View source for Xiongnu

{{Short description|Eurasian steppe confederation (3rd c. BC – 1st c. AD)}}
{{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025|cs1-dates=ly}}
{{Infobox country
| image_map              = {{Continental Asia in 150 BCE|center|||Map of the Xiongnu, circa 150 BCE.png|none}}
| map_caption            = Territory of the Xiongnu in the 2nd century BC (before the [[Han–Xiongnu Wars]] of 133 BC – 89 AD): it includes [[Mongolia]], east [[Kazakhstan]], east [[Kyrgyzstan]], south [[Siberia]], and parts of northern [[China]] such as western [[Manchuria]], [[Xinjiang]], [[Inner Mongolia]] and [[Gansu]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Coatsworth |first1=John |last2=Cole |first2=Juan |last3=Hanagan |first3=Michael P. |last4=Perdue |first4=Peter C. |last5=Tilly |first5=Charles |last6=Tilly |first6=Louise |title=Global Connections: Volume 1, To 1500: Politics, Exchange, and Social Life in World History |date=16 March 2015 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-316-29777-3 |page=138 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w5vlBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA138}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Atlas of World History |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-521921-0 |page=51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffZy5tDjaUkC&pg=PA51}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Fauve |first1=Jeroen|title=The European Handbook of Central Asian Studies |date=2021 |isbn=978-3-8382-1518-1 |page=403 |publisher=BoD – Books on Demand |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KPBIEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA406}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hartley |first1=Charles W. |last2=Yazicioğlu |first2=G. Bike |last3=Smith |first3=Adam T. |title=The Archaeology of Power and Politics in Eurasia: Regimes and Revolutions |date=19 November 2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-78938-7 |at=p. 245, Fig 12.3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1mcgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA245 |language=en}}</ref>
| conventional_long_name = Xiongnu
| common_name            = Xiongnu
| era                    = [[Ancient history|Antiquity]]
| government_type        = [[Tribe|Tribal]] [[confederation]]
| common_languages       = ''[[Xiongnu language|various]]''
| capital                = [[Longcheng, Mongolia|Longcheng]]<ref name=yuuu86-384>{{cite book |last=Yü |first=Ying-shih |chapter=Han Foreign Relations |title=The Cambridge History of China, Volume 1: The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC – AD 220 |year=1986 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-24327-8 |page=384}}</ref>
| year_start             = 3rd century BC
| year_end               = 2nd century AD
| religion               = [[Shamanism]], [[Tengrism]], [[Buddhism]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shufen |first1=Liu |title=Ethnicity and the Suppression of Buddhism in Fifth-century North China: The Background and Significance of the Gaiwu Rebellion |journal=Asia Major |date=2002 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=1–21 |jstor=41649858 |issn=0004-4482}}</ref>
| demonym                = Xiongnu
| title_leader           = [[Chanyu]]
| leader1                = [[Touman]]
| year_leader1           = 220–209 BC
| leader2                = [[Modu Chanyu|Modu]]
| year_leader2           = 209–174 BC
| leader3                = [[Laoshang Chanyu|Laoshang]]
| year_leader3           = 174–161 BC
| leader4                = [[Wudadihou]]
| year_leader4           = 46 AD
| p1                     = Slab Grave Culture
| p2                     = Donghu people
| p3                     = Yuezhi
| p4                     = Sakas
| p5                     = Ordos culture
| s1                     = Han dynasty
| s2                     = Xianbei
| s3                     = Rouran Khaganate
| s4                     = Tocharians
| s5                     = First Turkic Khaganate
}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| title = Xiongnu
| c = 匈奴
| mon = 
| monr = 
| mong = 
| p = Xiōngnú
| w = {{tone superscript|Hsiung1-nu2}}
| mi = {{IPAc-cmn|x|iong|1|.|n|u|2}}
| gr = Shiongnu
| j = Hung<sup>1</sup>-nou<sup>4</sup>
| y = Hūng-nòuh
| ci = {{IPAc-yue|h|ung|1|.|n|ou|4}}
| tl = Hing-lôo
| oc-bs = *{{IPA|qʰoŋ.nˤa}}
| oc-zz = qʰoŋ.na:<ref name=":01">{{cite web|url = http://ytenx.org/dciangx/dzih/%E5%8C%88/|script-title=zh:匈 – 上古音系第一三千八百九十字|website = ytenx.org [{{lang|zh-hant|韻典網}}] |first = Shang-fang (Chinese: 尚芳)|last = Zheng Zhang (Chinese: 鄭張) |others = Rearranged by BYVoid |language=zh |trans-title=匈 - The 13890th word of the Ancient Phonological System}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{cite web|url = http://ytenx.org/dciangx/dzih/%E5%A5%B4/|script-title=zh:奴 – 上古音系第九千六百字|website = ytenx.org [{{lang|zh-hant|韻典網}}] |last = Zheng Zhang (Chinese: 鄭張)|first = Shang-fang (Chinese: 尚芳) |others = Rearranged by BYVoid |language=zh |trans-title=奴 – The 9600th word of the Ancient Phonological System}}</ref>
| tp = Syong-nú
| bpmf = ㄒㄩㄥ ㄋㄨˊ
}}
The '''Xiongnu''' ({{lang-zh|c=匈奴|loc= Xiōngnú}},<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QTPwDwAAQBAJ&q=Türk+Medeniyeti+Tarihi+orgun |title=Türk Medeniyeti Tarihi |isbn=978-605-4369-46-1 |last1=Gökalp |first1=Ziya |year=2020 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> {{IPAc-cmn|x|iong|1|.|n|u|2}}) were a tribal [[confederation]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Xiongnu People |url=http://global.britannica.com/topic/Xiongnu|website=britannica.com |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=25 July 2015 |archive-date=11 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200311191625/https://global.britannica.com/topic/Xiongnu }}</ref> of [[Nomad|nomadic peoples]] who, according to ancient [[Chinese historiography|Chinese sources]], inhabited the eastern [[Eurasian Steppe]] from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. [[Modu Chanyu]], the supreme leader after 209&nbsp;BC, founded the '''Xiongnu Empire'''.{{sfn|Di Cosmo|2004|p=186}}

After overthrowing their previous overlords,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chase-Dunn |first1=C. |last2=Anderson |first2=E. |title=The Historical Evolution of World-Systems |date=18 February 2005 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4039-8052-6 |pages=36–37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HUTHAAAAQBAJ&dq=xiongnu+overthrew+yuezhi&pg=PA37 |language=en}} "The primary focus of the new threat became the Xiongnu who emerged rather abruptly in the late 4th century BC. Initially subordinated to the Yuezhi, the Xiongnu overthrew the nomadic hierarchy while also escalating its attacks on Chinese areas."</ref> the [[Yuezhi]], the Xiongnu became the dominant power on the [[steppe]]s of [[East Asia]], centred on the [[Mongolian Plateau]]. The Xiongnu were also active in areas now part of [[Siberia]], [[Inner Mongolia]], [[Gansu]] and [[Xinjiang]]. Their relations with the [[Chinese dynasties]] to the south-east were complex—alternating between various periods of peace, war, and subjugation. Ultimately, the Xiongnu were defeated by the [[Han dynasty]] in a [[Han–Xiongnu Wars|centuries-long conflict]], which led to the confederation splitting in two, and forcible resettlement of large numbers of Xiongnu within Han borders. During the [[Sixteen Kingdoms]] era, listed as one of the "[[Five Barbarians]]", their descendants founded the dynastic states of [[Han-Zhao]], [[Northern Liang]] and [[Xia (Sixteen Kingdoms)|Helian Xia]] and during the [[Northern and Southern dynasties]] founded [[Northern Zhou]] (founded by members of the [[Yuwen]] tribe of Xiongnu origin) in northern China.

Attempts to associate the Xiongnu with the nearby [[Sakas]] and [[Sarmatians]] were once controversial. However, [[archaeogenetics]] has confirmed their interaction with the Xiongnu, and also possibly their relation to the [[Huns]]. The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses, because only a few words, mainly titles and personal names, were preserved in the Chinese sources. The name ''Xiongnu'' may be [[cognate]] with that of the Huns or the [[Huna people|Huna]],{{sfn|Grousset|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/19 19, 26–27]}}{{sfn|Pulleyblank|2000|p=17}}{{sfn|Schuessler|2014|pp=257, 264}} although this is disputed.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|loc=pp. 404–405, notes 51–52}}<ref name="vaissiere2006">{{cite encyclopedia |author=Étienne de la Vaissière |date=15 November 2006 |title=Xiongnu |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Iranica online |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/xiongnu |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104081516/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/xiongnu |archive-date=4 January 2012}}</ref> Other linguistic links—all of them also controversial—proposed by scholars include [[Turkic languages|Turkic]],{{sfn|Hucker|1975|p=136}}<ref>{{cite journal |title=Early nomads of the Eastern Steppe and their tentative connections in the West |last1=Savelyev |first1=Alexander |last2=Jeong |first2=Choongwon |date=10 May 2020 |journal=Evolutionary Human Sciences |volume=2 |article-number=e20 |doi=10.1017/ehs.2020.18 |pmid=35663512 |pmc=7612788 |hdl=21.11116/0000-0007-772B-4 |s2cid=218935871 |quote=The predominant part of the Xiongnu population is likely to have spoken Turkic (Late Proto-Turkic, to be more precise)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Robbeets |first1=Martine |last2=Bouckaert |first2=Remco |date=1 July 2018 |title=Bayesian phylolinguistics reveals the internal structure of the Transeurasian family |journal=Journal of Language Evolution |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=145–162 |doi=10.1093/jole/lzy007 |issn=2058-4571|hdl=21.11116/0000-0001-E3E6-B |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |author=Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt |date=2019 |chapter=Northern Dynasties and Southern Dynasties |title=Chinese Architecture |pages=72–103 |publisher=Princeton University Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctvc77f7s.11 |s2cid=243720017}}{{Cite web |publisher=Larousse Éditions |title=Turcs ou Turks|url=https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/divers/Turcs/147681 |access-date=1 April 2023 |website=Larousse Rncyclopedie|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Book of Zhou, vol. 50}}{{Cite book |title=Henning 1948}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Sims-Williams 2004}}{{Cite book |title=Pritsak 1959}}{{Cite book |title=Hucker 1975, p. 136.}}{{Cite book |title=Jinshu vol. 97 Four Barbarians - Xiongnu}}{{Cite book |title=Weishu |volume=102: Wusun, Shule, & Yueban |quote={{lang|zh|悅般國，... 其先，匈奴北單于之部落也。... 其風俗言語與高車同}}}}{{Cite book |title=Yuanhe Maps and Records of Prefectures and Counties vol. 4 quote: "北人呼駮馬為賀蘭}}{{Cite book |last=Kim |first=Hyun Jin |title=The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe |date=18 April 2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511920493 |isbn=978-0-511-92049-3}}{{Cite book |title=Du You. Tongdian |volume=200: 突厥謂駮馬為曷剌，亦名曷剌國。}}{{Cite book |title=Wink 2002, pp. 60–61.}}</ref> [[Iranian languages|Iranian]],<ref name="Harmatta488">{{harvnb|Harmatta|1994|p=488}}: "Their royal tribes and kings (''shan-yü'') bore Iranian names and all the Hsiung-nu words noted by the Chinese can be explained from an Iranian language of Saka type. It is therefore clear that the majority of Hsiung-nu tribes spoke an Eastern Iranian language."</ref>{{sfn|Bailey|1985|pp=21–45}}{{sfn|Jankowski|2006|pp=26–27}} [[Mongolic languages|Mongolic]],<ref name="Tumen">{{cite journal |vauthors=Tumen D |title=Anthropology of Archaeological Populations from Northeast Asia |journal=Oriental Studies |volume=49 |date=February 2011 |pages=25, 27 |publisher=Dankook University Institute of Oriental Studies |url=http://user.dankook.ac.kr/~oriental/Journal/pdf_new/49/11.pdf |archive-date=29 July 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130729140858/http://user.dankook.ac.kr/~oriental/Journal/pdf_new/49/11.pdf }}</ref> [[Uralic languages|Uralic]],{{sfn|Di Cosmo|2004|p=166}} [[Yeniseian languages|Yeniseian]],{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|loc=pp. 404–405, notes 51–52}}{{sfn|Adas|2001|p=88}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Vovin |first=Alexander |year=2000 |title=Did the Xiongnu speak a Yeniseian language? |journal=Central Asiatic Journal |volume=44 |issue=1| pages=87–104 |jstor=41928223}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=高晶一 |first=Jingyi Gao |date=2017 |trans-title=Xia and Ket Identified by Sinitic and Yeniseian Shared Etymologies |script-title=zh:確定夏國及凱特人的語言為屬於漢語族和葉尼塞語系共同詞源 |title=Quèdìng xià guó jí kǎitè rén de yǔyán wéi shǔyú hànyǔ zú hé yè ní sāi yǔxì gòngtóng cí yuán |journal=Central Asiatic Journal |volume=60 |issue=1–2 |pages=51–58 |doi=10.13173/centasiaj.60.1-2.0051 |jstor=10.13173/centasiaj.60.1-2.0051 |s2cid=165893686}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bonmann|first1=Svenja|last2=Fries|first2=Simon|year=2025|title=Linguistic Evidence Suggests That Xiōng-nú and Huns Spoke the Same Paleo-Siberian Language|journal=Transactions of the Philological Society|volume=0|pages=1–24|doi=10.1111/1467-968X.12321|doi-access=free}}</ref> or multi-ethnic.{{sfn|Geng|2005}}

