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The Xianbei were a significant nomadic people residing in Manchuria
Manchuria

Manchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within People's Republic of China, or is divided between China and Russia....
 and eastern Mongolia
Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and People's Republic of China to the south, east and west....
, or Xianbei Shan
Greater Khingan

The Greater Khingan Range , also called the Greater Hing'an Range or Greater Hinggan Range, is a volcanic mountain range in Inner Mongolia in northeastern China....
. They were descendants of Donghu
Donghu

Donghu , was an ancient nomadic tribe or tribal union in Northeast China. It was once the dominant power in Mongolia before being defeated by the uprising of the Xiongnu....
 (Eastern Hu) before migrating into areas of the modern Chinese provinces of Shanxi
Shanxi

is a political divisions of China in the North China of the People's Republic of China. Its one-character abbreviation is Jin , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
, Shaanxi
Shaanxi

is a north-central political divisions of China of the People's Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River as well as the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of the province....
, Gansu
Gansu

or , is a political divisions of China located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It lies between Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and the Loess Plateau, and borders Mongolia to the north and Xinjiang to the west....
, Qinghai
Qinghai

is a provinces of China of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake. It borders Gansu on the northeast, the Xinjiang on the northwest, Sichuan on the southeast, and Tibet Autonomous Region on the southwest....
, Hebei
Hebei

For the people of Hebei, see Hebei people is a North China province of China of the People's Republic of China. Its one-Chinese character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province , a Han Dynasty province that included southern Hebei....
, Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia

Inner Mongolia is the Mongols autonomous region of China of the People's Republic of China, located in the country's north.Inner Mongolia borders, from east to west, the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu, while to the north it borders Mongolia and Russia....
, and Liaoning
Liaoning

is a Northeast China political divisions of China of the People's Republic of China. Its one-Chinese character abbreviation is Liao ."Li?o" is an ancient name for this region, which was adopted by the Liao Dynasty which ruled this area between 907 and 1125....
. Possibly some tribes of these people also lived in ancient Eastern Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang

is a political divisions of China of the People's Republic of China located in the Northeast China part of the country. "Heilongjiang" literally means Black Chinese dragon River, which is the Chinese name for the Amur river....
 or Hulun
Hulun

* For the city see HailarHulun was the original Manchu and Tungus name for the territory between the Stanovoi mountains and the Amur river; it was also bordered by the Manchu coast and the Shantar Archipelago....
 Manchu Imperial province, currently Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk is the administrative center and the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some 30 km from the People's Republic of China border....
 and Amur
Amur

The Amur River or Heilong Jiang is the Earth's ninth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China....
 regions in the Russian Far East
Russian Far East

Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Siberia and the Pacific Ocean....
.

The Xianbei people actually consisted of a federation of sizeable non-Han groups of which the most important was the Tuoba
Tuoba

Tuoba or T'o-pa in Wade-Giles was a clan of the Xianbei people in the early centuries of the 1st millennium AD. They established the State of Dai from 310 to 376 AD, and the Northern Wei Dynasty from 386 to 536 AD....
.






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The Xianbei were a significant nomadic people residing in Manchuria
Manchuria

Manchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within People's Republic of China, or is divided between China and Russia....
 and eastern Mongolia
Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and People's Republic of China to the south, east and west....
, or Xianbei Shan
Greater Khingan

The Greater Khingan Range , also called the Greater Hing'an Range or Greater Hinggan Range, is a volcanic mountain range in Inner Mongolia in northeastern China....
. They were descendants of Donghu
Donghu

Donghu , was an ancient nomadic tribe or tribal union in Northeast China. It was once the dominant power in Mongolia before being defeated by the uprising of the Xiongnu....
 (Eastern Hu) before migrating into areas of the modern Chinese provinces of Shanxi
Shanxi

is a political divisions of China in the North China of the People's Republic of China. Its one-character abbreviation is Jin , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
, Shaanxi
Shaanxi

is a north-central political divisions of China of the People's Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River as well as the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of the province....
, Gansu
Gansu

or , is a political divisions of China located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It lies between Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and the Loess Plateau, and borders Mongolia to the north and Xinjiang to the west....
, Qinghai
Qinghai

is a provinces of China of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake. It borders Gansu on the northeast, the Xinjiang on the northwest, Sichuan on the southeast, and Tibet Autonomous Region on the southwest....
, Hebei
Hebei

For the people of Hebei, see Hebei people is a North China province of China of the People's Republic of China. Its one-Chinese character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province , a Han Dynasty province that included southern Hebei....
, Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia

Inner Mongolia is the Mongols autonomous region of China of the People's Republic of China, located in the country's north.Inner Mongolia borders, from east to west, the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu, while to the north it borders Mongolia and Russia....
, and Liaoning
Liaoning

is a Northeast China political divisions of China of the People's Republic of China. Its one-Chinese character abbreviation is Liao ."Li?o" is an ancient name for this region, which was adopted by the Liao Dynasty which ruled this area between 907 and 1125....
. Possibly some tribes of these people also lived in ancient Eastern Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang

is a political divisions of China of the People's Republic of China located in the Northeast China part of the country. "Heilongjiang" literally means Black Chinese dragon River, which is the Chinese name for the Amur river....
 or Hulun
Hulun

* For the city see HailarHulun was the original Manchu and Tungus name for the territory between the Stanovoi mountains and the Amur river; it was also bordered by the Manchu coast and the Shantar Archipelago....
 Manchu Imperial province, currently Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk is the administrative center and the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some 30 km from the People's Republic of China border....
 and Amur
Amur

The Amur River or Heilong Jiang is the Earth's ninth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China....
 regions in the Russian Far East
Russian Far East

Russian Far East is a term that refers to the Russian part of the Far East, i.e., extreme east parts of Russia, between Siberia and the Pacific Ocean....
.

