xianbei chieftain, Suli. Kebineng conducted raids on Wei before he was assassinated by a Cao Wei agent in 235, after which his confederacy disintegrated.

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Distribution of major Xianbei clans in the early 4th century.Template:Icn

The Xianbei tribes carried on with their southward migration, with some becoming vassals of Cao Wei and the succeeding Western Jin dynasty. In 258, the Tuoba tribe settled near the frontier and occupied the abandoned city of Shengle, north of the Yin Mountains. To the east of them, the Yuwen tribe began living between the Luan River and Liucheng, while the Murong tribe were permitted by the Chinese court to move deeper into the Liaodong Peninsula. In Liaoxi Commandery, a Xianbei ex-slave of the Wuhuan founded a tribe known as the Duan. In the far west, an offshoot of the Murong migrated into northern Qinghai and mixed with the native Qiang people, later becoming the Tuyuhun. The Qifu tribe gradually moved into the Longxi basin, while a branch of the Tuoba, the Tufa tribe, roamed the Hexi corridor. In 270, the Tufa chieftain, Shujineng, led the various ethnic tribes in the northwest in a rebellion against the Jin dynasty in Qin and Liang provinces but was defeated in 279 by Ma Long. By 280, the increase in the number of non-Han people in northern China was observable. An official warned that they lived as far south as Xi'an and Anyang, about three days away from the capital of Luoyang on horseback.

Sixteen Kingdoms

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Northern dynasties horseman

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Northern Wei cavalry

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Northern Wei cavalry

During the War of the Eight Princes, the Xianbei, primarily the Duan, were brought in to fight in the civil wars of the Jin princes. When the Xiongnu of Shanxi rebelled and founded the Han-Zhao dynasty in 304, the Tuoba also lent their assistance to combat the rebels. On 5 June 306, Chang'an was captured by a Wuhuan and Xianbei army led by Ji Hong under the Jin dynasty (266–420) general Wang Jun.

The Xianbei's horsemanship and access to steppe horses as well as the development of the stirrup allowed them to assemble and lead the most formidable cavalry forces of the period. The Jin became reliant on the Xianbei to quell the widespread unrest in northern China, bestowing them with ducal titles for their loyalty and services. However, due to their own internal strife, the Xianbei were later forced to withdraw from the conflict, leaving the Jin to be overwhelmed by the Han-Zhao. A mass exodus of Chinese officers, soldiers and civilians fled to southern China to join the Eastern Jin, but a number of them also turned north to seek refuge with the Xianbei duchies.

For the next century, the Xianbei founded several of the Sixteen Kingdoms in northern China. Although the Tuoba later became the most important Xianbei faction, the Murong of Liaodong were the most prominent Xianbei people during this period. The Murong were chieftains of the central portion of Tanshihuai's Xianbei empire. After Kebineng's death in 235, the Murong assisted the Cao Wei dynasty in ending the control of the Gongsun warlords in Liaodong in 238. The Murong chieftain was awarded with the title "Prince Acting in Accordance with Justice". The Murong settled in Liaodong and for the next generation assisted Cao Wei in their campaigns against Goguryeo. In 281, the Murong chieftain was awarded the title "Chanyu of the Xianbei".

In 294, Murong Hui (269-333) and some 10,000-20,000 followers moved to Jicheng near modern Jinzhou in Liaoning and started adopting Han-style institutions. According to Chinese histories, the Murong became almost "as Chinese as the Chinese emperors themselves". Murong Hui's son and heir established a Chinese school for the children of officials and personally supervised the exams. Despite adopting Han culture and actively associating with Han people, power over the military was securely held by only the Murong Xianbei and they maintained conscious of their own separate identity. This separation of role and class was articulated in 401 by a Southern Liang (Sixteen Kingdoms) (397–414) commander who recommended settling Han people in the cities and encouraging them to take up farming while "we practice the methods of war to punish those who have not yet submitted". In other sectors of government, the Southern Liang had become a Chinese-style dynasty with reign periods, government institutions, and a Confucian school for the elite. The 4th century kingdoms that the Xianbei established (Former Yan (337–370), Later Yan (384–407) and Southern Yan (398–410), as well as the Western Yan (384–394; not listed among the Sixteen Kingdoms)), presented themselves as both Han and Xianbei to different audiences. To tribal chieftains, their rulers were the chanyu while to the Han, their rulers were emperors.

The Murong state of Former Yan attacked Goguryeo in 342 and sacked its capital, taking the king's mother, wife, and even the corpse of the previous ruler along with 50,000 captives. The Murong also defeated the Duan in 338 and the Yuwen in 344. Five thousand Yuwen camps were relocated to the Murong stronghold while their chieftain fled to Goguryeo. The influx of Goguryeo and non-Murong people into Former Yan can be seen in the variety of burial styles in Liaodong after 289, however a native Murong style was dominant and could be seen even in tombs of known Han people.

Regardless of the identity of the ruling class and ruler, the assumption of Chinese titles and symbolic institutions was the norm as well for non-Xianbei states that neighbored them. After the ruler of Former Yan proclaimed himself emperor in 352, the Former Yan themselves were conquered by the Former Qin in 370. The Former Qin were led by a Di (Five Barbarians) ruler but upon triumphing over Former Yan, the Qin celebrated by making sacrifices to Confucius. A number of Yan revivalist regimes followed, including the Northern Yan (409-436), which was ruled by a person of Han ancestry who had assimilated into Xianbei culture. The Murong were able to remain independent for a time before being conquered by the Tuoba.

Tuoba

According to an inscription discovered at Gaxian Grotto in Oroqen Autonomous Banner in 1980, the Tuoba imperial ancestors used the title Khan (title) and Khatun and it is speculated that the Tuoba were the first to use those titles.

According to a Tuoba legend in the Book of Wei, the Tuoba moved south from their original homeland to a "great marsh" that is believed to be Lake Hulun in modern times. In Tanshihuai's time in the 2nd century AD, the Tuoba moved south again to the Yin Mountains at the top of the Yellow River's northward loop. In 248, Tuoba Liwei killed the chieftain of the local tribe and absorbed them into his following. They moved to the northeastern corner of the Yellow River loop and built their capital city Shengle near modern Hohhot. The Tuoba established grazing lands between modern Datong and Taiyuan in Shanxi. This region came to be known as Dai (after a Chinese administrative unit) and formed the core of the later Northern Wei dynasty.

In 261, Tuoba Liwei sent his son as hostage to the court of Cao Wei where he stayed for six years. The son was later killed by his own people because they became suspicious of his behavior, which had become Chinese-like.