== Name ==
The word "Xiōngnú" means "fierce slave."{{sfn|Pearce|2023|p=128}} They were identified by the Han Chinese as invaders from the north who rode on horseback.<ref name="Zeldovich 2023">{{cite web |last=Zeldovich |first=Lina |title=The powerful women of an ancient empire |website=BBC Home |date=10 November 2023 |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20231106-the-powerful-women-of-an-ancient-empire |access-date=13 March 2025}}</ref> The pronunciation of 匈奴 as Xiōngnú {{IPAc-cmn|x|iong|1|n|u|2}} is the modern [[standard Chinese|Mandarin Chinese]] pronunciation, from the Mandarin dialect spoken now in Beijing, which came into existence only in the second millennium CE. The [[Old Chinese]] pronunciation has been reconstructed as *''xiuoŋ-na'' or as *''qhoŋna'' according to [[Reconstructions of Old Chinese#Wang (1957–1985)|Wang Li]] and [[Reconstructions of Old Chinese#Zhengzhang (1981–1995)|Zhengzhang Shangfang]] respectively, the two most widely recognized Old Chinese reconstructions in China.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gao |first1=Jingyi (高晶一) |title=Huns and Xiongnu Identified by Hungarian and Yeniseian Shared Etymologies |journal=Central Asiatic Journal |date=2013 |volume=56 |page=41 |jstor=10.13173/centasiaj.56.2013.0041 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.13173/centasiaj.56.2013.0041.pdf |issn=0008-9192}}</ref> Sinologist Axel Schuessler (2014) reconstructs the pronunciations of 匈奴 as *''hoŋ-nâ'' in Late [[Old Chinese]] ({{Circa|318 BC}}) and as *''hɨoŋ-nɑ'' in [[Eastern Han Chinese]]; citing other Chinese transcriptions wherein the velar nasal medial ''-ŋ-'', after a short vowel, seemingly played the role of a general nasal – sometimes equivalent to ''n'' or ''m'' –, Schuessler proposes that 匈奴 Xiongnu < *''hɨoŋ-nɑ'' < *''hoŋ-nâ'' might be a Chinese rendition, Han or even pre-Han, of foreign *''Hŏna'' or *''Hŭna'', which Schuessler compares to [[Huns]] and Sanskrit ''[[Huna people|Hūṇā]]''.{{sfn|Schuessler|2014|pp=257, 264}} However, the same medial ''-ŋ-'' prompts Christopher P. Atwood (2015) to reconstruct *''Xoŋai'', which he derives from the [[Ongi River]] ({{langx|mn|Онги гол}}) in [[Mongolia]] and suggests that it was originally a dynastic name rather than an ethnic name.<ref>Atwood, Christopher P. (2015). [https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1040&context=ealc "The Kai, the Khongai, and the Names of the Xiōngnú"]. International Journal of Eurasian Studies. 2: p of 45–47 of 35–63.</ref>

== History ==
{{see also|Timeline of the Xiongnu}}

=== Predecessors ===
{{ Annotated image 
| image=Indo-European_migrations_and_Ancient_Northeast_Asians.png
| width=400 | image-width = 400 | image-left=0 | image-top=0| float = right
| annotations =
{{Annotation|260|15|[[Afanasievo culture|{{ubl|Afanasievo | culture}}]]|text-align=center|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=7|color=#FF4500}}
{{Annotation|315|35|[[Ancient Northeast Asian|<span style="color:#4F311CFF">'''''{{ubl|Ancient Northeast|Asians}}'''''</span>]]|text-align=center|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=7|color=#000000}}
| caption=Early [[Indo-European migrations]] from the [[Pontic steppes]] and across Central Asia, and encounter with [[Ancient Northeast Asian]] populations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Narasimhan |first1=Vagheesh M. |last2=Patterson |first2=Nick |last3=Moorjani |first3=Priya |last4=Rohland |first4=Nadin |last5=Bernardos |first5=Rebecca |title=The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia |journal=Science |date=6 September 2019 |volume=365 |issue=6457 |issn=0036-8075 |doi=10.1126/science.aat7487 |pmid=31488661 |pmc=6822619 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
}}
The territories associated with the Xiongnu in central/east Mongolia were previously inhabited by the [[Slab Grave Culture]] ([[Ancient Northeast Asian]] origin), which persisted until the 3rd century BC.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Khenzykhenova |first1=Fedora I. |last2=Kradin |first2=Nikolai N. |last3=Danukalova |first3=Guzel A. |last4=Shchetnikov |first4=Alexander A. |last5=Osipova |first5=Eugenia M. |last6=Matveev |first6=Arkady N. |last7=Yuriev |first7=Anatoly L. |last8=Namzalova |first8=Oyuna D. -Ts |last9=Prokopets |first9=Stanislav D. |last10=Lyashchevskaya |first10=Marina A. |last11=Schepina |first11=Natalia A. |last12=Namsaraeva |first12=Solonga B. |last13=Martynovich |first13=Nikolai V. |title=The human environment of the Xiongnu Ivolga Fortress (West Trans-Baikal area, Russia): Initial data |journal=Quaternary International |date=30 April 2020 |volume=546 |pages=216–228 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2019.09.041 |bibcode=2020QuInt.546..216K |s2cid=210787385 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1040618219307918 |language=en |issn=1040-6182|url-access=subscription }} "The slab graves culture existed in this territory prior to the Xiongnu empire. Sites of this culture dating back to approximately 1100-400/300 BC are common in Mongolia and the Trans-Baikal area. The earliest calibrated dates are prior to 1500 BC (Miyamoto et al., 2016). Later dates are usually 100–200 years earlier than the Xiongnu culture. Therefore, it is customarily considered that the slab grave culture preceded the Xiongnu culture. There is only one case, reported by Miyamoto et al. (2016), in which the date of the slab grave corresponds to the time of the making of the Xiongnu Empire."</ref> Genetic research indicates that the Slab Grave people were the primary ancestors of the Xiongnu, and that the Xiongnu formed through substantial and complex mixture with West Eurasians.<ref>{{harvnb|Rogers|Kaestle|2022}}</ref>

During the [[Western Zhou]] (1045–771 BC), there were numerous conflicts with nomadic tribes from the north and the northwest, variously known as the [[Xianyun]], [[Guifang]], or various "Rong" tribes, such as the [[Xirong]], [[Shanrong]] or [[Quanrong]].<ref name="WT"/> These tribes are recorded as harassing Zhou territory, but at the time the Zhou were expanding northwards, encroaching on their traditional lands, especially into the [[Wei River|Wei River valley]]. Archaeologically, the Zhou expanded to the north and the northwest at the expense of the [[Siwa culture]].<ref name="WT">{{cite book |last1=Tse |first1=Wicky W. K. |title=The Collapse of China's Later Han Dynasty, 25-220 CE: The Northwest Borderlands and the Edge of Empire |date=27 June 2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-53231-8 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=-y9iDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT45 45–46], [https://books.google.com/books?id=-y9iDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT63 63 note 40] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-y9iDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT45 |language=en}}</ref> The Quanrong put an end to the Western Zhou in 771 BC, sacking the Zhou capital of [[Haojing]] and killing the last Western Zhou king [[King You of Zhou|You]].<ref name="WT"/> Thereafter the task of dealing with the northern tribes was left to their vassal, the [[Qin (state)|Qin state]].<ref name="WT"/>

To the west, the [[Pazyryk culture]] (6th–3rd century BC) immediately preceded the formation of the Xiongnus.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Linduff |first1=Katheryn M. |last2=Rubinson |first2=Karen S. |title=Pazyryk Culture Up in the Altai |date=2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-85153-7 |page=69 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RAdUEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT69 |quote="The rise of the confederation of the Xiongnu, in addition, clearly affected this region as it did most regions of the Altai"}}</ref> A [[Scythian cultures|Scythian]] culture,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Pazyryk |title=Pazyryk {{pipe}} archaeological site, Kazakhstan |publisher=Britannica.com |date=11 September 2001 |access-date=5 March 2019}}</ref> it was identified by excavated artifacts and mummified humans, such as the [[Siberian Ice Maiden]], found in the [[Siberia]]n [[permafrost]], in the [[Altai Mountains]], [[Kazakhstan]] and nearby [[Mongolia]].<ref>{{harvnb|State Hermitage Museum|2007}}</ref> To the south, the [[Ordos culture]] had developed in the [[Ordos Loop]] (modern [[Inner Mongolia]], [[China]]) during the [[Bronze Age|Bronze]] and early [[Iron Age]] from the 6th to 2nd centuries BC. Of unknown ethno-linguistic origin, it is thought to represent the easternmost extension of Indo-European-speakers.<ref>{{harvnb|Whitehouse|2016|p=369}}: "From that time until the HAN dynasty the Ordos steppe was the home of semi-nomadic Indo-European peoples whose culture can be regarded as an eastern province of a vast Eurasian continuum of Scytho-Siberian cultures."</ref><ref name="Harmatta348">{{harvnb|Harmatta|1992|p=348}}: "From the first millennium b.c., we have abundant historical, archaeological and linguistic sources for the location of the territory inhabited by the Iranian peoples. In this period the territory of the northern Iranians, they being equestrian nomads, extended over the whole zone of the steppes and the wooded steppes and even the semi-deserts from the Great Hungarian Plain to the Ordos in northern China."</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Unterländer |first1=Martina |last2=Palstra |first2=Friso |last3=Lazaridis |first3=Iosif |last4=Pilipenko |first4=Aleksandr |last5=Hofmanová |first5=Zuzana |last6=Groß |first6=Melanie |last7=Sell |first7=Christian |last8=Blöcher |first8=Jens |last9=Kirsanow |first9=Karola |last10=Rohland |first10=Nadin |last11=Rieger |first11=Benjamin |date=3 March 2017 |title=Ancestry and demography and descendants of Iron Age nomads of the Eurasian Steppe |journal=[[Nature Communications]] |volume=8 |article-number=14615 |issn=2041-1723 |doi=10.1038/ncomms14615 |pmc=5337992 |pmid=28256537 |bibcode=2017NatCo...814615U}}</ref> The [[Yuezhi]] were displaced by the Xiongnu expansion in the 2nd century BC, and had to migrate to Central and Southern Asia.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Benjamin |first1=Craig |title=The Yuezhi |url=https://oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277727-e-49 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.49 |date=29 March 2017 |isbn=978-0-19-027772-7 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bang |first1=Peter Fibiger |last2=Bayly |first2=C. A. |last3=Scheidel |first3=Walter |title=The Oxford World History of Empire: Volume Two: The History of Empires |date=2 December 2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-753278-2 |page=330 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6GkLEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA330 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

