Five Barbarians

Wu Hu ( Pinyin 五胡 Wu3 Hu2)

Summary

Wu Hu literarily means "five non-Chinese races". Traditionally "Hu" was interpreted as "barbarians", in parallel to those in Europe, although Sima Qian's Shiji explained it as the "proud son of heaven" (天之驕子). Wu Hu were conposed of five nomadic tribes: Xiongnu (匈奴 xiong1 nu2, sometimes identified with the Huns), Xianbei (鮮卑 xian1 bei1), Di (氐 di1), Qiang (羌 qiang1), and Jie (羯 jie2). The term was first used in Cui Hong's Shiliuguochunqiu, which recorded the history of those five tribes' ravaging Northern China from the early 4th century to the mid 5th century. After later historians determined that more than five nomadic tribes took part (however, these five were the major ones), the term has become a collective noun for all non-Chinese nomads residing in Northern China at the time. The time at which the ravages occurred is called The Period of Wu Hu (五胡時代) or the Wu Hu ravaging of China (五胡亂華). Sovereignties founded by Wu Hu were named the Sixteen Kingdoms.

Origin of the ravage

When the Eastern Han Dynasty slowly brought the Southern Xiongnu into submission in the 1st century by military and diplomactic measures, hordes of herdsmen originally under the Xiongnu began trading their horses and animal products mainly for agricultural tools, such as the harrow and the plow, and clothing of which silk was the most popular. Those herdsmen helped the dynasty defend against the Xiongnu's (the Southern and Northern Xiongnu) in return. The more they engaged in commerce with the Chinese, the more they prefered staying near the dynasty's border, to facilitate trade, instead of residing on the steppes of Manchuria and Mongolia. Some groups of herdsmen even settled permenantly within the border, first of which was Wuhuan (烏桓), who immigrated to the area of today Liaoning Province during the era of jiangwu ( 25 AD - 56AD ) . Liaision among the dynasty and groups of herdsmen relied on mutual commercial and military benefits. As the Northern Xiongnu, the master of the Mongolian steppes and mortal enemy of the dynasty, was still potent enough during the reigns of Ming Di, Zhang Di and He Di (58 AD-105 AD, Tables of Chinese Sovereigns)) to keep the volatile alliance intact, the dynasty enjoyed the most prosperous years of almost 200 years of its existence. Even the Southern Xiongnu and fragments of the Northern Xiongnu migrated well within the border to the Xi He plain ( literarily means the plain on the west of Huang he ), south of the Ordos Desert), .