In Bing province, from his base at Jinyang by present-day Taiyuan, the Jin governor Liu Kun obtained the aid of the Tuoba. In 310 he sent his son as hostage to the Tuoba to obtain their troops and he became increasingly dependent on the chieftain Tuoba Yilu. In 314 the two Liu-Tuoba forces retook Chang'an and Tuoba Yilu was awarded the title "King of Dai". Two years later, Tuoba Yilu was assassinated and his clansmen broke the alliance with Jin. Liu Kun fled northeast to the Duan Xianbei but was killed there in 318.

The Tuoba duchy of Dai (310–376) was elevated to a kingdom in 315. In 321, the Tuoba ruler was assassinated by the wife of another chieftain. The woman dominated Tuoba affairs for years before Tuoba Shiyiqian, a son of the assassinated leader, returned from being a hostage of Later Zhao and proclaimed himself King of Dai in 338. Having been exposed to Chinese institutions, Tuoba Shiyiqian (r. 338-376) established some Chinese-style official titles and a basic law code. Based on archaeological evidence, Tuoba material culture was still fairly similar to that of the Xiongnu at the start of the 4th century, but by the end of the century, the graves of the Tuoba elite near Hohhot were almost the same as contemporary Han tombs. However, despite adopting some Chinese practices, contemporary texts in the late 4th century still describe the Tuoba as rough and uncultured people who lacked even steel armor and sharp weapons.

Dai was conquered by the Di-led Former Qin in 376. The fall of Dai saw northern China briefly unified under the Qin, but as Qin collapsed following the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Fei River in 383, Tuoba Gui (grandson of Tuoba Shiyiqian) restored their state as the Northern Wei dynasty (386–535). Northern Wei was the first of the Northern dynasties (386–581), and they rose to power from the northern grasslands after invading and ejecting the Later Yan from the Central Plains. In 439, they conquered the last of the Sixteen Kingdoms, thereby unifying the north and completing the transition into the Northern and Southern dynasties period.

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Xianbei belt buckles, 3–4th century AD

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Northern Wei cavalry figurines

Northern Wei

After Tuoba Gui (Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei) came to power, he started settling the Xianbei tribes in fixed positions on the land. In 395, the Murong Xianbei attacked Northern Wei, but they were defeated and within three years, the Northern Wei had conquered Murong Later Yan dynasty, taking most of what is now Shanxi and Hebei.

In 398, Tuoba Gui was formally enthroned as emperor. He built a new capital called Pingcheng (modern Datong) and relocated 360,000 Murong and Goguryeo people to populate it, as well as an additional 100,000 artisans. Over the next 50 years, more than a million people were forced to relocate to the region around Pingcheng to increase its agricultural base. As Tuoba Gui expanded Northern Wei's territory further south, he integrated Han elites and parts of their culture into his government. In 399, Tuoba Gui ordered for book collections to be acquired throughout the realm and for Erudites (boshi) to teach the Chinese classics. Students in the Taixue increased.

Tuoba Gui started the practice of killing the mother of the heir apparent which would last for over seven generations. He became increasingly erratic later in his life, possibly due to taking a "cold food powder", a popular medicine at the tie composed of five different minerals. Sometimes he did not eat for days and had trouble sleeping at night. In 409, Tuoba Gui was contemplating killing the mother of one of his sons in preparation for his role as heir apparent. The son broke into the palace at night and killed his father.

By the reign of the third Northern Wei emperor, Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei (r. 424-452), all of northern China had been conquered. The rise of Xianbei military power was based on cavalry, which benefited from the double stirrup that is first attested to in a Northern Yan tomb dated to 415, as well as the use of heavy armor. The sight of over a thousand Xianbei cavalry in colorful armor was said to have intimidated a southern rebel army in 410. The Tuoba consolidated their power over the Central Plains by maintaining a Xianbei-dominated military class. As the general Gao Huan put it, the Chinese "bring you [the Xianbei] your supplies and clothing", and the Xianbei "fight for you [the Chinese] and enable you to have peace and order."

For a century after Tuoba Gui's formal accession as emperor in 398, 73% of all official posts were held by the Xianbei and 93% were held by people from the Dai region around the capital. Nomadic traditions such as livestock herding and hunts still played a major role in the early Northern Wei period and the third emperor, Taowu, reportedly possessed two million horses, a million camels, and countless numbers of sheep and cattle to the west of the Yellow River. In 450 he emphasized the importance of cavalry to the Xianbei.

At the same time, a number of Han people rose to prominence in the dynasty and the Chinese histories are replete with mentions of how the Xianbei emperors praised the Han for their literary accomplishments. Taiwu noted that Cui Hao's cultural and literary abilities exceeded those of armored soldiers. Cui Hao was entrusted with writing the history of Northern Wei but was later put to death for describing the Tuoba's barbarian origins. Taiwu's successor, Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei (r. 452-462) remarked that the Xianbei nobility should feel ashamed for merely holding bow and blade while his Han official administered the country with a writing brush.

Empress Dowager Feng's sinicizing reforms

Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei (r. 471-499) rejected the customs associated with his Xianbei ancestors and implemented reform policies to reconfigure the Northern Wei as a state based on Han culture. The policies of Xiaowen's reign are commonly attributed to his step-grandmother and also foster mother, Empress Dowager Feng (Wenming). Wenming came from a frontier family of probably mixed Han-Xianbei-Goguryeo descent. She was well learned in the Chinese classical tradition and inculcated in Xiaowen a sense of "filial piety" (xiao). Unlike previous Tuoba monarchs, Xiaowen fully obeyed his step-mother and often it was she who had final say on matters of administration. She maintained strict control over him. At one point when he was a boy, she considered him too smart and wise to be of use to her, so she locked him up in an unheated room during winter without food for three days. She was going to replace him with his brother after he died but was convinced by two courtiers to abandon this course. When Wenming died in 490, Xiaowen mourned her by abstaining from water and food for five days and then entered an elaborate mourning period according to Confucian norms. Xiaowen's posthumous name means "filial and cultured emperor".