=== Early history ===
{{multiple image
| perrow            = 1/2/2
| total_width       = 300
| align             = right
| direction         = horizontal
| header            = 
| image1            = Buckle boar hunting NMAT 48-8 n06 (composite).jpg
| caption1          = 
| image2            = Xiongnu head three angles.jpg
| caption2          = 
| footer            = A nomad horseman spearing a boar, discovered in [[Saksanokhur]], [[Tajikistan|South Tajikistan]], 1st–2nd century AD.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Marshak |first1=Boris Ilʹich |title=Peerless Images: Persian Painting and Its Sources |date=1 January 2002 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-09038-3 |page=9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XUyajzkDJ50C&pg=PA9 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |date=1997 |last1=Ilyasov |first1=Jangar Ya. |last2=Rusanov |first2=Dmitriy V. |title=A Study on the Bone Plates from Orlat|language =en |issn=0917-1614|journal=Silk Road Art and Archaeology |volume= 5 |publisher=The Institute of Silk Road Studies |location=Kamakura, Japan |issue=1997/98 |pages=107–159 |quote-page=127 |quote=The image on this belt-buckle represents a rider striking a wild boar with a spear. |url=https://www.academia.edu/7847889}}</ref> According to [[Henri-Paul Francfort|Francfort]], [[Saksanokhur gold buckle|this decorative belt buckle]] may have been made for a patron related to the Xiongnu, and may be dated to the 2nd-1st century BC. The rider wears the steppe dress, his hair is tied into a hairbun characteristic of the oriental steppes, and his horse has characteristically Xiongnu [[horse trappings]].<ref name="HPF">{{cite journal |last1=Francfort |first1=Henri-Paul |author-link=Henri-Paul Francfort |title=Sur quelques vestiges et indices nouveaux de l'hellénisme dans les arts entre la Bactriane et le Gandhāra (130 av. J.-C.-100 apr. J.-C. environ) |trans-title=On some vestiges and new indications of Hellenism in the arts between Bactria and Gandhāra (130 BC-100 AD approximately) |journal=Journal des Savants |date=2020 |pages=35–39 |url=https://www.academia.edu/45042820 |quote=Page 36: "A renowned openwork gold plate found on the surface of the site depicts a wild boar hunt at the spear by a rider in steppe dress, in a frame of ovals arranged in cells intended to receive inlays (fig. 14). We can today attribute it to a local craft whose intention was to satisfy a horserider patron originating from the distant steppes and related to the Xiongnu" (French: "On peut aujourd'hui l'attribuer à un art local dont l'intention était de satisfaire un patron cavalier originaire des steppes lointaines et apparenté aux Xiongnu."){{pb}}p. 36: "We can also clearly distinguish the crupper adorned with three rings forming a chain, as well as, on the shoulder of the mount, a very recognizable clip-shaped pendant, suspended from a chain passing in front of the chest and going up to the pommel of the saddle, whose known parallels are not to be found among the Scythians but in the realm of the Xiongnu, on bronze plaques from Mongolia and China" (French: "les parallèles connus ne se trouvent pas chez les Scythes mais dans le domaine des Xiongnu").{{pb}}p. 38: "The hairstyle of the hunter, with long hair pulled back and gathered in a bun, is also found at [[Takht-i Sangin]]; it is that of the eastern steppes, which can be seen on [[:File:Steppes horseman hunting.jpg|the wild boar hunting plaque "des Iyrques"]] (fig. 15)" (French: La coiffure du chasseur, aux longs cheveux tirés en arrière et rassemblés en chignon, se retrouve à [[Takht-i Sangin]]; C'est celle des steppes orientales, que l'on remarque sur les plaques de la chasse au sanglier «des Iyrques» (fig. 15)}}</ref>
}}
[[Han dynasty#Western Han|Western Han]] historian [[Sima Qian]] composed an early yet detailed exposition on the Xiongnu in one ''liezhuan'' (arrayed account) of his ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'' ({{circa|lk=no|100}} BC), wherein the Xiongnu were alleged to be descendants of a certain [[Chunwei]], who in turn descended from the "lineage of Lord Xia", a.k.a. [[Yu the Great]].<ref>"The Account of the Xiongnu, Records of the Grand Historian",Sima Qian.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004216358_00</ref><ref>Shiji [https://ctext.org/shiji/xiong-nu-lie-zhuan Ch. 110: Xiongnu liezhuan] quote: "匈奴，其先祖夏后氏之苗裔也，曰淳維。"</ref> Even so, Sima Qian also drew a distinct line between the settled [[Huaxia]] people (Han) to the pastoral nomads (Xiongnu), characterizing them as two polar groups in the sense of a civilization versus an uncivilized society: the [[Hua–Yi distinction]].{{sfn|Di Cosmo|2002|p=2}} Sima Qian also mentioned Xiongnu's early appearance north of [[Yanmen Commandery|Wild Goose Gate]] and [[Dai Commandery|Dai]] commanderies before 265 BC, just before the [[Zhao-Xiongnu War]];<ref>''[[Shiji]]'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7081#%E9%99%84_%E6%9D%8E%E7%89%A7 Vol. 81 "Stories about Lian Po and Lin Xiangru - Addendum: Li Mu"] text: "李牧者，趙之北邊良將也。常居代鴈門，備匈奴。" translation: "About [[Li Mu]], he was a good general at [[Zhao (state)|Zhao]]'s northern borders. He often stationed at Dai and Wild Goose Gate, prepared [against] the Xiongnu."</ref><ref>Theobald, Ulrich (2019) [http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Zhou/personslimu.html "Li Mu 李牧"] in ''ChinaKnowledge.de - An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art''</ref> however, [[sinologist]] [[Edwin G. Pulleyblank|Edwin Pulleyblank]] (1994) contends that pre-241-BC references to the Xiongnu are anachronistic substitutions for the [[Donghu people|Hu people]] instead.{{sfn|Pulleyblank|1994|pp=518–520}}{{sfn|Schuessler|2014|p=264}} Sometimes the Xiongnu were distinguished from other nomadic peoples; namely, the [[Donghu people|Hu people]];{{sfn|Bunker|2002|pp=27–28}} yet on other occasions, Chinese sources often just classified the Xiongnu as a [[Five Barbarians|''Hu'' people]], which was a blanket term for [[nomadic people]].{{sfn|Pulleyblank|1994|pp=518–520}}{{sfn|Di Cosmo|2002|p=129}} Even Sima Qian was inconsistent: in the chapter "Hereditary House of Zhao", he considered the Donghu to be the Hu proper,<ref name = "hu proper">''Shiji'', [https://ctext.org/shiji/zhao-shi-jia#n6694 "Hereditary House of Zhao"] quote: "今中山在我腹心，北有燕，東有'''胡'''，西有林胡、樓煩、秦、韓之邊，而無彊兵之救，是亡社稷，柰何？" translation: "([[King Wuling of Zhao]] to [http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Zhou/personslouhuan.html Lou Huan]:) Now [[Zhongshan (state)|Zhongshan]] is at our heart and belly [note: Zhao surrounded Zhongshan, except on Zhongshan's north-eastern side], [[Yan (state)|Yan]] to the north, '''Hu''' to the east, Forest Hu, [[Loufan County#Name|Loufan]], [[Qin (state)|Qin]], [[Han (Warring States)|Han]] at our borders to the west. Yet we have no strong army to help us, surely we will lose our country. What is to be done?"</ref><ref name = "ZGC">Compare a parallel passage in ''[[Stratagems of the Warring States]]'', "King Wuling spends his day in idleness", quote: "自常山以至代、上黨，東有燕、'''東胡'''之境，西有樓煩、秦、韓之邊，而無騎射之備。" [https://jenniferdodgson.wixsite.com/warringstates/wuling Jennifer Dodgson's translation]: "From [[Mount Heng (Shanxi)|Mount Chang]] to [[Dai (Spring and Autumn period)|Dai]] and [[Shangdang Commandery|Shangdang]], our lands border Yan and the '''Donghu''' in the east, and to the west we have the Loufan and shared borders with Qin and Han. Nevertheless, we have no mounted archers ready for action."</ref> yet elsewhere he considered Xiongnu to be also Hu.<ref name = "xiongnu hu">''Shiji'', [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7110 Vol. 110 "Account of the Xiongnu"]. quote: "後秦滅六國，而始皇帝使蒙恬將十萬之眾北擊'''胡'''，悉收河南地。…… '''匈奴'''單于曰頭曼，頭曼不勝秦，北徙。" translation: "Later on, Qin conquered the six other states, and the [[Qin Shi Huang|First Emperor]] dispatched general [[Meng Tian]] to lead a multitude of 100,000 north to attack the '''Hu'''; and he took all lands south the Yellow River. [...] The '''Xiongnu''' chanyu was Touman; Touman could not win against Qin, so [they] fled north."</ref>{{sfn|Pulleyblank|1994|pp=518–520}}

Ancient China often came in contact with the [[Xianyun]] and the [[Xirong]] nomadic peoples. In later Chinese historiography, some groups of these peoples were believed to be the possible progenitors of the Xiongnu people.{{sfn|Di Cosmo|2002|p=107}} These nomadic people often had repeated military confrontations with the [[Shang dynasty|Shang]] and especially the [[Zhou dynasty|Zhou]], who often conquered and enslaved the nomads in an expansion drift.{{sfn|Di Cosmo|2002|p=107}} During the [[Warring States period]], the armies from the [[Qin (state)|Qin]], [[Zhao (state)|Zhao]] and [[Yan (state)|Yan]] states were encroaching and conquering various nomadic territories that were inhabited by the Xiongnu and other Hu peoples.{{sfn|Di Cosmo|1999|pp=892–893}}

Pulleyblank argued that the Xiongnu were part of a [[Xirong]] group called [[Yiqu]], who had lived in [[Shaanbei]] and had been influenced by China for centuries, before they were driven out by the [[Qin dynasty]].{{sfn|Pulleyblank|1994|pp=514–523}}{{sfn|Pulleyblank|2000|p=20}} [[Qin's campaign against the Xiongnu]] expanded Qin's territory at the expense of the Xiongnu.{{sfn|Di Cosmo|1999|pp=892–893, 964}} After the unification of Qin dynasty, Xiongnu was a threat to the northern border of Qin. They were likely to attack the Qin dynasty when they suffered natural disasters.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rawson |first=Jessica |date=2017 |title=China and the steppe: reception and resistance |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0003598X16002763/type/journal_article |journal=[[Antiquity (journal)|Antiquity]] |volume=91 |issue=356 |pages=375–388 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2016.276 |s2cid=165092308 |issn=0003-598X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== State formation ===
The first known Xiongnu leader was [[Touman]], who reigned between 220 and 209 BC. In 215 BC, Chinese Emperor [[Qin Shi Huang]] sent General [[Meng Tian]] on a [[Qin's campaign against the Xiongnu|military campaign]] against the Xiongnu. Meng Tian defeated the Xiongnu and expelled them from the [[Ordos Plateau|Ordos Loop]], forcing [[Touman]] and the Xiongnu to flee north into the [[Mongolian Plateau]].{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|pp=71–73}} In 210 BC, Meng Tian died, and in 209 BC, Touman's son [[Modu Chanyu|Modu]] became the Xiongnu ''[[chanyu]]''.

In order to protect the Xiongnu from the threat of the [[Qin dynasty]], [[Modu Chanyu]] united the Xiongnu into a powerful [[confederation]].{{sfn|Di Cosmo|1999|pp=892–893, 964}} This transformed the Xiongnu into a more formidable polity, able to form larger armies and exercise improved strategic coordination. The Qin dynasty fell in 207 BC, and was replaced by the [[Han dynasty#Western Han|Western Han dynasty]] in 202 BC after a period of [[Chu–Han Contention|internal conflict]]. This period of Chinese instability was a time of prosperity for the Xiongnu, who adopted many [[Han Chinese|Han]] agriculture techniques such as slaves for heavy labor and lived in Han-style homes.{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=38}}

[[File:Warring_States_Xiongnu_Gold_Crown_-_b.jpg|right|thumb|300px|A gold crown belonging to a Xiongnu king, from the early Xiongnu period. Seen at the top of a crown is an eagle with a turquoise head.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baumer |first1=Christoph |title=History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set |date=18 April 2018 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-83860-868-2 |page=4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhiWDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA4 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>]]
After forging internal unity, [[Modu Chanyu]] expanded the Xiongnu empire in all directions. To the north he conquered a number of nomadic peoples, including the [[Dingling]] of southern Siberia. He crushed the power of the [[Donghu people]] of eastern Mongolia and Manchuria as well as the [[Yuezhi]] in the [[Hexi Corridor]] of [[Gansu]], where his son, Jizhu, made a [[skull cup]] out of the Yuezhi king. Modu also retook the original homeland of Xiongnu on the [[Yellow River]], which had previously been taken by the Qin general Meng Tian.{{sfn|Di Cosmo|1999|pp=885–966}} Under Modu's leadership, the Xiongnu became powerful enough to threaten the Han dynasty.

