The
Xibe (
Sibe; ) are a Tungusic
ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...
living mostly in northeast
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
and
XinjiangXinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China and also claimed by the territory of the Republic of China.-Names:Older English-language reference works often refer to the area as Chinese Turkestan, Sinkiang, East...
. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
.
The Xibe originally lived on the
NonniNen River or Nenjiang, also Nonni is a river in in Northeast China. The Nen River flows through the northern part of Heilongjiang Province and the northeastern section of Inner Mongolia, some parts of the river forming the border between the two regions...
and
SonghuaThe Songhua River is a river in Northeast China, and is the largest tributary of the Heilong River , flowing about 1,927 km from Changbai Mountains through the Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces. The river drains 212,000 square miles of land...
river valleys in central
ManchuriaManchuria 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 China, or is divided between China and Russia...
. They are known as one of the nine states that were defeated by
NurhaciNurhaci was an important Manchu chieftain who rose to prominence in the late 16th Century in what is today Northeastern China...
in the Battle of Gure in 1593.
The
Xibe (
Sibe; ) are a Tungusic
ethnic groupAn ethnic group is a group of humans whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage that is real or presumed.Ethnic identity is further marked by the researcher Seng Yang in the recognition from others of a group's distinctiveness and the recognition of common cultural,...
living mostly in northeast
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
and
XinjiangXinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China and also claimed by the territory of the Republic of China.-Names:Older English-language reference works often refer to the area as Chinese Turkestan, Sinkiang, East...
. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
.
History
The Xibe originally lived on the
NonniNen River or Nenjiang, also Nonni is a river in in Northeast China. The Nen River flows through the northern part of Heilongjiang Province and the northeastern section of Inner Mongolia, some parts of the river forming the border between the two regions...
and
SonghuaThe Songhua River is a river in Northeast China, and is the largest tributary of the Heilong River , flowing about 1,927 km from Changbai Mountains through the Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces. The river drains 212,000 square miles of land...
river valleys in central
ManchuriaManchuria 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 China, or is divided between China and Russia...
. They are known as one of the nine states that were defeated by
NurhaciNurhaci was an important Manchu chieftain who rose to prominence in the late 16th Century in what is today Northeastern China...
in the Battle of Gure in 1593. They were under loose domination of the
KhorchinKhorchin is one of the Mongolian clans that speak the Khorchin dialect of Mongolian. Their origin is derived from the Imperial bodyguard - Kheshig of Mongol Empire. Khorchins is an ethnonym that means quick bearer...
Mongols even after the Khorchin came under the control of the
ManchuThe Manchu people are a Tungusic people who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the seventeenth century, with the help of Ming rebels , they conquered the Ming Dynasty and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which established a...
Qing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
.
The Xibe started to make direct contact with the Qing Dynasty when it conducted military campaigns against
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. They provided logistical support to the Qing. In 1692, the Khorchin dedicated the Xibe, the Gūwalca and the
DaurThe Daur people are an Mongolian sub-ethnic group. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized in the People's Republic of China...
to the
Kangxi EmperorThe Kangxi Emperor was the third Emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from 1661 to 1722...
in exchange for silver. The Xibe was incorporated into the
Eight BannersThe Eight Banners were administrative divisions into which all Manchu families were placed. They provided the basic framework for the Manchu military organization...
and were stationed in
QiqiharQiqihar is a major city in the Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China. It has 895,000 inhabitants. These are mainly Han Chinese and the resident minorities are, among others, Manchu, Daur, and Mongolians....
and other cities in Manchuria.
After conquering eastern Turkestan, the
Qianlong EmperorThe Qianlong Emperor was the fifth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China...
garrisoned part of the Xibe there in 1764 to defend the new frontier. They formed a community in the
QapqalQapqal Xibe Autonomous County in Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture in northern Xinjiang is the only Xibe autonomous county of the People's Republic of China. It has an area of 4,430 square kilometers and a population 160,000...
region south of the
Ili Riverthumb|right|300px|Map of the Lake Balkhash drainage basin showing the Ili River and its tributariesThe Ili River is a river in northwestern China and southeastern Kazakhstan .It is long, of which in Kazakhstan...
.
Culture
The traditional dress of the Xibe was similar to the traditional dress of the
ManchuThe Manchu people are a Tungusic people who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the seventeenth century, with the help of Ming rebels , they conquered the Ming Dynasty and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which established a...
s. Nowadays almost all the Xibe wear Western clothing and the traditional clothing is worn by elders during festivals.
Traditionally, the Xibe were divided into
hala, clans consisting of people who shared the same surname. Until modern times, the dwellings of the Xibe housed up to three different generations from a same family, since it was believed that while the father was alive no son could break the family clan and to the house.
Their culture is also similar to
XianbeiThe Xianbei were a significant nomadic people residing in Manchuria and eastern Mongolia, or Xianbei Shan.-Origins:The Xianbei were descendants of the Donghu, which used to be believed to represent the “Eastern Hu” based on the Chinese record...
.
Language
The Xibe in northeast China speak
ChineseChinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of languages mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
as their
first languageA first language is the language a human being learns from birth...
. In Xinjiang, descendants of the
Qing dynastyThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
military garrison preserve their language, which is an innovative dialect of the
ManchuManchu is a Tungusic language spoken in Northeast China; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Mandarin Chinese and there are fewer than 70 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus...
. Unlike the
Manchu languageManchu is a Tungusic language spoken in Northeast China; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Mandarin Chinese and there are fewer than 70 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus...
, the Xibe language is reported to have eight vowel distinctions as opposed to the six found in Manchu, differences in morphology, and a complex kind of
vowel harmonyVowel harmony is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels that occurs in some languages. In languages with vowel harmony, there are constraints on what vowels may be found near each other....
. The general vocabulary and structure of Xibe has not been affected as much by the influence of Chinese as Manchu has been. However, there are a number of Chinese loanwords, and a large body of sociological terminology, such as
gəming (revolution) and
gungshə (commune), have been borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the everyday vocabulary of the language. They use the Xibe script, a slightly revised
Manchu scriptThe Manchu alphabet was used for recording the now near-extinct Manchu language; a similar script is used today by the Xibe people, who speak a language descended from Manchu...
.
- The Xibe believe that they are descendants of the Xianbei
The Xianbei were a significant nomadic people residing in Manchuria and eastern Mongolia, or Xianbei Shan.-Origins:The Xianbei were descendants of the Donghu, which used to be believed to represent the “Eastern Hu” based on the Chinese record...
.
- Dr. Pamela Kyle Crossley
Pamela Kyle Crossley is an historian of modern China, northern Asia, and global history.-Biography:Crossley was educated in Lima, Ohio, and Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and at Swarthmore College, where she was editor-in-chief of The Phoenix. She later entered Yale University, where she wrote a...
, Professor of History at Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College," it is a member of the Ivy League and one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution...
, asserts that the RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
ns named SiberiaSiberia , is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the...
after the Sibe/Xibe.
External links