Prior to Xiaowen, his grandfather Emperor Taiwu had exhibited an ad hoc approach to promoting Han culture such as sponsoring a Taoist sect and Confucian Academy based on the suggestion of Cui Hao, a Han minister. However, Taiwu also made an effort to maintain solidarity with the non-Han men that made up his army. Unlike Taiwu's policies, Xiaowen's sinicizing reforms were a forced culture change through rigid systematization and bitterly resisted. Xiaowen endeavored to reorganize the Tuoba Xianbei society along the lines of a Han patrilineal family and to prevent the consolidation of militarized communities with a shared sense of privilege. At least part of the reason for the implementation of reforms to curtail elite monopolization of land and military power was declining revenues. Income from military adventures had declined or even become unprofitable, causing the treasury to almost empty. There was also no system of regular salary for government officials, leading to corruption.

In 483, marriage between those with the same surname was banned according to Chinese marriage customs.

In 484, the government started paying civil officials a salary, which greatly benefited Han officials in the lower tiers without connections to the military.

In 485, a Han official recommended implementing the equal-field system, a census and land allocation program fusing social control and extraction of production. Although the proposal was officially accepted by Xiaowen, it was Wenming who read the proposal in court and she who made the decision to implement it. Government officials were sent out to assign every male over the age of 15 to 6.5 acres of agricultural land. Women were allotted half the land given to men. Additional land was also given to slaves and oxen. The tax system was reworked so that each husband-wife unit owed the state 13 bushels of grain and 7 bolts of fabric yearly wih additional smaller levies for unmarried inhabitants, slaves, and oxen. Corvée service in the form of military service was also owed. By the end of the Northern Wei dynasty, some 5 million households were being taxed.

In 489 a Confucian temple was constructed in the capital and seasonal sacrifices were carried out in the in the spirit of Confucius.

Emperor Xiaowen's sinicizing reforms

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Female servant tomb figurines, Northern Wei

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Northern Wei cavalry figurine

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Northern Wei cavalry figurine, 6th century

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Northern Wei pottery warriors

Cultural reforms

In 493, Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital from Pingcheng to Luoyang. The reason for the move was not just due to the emperor's inclinations for Han culture but also economic in nature. The old capital had started its decline several decades earlier after peaking at nearly a million inhabitants in the first half of the 5th century. In 487, Pingcheng was beset with a drought and a cattle plague. In response, the government instructed its subjects to leave in search for richer fields, resulting in the departure of 50-60% of the population for the south. In comparison to Pingcheng, Luoyang was situated at the center of Northern Wei's territories connected to a network of waterways convenient for transportation.

From his new capital, Xiaowen contacted various poets and statesmen in the Southern Qi empire. According to the Book of Qi, Xiaowen "deeply valued the men of Qi" and said to his officials that "there are so many good officials down in the land south of the Yangtze". He abolished most parts of the Inner Court, which was criticized by southerners as an amalgamation of barbarian and Chinese customs, and unified the government offices in a system of Han-style official titles and ranks. Many languages, not just the Xianbei language, were spoken in court. In 495, Xiaowen banned the use of various northern languages as well as the national language in the court of Luoyang. He ordered his courtiers to only speak Chinese in court and to wear Chinese robes rather than the "barbarian garb" (cap, hood, and trousers).

Not everyone was expected to follow the cultural reforms. An allowance was made for those over the age of 30 for whom "habits had already long entrenched". Chinese had become the dominant language spoken by most important figures at court such as Xiaowen and his immediate family but it was still not widely spoken by most of the Tuoba Xianbei. An effort was made to teach them Chinese through translation of texts into their language, but this does not seem to have been particularly successful. Xiaowen complained that "Northerners (bei ren) are always saying 'Why do northerners need to know books?' When We hear this, We are deeply disappointed". In a conversation with the Prince of Rencheng in 499 upon returning from a campaign, Xiaowen complained that there were still women who wore Xianbei clothing in his capital. The reception to these changes was not uniform even among his Inner Asian followers. Some of them liked it while others did not.

In 496, the court issued a decree ordering non-Han lineages to change their surnames into Han names, including the royal family. The "Tuoba" became Yuan ("the Paramount"). Such names (Zhangsun, Lu, etc.) were used anachronistically for names prior to the name change in the Book of Wei. The son of Lu Li, who married a daughter of the ethnically Han Cui family of Boling, was said to have liked the name change whereas others such as Yuan Pi despised it.

Administrative reforms

The Chinese classics were instated as a permanent source of state legitimacy. Although they had been drawn on before, such as in 444 when Taiwu ordered the nobility and ministers to attend the imperial acadamy to study the classics, they only became a permanent fixture of the Northern Wei state from the time of Xiaowen. Xiaowen deliberately modeled his new court and state on what he imagined to be the Zhou dynasty tradition. In 491, Xiaowen reorganized his ancestral temple to conform to the Zhou model and in the next year, three palace halls were renamed using terminology taken from the The Rites of Zhou, a Warring States text supposedly describing the ideal world under the Zhou. In 492, the Northern Wei officially claimed water as their Wuxing (Chinese philosophy) element, signalling that succession had passed from the Jin dynasty (266–420) to the Wei. In 494, sacrifices to Tengri in the capital's western outskirts were abolished and replaced with the Chinese Sacrifice to Heaven on an altar south of Luoyang. The title of khagan was no longer formally used although the Xianbei who could not speak Chinese continued to refer to their ruler as such. In 495 the units of measure for length and volume were standardized based on the ones used during the Han dynasty.

The impetus to imitate the Chinese antiquity continued after the end of Xiaowen's reign and reached its peak under Western Wei (535-557) when the entire bureaucracy was reconfigured to fit the archaic nomenclature of The Rites of Zhou. Xiaowen attempted this restructuring of functions and titles in 492 and 493 but the real complexities of the government made it unworkable. A second list of offices was published in 499 and implemented by his heir, Emperor Xuanwu (r. 499-515).

In 492, Xiaowen issued an edict demoting distant kinsmen not descended from Emperor Daowu (r. 386–409), as well as princes of different lineages, to the rank of duke. Dukes were demoted to marquises and marquises demoted to earls. In 495, another edict was issued awarding certain lineages with privileged access to high office for meritorious service to the state. While Xiaowen attempted to reconstitute the non-Han kinship groups based on Han structures, the Xianbei continued to play a central role in the state and a quota was placed on the number of posts that could be held by Han officials. Under Xiaowen's sinicized bureaucracy, Han officials still only occupied about a third of government offices. However this still constituted a reduction in the general Xianbei population's ability to gain access to promotions based on their inherent status. Regular evaluation of officials was instituted and the imperial exams greatly expanded. Officials who could not speak Chinese were removed from court and salaries cut for unassigned officials who held rank but no post.