The picture drastically changed in the later years of reign of He Di, son of Zhang Di. Dou Xian (竇憲dou4 xian4 50s - 92), commander of troops patrolling the northern border and elder brother of Queen Dou who was the first lady of Zhang Di, utterly defeated the Northern Xiongnu in a series of campaigns during the era of Yongyuan (89 AD-105 AD). The remnants, just escaped anniliation, conceded defeat, began migrating out of the Mongolians steppes and disappearred from the records of Chinese history once and for all. Whether they were the ancestors of the Huns is still a controversy among some present-day historians especially the western, all have to agree that a power vacuum was left on the Mongolian steppes. Main contenders were the Southern Xiongnu who inhabited south of the steppes and now propagated into a groups of more than 100 thousand herdsmen on the Xi He plain, Xianbei who laid just east of the steppes and resided on the plains of Manchuria, Dingling who originally dwelt the banks of Lake Baikal and had already commenced trekking south into the steppes before Duo Xian set in his plan on exterminating the Northern Xiongnu, and Wuhuan who lived south of Xianbei and was the weakest of the four. Instead of constantly trading for provisions, tools and extravangant goods, these four powerful groups of herdsmen, though allies of the dynasty, often cooperate among themselves to plunder areas of the northern border. The dyansty could not muster an all-out campaign to wipe out the herdsmen (at least not yet, see next paragraph) but often attempted many diplomatic and monetary measures, sometimes treacherously, to sway any or more groups from the alliance of herdsmen. On the other hand the dynasty was in constant decline as clans of consorts and eunuchs engaged themselves in a continuous cotention for power. Wealthy merchants, individuals, families and aristocrats were annexing lands from peasants who had been cultivating their own land for years. Those "landless" peasants had to come under the protection of the rich for living and hence tax payable dropped dramatically. The dynasty also had to deal with Qiang and Di on the western border, who had constantly been involved in skirmishes, individually and together, against the dynasty since the mid - Western Han Dynasty (around mid-1st century B.C.). As the Eastern Han Dynasty declining year by year, Qiang, nominal ancestor of modern Tibetans, had begun planning major campaigns of invasion. Through spies and collaborators, the Han court knew well enough of the situation and had to continuously deploy legions near the border to fend off Qiang skirmishes and small scale invasions. Although major Quang's invasions were never successful, such a military deployment had been a constant drain of the treasury and a cradle of ambitious militarians, the most famous of whom was Dong Zhuo (董卓 dong3 zhuo2 130s-192), actual ruler of the Han court from 189-192. The more the Han court was weakened by domestic problems, the more the herdsmen craved for procuring the dynasty's wealth. Wuhuan was a frequent ally with the Han court against Xianbei and the Southern Xiongnu (hereafter abbreviated as Xiongnu) although it sometimes allied with Xiongnu to fend off joint attacks by the Han and Xianbei. The Han court also deployed mercenaries of Xianbei and Wuhuan cavalries for campaigns against Qiang and to quell peasant insurgents. However, those legions of mercenaries were poorly treated by the Han's military authorities such as deploying them far away from their homeland, at the most dangerous position on the field or starving them from provision and weapon. For instance, the legion of Wuhuan cavalries of about 5000 men who collaborated with Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju (see below) resided in Youzhou (including area of today northeastern Hebei and western Liaoning Province) and was deployed in Southern Jingzhou (today Hunan Province), some 1500 kilometres away, for 3 consecutive unbearable years. Thus militarians who earned trust from Xianbei or Wuhuan would exploit them for their own sake. The rebellion (187-189) of Zhang Chun (張純 zhang1 chun2 d.189) and Zhang Ju (張舉 zhang1 ju3 d.189) in Youzhou with the Wuhuan cavalries marked the first of such collaborations. Yuan Shao (袁紹 yuan2 shao4 140s-206) and Gong Sun Zan (公孫瓚 gong1 sun1 zan4 140s-199), celebrated two of the "warlords" in the era of the Three Kingdoms, also exploited Wuhuan and Xianbei respectively for their own quests for predominance. Ironically Gong Sun Zan was the commander to suppress the rebellion of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju.

Bitter relationship of sometime friend and sometime enemy between the Han's court and groups of herdmen lasted from the start of 2nd century to 160s until the appearance of Tan Shi Huai (檀石槐 tan2 shi2 huai2 120s-end of 170s) who was an illegitamte son of a low ranked military officer in the legion of Xianbei mercenaries deployed against Qiang. Despite his low social status among Xianbei herdsmen, he managed to unify all Xianbei tribes under a military and commercial confederate against the Han's court. Xianbei tribes each of which had its own chieftain were divided into 3 sub-"confederate", the West, the Central and the Eastern according to their residing areas. Notable tribes under Tan Shi Huai's command were the Mu Rong tribe (Sixteen Kingdoms), Haui Tou's tribe (Sixteen Kingdoms) and Tui Yin's tribe (Northern Wei Dynasty). The confederacy was a rudiment of a centralised government. All tribes had to share all trade profits, military duties against the Han's court, and a unified stance on against the Han's court. Supported by this confederacy, Tan Shi Huai brought Xiongnu

As the Eastern Han Dynasty slowly distintegrated into an era of "warlords", battles for predominance evetually ushered in the Three Kingdoms; however, years of war generated a severe shortage of labor, a solution to which was immigration of nomads from outside of China, especially from north of the Great Wall of China and the West.n