In 200 BC, Modu besieged the first Han dynasty emperor [[Emperor Gaozu of Han|Gaozu]] (Gao-Di) with his 320,000-strong army at Peteng Fortress in Baideng (present-day Datong, Shanxi).{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=36}} After Gaozu (Gao-Di) agreed to all Modu's terms, such as ceding the northern provinces to the Xiongnu and paying annual taxes, he was allowed to leave the siege. Although Gaozu was able to return to his capital Chang'an (present-day [[Xi'an]]), Modu occasionally threatened the Han's northern frontier and finally in 198 BC, a peace treaty was settled.

Xiongnu in their expansion drove their western neighbour Yuezhi from the Hexi Corridor in year 176 BC, killing the Yuezhi king and asserting their presence in the [[Western Regions]].{{sfn|Grousset|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/19 19, 26–27]}}

By the time of Modu's death in 174 BC, the Xiongnu were recognized as the most prominent of the nomads bordering the Han empire{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=36}} According to the ''[[Book of Han]]'', later quoted in [[Duan Chengshi]]'s ninth-century ''[[Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang]]'':
{{blockquote|Also, according to the ''Han shu'', Wang Wu (王烏) and others were sent as envoys to pay a visit to the Xiongnu. According to the customs of the Xiongnu, if the Han envoys did not remove their tallies of authority, and if they did not allow their faces to be tattooed, they could not gain entrance into the yurts. Wang Wu and his company removed their tallies, submitted to tattoo, and thus gained entry. The [[Chanyu|Shanyu]] looked upon them very highly.<ref>{{lang|zh-hant|又《漢書》："使王烏等窺匈奴。法，漢使不去節，不以墨黥面，不得入穹盧。王烏等去節、黥面，得入穹盧，單於愛之。"}} from ''Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang'', [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%85%89%E9%99%BD%E9%9B%9C%E4%BF%8E/%E5%8D%B7%E5%85%AB Scroll 8] Translation from {{cite journal |last=Reed |first=Carrie E. |title=Tattoo in Early China |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=120|issue=3 |pages=360–376 |doi= 10.2307/606008|jstor=606008 |year=2000 }}</ref>}}

=== Xiongnu hierarchy ===
{{See also|Chanyu}}
[[File:Reconstruction of a Xiongnu chief warrior, 2nd century BCE-1st century CE.jpg|thumb|upright|Xiongnu chief, 2nd century BC – 1st century AD. Reconstruction by archaeologist [[A.N. Podushkin]], in the [[Central State Museum of Kazakhstan]].<ref>[[:File:Xiongnu museum label.jpg|Museum notice]]</ref><ref>{{cite conference |last1=Kradin |first1=Nikolay N. |chapter=Some Aspects of Xiongnu History in Archaeological Perspective |series=Competing Narratives between Nomadic People and their Sedentary Neighbours |book-title=Competing Narratives between Nomadic People and their Sedentary Neighbours |conference=7th International Conference on the Medieval History of the Eurasian Steppe |date=23 January 2020 |volume=53 |pages=149–165 |doi=10.14232/sua.2019.53.149-165 |isbn=978-963-306-708-6 |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350175936 |quote=Nonetheless, among archaeologists, there are many supporters of the Xiongnu migration to the West. In recent years, S. Botalov (2009) constructed a broad picture of the migration of the Xiongnu to the Urals, and then Europe. In Kazakhstan, A. N. Podushkin discovered the Arysskaya culture with a distinct stage of Xiongnu influence (2009). Russian archaeologists are actively studying the Hun sites in the Caucasus (Gmyrya 1993; 1995) }} Citing:
* Botalov, S. G. (2009). {{lang|ru|Гунны и турки}} {{transliteration|ru|Gunny i tiurki}} [Huns and Turks]. {{in lang|ru}} Chelyabinsk: Рифей
* Gmyrya, L. B. (1993). {{transliteration|ru|Prikaspiiskiy Dagestan v epokhu velikogo pereseleniia narodov. Mogilniki}} [Caspian Dagestan in the Period of the Great Migration of the Peoples. Burial Places]. {{in lang|ru}} Mahachkala: Dagestan Scientific Center, RAS Press.
* [[Aleksandr Podushkin|Podushkin, A. N.]] (2009). "Xiongnu v Yuznom Kazakhstane". ["Xiongnu in Southern Kazakhstan"]. In: Z. Samashev (ed.) {{transliteration|ru|Nomady kazakhstanskikh stepey: etnosociokulturnye protsessy i kontakty v Evrazii skifo sakskoy epokhi}} [Nomads of the Kazakh Steppes: Ethno-socio-cultural Processes and Contacts in Eurasia of the Scythian-Saka Era]. {{in lang|ru}}. Astana: Ministry of Culture and Information of the Kazakhstan Republic pp. 47‒154</ref>]]
The ruler of the Xiongnu was called the ''[[chanyu]]''.<ref name=bar81-48>{{cite journal |last=Barfield |first=Thomas J. |title=The Hsiung-nu imperial confederacy: Organization and foreign policy |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |year=1981 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=45–61 |jstor=2055601 |doi=10.2307/2055601 |s2cid=145078285|doi-access=free }}</ref> Under him were the [[Tuqi King|tuqi king]]s.<ref name=bar81-48/> The Tuqi King of the Left was normally the heir presumptive.<ref name=bar81-48/> Below him in the hierarchy were more officials in pairs of left and right: the ''guli'', the army commanders, the great governors, the ''danghu'' and the ''gudu''. Beneath them were the commanders of detachments of one thousand, of one hundred, and of ten men. This nation of nomads, was organized like an army.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p={{page needed|date=April 2022}}}}

After Modu, later leaders formed a dualistic system of political organisation with the left and right branches of the Xiongnu divided on a regional basis. The ''chanyu'' or ''shanyu'', a ruler equivalent to the [[Emperor of China]], exercised direct authority over the central territory. Longcheng (around the [[Khangai Mountains]], [[Otuken]])<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dijitalhoca.com.tr/makale/asya-hun-devleti-buyuk-hun-imparatorlugu-m-o-220-m-s-216-288 | title=ASYA HUN DEVLETİ (BÜYÜK HUN İMPARATORLUĞU) (M.Ö. 220 – M.S.216 ) — Dijital Hoca }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.trtavaz.com.tr/haber/tur/avrasyadan/turklerin-tarihi-baskenti-otuken/617b88b501a30a10a4e18f84# | title=Türklerin tarihî başkenti: Ötüken - Avrasya'dan - Haber }}</ref> ([[Chinese language|Chinese]]: 龍城; [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]]: Luut; lit. "Dragon City") became the annual meeting place and served as the Xiongnu capital.<ref name=yuuu86-384>{{cite book |last=Yü |first=Ying-shih |chapter=Han Foreign Relations |title=The Cambridge History of China, Volume 1: The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC – AD 220 |year=1986 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-24327-8 |page=384}}</ref> The ruins of Longcheng were found south of [[Ölziit, Arkhangai|Ulziit]] District, [[Arkhangai Province]] in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://akipress.com/news:645769:Archeologists_discover_capital_of_Xiongnu_Empire_in_central_Mongolia |title=Archeologists discover capital of Xiongnu Empire in central Mongolia}}</ref>

North of [[Shanxi]] with the Tuqi King of the Left was holding the area north of Beijing and the Tuqi King of the Right was holding the [[Ordos Loop]] area as far as [[Gansu]].{{sfn|Yap|2009|p=liii}}

=== Marriage diplomacy with Han dynasty ===
{{Main|Heqin}}
In the winter of 200 BC, following a Xiongnu [[siege]] of [[Taiyuan]], [[Emperor Gaozu of Han]] personally led a military campaign against [[Modu Chanyu]]. At the [[Battle of Baideng]], he was ambushed, reputedly by Xiongnu cavalry. The emperor was cut off from supplies and reinforcements for seven days, only narrowly escaping capture.

The Han dynasty sent commoner women falsely labeled as "princesses" and members of the Han imperial family to the Xiongnu multiple times when they were practicing [[Heqin]] ({{lang-zh|c=和親|l=harmonious kinship}}) marriage alliances with the Xiongnu in order to avoid sending the emperor's daughters.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lo |first=Ping-cheung |editor1-last=Lo |editor1-first=Ping-cheung |editor2-last=Twiss |editor2-first=Sumner B. |date=2015 |edition=illustrated |title=Chinese Just War Ethics: Origin, Development, and Dissent |series=War, Conflict and Ethics |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KlhCQAAQBAJ&dq=han+fake+princess+xiongnu&pg=PA269 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=269 |chapter=11 Legalism and offensive realism in the Chinese court debate on defending national security 81 BCE |isbn=978-1-317-58097-3 |quote=There were altogether nine marriages of Han princesses (fake or real) to the Xiongnu during these roughly 60 years (for a complete list of details, see Cui 2007a, 555). We will call this policy Heqin Model One, and, as Ying-shih Yu ... |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Qian |first=Sima |date=2019 |title=Historical Records 史记: The First and Most Important Biographical General History Book in China |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-OGDwAAQBAJ&dq=han+fake+princess+xiongnu&pg=PT902 |publisher=DeepLogic |quote=Liu Jing said: "The Han dynasty was just calm, the soldiers were exhausted by the fire, and the Xiongnu could not be ... If the majesty could not send a big princess, let the royal woman or the fake princess, he I will know that I will ... |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Chin |first=Tamara T. |date=2020 |title=Savage Exchange: Han Imperialism, Chinese Literary Style, and the Economic Imagination |series=Harvard University Studies in East Asian Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5_YFEAAAQBAJ&dq=han+fake+princess+xiongnu&pg=PA225 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |page=225 |isbn=978-1-68417-078-4 |quote=In the Han- Wusun alliance (unlike the Han- Xiongnu heqin agreements) the gifts flowed in the proper direction, ... Thus, while Empress Lü transgressed the heqin marriage in having a false princess sent, Liu Jing's original proposal ... |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Chin |first=Tamara Ta Lun |date=2005 |title=Savage Exchange: Figuring the Foreign in the Early Han Dynasty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hi9PAQAAMAAJ&q=han+fake+princess+xiongnu |publisher=[[University of California, Berkeley]] |pages=66, 73, 74 |quote=Figuring the Foreign in the Early Han Dynasty Tamara Ta Lun Chin ... Emperor Han Wudi's military push to reverse the power relations between Xiongnu and Han stands in stark contrast to the original ... Xiongnu with a false princess. |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mosol |first=Lee |date=2013 |title=Ancient History of the Manchuria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DyN-AwAAQBAJ&dq=han+fake+princess+xiongnu&pg=PA77 |publisher=X libris Corporation |page=77 |isbn=978-1-4836-6767-6 |quote=... 孝文皇帝 sent a girl as a new wife for the Chanyu as a 'fake princess of Royal family' with a eunuch named '中行 ... The Han lured the Xiongnu chief deep into the China proper town called "馬邑," but Gunchen Chanyu realized the trap ... |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The Han sent these "princesses" to marry Xiongnu leaders in their efforts to stop the border raids. Along with arranged marriages, the Han sent gifts to bribe the Xiongnu to stop attacking.{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=36}} After the defeat at [[Datong|Pingcheng]] in 200 BC, the Han emperor abandoned a military solution to the Xiongnu threat. Instead, in 198 BC, the courtier {{Interlanguage link|Liu Jing (Han dynasty)|zh|3=劉敬 (西漢)|lt=Liu Jing}} was dispatched for negotiations. The peace settlement eventually reached between the parties included a Han princess given in marriage to the ''chanyu''; periodic gifts to the Xiongnu of [[silk]], [[distilled beverage]]s and [[rice]]; equal status between the states; and a [[Great Wall of China|boundary wall]] as a mutual border.