Military reforms

The core units of the Northern Wei army were originally "those who lived in the northern territories", but this changed when Xiaowen moved a large portion of the central army to his new capital at Luoyang. Xiaowen increased the conscription of Han foot soldiers, which the implementation of the equal-field system contributed significantly to. The rearing and maintenance of warhorses in the Luoyang region was neglected. By the 520s, an army intended for the purpose of fighting other infantry had an infantry to cavalry ratio of 15 to 1. After shifting the capital to Luoyang, the lower class Xianbei were registered as "garrison households" and excluded from the formal ranking system. This was reversed in 496 with the incorporation of the lower ranks into the Palace Guard. Information such as regulations on the military were lost after Xiaowen's reforms. According to the Book of Wei, in the 550s the author Wei Shou observed that the "old regulations are lost; there is nothing we can depend on".

Xiaowen welcomed defectors from the south such as Wang Su, the scion of an elite family from Langye Commandery that fled south when the Western Jin collapsed. Two centuries later, Wang Su fled north to Northern Wei in 494 after his family was killed by Emperor Wu of Southern Qi. Wang was installed by Xiaowen as a commander in the southern border region of Runan in what is now Henan province. He was permitted to raise a personal retinue from the local population and was attributed with reforming the government in the image of a Chinese empire. He was awarded with a pipe and drum unit and married a Wei princess under the reign of Emperor Xuanwu.

The imperial hunt, already a waning activity among the Northern Wei court by Xiaowen's time, was permanently ended by the emperor on moral grounds.

Resistance to reforms

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Northern Qi pottery warriors

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Northern Qi horseman figurine

Emperor Xiaowen's son, Yuan Xun, did not take well to his father's reformist outlook. Yuan Xun was raised to the status of heir apparent at the age of ten in 493. His mother had been ordered to commit suicide under his father's watch and the boy grew up troubled. He became fat and disliked the hot southern weather and wished to return north to Pingcheng. He disliked books, to the dismay of his father, and preferred wearing the garbs of a cavalryman while styling his hair in a Tuoba braid. When his father presented him with a suit of Han-style clothing, he destroyed it. In 496 he attempted to flee to Pingcheng but was captured and beaten by his father and uncle more than 100 times with a club. Then he was stripped of his title, imprisoned, and forced to commit suicide.

It was possible that Yuan Xun was trying to join a rebellion at Pingcheng. Separatist feelings in the region had increased following Xiaowen's reforms. Many old families in the countryside were unhappy with the changes, especially the increase in the number of Han officials employed in the bureaucracy. Leaders such as Yuan Pi "loved the old customs, and did not understand the new ways. Changing the government posts and regulating the clothes, forbidding the old speech-he could not accept any of these". The rebels had solicited Yuan Xun's aid in the rebellion and their resentment increased after his failure to return north. Mu Tai, the governor of Henzhou province (Pingcheng), rebelled in 496. Xiaowen sent the Prince of Rencheng to quell the rebellion. When Rencheng arrived at Pingcheng, he occupied a gatehouse in one of Pingcheng's barbicans. Despite the hostility among Pingcheng's inhabitants, most of the guard units had already been moved to Luoyang, and Mu Tai did not have the manpower to resist Rencheng's forces. Mu Tai led a force of only a few hundred to attack a negotiator sent by Rencheng. Failing that, Mu Tai fled alone on a horse, but he and all the rebels were soon captured and executed. A generation later, the northern garrisons disintegrated and migrated south as well.

End of the Xianbei military class

The Six Frontier Towns Rebellion and Erzhu Rong's rebellion brought an end to the Northern Wei unification, splitting the empire into Eastern Wei (534–550) and Western Wei (535–556), which later became the Northern Qi (550–577) and Northern Zhou (557–581) respectively.

After the collapse of Northern Wei, the Eastern Wei regime absorbed the greater portion of the Xianbei military class and preferred to deploy them over the Han soldiers. The Western regime however lacked the manpower to forego Han recruits and made significant use of them in their campaigns. The utilization of Han troops eventually led to the triumph of the Western Wei's successor regime, Northern Zhou, over the Eastern Wei's successor, Northern Qi. Despite having the larger population base, the eastern Xianbei elite hailed from the northern garrisons which opposed sinicizing policies at the capital. They treated the Han with disdain and distrust, refusing to incorporate them into their military structure. The Han population reciprocated this sentiment and did little to help their overlords in times of need. In the west, the Xianbei had no choice but to rely upon not just the Han, but also the Qiang, for they lacked the numbers to stand up to their eastern counterpart. The result was a new hybridized northwestern aristocracy of Xianbei, Han, and Qiang descent that gave birth to the Sui and Tang dynasties.

The chaos drew the Xianbei frontier nobility into the Central Plains and allowed them to push back on the Wei's early sinicization policies. The Northern Qi was ruled by the Gao clan, a Xianbeified Han Chinese family who relied on the Xianbei elites and appealed to their traditions. On the other hand, the Northern Zhou was ruled by the Yuwen clan of Xianbei ethnicity over an overwhelmingly majority Chinese population. To strengthen their military, the Western Wei and Northern Zhou were forced to integrate the Chinese gentry, all while attempting to instill a Xianbei warrior culture, which included the abolishment of the Northern Wei's sinicized family names and the rewarding of Xianbei family names to accomplished Chinese officers. The Prime Minister of Northern Zhou, Yang Jian, later had these names restored back to Han names.

Han-Xianbei intermarriage

In the 480s, the Northern Wei royal family started promoting marriages between their women and Han men from elite families in the provinces to integrate their wealth into the state-controlled political and economic structure. Of the 50 recorded Northern Wei princesses, around half married southern Han Chinese men. Among these men, half were from aristocratic or royal families from the Southern dynasties who defected and moved north to join the Northern Wei. Several daughters of Emperor Xiaowen were married to Han elites. The Liu Song royal Liu Hui married Princess Lanling, Princess Huayang was married to Sima Fei, a descendant of Jin dynasty (266–420) royalty, Princess Jinan to Lu Daoqian, and Princess Nanyang to Xiao Baoyin, a member of Southern Qi royalty. Emperor Xiaozhuang's sister the Shouyang Princess was wedded to the Liang dynasty ruler Emperor Wu of Liang's son Xiao Zong.

A genetic analysis of the remains of Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou (r. 560-578) confirms the presence of Yellow River ancestry (associated with Han Chinese) at ~32%. This can likely be explained by Emperor Wu's grandmother who had the surname Wang and was considered to be of Goguryeo descent, but was probably from the prominent Han Chinese Wang clan of Lelang Commandery. In comparison, the genetic analysis of Wu's wife, Empress Ashina, shows almost completely Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry with no Yellow River admixture. Genetic analysis of a single Xianbei individual from the period when Pingcheng was still the capital shows strong affinity with Chinese farming communities in the Central Plains (China) as well as southern East Asians such as the Miao people.