The Xianbei people actually consisted of a federation of sizeable non-Han groups of which the most important was the Tuoba
Tuoba

Tuoba or T'o-pa in Wade-Giles was a clan of the Xianbei people in the early centuries of the 1st millennium AD. They established the State of Dai from 310 to 376 AD, and the Northern Wei Dynasty from 386 to 536 AD....
. During the Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. The Han Dynasty was ruled by the family known as the Liu clan who had peasant origins....
, they occupied the steppes in Mongolia, Hebei
Hebei

For the people of Hebei, see Hebei people is a North China province of China of the People's Republic of China. Its one-Chinese character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province , a Han Dynasty province that included southern Hebei....
 and Liaodong. After the fall of the Han dynasty, the Xianbei formed a number of empires of their own, including the Yan Dynasty
Yan Dynasty

Yan Dynasty may refer to:* Former Yan* Later Yan...
, Western Qin
Western Qin

The Western Qin was a state of Xianbei ethnicity during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms in China. Note that the Western Qin is entirely distinct from the ancient Qin Dynasty, the Former Qin, and the Later Qin....
, Southern Liang
Southern Liang

The Southern Liang was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin Dynasty in China. The founding family Tufa was of Xianbei ethnicity and distant relative of the Tuoba imperial house of Northern Wei....
 and most significantly, the Northern Wei
Northern Wei

The Northern Wei Dynasty , also known as the Tuoba Wei , Later Wei , or Yuan Wei , was "part of an era of political turbulence and intense social and cultural change"....
 (see Sixteen Kingdoms
Sixteen Kingdoms

The Sixteen Kingdoms , or less commonly the Sixteen States, were a collection of numerous short-lived sovereign states in China proper and its neighboring areas from 304 to 439 Common Era after the retreat of the Jin Dynasty to South China and before the establishment of the Northern Dynasties....
). By the time of the Tang dynasty
Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an Dynasties in Chinese history preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire....
 they had largely merged with Han
Han Chinese

Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and, by most modern definitions, the largest single ethnic group in the Earth.Han Chinese constitute about 92 percent of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98 percent of the population of the Republic of China , 75 percent of the population of Singapore, and about 19 percent...
 populace by adopting its customs, administration and language. The emperors Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty
Sui Dynasty

The Sui Dynasty followed the Southern and Northern Dynasties and preceded the Tang Dynasty in China. It ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes....
 and Li Yuan of the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an Dynasties in Chinese history preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire....
 were born of Xianbei mothers and were therefore half-Xianbei.

A Xianbei ruler was recorded as having had fair hair as were later some Tatars
Tatars

Tatars , sometimes spelled Tartars, refers to a Turkic people ethnic group mainly inhabiting Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, and Poland....
 from the same area, as well as some other Tungusic peoples
Tungusic peoples

The term Tungusic peoples is used to describe peoples speaking a Tungusic languages....
.

Mongol and Khitan
Khitan people

The Khitan people , or Khitai, were a nomadic people, originally located at Mongolia and modern Manchuria from the 4th century. They dominated a vast area in northern China by the 10th century under the Liao Dynasty, but have left few relics that have survived until today....
 may have descended from Xianbei according to Chinese historical records.

The Xibe
Xibe

The Xibe are an ethnic group living mostly in northeast China and Xinjiang. They form one of the List of Chinese ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China....
 people believed themselves to be descendants of the Xianbei.

See also

  • Change of Xianbei names to Han names
    Change of Xianbei names to Han names

    The Change of Xianbei family names to Han names was part of a larger sinicization campaign. It was at its peak intensity under Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei of the Northern Wei dynasty in 496....
  • Xianbei state
    Xianbei state

    The Xianbei state was the state that existed in Mongolia from AD93 to the 2nd century. Their descendants lived there with turkic nomads much longer following the break up of the unity of the Xianbei people....
  • Tribes in Chinese history
  • Wu Hu
    Wu Hu

    Wu Hu is a collective term for various non-Chinese steppe tribes during the period from the Han Dynasty to the Northern Dynasties. These Nomadic people originally resided outside China proper, but gradually migrated into Chinese areas during the years of turmoil between the Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms....
  • Sixteen Kingdoms
    Sixteen Kingdoms

    The Sixteen Kingdoms , or less commonly the Sixteen States, were a collection of numerous short-lived sovereign states in China proper and its neighboring areas from 304 to 439 Common Era after the retreat of the Jin Dynasty to South China and before the establishment of the Northern Dynasties....
  • Wuhuan
    Wuhuan

    The Wuhuan were a nomadic people who inhabited northern China, in what is now the provinces of Hebei, Liaoning, Shanxi, the municipality of Beijing and the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia....
  • Northern Wei Dynasty
  • Chinese sovereign
    Chinese sovereign

    Chinese sovereign is the ruler of a particular period in ancient China. Several titles and naming schemes have been used throughout history....
  • Bu Dugen
    Bu Dugen

    Bu Dugen was the territorial chief of the Xianbei tribe during the Three Kingdoms Period of China. Bu Dugen at one time retained his fallen independence by sending many gifts to the Kingdom of Cao Wei during the reigns of Cao Cao, and his son Cao Pi....


External links

  • (Chinese Traditional Big5 code page) via Internet Archive
    Internet Archive

    The Internet Archive is a nonprofit organization dedicated to building and maintaining a free and openly accessible online digital library, including an archive site of the World Wide Web....