[[File:Belt Buckle LACMA M.76.97.582.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|left|A traveling nomad family led by a man in belted jacket and trousers, pulling a nomadic cart.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moorey |first1=P. R. S. (Peter Roger Stuart) |last2=Markoe |first2=Glenn |title=Ancient bronzes, ceramics, and seals: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection of ancient Near Eastern, central Asiatic, and European art, gift of the Ahmanson Foundation |date=1981 |location=Los Angeles, CA |publisher=Los Angeles County Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-87587-100-4 |at=p. 168, item 887 |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientbronzesce00losa/page/168/mode/1up}}</ref> Belt Buckle, Mongolia or southern Siberia, dated to 2nd–1st century BC (Xiongnu period).<ref>{{cite web |title=Belt Buckle LACMA Collections |url=https://collections.lacma.org/node/226294 |website=collections.lacma.org}}</ref><ref name="Prior_SR14_2016_186_195">{{cite journal |last1=Prior |first1=Daniel |title=FASTENING THE BUCKLE: A STRAND OF XIONGNU-ERA NARRATIVE IN A RECENT KIRGHIZ EPIC POEM |journal=The Silk Road |date=2016 |volume=14 |page=191 |url=http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/newsletter/vol14/Prior_SR14_2016_186_195.pdf}}</ref>]]
[[File:Belt plaque with design of wrestling men, Ordos region and western part of North China, 2nd century BC, bronze - Ethnological Museum, Berlin (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.35|Belt plaque with design of wrestling men, [[Ordos Plateau|Ordos]] region and western part of North China, 2nd century BC, bronze - Ethnological Museum, Berlin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=So |first1=Jenny F. |last2=Bunker |first2=Emma C. |title=Traders and raiders on China's northern frontier |date=1995 |publisher=Seattle : Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, in association with University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-97473-6 |pages=22, 90 |url=https://archive.org/details/tradersraiderson00soje/page/22/mode/1up?view=theater}}</ref> According to [[Henri-Paul Francfort|Frankfort]], the wrestlers are Xiongnu, and their horses have Xiongnu-type [[horse trappings]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Francfort |first1=Henri-Paul |author-link=Henri-Paul Francfort|title=Sur quelques vestiges et indices nouveaux de l'hellénisme dans les arts entre la Bactriane et le Gandhāra (130 av. J.-C.-100 apr. J.-C. environ) |journal=Journal des Savants |date=2020 |volume=1 |doi=10.3406/jds.2020.6422 |at=p. 37, Fig.16 |url=https://www.academia.edu/45042820|quote="Bronze plaque from northwestern China or south central Interior Mongolia, wrestling Xiongnus, the horses have Xiongnu-type trappings" (French: "Plaque en bronze ajouré du nord-ouest de la Chine ou Mongolie intérieure méridionale centrale, Xiongnu luttant, les chevaux portent des harnachements de «type Xiongnu».")}}</ref>]]
This first treaty set the pattern for relations between the [[Han dynasty|Han]] and the Xiongnu for sixty years. Up to 135&nbsp;BC, the treaty was renewed nine times, each time with an increase in the "gifts" to the Xiongnu Empire. In 192&nbsp;BC, [[Modu Chanyu|Modun]] even asked for the hand of [[Emperor Gaozu of Han]] widow [[Empress Lü Zhi]]. His son and successor, the energetic Jiyu, known as [[Laoshang Chanyu]], continued his father's expansionist policies. Laoshang succeeded in negotiating terms with [[Emperor Wen of Han|Emperor Wen]] for the maintenance of a large scale government sponsored market system.

While the Xiongnu benefited handsomely, from the Chinese perspective marriage treaties were costly, very humiliating and ineffective. Laoshang Chanyu showed that he did not take the peace treaty seriously. On one occasion his scouts penetrated to a point near [[Chang'an]]. In 166 BC he personally led 140,000 cavalry to invade [[Anding Commandery|Anding]], reaching as far as the imperial retreat at Yong. In 158 BC, his successor sent 30,000 cavalry to attack [[Shangdang]] and another 30,000 to [[Yunzhong Commandery|Yunzhong]].{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}

The Xiongnu also [[Heqin#Xiongnu|practiced marriage alliances with Han dynasty officers and officials]] who defected to their side by marrying off sisters and daughters of the ''[[chanyu]]'' to Han Chinese who joined the Xiongnu and Xiongnu in Han service. The daughter of Laoshang Chanyu (and older sister of [[Junchen]] Chanyu and [[Yizhixie]] Chanyu) was married to the Xiongnu General [[Zhao Xin (general)|Zhao Xin]], the Marquis of Xi who was serving the Han dynasty. The daughter of [[Qiedihou]] Chanyu was married to the [[Han Chinese]] General [[Li Ling]] after he surrendered and defected.<ref>{{citation |title=Aristocratic elites in the Xiongnu empire
|url=https://www.academia.edu/5147439 |first=Nicola |last=di Cosmo |page=31}}</ref><ref name="SimaWatson1993">{{cite book |first1=Qian |last1=Sima |first2=Burton |last2=Watson |title=Records of the Grand Historian: Han dynasty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YNlgKEVYdHEC&q=li+guangli+daughter&pg=PA161 |date=January 1993 |publisher=Renditions-[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-08166-5 |pages=161– |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Monumenta Serica |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8-1wAAAAMAAJ&q=li+guangli+daughter+chanyu|year=2004 |publisher=H. Vetch |page=81 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Wakeman1985">{{cite book |first=Frederic E. |last=Wakeman |title=The Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in Seventeenth-century China |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8nXLwSG2O8AC&pg=PA41 |year=1985 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-04804-1 |pages=41– |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sima |first=Qian |title=Records of the Grand Historian: Han Dynasty II |year=1993 |url=https://dokumen.pub/records-of-the-grand-historian-han-dynasty-ii-0231081677-9780231081672.html |page=128 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-08167-7}}</ref> Another Han Chinese General who defected to the Xiongnu was [[Li Guangli]], a general in the [[War of the Heavenly Horses]], who also married a daughter of the [[Hulugu]] Chanyu.<ref>{{cite book |author=Lin Jianming (林剑鸣) |script-title=zh:秦漢史 |trans-title=History of Qin and Han |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lqfrEY8UW1UC&pg=PA557 |year=1992 |publisher=Wunan Publishing |isbn=978-957-11-0574-1 |pages=557–558 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The Han Chinese diplomat [[Su Wu]] married a Xiongnu woman given by Li Ling when he was arrested and taken captive.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hong |first1=Yuan |title=The Sinitic Civilization Book II: A Factual History Through the Lens of Archaeology, Bronzeware, Astronomy, Divination, Calendar and the Annals |date=2018 |publisher=iUniversе |isbn=978-1-5320-5830-1 |page=419 |edition=abridged |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nay8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA419}}</ref> Han Chinese explorer [[Zhang Qian]] married a Xiongnu woman and had a child with her when he was taken captive by the Xiongnu.<ref name="James A. Millward 2007 20">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC&q=zhang+qian+wife&pg=PA20 |title=Eurasian crossroads: a history of Xinjiang |first=James A. |last=Millward |year=2007 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-13924-3 |page=20 |access-date=17 April 2011 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000 BC – AD 2000 |first=Julia |last=Lovell |year=2007 |publisher=[[Grove Press]] |isbn=978-0-8021-4297-9 |page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWS53cuiuVgC&q=zhang+xiongnu+wife+children+managed+to+escape&pg=PA73 |access-date=17 April 2011 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QJsx7eQ0rwAC&q=zhang+qian+wife |title=The Human Record: To 1700 |first1=Alfred J. |last1=Andrea |author-link1=Alfred J. Andrea |first2=James H. |last2=Overfield |year=1998 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] |isbn=978-0-395-87087-7 |page=165 |access-date=17 April 2011 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Yiping Zhang 2005 22">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35L3Ww72M-YC&q=zhang+qian+wife&pg=PA22|title=Story of the Silk Road |first=Yiping |last=Zhang |year=2005 |publisher=[[:zh:五洲传播出版社|China Intercontinental Press]] |page=22 |isbn=978-7-5085-0832-0 |access-date=17 April 2011}}</ref><ref name="Charles Higham 2004 409">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of ancient Asian civilizations |first=Charles |last=Higham |year=2004 |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-8160-4640-9 |page=409 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1c1UIEVH9gC&q=zhang+qian+wife&pg=PA409 |access-date=17 April 2011 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3EyBAAAAMAAJ&q=123+BC+with+his+Xiongnu+wife+and+the+slave+Ganfu |title=Man and environment, Volume 23, Issue 1 |author1=Indian Society for Prehistoric |author2=Quaternary Studies |name-list-style=amp |year=1998|publisher=Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quaternary Studies |page=6 |access-date=17 April 2011 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Mayor2014">{{cite book |first=Adrienne |last=Mayor |title=The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rboWBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA422 |date=22 September 2014 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-1-4008-6513-0 |pages=422– |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

The [[khagan]]s of the [[Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate]] claimed descent from the Chinese general [[Li Ling]], grandson of the [[Han dynasty]] general [[Li Guang]].<ref>{{cite book |access-date=8 February 2012 |title=The role of women in the Altaic world: Permanent International Altaistic Conference, 44th meeting, Walberberg, 26-31 August 2001|editor=Veronika Veit |edition=illustrated |volume=152 |series=Asiatische Forschungen |year=2007 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-05537-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OBEIq8kTQBcC&pg=PA61 |page=61 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |access-date=8 February 2012 |title=Tang China and the collapse of the Uighur Empire: a documentary history |first=Michael Robert |last=Drompp |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NB6DEdAxLOsC&pg=PA126 |edition=illustrated |volume=13 |series=Brill's Inner Asian library |year=2005 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |isbn=90-04-14129-4 |page=126 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Kyzlasov">{{cite book |last=Kyzlasov |first=Leonid R. |date=2010 |title=The Urban Civilization of Northern and Innermost Asia Historical and Archaeological Research |url=http://nbdrx.ru/pdf/bx00000168.pdf |id=Florilegium magistrorum historiae archaeologiaeque Antiqutatis et Medii Aevi |series=Curatores seriei Victor Spinei et Ionel Candeâ VII |publisher=Romanian Academy Institute of Archaeology of Iaşi Editura Academiei Romane - Editura Istros |page=245 |isbn=978-973-27-1962-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Drompp |first=Michael |date=2021 |title=Tang China and the Collapse of the Uighur Empire: A Documentary History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5oZSEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22it+is+interesting+to+see+how+the+Kirghiz+apparently+had+retained+a+tradition+of+historical+memory%22&pg=PA126 |series=Brill's Inner Asian Library |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |page=126 |isbn=978-90-474-1478-0 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Li Ling was captured by the Xiongnu and defected in the first century BC.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The role of women in the Altaic world: Permanent International Altaistic Conference, 44th meeting, Walberberg, 26-31 August 2001 |date=2007 |publisher=Harrassowitz |last=Veit |first=Veronika |isbn=978-3-447-05537-6 |location=Wiesbaden |page=61 |oclc=182731462}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Drompp |first=Michael R. |date=1999 |title=Breaking the Orkhon Tradition: Kirghiz Adherence to the Yenisei Region after A. D. 840 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=119 |issue=3 |pages=394–395 |doi=10.2307/605932 |jstor=605932}}</ref> And since the Tang royal Li family also claimed descent from Li Guang, the Kirghiz Khagan was therefore recognized as a member of the Tang Imperial family. This relationship soothed the relationship when Kyrgyz khagan [[Are Khagan|Are]] (阿熱) invaded [[Uyghur Khaganate]] and executed Qasar Qaghan. The news brought to [[Chang'an]] by Kyrgyz ambassador Zhuwu Hesu (註吾合素).

=== Han–Xiongnu war ===
{{Main|Han–Xiongnu War}}
[[File:Han Civilisation.png|thumb|upright=1.15|The [[Han dynasty]] in 2 AD]]
The [[Han dynasty]] made preparations for war when the [[Emperor Wu of Han|Han Emperor Wu]] dispatched the Han Chinese explorer [[Zhang Qian]] to explore the mysterious kingdoms to the west and to form an alliance with the Yuezhi people in order to combat the Xiongnu. During this time Zhang married a Xiongnu wife, who bore him a son, and gained the trust of the Xiongnu leader.<ref name="James A. Millward 2007 20"/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWS53cuiuVgC&q=zhang+xiongnu+wife+children+managed+to+escape&pg=PA73 |title=The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000 BC – AD 2000 |first=Julia |last=Lovell |year=2007 |publisher=[[Grove Press]] |isbn=978-0-8021-4297-9 |page=73 |access-date=17 April 2011 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QJsx7eQ0rwAC&q=zhang+qian+wife |title=The Human Record: To 1700 |first1=Alfred J. |last1=Andrea |first2=James H. |last2=Overfield |year=1998 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] |isbn=978-0-395-87087-7 |page=165 |access-date=17 April 2011 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Yiping Zhang 2005 22"/><ref name="Charles Higham 2004 409"/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3EyBAAAAMAAJ&q=123+BC+with+his+Xiongnu+wife+and+the+slave+Ganfu |title=Man and environment, Volume 23, Issue 1 |author1=Indian Society for Prehistoric |author2=Quaternary Studies |name-list-style=amp |year=1998 |publisher=Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quaternary Studies. |page=6 |access-date=17 April 2011 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Mayor2014"/> While Zhang Qian did not succeed in this mission,{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/34 34]}} his reports of the west provided even greater incentive to counter the Xiongnu hold on westward routes out of the Han Empire, and the Han prepared to mount a large scale attack using the [[Northern Silk Road]] to move men and material.