Sui-Tang dynasties

The Xianbei continued to serve as soldiers during the mid-6th century and descendants of Northern Wei's royal family survived into the Tang dynasty. Those among them include the chancellor Zhangsun Wuji (d. 659) and poet statesman Yuan Zhen (779-831). In the 8th century Turkic Orkhon inscriptions, the Tang dynasty and China are referred to as Tabγač (Tuoba) according to the Old Turkic pronunciation. It is usually anglicized as Tabgach or Tabgatch. Although both the Sui and Tang dynasties entrenched themselves in Chinese terms, the groundwork for their governments and armies was based on structured created in the preceding northern Xianbei dynasties.

Both the royal families of the Sui and Tang dynasties originated from ethnically mixed Han-Xianbei lineages. The first emperor of the Sui dynasty, Yang Jian (Emperor Wen of Sui), was a general of the last Xianbei dynasty in China, the Northern Zhou. In 581, Yang Jian forced his grandson, the last emperor of Northern Zhou, to abdicate before he established himself as emperor of the Sui. Despite his Xianbei heritage, once Yang Jian was in power, he made a point of emphasizing his Han cultural identity by promoting Han surnames, banning "barbarian" music, and building a bureaucracy based on the Qin and Han dynasties. The capital of Chang'an was built on a Han dynasty template. He limited the power of the elite families by reassigning land using the Equal-field system and consolidated power over the northwestern aristocracy and the central government.

The first Tang emperor, Li Yuan (Emperor Gaozu of Tang), was related to both the Sui and Northern Zhou royal houses. He was a cousin of Emperor Yang of Sui and his mother was the sister of three Northern Zhou emperors. These powerful ties gave him the positions that led to his ascendance as emperor. Under the Sui dynasty, Li Yuan held several prefectural appointments in modern Shaanxi and Anhui. He then became the commander of two prefectures in Henan and Shanxi before taking the position of military officer at the palace in Chang'an. He served as an overseer of logistics in the Goguryeo–Sui War and as a commander-in-chief in anti-rebel suppression campaigns before becoming Garrison Commander in Taiyuan.

The second Tang emperor, Li Shimin (Emperor Taizong of Tang), had 5th and 6th generation ancestors who were both generals in Northern Wei (Li Xi and Li Tianci). His great grandfather, Li Hu, was a military commander who worked with Yuwen Tai to establish Western Wei and was honored as one of the bazhuguo (Eight Pillars of State). When Yuwen Tai's son became emperor of Northern Zhou, Li Hu was given the posthumous title "Duke of Tang", which passed onto his descendants. Both of Li Shimin's grandmothers were from aristocratic Xianbei lineages. His paternal grandmother, Li Bing's wife, was a daughter of the Xianbei general Dugu Xin (another one of the Eight Pillars). Two other daughters of Dugu Xin married the second emperor of Northern Zhou and the first Sui emperor, making Li Yuan the nephew of both royal houses as well as a cousin to the second Sui emperor.

The early wives and empresses of the Sui and Tang dynasties were also Xianbei, such Yang Jian's wife, Dugu Qieluo, Li Yuan's wife, Duchess Dou and Li Shimin's wife, Empress Zhangsun. Li Shimin's married Empress Zhangsun (601-636) when they were 17 and 13 years old. She was the daughter of Zhangsun Sheng (551-609), a descendant of the third brother of Emperor Xianwen of Northern Wei, who served as a general in the Sui dynasty.

Legacy

By the time Emperor Xiaowen decreed in 495 that the Northern Wei court should only speak Chinese, the Chinese language had probably already become an important language in court because it would have been impossible to switch on such short notice. Many of their subjects spoke Chinese and all documents were written in Chinese. However, the Xianbei language did not immediately disappear after the ban on non-Chinese languages by Northern Wei. Its successor states and their rulers reasserted Xianbei identity and reverted their names back to the old Xianbei names and even bestowed Xianbei names on their subjects. The Sui-Tang imperial families, being descended from Xianbei royalty, probably also spoke the Xianbei language. However, even before Yang Jian (Emperor Wen of Sui) formally usurped the Northern Zhou throne, he had already ordered for those who had been given Xianbei names to revert to their Han names. According to the Book of Sui, completed in 636, the Xianbei people of the Central Plains had become so Chinese that many of them no longer understood the Xianbei language. The Tongdian, finished in 801, records that of 53 Xianbei songs, only 6 could still be understood.

In addition to reverting to Han Chinese names, the Sui-Tang dynasties also removed aspects of Xianbei identity tied to the military. In 590, Emperor Wen decreed that most soldiers should retire and become regular farmers, doing away with the hereditary military class. The Xianbei-style heavy cavalry that was so prevalent in previous centuries became less prominent as the early Tang shifted away from heavily armored warhorses to Turkic-style light cavalry.

Material conditions between the Han and Xianbei were likely indistinguishable by the time of the Sui-Tang dynasties. Based on studies of Northern Qi (550–577) tombs, James Watt concludes that "there is no discernable difference in the tombs of the Xianbei aristocracy and that of the Han families".

Descendants of the Xianbei aristocracy continued to play a leading role in the Tang dynasty. As late as the mid-8th century, knowledge of their Xianbei origin was still widespread. But knowledge of their origin did not mean public acceptance or promotion of it. By this time it had become "bad form to refer explicitly to these families' Inner Asian origins". While the Xianbei people living in the Central Plains merged with the Han population, the Xianbei who remained behind in the northern grassland evolved into or were absorbed by tribes of the Rouran Khaganate and Khitan people. However, the Khitans were noticeably different from the Xianbei, at which point the Xianbei identity disappeared completely.

In the west, the Tuyuhun remained independent until it was defeated by the Tibetan Empire in 670. After the fall of the kingdom, the Tuyuhun underwent a diaspora over a vast territory that stretched from the northwest into central and eastern parts of China. Murong Nuohebo led them eastward into central China, where they settled in modern Yinchuan, Ningxia.

Military

According to an eye witness gathering information on Emperor Xiaowen's invasion of Southern Qi in 494, the Northern Wei monarch lodged in a black felt "traveling palace" that could house 20 men. When on the road, the emperor road in a carriage surrounded by heavy cavalry guards wielding lances decorated with pure white plumage. All the foot soldiers held black shields and spears decorated with "toad streamers".

Culture

The economic base of the Xianbei was animal husbandry combined with agricultural practice. They were the first to develop the khanate system. It is speculated that Tuoba Liwei was the first to use the title of khan (title).

The formation of social classes deepened and developments also occurred in their literacy, arts and culture. They used a zodiac calendar and favoured song and music. Tengrism and subsequently Buddhism were the main religions among the Xianbei people. After they abandoned the frigid north and migrated into Northern China, they gradually abandoned nomadic lifestyle and were sinicized and assimilated into the Han Chinese. Emperor Xiaowen of the Xianbei-led state of Northern Wei in northern China, eventually decreed the changes of Xianbei names to Han names. Prior to Tanshihuai, the Xianbei did not have a hereditary system, and their chieftains were chosen by electing a member of their tribe based on their character and abilities. Even as they established their states on the Central Plains and adopted the Chinese hereditary system, influential brothers, uncles and cousins of the Xianbei rulers often posed as rival claimants to the throne.

Art

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Xianbei head ornament with horse motif. Northern dynasties (A.D. 386 – 581)

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Northern Wei earrings. Northern Wei dynasty, 5th century

Art of the Xianbei portrayed their nomadic lifestyle and consisted primarily of metalwork and figurines. The style and subjects of Xianbei art were influenced by a variety of influences, and ultimately, the Xianbei were known for emphasizing unique nomadic motifs in artistic advancements such as leaf headdresses, crouching and geometricized animals depictions, animal pendant necklaces, and metal openwork.

Leaf headdresses

The leaf headdresses were characteristic of Xianbei culture, and are found especially in Murong Xianbei tombs. Their corresponding ornamental style also links the Xianbei to Bactria. These gold hat ornaments represented trees and antlers and, in Chinese, they are referred to as buyao ("step sway") since the thin metal leaves move when the wearer moves. Sun Guoping first uncovered this type of artifact, and defined three main styles: "Blossoming Tree" (huashu), which is mounted on the front of a cap near the forehead and has one or more branches with hanging leaves that are circle or droplet shaped, "Blossoming Top" (dinghua), which is worn on top of the head and resembles a tree or animal with many leaf pendants, and the rare "Blossoming Vine" (huaman), which consists of "gold strips interwoven with wires with leaves." Leaf headdresses were made with hammered gold and decorated by punching out designs and hanging the leaf pendants with wire. The exact origin, use, and wear of these headdresses is still being investigated and determined. However, headdresses similar to those later also existed and were worn by women in the courts.

Animal iconography

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Flying Horse plaque, Xianbei culture, Inner Mongolia province, China. 1st century BC to 1st century AD.

Another key form of Xianbei art is animal iconography, which was implemented primarily in metalwork. The Xianbei stylistically portrayed crouching animals in geometricized, abstracted, repeated forms, and distinguished their culture and art by depicting animal predation and same-animal combat. Typically, sheep, deer, and horses were illustrated. The artifacts, usually plaques or pendants, were made from metal, and the backgrounds were decorated with openwork or mountainous landscapes, which harks back to the Xianbei nomadic lifestyle. With repeated animal imagery, an openwork background, and a rectangular frame, the included image of the three deer plaque is a paradigm of the Xianbei art style. Concave plaque backings imply that plaques were made using lost-wax casting, or raised designs were impressed on the back of hammered metal sheets.

Horses played a large role in the existence of the Xianbei as a nomadic people, and in one tomb, a horse skull lay atop Xianbei bells, buckles, ornaments, a saddle, and one gilded bronze stirrup. The Xianbei also made art depicting horses. A recurring motif was the winged horse. It has been suggested by archaeologist Su Bai that this symbol was a "heavenly beast in the shape of a horse" because of its prominence in Xianbei mythology.

Figurines

Xianbei figurines help to portray the people of the society by representing pastimes, depicting specialized clothing, and implying various beliefs. Most figurines have been recovered from Xianbei tombs, so they are primarily military and musical figures meant to serve the deceased in afterlife processions and guard their tomb. Furthermore, the figurine clothing specifies the according social statuses: higher-ranking Xianbei wore long-sleeved robes with a straight neck shirt underneath, while lower-ranking Xianbei wore trousers and belted tunics.

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Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi

Buddhist influences

Xianbei Buddhist influences were derived from interactions with Han culture. The Han bureaucrats initially helped the Xianbei run their state, but eventually the Xianbei became Sinophiles and promoted Buddhism. The beginning of this conversion is evidenced by the Buddha imagery that emerges in Xianbei art. For instance, the included Buddha imprinted leaf headdress represents the Xianbei conversion and Buddhist synthesis since it combines both the traditional nomadic Xianbei leaf headdress with the new imagery of Buddha. This Xianbei religious conversion continued to develop in the Northern Wei dynasty, and ultimately led to the creation of the Yungang Grottoes.

Language

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Painting of the Tuoba-Xianbei Northern Zhou general Li Xian (504–569 AD)

The Xianbei are thought to have spoken Mongolic or Para-Mongolic languages, with early and substantial Turkic influences, as Claus Schönig asserts:

The Xianbei derived from the context of the Donghu, who are likely to have contained the linguistic ancestors of the Mongols. Later branches and descendants of the Xianbei include the Tabghach and Khitan, who seem to have been linguistically Para-Mongolic. [...] Opinions differ widely as to what the linguistic impact of the Xianbei period was. Some scholars (like Clauson) have preferred to regard the Xianbei and Tabghach (Tuoba) as Turks, with the implication that the entire layer of early Turkic borrowings in Mongolic would have been received from the Xianbei, rather than from the Xiongnu. However, since the Mongolic (or Para-Mongolic) identity of the Xianbei is increasingly obvious in the light of recent progress in Khitan studies, it is more reasonable to assume (with Doerfer) that the flow of linguistic influence from Turkic into Mongolic was at least partly reversed during the Xianbei period, yielding the first identifiable layer of Mongolic (or Para-Mongolic) loanwords in Turkic.

It is also possible that the Xianbei spoke more than one language.

However, there are no remaining works written in Xianbei, which are thought to have been written using Chinese characters. Only a few words remain, such as 啊干 'elder brother'.

Anthropology

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Xianbei warrior horsemen armed with long bows. Northern Qi dynasty (北齊 550–577 CE), Taiyuan, Shanxi Province.