While the Han dynasty had been making preparations for a military confrontation since the reign of [[Emperor Wen of Han|Emperor Wen]], the break did not come until 133 BC, following [[Battle of Mayi|an abortive trap to ambush the ''Chanyu'' at Mayi]]. By that point the empire was consolidated politically, militarily and economically, and was led by an adventurous pro-war faction at court. In that year, [[Emperor Wu of Han|Emperor Wu]] reversed the decision he had made the year before to renew the peace treaty.

Full-scale war broke out in late 129 BC, when 40,000 Han [[cavalry]] made a surprise attack on the Xiongnu at the border markets. In 127 BC, the Han general [[Wei Qing]] retook the Ordos. In 121 BC, the Xiongnu suffered another setback when [[Huo Qubing]] led a force of light cavalry westward out of Longxi and within six days fought his way through five Xiongnu kingdoms. The Xiongnu Hunye king was forced to surrender with 40,000 men. In 119 BC both Huo and Wei, each leading 50,000 cavalrymen and 100,000 footsoldiers (in order to keep up with the mobility of the Xiongnu, many of the non-cavalry Han soldiers were mobile infantrymen who traveled on horseback but fought on foot), and advancing along different routes, forced the ''Chanyu'' and his Xiongnu court to flee north of the [[Gobi Desert]].{{Sfn | Loewe | 1974|p={{Page needed |date=December 2014}}}}

[[File:Horse stomping a Xiongnu warrior. Tomb of Huo Qubing, 茂陵 (with face detail, two angles).jpg|thumb|upright=2|Horse trampling a Xiongnu warrior, with detail of the warrior's facial features. 2nd century BC statue from the tomb of Chinese general [[Huo Qubing]], who fought decisively against the Xiongnu (died 117 BC).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Qingbo |first1=Duan |title=Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis |journal=Journal of Chinese History |date=January 2023 |volume=7 |issue=1 |page=52 |doi=10.1017/jch.2022.25|s2cid=251690411 |doi-access=free }}</ref>{{sfn |Maenchen-Helfen |1973 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CrUdgzSICxcC&pg=PA370 369–370] }}<ref>For a frontal view: {{cite web |title=Horse Stepping on a Xiongnu Soldier |url=http://en.chinaculture.org/library/2008-01/22/content_77549_2.htm |website=en.chinaculture.org}}</ref>]]
Major logistical difficulties limited the duration and long-term continuation of these campaigns. According to the analysis of Yan You (嚴尤), the difficulties were twofold. Firstly there was the problem of supplying food across long distances. Secondly, the weather in the northern Xiongnu lands was difficult for Han soldiers, who could never carry enough fuel.{{efn|This view was put forward to [[Wang Mang]] in AD 14.<ref>''Han Shu'' (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju ed) 94B, p. 3824.</ref>}} According to official reports, the Xiongnu lost 80,000 to 90,000 men, and out of the 140,000 horses the Han forces had brought into the desert, fewer than 30,000 returned to the Han Empire.

In 104 and 102 BC, the Han fought and won the [[War of the Heavenly Horses]] against the Kingdom of [[Dayuan]]. As a result, the Han gained many [[Ferghana horse]]s which further aided them in their battle against the Xiongnu. As a result of these battles, the Han Empire controlled the strategic region from the [[Ordos Desert|Ordos]] and Gansu corridor to [[Lop Nor]]. They succeeded in separating the Xiongnu from the [[Qiang (historical people)|Qiang peoples]] to the south, and also gained direct access to the [[Western Regions]]. Because of strong Han control over the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu became unstable and were no longer a threat to the Han Empire.{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=37}}

=== Xiongnu Civil War (60–53 BC) ===
[[File:Ancient bronze plaque showing horseman with prominent cheekbones and full beard, from Troitskovavsk,Transbaikalia.jpg|thumb|Depiction of a Xiongnu horseman on a bronze plaque.{{efn |Small bronze plaque showing a horseman with prominent cheekbones and full beard, from [[Troitskosavsk]],Transbaikalia. Features are similar to those of the Xiongnu statue of [[Huo Qubing]].{{sfn |Maenchen-Helfen |1973 |p=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CrUdgzSICxcC/page/370 370] }} }}]]
When a chanyu died, power could pass to his younger brother if his son was not of age. This system normally kept an adult male on the throne, but could cause trouble in later generations when there were several lineages that might claim the throne. When [[Xulüquanqu]] Chanyu died in 60 BC, power was taken by [[Woyanqudi]], a grandson of Xulüquanqu's cousin. Being something of a usurper, he tried to put his own men in power, which only increased his number of his enemies. Xulüquanqu's son fled east and, in 58 BC, revolted. Few would support Woyanqudi and he was driven to suicide, leaving the rebel son, [[Huhanye]], as the chanyu. The Woyanqudi faction then set up his brother, Tuqi, as chanyu in 58 BC. In 57 BC three more men declared themselves ''chanyu''. Two dropped their claims in favor of the third who was defeated by Tuqi in that year and surrendered to Huhanye the following year. In 56 BC Tuqi was defeated by Huhanye and committed suicide, but two more claimants appeared: Runzhen and Huhanye's elder brother [[Zhizhi]] Chanyu. Runzhen was killed by Zhizhi in 54 BC, leaving only Zhizhi and Huhanye. Zhizhi grew in power, and, in 53 BC, Huhanye moved south and submitted to the Chinese. Huhanye used Chinese support to weaken Zhizhi, who gradually moved west. In 49 BC, a brother to Tuqi set himself up as ''chanyu'' and was killed by Zhizhi. In 36 BC, Zhizhi was killed by a Chinese army while trying to establish a new kingdom in the far west near [[Lake Balkhash]].

=== Tributary relations with the Han ===
In 53 BC [[Huhanye]] decided to enter into tributary relations with [[Han China]].{{sfn|Grousset|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/37 37–38]}} The original terms insisted on by the Han court were that, first, the ''Chanyu'' or his representatives should come to the capital to pay homage; secondly, the ''Chanyu'' should send a hostage prince; and thirdly, the ''Chanyu'' should present tribute to the Han emperor. The political status of the Xiongnu in the Chinese world order was reduced from that of a "brotherly state" to that of an "outer vassal" (外臣).

[[File:Bronze seal of a Xiongnu chief (seal, reverse image, transcription).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.5|Bronze seal of a Xiongnu chief, conferred by the Eastern Han government. Inscribed 漢匈奴/歸義親/漢長 ("The Chief of the Han Xiongnu, who have returned to righteousness and embraced the Han"). Seal, impression, and transcription in standard characters.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Psarras |first1=Sophia-Karin |title=Han Material Culture: An Archaeological Analysis and Vessel Typology |date=2 February 2015 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-316-27267-1 |page=19 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YLD0BQAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PR19 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>]]
Huhanye sent his son, the "wise king of the right" Shuloujutang, to the Han court as hostage. In 51 BC he personally visited Chang'an to pay homage to the emperor on the [[Chinese New Year|Lunar New Year]]. In the same year, another envoy Qijushan was received at the [[Ganquan Palace]] in the north-west of modern [[Shanxi]].{{sfn|Fairbank|Têng|1941}} On the financial side, Huhanye was amply rewarded in large quantities of gold, cash, clothes, silk, horses and grain for his participation. Huhanye made two further homage trips, in 49 BC and 33 BC; with each one the imperial gifts were increased. On the last trip, Huhanye took the opportunity to ask to be allowed to become an imperial son-in-law. As a sign of the decline in the political status of the Xiongnu, [[Emperor Yuan of Han|Emperor Yuan]] refused, giving him instead five ladies-in-waiting. One of them was [[Wang Zhaojun]], famed in Chinese folklore as one of the [[Four Beauties]].

When Zhizhi learned of his brother's submission, he also sent a son to the Han court as hostage in 53&nbsp;BC. Then twice –in 51 BC and 50 BC– he sent envoys to the Han court with tribute. But having failed to pay homage personally, he was never admitted to the tributary system. In 36 BC, a junior officer named [[Chen Tang (general)|Chen Tang]], with the help of [[Gan Yanshou]], protector-general of the Western Regions, assembled an expeditionary force that defeated him at the [[Battle of Zhizhi]] and sent his head as a trophy to Chang'an.

Tributary relations were discontinued during the reign of Huduershi (18–48 AD), corresponding to the political upheavals of the [[Xin dynasty]]. The Xiongnu took the opportunity to regain control of the western regions, as well as neighboring peoples such as the [[Wuhuan]]. In 24 AD, Hudershi even talked about reversing the tributary system.

=== Southern Xiongnu and Northern Xiongnu ===
[[File:Belt hook depicting animal fight, Xiongnu, 200-100 BC, bronze - Östasiatiska museet, Stockholm - DSC09561.JPG|thumb|Belt hook depicting an animal fight, Xiongnu, 200–100 BC, bronze. Östasiatiska museet, [[Stockholm]].{{sfn|Bunker|2002|loc=p. 104, item 72}}]]
The Xiongnu's new power was met with a policy of appeasement by [[Emperor Guangwu of Han|Emperor Guangwu]]. At the height of his power, Huduershi even compared himself to his illustrious ancestor, Modu. Due to growing regionalism among the Xiongnu, however, Huduershi was never able to establish unquestioned authority. In contravention of a principle of [[fraternal succession]] established by Huhanye, Huduershi designated his son Punu as [[heir-apparent]]. However, as the eldest son of the preceding chanyu, Bi (Pi)—the Rizhu King of the Right—had a more legitimate claim. Consequently, Bi refused to attend the annual meeting at the chanyu{{'}}s court. Nevertheless, in 46 AD, Punu ascended the throne.

In 48 AD, a confederation of eight Xiongnu tribes in Bi's power base in the south, with a military force totalling 40,000 to 50,000 men, seceded from Punu's kingdom and acclaimed Bi as chanyu. This kingdom became known as the '''Southern Xiongnu'''.

==== Northern Xiongnu ====
The rump kingdom under Punu, around the [[Orkhon Valley|Orkhon]] (modern north central Mongolia) became known as the '''Northern Xiongnu''', with Punu, becoming known as the [[Northern Chanyu]]. In 49 AD, the Northern Xiongnu was dealt a heavy defeat to the Southern Xiongnu. That same year, Zhai Tong, a Han governor of [[Liaodong Peninsula|Liaodong]] also enticed the [[Wuhuan]] and [[Xianbei]] into attacking the Northern Xiongnu.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/39 39]}} Soon, Punu began sending envoys on several separate occasions to negotiate peace with the Han dynasty, but made little to no progress.

In the 60s, the Northern Xiongnu resumed hostilities as they attempted to expand their influence into the [[Western Regions]] and launched raids on the Han borders. In 73, the Han responded by sending [[Dou Gu]] and Geng Chong to lead a [[Battle of Yiwulu|great expedition]] against the Northern Xiongnu in the [[Tarim Basin]]. The expedition, which saw the exploits of the famed general, [[Ban Chao]], was initially successful, but the Han had to temporarily withdraw in 75 due to matters back home. Ban Chao remained behind and maintained Chinese influence over the Western Regions before his death in 102.''<ref name=":0" />''{{sfn|Grousset|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/42 42–47]}}

For the next decade, the Northern Xiongnu had to endure famines largely due to locust plagues. In 87, they suffered a major defeat to the Xianbei, who killed their chanyu [[Youliu]] and took his skin as a trophy. With the Northern Xiongnu in disarray, the Han general, [[Dou Xian]] launched an expedition and crushed them at the [[Battle of the Altai Mountains]] in 89. After another Han attack in 91, the [[Northern Chanyu|Northern ''Chanyu'']] fled with his followers to the northwest, and was not seen again, while those that remained behind surrendered to the Han.''<ref name=":0" />''

In 94, dissatisfied with the newly appointed ''chanyu'', the surrendered Northern Xiongnu rebelled and acclaimed Fenghou as their chanyu, who led them to flee outside the border. However, the separatist regime continued to face famines and the growing threat of the Xianbei, prompting 10,000 of them to return to Han in 96. Fenghou later sent envoys to Han intending to submit as a vassal but was rejected. The Northern Xiongnu were scattered, with most of them being absorbed by the Xianbei. In 118, a defeated Fenghou brought around 100 followers to surrender to Han.''<ref name=":0" />''

Remnants of the Northern Xiongnu held out in the Tarim Basin as they allied themselves with the [[Jushi Kingdom|Nearer Jushi Kingdom]] and captured [[Hami|Yiwu]] in 119. By 126, they were subjugated by the Han general, [[Ban Yong]], while a branch led by a "Huyan King" continued to resist. The Huyan King was last mentioned in 151 when he launched an attack on Yiwu but was driven away by Han forces. According to the fifth-century ''[[Book of Wei]]'', the remnants of Northern ''Chanyu''<nowiki/>'s tribe settled as [[Yueban]], near [[Kucha]] and subjugated the [[Wusun]]; while the rest fled across the [[Altai Mountains]] towards [[Kangju]] in [[Transoxania]]. It states that this group later became the [[Hephthalites]].<ref>''Book of Wei'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%AD%8F%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7102 Vol. 102] (in Chinese)</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Gumilev L.N. |title=История народа Хунну |trans-title=History of Hun People |place=Moscow |chapter-url=http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/HPH/hph15.htm |chapter=Ch. 15 |language=ru |url=http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/HPH/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090629204641/http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/HPH/ |archive-date=29 June 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hyun Jim Kim |title=The Huns |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-34090-4 |chapter=2 The So-called 'Two-Hundred year Interlude'}}</ref>

[[File:Asia 200ad.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Southern and Northern Xiongnu in 200 AD, before the collapse of the [[Han dynasty]].]]