According to Sinologist Penglin Wang, some Xianbei had mixed west Eurasian-featured traits such as blue eyes, blonde hair and white skin due to absorbing some Indo-European elements. The Xianbei were described as white on several occasions. The Book of Jin states that in the state of Cao Wei, Xianbei immigrants were known as the white tribe. The ruling Murong clan of Former Yan were referred to by their Former Qin adversaries as white slaves. According to Fan Wenlang et al. the Murong people were considered "white" by the Chinese due to the complexion of their skin color. In the Jin dynasty, Xianbei Murong women were sold off to many Han Chinese bureaucrat and aristocrats and they were also given to their servants and concubines. The mother of Emperor Ming of Jin, Lady Xun, was a lowly concubine possibly of Xianbei stock. During a confrontation between Emperor Ming and a rebel force in 324, his enemies were confused by his appearance, and thought he was a Xianbei due to his yellow beard. Emperor Ming's yellowish hair could have been inherited from his mother, who was either Xianbei or Jie. During the Tang dynasty, the poet Zhang Ji described the Xianbei entering Luoyang as "yellow-headed". During the Song dynasty, the poet and painter Su Shi was inspired by a painting of a Xianbei riding a horse and wrote a poem describing an elderly Xianbei with reddish hair and blue eyes.

There was undoubtedly some range of variation within their population. Yellow hair in Chinese sources could have meant brown rather than blonde and described other people such as the Jie rather than the Xianbei. Historian Edward H. Schafer believes many of the Xianbei were blondes, but others such as Charles Holcombe think it is "likely that the bulk of the Xianbei were not visibly very different in appearance from the general population of northeastern Asia." Chinese anthropologist Zhu Hong and Zhang Quan-chao studied Xianbei crania from several sites of Inner Mongolia and noticed that anthropological features of studied Xianbei crania show that the racial type is closely related to the modern East-Asians, and some physical characteristics of those skulls are closer to modern Mongols, Manchu and Han Chinese.

According to Du, et al. (2024), some historians believe that the Xianbei could have had "exotic" features such as high nose bridges, blond hair and thick beards. However, other scholars have suggested the appearance of the Xianbei was not dramatically different from modern East Asians. A genetic analysis of Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou revealed that he had an East Asian appearance, consistent with the hypothesis that the Xianbei were primarily of East Asian appearance.

Genetics

A genetic study published in The FEBS Journal in October 2006 examined the mtDNA of 21 Tuoba Xianbei buried at the Qilang Mountain Cemetery in Inner Mongolia, China. The 21 samples of mtDNA extracted belonged to haplogroups O (9 samples), D (7 samples), C (5 samples), B (2 samples) and A. These haplogroups are characteristic of Northeast Asians. Among modern populations they were found to be most closely related to the Oroqen people.

A genetic study published in the Russian Journal of Genetics in April 2014 examined the mtDNA of 17 Tuoba Xianbei buried at the Shangdu Dongdajing cemetery in Inner Mongolia, China. The 17 samples of mtDNA extracted belonged to haplogroups D4 (four samples), D5 (three samples), C (five samples), A (three samples), G and B.

A genetic study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in November 2007 examined 17 individuals buried at a Murong Xianbei cemetery in Lamadong, Liaoning, China ca. 300 AD. They were determined to be carriers of the maternal haplogroups J1b1, D (three samples), F1a (three samples), M, B, B5b, C (three samples) and G2a. These haplogroups are common among East Asians and some Siberians. The maternal haplogroups of the Murong Xianbei were noticeably different from those of the Huns and Tuoba Xianbei.

A genetic study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in August 2018 noted that the paternal haplogroup C2b1a1b has been detected among the Xianbei and the Rouran, and was probably an important lineage among the Donghu people.

A full genome analysis published in November 2023 analyzed the genomic data of nine Xianbei individuals (ca. 200 CE to 300 CE), together with previous published Xianbei samples, covering almost the entire period of Xianbei as well as pre- and post-Xianbei periods, and found that the Xianbei displayed a homogenous population with nearly exclusive Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry. The authors further remark that these results are consistent with an Amur River region, specifically around the Greater Khingan mountain range area, origin for the ancestral Xianbei population. Early Xianbei did not display signs of admixture from surrounding groups, while later Xianbei displayed limited amounts of admixture with "late Xiongnu-Sarmatian-like" and Han Chinese ("Yellow River farmer-like") groups. Later Xianbei in Northern China adopted an agricultural lifestyle and mixed with the local population, contributing to the genetic history of Northern China.

A 2024 study on Xianbei remains, including the remains of Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, found them to be derived primarily from Ancient Northeast Asians at c. 62–96%, with a lower amount of admixture from Neolithic 'Yellow River farmers' (associated with Han Chinese) at c. 4–32%. The Yellow River ancestry of Emperor Wu might be due to his grandmother who had the surname Wang and was considered to be of Goguryeo descent, but was likely northern Han hailing from the Wang clan of Lelang Commandery. Western Steppe Herder ancestry was only found at low amounts or absent entirely among the different Xianbei remains (average at c. 2–7%). The analysed Xianbei remains display their closest genetic affinities to ancient Khitan and Mohe people, as well as modern-day Daur people and Mongolians. The amount of Ancient Northeast Asian and Yellow River farmer ancestries varied depending on geographic location, suggesting a form of heterogeneity among the ancient Xianbei. Emperor Wu represented the southernmost and highest admixture with Yellow River ancestry at ~32%. The westernmost Xianbei had the highest western Eurasian steppe genetic component at ~7%. The Xianbei individuals from eastern Mongolia had the highest Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry, up to 96%. In contrast to the Xianbei, the early Turkic ruling class, the Ashina tribe, was found to be nearly entirely derived from Ancient Northeast Asians without significant Yellow River ancestry.