==== Southern Xiongnu ====
[[File:Eastern Han Xiongnu Iron Cauldron (10337027003).jpg|thumb|upright|Xiongnu cauldron, [[Eastern Han]]]]
Coincidentally, the Southern Xiongnu were plagued by natural disasters and misfortunes—in addition to the threat posed by Punu. Consequently, in 50 AD, the Southern Xiongnu submitted to tributary relations with Han China. The system of tribute was considerably tightened by the Han, to keep the Southern Xiongnu under control. The ''Chanyu'' was ordered to establish his court in the Meiji district of [[Xihe Commandery]] and the Southern Xiongnu were resettled in eight frontier commanderies. At the same time, large numbers of Chinese were also resettled in these commanderies, in mixed Han-Xiongnu settlements. Economically, the Southern Xiongnu became reliant on trade with the Han and annual subsidies from the Chinese court.

The Southern Xiongnu served as Han auxiliaries to defend the northern borders from nomadic forces and even played a role in defeating the Northern Xiongnu. However, with the fall of their northern counterpart, the Southern Xiongnu continued to suffer the brunt of raids, this time by the [[Xianbei]] people of the steppe. In addition to the poor climate and living conditions of the frontiers, the Chinese court would also interfere in the Southern Xiongnu's politics and install ''chanyus'' loyal to the Han. As a result, the Southern Xiongnu often rebelled, at times joining forces with the [[Wuhuan]] and receiving support from the Xianbei.

During the late 2nd century AD, the ''Chanyu'' began sending his people to deal with the Han's internal matters; first against the [[Yellow Turban Rebellion]] and then another rebellion in [[Hebei]] in 188. Many of the Xiongnu feared that it would set a precedent for unending military service to the Han court. At the time, another Han vassal, the [[Chuge|Xiuchuge]] people had revolted in [[Bingzhou]] and killed the provincial inspector. Subsequently, a rebellious faction among the Southern Xiongnu allied with the Xiuchuge and killed the ''Chanyu'' as well. The Han court appointed his son, [[Yufuluo]], entitled Chizhi Shizhu ({{lang|zh|持至尸逐侯}}), to succeed him, but he was expelled from his territory by the rebels.

Yufuluo travelled to [[Luoyang]] to seek aid from the Han court, but the court was in disorder from the clash between Grand General [[He Jin]] and the [[Ten Attendants|eunuchs]], and the intervention of the warlord [[Dong Zhuo]]. The ''Chanyu'' subsequently settled down with his followers around [[Linfen|Pingyang]], east of the [[Fen River]] in [[Shanxi]]. In 195, he died and was succeeded as ''chanyu'' by his brother [[Huchuquan]]. Meanwhile, the rebels initially elected their own ''chanyu'', but after he died just a year into his reign, they left the position vacant and had an elderly nominal king put in his place. With the Southern Xiongnu in disarray, many of the tribes opted to distance themselves from the ongoing [[End of the Han dynasty|Han civil war]]. Yufuluo's group and the Xiuchuge were drawn into the conflict from time to time before they were all subdued by the warlord [[Cao Cao]].''<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=De Crespigny |first=Rafe |title=Northern frontier: the policies and strategy of the later Han Empire |date=1984 |publisher=Faculty of Asian Studies, Australian National University |isbn=978-0-86784-410-8 |series=Faculty of Asian Studies monographs |location=Canberra}}</ref>''

The Southern Xiongnu upheaval caused several frontier commanderies such as [[Shuofang Commandery|Shuofang]] and [[Yunzhong Commandery|Yunzhong]] to be lost to hostile tribes, prompting Cao Cao to abolish and abandon them. In 216, he detained Huchuquan in the city of [[Ye (Hebei)|Ye]] and reorganized the last vestiges of the Southern Xiongnu into the Five Divisions (Left, Right, South, North and Centre) around [[Taiyuan Commandery]] in modern-day [[Shanxi]], bringing them closer to the Chinese court's influence. The office of ''chanyu'' remained with Huchuquan at Ye until his death, after which it became vacant, while the Five Divisions were placed under the supervision of his uncle, [[Qubei]]. Each division was led by a local chief, who in turn was under the surveillance of a Chinese resident. This was aimed at preventing the tribes in Shanxi from engaging in rebellion, and also allowed Cao Cao to use them as auxiliaries in his cavalry.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|p=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/54 54]}}

=== Descendants and later states in northern China ===
[[Fang Xuanling]]'s ''[[Book of Jin]]'' lists nineteen Xiongnu tribes that resettled within the Great Wall: [[Chuge]] (屠各), [[Xianzhi]] (鮮支), Koutou (寇頭), Wutan (烏譚), [[Tiele people|Chile]] (赤勒), Hanzhi (捍蛭), Heilang (黑狼), [[Chisha]] (赤沙), Yugang (鬱鞞), Weisuo (萎莎), Tutong (禿童), Bomie (勃蔑), Qiangqu (羌渠), [[Alat tribe|Helai]] (賀賴), Zhongqin (鐘跂), Dalou (大樓), Yongqu (雍屈), Zhenshu (真樹) and Lijie (力羯). Among the nineteen tribes, the Chuge, also known as the Xiuchuge, were the most honored and prestigious.<ref>{{cite book |last=Fang |first=Xuanling |publisher=[[Commercial Press]] |year=1958 |location=Beijing |language=zh |script-title=zh:晉書 |title=Jìnshū |trans-title=[[Book of Jin]] |author-link=Fang Xuanling}} Vol. 97</ref>

With the fall of the Southern Xiongnu state, the Xiongnu name gradually lost its unifying influence among its descendants, only ever invoked for political and symbolic purposes or as a generic label for tribes that did not belong to one of the major ethnic groups at the time. In [[Bingzhou]], the Chuge identity held more weight than that of the Xiongnu among the Five Divisions, while those excluded from the group mingled with tribes from various ethnicities and were referred to as "''[[Hu (people)|hu]]''" or other vague terms for the non-Chinese. Many of them began adopting Chinese family names such as Liu, which was prevalent among the Five Divisions.''{{sfn|Tang|2010|loc=ch.〈魏晋杂胡考 一 屠各〉}}''

Nonetheless, the Xiongnu are classified as one of the "[[Five Barbarians]]" of the [[Sixteen Kingdoms]] period. The [[Han-Zhao]] and [[Helian Xia]] dynasties were both founded by rulers on the basis of their Xiongnu ancestry. The [[Northern Liang]], established by the [[Lushuihu]], is sometimes categorized as a Xiongnu state in recent historiographies. [[Shi Le]], the founder of the [[Later Zhao]] dynasty, was a descendant of the Xiongnu Qiangqu tribe, although by his time, he and his people had become a separate ethnic group known as the [[Jie people|Jie]].

==== Han-Zhao dynasty (304–329) ====
{{Main|Han-Zhao|Chuge}}

===== Han (304–319) =====
[[File:Sixteen Kingdoms 317 AD (2).jpg|thumb|The [[Han-Zhao|Han-Zhao dynasty]] in 317 AD, shortly after the fall of the [[Western Jin dynasty]].]]
Eventually, the Five Divisions grew weary of subservience and attempted to assert their own power. The Commander of the Left Division, [[Liu Bao]] briefly unified them during the mid-3rd century before the [[Cao Wei]] and the [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Western Jin]] courts intervened and forced them back into five. To further ensure their loyalty, nobles of the Five Divisions had to send their children to the Chinese capital as hostages, where they became accustomed to Chinese [[Confucianism|Confucian]] teachings and culture. They were even allowed to hold government offices under the Jin, but their status remained low compared to their Chinese peers. Amidst the [[War of the Eight Princes]] in 304, as Jin authority was collapsing in northern China, the Five Divisions took the opportunity to rebel.

[[Liu Yuan (Han-Zhao)|Liu Yuan]], the son of Liu Bao and a general serving under one of the Jin princes, was offered by the Five Divisions to lead their rebellion. After deceiving his prince, Liu Yuan returned to Bingzhou and was acclaimed as the Grand ''Chanyu''. Later that year, he declared himself the King of Han. Liu Yuan and his family members were Chuge people, but he also claimed to be a direct descendant of the Southern Xiongnu ''chanyus'' and depicted his state as a continuation of the [[Han dynasty]], citing that his alleged ancestors were married to Han princesses through ''[[heqin]].<ref name=":0" />{{sfn|Tang|2010|loc=ch.〈魏晋杂胡考 一 屠各〉}} ''He adopted the Chinese ruling system and allowed the Han Chinese and non-Chinese tribes to serve under him. In 308, he elevated his title to Emperor of Han, and in 309, he settled his capital at [[Linfen|Pingyang]].

The Western Jin, devastated by war and natural disasters, was unable to stop the growing threat of the Han. A few months after [[Liu Cong (Han-Zhao)|Liu Cong]] took the Han throne, the Jin imperial army was annihilated by his forces in 311. Soon, the Han descended upon the Jin capital [[Luoyang]], sacking the city and capturing [[Emperor Huai of Jin]] in an event known as the [[Disaster of Yongjia]]. In 316, the Jin restoration in [[Chang'an]], headed by [[Emperor Min of Jin|Emperor Min]], was also crushed by the Han. After the fall of Chang'an, the remnants of the Jin south of the [[Yangtze|Yangtze river]] at [[Jiankang]] re-established themselves as the [[Eastern Jin dynasty]] in 318.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/56 56–57]}}

Despite military success, the Han's imperial authority was limited. They suffered from internal strife under Liu Cong, who was described as a cruel and dissolute ruler. Faced with stern opposition from his own ministers, he greatly empowered his [[consort kin]]s and [[Eunuchs in China|eunuchs]] to counter them, throwing the Han court into a power struggle which ended in a brutal purge. Liu Cong also failed to constrain [[Shi Le]], a general of [[Jie people|Jie]] ethnicity who effectively held the eastern parts of the empire. After Liu Cong's death in 318, the consort kin, [[Jin Zhun]] massacred the imperial family in Pingyang before he was defeated by a combined force led by Liu Cong's cousin, [[Liu Yao]], and Shi Le.

===== Former Zhao (319–329) =====
During Jin Zhun's rebellion, the Han loyalists that escaped the massacre acclaimed [[Liu Yao]] as the new emperor. In 319, he moved the capital from Pingyang to his base in Chang'an and renamed the dynasty as Zhao. Unlike his predecessors, Liu Yao appealed more to his Xiongnu ancestry by honouring [[Modu Chanyu]] and distancing himself from the state's initial positioning of Han restoration. However, this was not a break from Liu Yuan, as he continued to honor Liu Yuan and [[Liu Cong (Han-Zhao)|Liu Cong]] posthumously; it is hence known to historians collectively as [[Han-Zhao]]. That same year, Shi Le proclaimed independence and formed his own state of Zhao, challenging Liu Yao for hegemony over northern China. For this reason, Han-Zhao is also known to historians as the Former Zhao to distinguish it from Shi Le's [[Later Zhao]].