Notable people

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Female Xianbei figure

Pre-dynastic

• Tanshihuai (檀石槐, 136–181), Xianbei leader who led the Xianbei confederation
• Kebineng (軻比能, died 235), Xianbei chieftain who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty and Three Kingdoms period
• Tufa Shujineng (禿髮樹機能, died 279), Xianbei chieftain who lived during the Three Kingdoms period

Sixteen Kingdoms

Yan and Tuyuhun

• Murong Hui (慕容廆, 269–333), chieftain of the Murong tribe and Duke of Liaodong
• Murong Tuyuhun (慕容吐谷渾, 246–317), founder of the Tuyuhun
• Murong Huang (慕容皝, 297–348), founder of the Former Yan
• Murong Chui (慕容垂, 326–396), a general of the Former Yan and founder of the Later Yan
• Murong Ke (慕容恪, died 367), a general and statesman of the Former Yan
• Murong Chong (慕容沖, 359–386) second ruler of the Western Yan
• Murong De (慕容德, 336–405), founder of the Southern Yan

Dai

• Tuoba Yilu (拓跋猗盧, died 316), founder of the Tuoba Dai
• Tuoba Shiyiqian (拓跋什翼犍, 320–376), last ruler of the Tuoba Dai

Southern Liang

• Tufa Wugu (禿髮烏孤, died 399), founder of the Southern Liang
• Tufa Rutan (禿髮傉檀, 365–415), last ruler of the Southern Liang

Western Qin

• Qifu Gangui (乞伏乾歸, died 412), second ruler of the Western Qin
• Qifu Chipan (乞伏熾磐, died 428), third ruler of the Western Qin

Northern dynasties

File:MurongPainting.jpg

Painting depicting a Xianbei Murong archer in a tomb of the Former Yan (337–370).

• Tuoba Gui (拓跋珪, 371–409), founding emperor of the Northern Wei
• Tuoba Tao (拓跋燾, 408–452), third emperor of the Northern Wei
• Tufa Poqiang (禿髮破羌, 407–479), a paramount general of the Northern Wei
• Yuwen Tai (宇文泰, 507–556), a paramount general of the state Western Wei, a branch successor state of Northern Wei
• Dugu Xin (独孤信, 503–557), a paramount general of the state Western Wei
• Yuchi Jiong (尉遲迥, died 580), a paramount general of the states Western Wei and Northern Zhou
• Lou Zhaojun (婁昭君, 501–562), an empress dowager of the state Northern Qi
• Lu Lingxuan (陸令萱, died 577), a lady in waiting in the palace of the state Northern Qi
• Yuwen Hu (宇文護, 513–572), a regent of the state Northern Zhou
• Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei (魏孝靜帝, 524-550) founder and only emperor of the state Eastern Wei
• Mu Tipo (穆提婆, 527–577), a paramount official of the state Northern Qi
• Mu Yeli (穆邪利, 557–577), an empress of the state Northern Qi
• Gao Anagong (高阿那肱, died 580), a paramount official and general of the state Northern Qi
• Queen Dugu (獨孤王后, 536–558), a queen of the state Northern Zhou
• Yuwen Yong (宇文邕, 543–578), emperor of the state Northern Zhou

Sui dynasty

• Dugu Qieluo (獨孤伽羅, 544–602), formally Empress Wenxian (文獻皇后), an empress of the Sui dynasty
• Yuchi Yichen (尉遲義臣, died 617), a prominent general of the Sui dynasty
• Yuwen Shu (宇文述, died 616), a paramount general of the Sui dynasty
• Yuwen Huaji (宇文化及, 569–619), a paramount general of the Sui dynasty
• Yuwen Zhiji (宇文智及, 572–619), a general of the Sui dynasty

Tang dynasty

• Empress Zhangsun (長孫皇后, 601–636), an empress of the Tang dynasty. She was the wife of Emperor Taizong
• Zhangsun Wuji (長孫無忌, died 659), a paramount official who served both as general and chancellor in the early Tang dynasty
• Yuchi Jingde (尉遲敬德, 585–658), a famous general who lived in the early Tang dynasty, Yuchi Jingde and another general Qin Shubao are worshipped as door gods in Chinese folk religion
• Qutu Tong (屈突通, 557–628), a general in the Sui and Tang dynasties of China. He was listed as one of 24 founding officials of the Tang dynasty honored on the Lingyan Pavilion due to his contributions in wars during the transitional period from Sui to Tang
• Zhangsun Shunde (長孫顺德, ?–?), a general in the early Tang dynasty
• Yuwen Shiji (宇文士及, died 642), an official who served both as general and chancellor in the early Tang dynasty
• Yu Zhining (于志寧, 588–665), a chancellor of the Tang dynasty, during the reigns of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong
• Dou Dexuan (竇德玄, 598–666), a chancellor of the Tang dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong
• Yuwen Jie (宇文節, ?–?), a chancellor of the Tang dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong
• Lou Shide (婁師德, 630–699), a scholar-general of the Tang dynasty, during the reign of Wu Zetian
• Doulu Qinwang (豆盧欽望, 624–709), a chancellor of the Tang dynasty, during the reign of Wu Zetian
• Dou Huaizhen (竇懷貞, died 713), a chancellor of the Tang dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong
• Yuwen Rong (宇文融, died 731), a chancellor of the Tang dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong
• Yuan Qianyao (源乾曜, died 731), a chancellor of the Tang dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong
• Yu Di (于頔, died 818), a general and official of the Tang dynasty
• Tutu Chengcui (吐突承璀, died 820), a paramount eunuch official of the middle Tang dynasty
• Yuan Zhen (元稹, 779–831), a poet and politician of the middle Tang dynasty
• Yu Cong (于琮, died 881), a chancellor of the late Tang dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Yizong
• Doulu Zhuan (豆盧瑑, died 881), a chancellor of the late Tang dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Xizong

Modern descendants

Most Xianbei clans adopted Chinese family names during the Northern Wei dynasty. In particular, many were sinicized under Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei.

The Northern Wei's Eight Noble Xianbei surnames 八大贵族 were the Buliugu 步六孤, Helai 賀賴, Dugu 獨孤, Helou 賀樓, Huniu 忽忸, Qiumu 丘穆, Gexi 紇奚, and Yuchi 尉遲.

The "Monguor" (Tu) people in modern China may have descended from the Xianbei who were led by Tuyuhun Khan to migrate westward and establish the Tuyuhun Kingdom (284–670) in the third century and Western Xia (1038–1227) through the thirteenth century. Today they are primarily distributed in Qinghai and Gansu Province, and speak a Mongolic language.

The Xibe or "Xibo" people also believe they are descendants of the Xianbei, with considerable controversies that have attributed their origins to the Jurchens, the Elunchun, and the Xianbei.

Xianbei descendants among the Korean population carry surnames such as Mo 모 ( (shortened from Murong)), 석; (Revised Romanization: Seok; McCune–Reischauer: Sŏk; (shortened from Wushilan 烏石蘭)), 원 (Revised Romanization: Won; McCune–Reischauer: Wŏn; (the adopted Chinese surname of the Tuoba) and Dokgo 독고 ( (from Dugu)).

External links

• 鮮卑語言 The Xianbei language (Chinese Traditional Big5 code page) via Internet Archive
• The Routes of TanShiHuai's campaigns in 156–178 AD