Liu Yao retained control over the [[Guanzhong]] region and expanded his domain westward by campaigning against remnants of the Jin, [[Former Liang]] and [[Chouchi]]. Eventually, Liu Yao led his army to fight Later Zhao for control over [[Luoyang]] but was captured by Shi Le's forces in battle and executed in 329. Chang'an soon fell to Later Zhao and the last of Former Zhao's forces were destroyed. Thus ended the Han-Zhao dynasty; northern China would be dominated by the Later Zhao for the next 20 years.{{sfn|Grousset|1970|pp=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/57 57–58]}} The Chuge people would remain a prominent ethnic group in northern China for the next two centuries.

==== Tiefu tribe and Helian Xia dynasty (309–431) ====
{{Main|Xia (Sixteen Kingdoms)}}
[[File:统万城.JPG|thumb|Remnants of [[Tongwancheng]], capital of the [[Hu Xia dynasty|Helian Xia dynasty]] in present-day [[Jingbian County]], [[Shaanxi]].]]
The chieftains of the [[Tiefu]] tribe were descendants of [[Qubei]] and were related to another tribe, the [[Dugu (surname)|Dugu]]. Based on their name, which meant a person whose father was a Xiongnu and mother was a [[Xianbei]], the Tiefu had mingled with the Xianbei, and records refer to them as "[[Wuhuan]]", which by the 4th-century had become a generic term for miscellaneous ''[[Hu (people)|hu]]'' tribes with [[Donghu people|Donghu]] elements.{{sfn|Tang|2010|loc=ch.〈魏晋杂胡考 四 乌丸〉}} In 309, their chieftain, [[Liu Hu (Tiefu)|Liu Hu]] rebelled against the Western Jin in Shanxi but was driven out to [[Shuofang Commandery]] in the [[Ordos Loop]]. The Tiefu resided there for most of their existence, often as a vassal to their stronger neighbours before their power was destroyed by the [[Northern Wei]] dynasty in 392.

[[Liu Bobo]], a surviving member of the Tiefu, went into exile and eventually offered his services to the [[Qiang (historical people)|Qiang]]-led [[Later Qin]]. He was assigned to guard Shuofang, but in 407, angered by Qin holding peace talks with the Northern Wei, he rebelled and founded a state known as the [[Hu Xia dynasty|Helian Xia dynasty]]. Bobo strongly affirmed his Xiongnu lineage; his state name of "Xia" was based on the claim that the Xiongnu were descendants of the [[Xia dynasty]], and he later changed his family name from "Liu" (劉) to the more Xiongnu-like "Helian" (赫連), believing it inappropriate to follow his matrilineal line from the Han. Helian Bobo placed the Later Qin in a perpetual state of warfare and greatly contributed to its decline. In 418, he conquered the [[Guanzhong]] region from the [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Eastern Jin dynasty]] after the [[Liu Yu's Northern Expeditions|Jin destroyed Qin]] the previous year.

After Helian Bobo's death in 425, the Xia quickly declined due to pressure from the Northern Wei. In 428, the emperor, [[Helian Chang]] and capital were both captured by Wei forces. His brother, [[Helian Ding]] succeeded him and conquered the [[Western Qin]] in 431, but that same year, he was ambushed and imprisoned by the [[Tuyuhun]] while attempting a campaign against [[Northern Liang]]. The Xia was at its end, and the following year, Helian Ding was sent to Wei where he was executed.

[[Tongwancheng]] (meaning "Unite All Nations"), was one of the capitals of the Xia that was built during the reign of Helian Bobo. The ruined city was discovered in 1996<ref>{{Citation|title = Sand-covered Hun City Unearthed|place = [[China|CN]]|publisher = China|url = http://www.china.org.cn/english/travel/45103.htm}}</ref> and the State Council designated it as a cultural relic under top state protection. The repair of the Yong'an Platform, where Helian Bobo reviewed parading troops, was completed and restoration on the {{Convert|31|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall turret follows.<ref>{{Citation |title=National Geographic |edition=online |url=http://www.geographic.hu/index.php?act=napi&id=5207}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |language=hu |last=Obrusánszky |first=Borbála |date=10 October 2006 |trans-title=Huns in China |title=Hunok Kínában |journal=Amsterdam Studies |issn=1873-3042 |issue=3 |url=http://www.federatio.org/as/AS_0003.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130718081823/http://www.federatio.org/as/AS_0003.pdf |archive-date=18 July 2013 |url-status=live |access-date=18 August 2008}}</ref>

==== Juqu clan and Northern Liang dynasty (401–460) ====
{{Main|Northern Liang|Lushuihu}}
The Juqu clan were a [[Lushuihu]] family that founded the [[Northern Liang|Northern Liang dynasty]] in modern-day [[Gansu]] in 397. Recent historiographies often classify the Northern Liang as a "Xiongnu" state, but there is still ongoing debate on the exact origin of the Lushuihu. A leading theory is that the Lushuihu were descendants of the [[Yuezhi|Lesser Yuezhi]] that had intermingled with the [[Qiang (historical people)|Qiang]] people, but based on the fact that the Juqu's ancestors once served the Xiongnu empire, the Lushuihu could still be considered a branch of the Xiongnu. Regardless, contemporaneous records treat the Lushuihu as a distinct ethnic group.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zhou |first=Yiliang |title=《魏晋南北朝史论集》 |date=June 1997 |publisher=[[Beijing University Press]] |isbn=978-7-301-03191-9 |location=Beijing |language=zh |chapter=〈北朝的民族問題與民族政策〉}}</ref>{{sfn|Tang|2010|loc=ch.〈魏晋杂胡考 二 卢水胡〉}} The Northern Liang was known for its propagation of [[Buddhism]] in Gansu through their construction of Buddhist sites such as the [[Tiantishan Caves|Tiantishan]] and [[Mogao Caves|Mogao]] caves, and for being the last of the so-called Sixteen Kingdoms after it was conquered by the [[Northern Wei|Northern Wei dynasty]] in 439.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bell |first1=Alexander Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=77hHrXX4COgC&pg=PA107 |title=Didactic Narration: Jataka Iconography in Dunhuang with a Catalogue of Jataka Representations in China |date=2000 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-8258-5134-7 |page=107 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Whitfield |first1=Roderick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWmmCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA55 |title=Cave Temples of Mogao at Dunhuang: Art History on the Silk Road: Second Edition |last2=Whitfield |first2=Susan |last3=Agnew |first3=Neville |date=15 September 2015 |publisher=Getty Publications |isbn=978-1-60606-445-0 |page=55 |language=en}}</ref> There was also the Northern Liang of [[Gaochang]], which existed between 442 and 460.

== Significance ==
The Xiongnu confederation was unusually long-lived for a steppe empire. The purpose of raiding the [[Zhongyuan|Central Plain]] was not simply for goods, but to force the Central Plain polity to pay regular tribute. The power of the Xiongnu ruler was based on his control of Han tribute which he used to reward his supporters. The Han and Xiongnu empires rose at the same time because the Xiongnu state depended on Han tribute. A major Xiongnu weakness was the custom of lateral succession. If a dead ruler's son was not old enough to take command, power passed to the late ruler's brother. This worked in the first generation but could lead to civil war in the second generation. The first time this happened, in 60 BC, the weaker party adopted what Barfield calls the 'inner frontier strategy.' They moved south and submitted to the dominant Central Plain regime and then used the resources obtained from their overlord to defeat the Northern Xiongnu and re-establish the empire. The second time this happened, around 47 AD, the strategy failed. The southern ruler was unable to defeat the northern ruler and the Xiongnu remained divided.{{sfn|Barfield|1989|p={{page needed|date=April 2022}}}}

== Ethnolinguistic origins{{anchor|Language}} ==

Historians disagree on whether the Xiongnu were of Turkic or Mongolian origin. However, some fragments from Chinese chronicles may indicate that the Xiongnu were of Turkic rather than Mongolian origin. Fragments relating to the [[Warring States period|Six Kingdoms period]] state that the Xiongnu spoke a language different from that of the [[Xianbei]], who were of Mongolian or Paramongolian origin. However, the origin of the Xiongnu remains a subject of speculation.{{sfn|Lee|2017|p=199}}

The Xiongnu empire is widely thought to have been multiethnic.<ref name="JLEE" /> There are several theories on the ethnolinguistic identity of the Xiongnu, though there is no consensus among scholars as to what language was spoken by the Xiongnu elite.<ref>{{Citation |last=Kim |first=Hyun Jin |title=The Xiongnu |date=29 March 2017 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History |url=http://asianhistory.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277727-e-50 |access-date=29 February 2024 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.50 |isbn=978-0-19-027772-7 |quote=There is thus no scholarly consensus on the language that was spoken by the Xiongnu elite|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Proposed link to the Huns ===
{{see also|Origin of the Huns}}
{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin: 10px;"
|-
! colspan="2" |Pronunciation of 匈奴
|-
|[[Old Chinese]] (318 BC): || {{IPA|*hoŋ-nâ}}
|-
|[[Eastern Han Chinese]]: || {{IPA|*hɨoŋ-nɑ}}
|-
|[[Middle Chinese]]: || {{IPA|*hɨoŋ-nuo}}
|-
|[[Standard Mandarin|Modern Mandarin]]: || {{IPAc-cmn|x|iong|1|-|n|u|2}}
|-
| colspan=2 style= "font-size: 80%;" |{{ubl|Sources: Schuessler (2014:264){{sfn|Schuessler|2014|p=264}} | & Zhengzhang Shangfang.<ref name=":01"/><ref name=":02"/>}}
|}
The Xiongnu-Hun hypothesis was originally proposed by the 18th-century French historian [[Joseph de Guignes]], who noticed that ancient Chinese scholars had referred to members of tribes which were associated with the Xiongnu by names which were similar to the name "Hun", albeit with varying Chinese characters. [[Étienne de la Vaissière]] has shown that, in the [[Sogdian alphabet|Sogdian script]] used in the so-called "Sogdian Ancient Letters", both the Xiongnu and the Huns were referred to as the γwn (''xwn''), which indicates that the two names were synonymous.<ref name="vaissiere2006"/> Although the theory that the Xiongnu were the precursors of the Huns as they were later known in Europe is now accepted by many scholars, it has yet to become a consensus view. The identification with the Huns may either be incorrect or it may be an oversimplification (as would appear to be the case with a [[Proto-Mongols|proto-Mongol]] people, the [[Rouran]],{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} who have sometimes been linked to the [[Pannonian Avars|Avars of Central Europe]]{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}).

=== Iranian theories ===
{{See also|Iranian languages}}
[[File:Noin-Ula carpet.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|An embroidered rug from the Xiongnu [[Noin-Ula burial site]]. This luxury item was imported from [[Bactria]], and is thought to represent [[Yuezhi]] figures.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Betts |first1=Alison |last2=Vicziany |first2=Marika |last3=Jia |first3=Peter Weiming |last4=Castro |first4=Angelo Andrea Di |title=The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads |date=19 December 2019 |publisher=Archaeopress Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-78969-407-9 |page=104 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rxUSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA104 |quote="In Noin-Ula (Noyon Uul), Mongolia, the remarkable elite Xiongnu tombs have revealed textiles that are linked to the pictorial tradition of the Yuezhi: the decorative faces closely resemble the [[Khalchayan]] portraits, while the local ornaments have integrated elements of Graeco-Roman design. These artifacts were most probably manufactured in Bactria"}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Francfort |first1=Henri-Paul |author-link= Henri-Paul Francfort |title=Sur quelques vestiges et indices nouveaux de l'hellénisme dans les arts entre la Bactriane et le Gandhāra (130 av. J.-C.-100 apr. J.-C. environ) |language=fr |trans-title=On some vestiges and new indications of Hellenism in the arts between Bactria and Gandhāra (130 BC-100 AD approximately) |journal=Journal des Savants |date=1 January 2020 |pages=26–27, Fig.8 ''"Portrait royal diadémé Yuezhi"'' ("Diademed royal portrait of a Yuezhi") |url=https://www.academia.edu/45042820}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Polos'mak |first1=Natalia V. |last2=Francfort |first2=Henri-Paul |last3=Tsepova |first3=Olga |title=Nouvelles découvertes de tentures polychromes brodées du début de notre ère dans les "tumuli" n o 20 et n o 31 de Noin-Ula (République de Mongolie) |journal=Arts Asiatiques |date=2015 |volume=70 |pages=3–32 |doi=10.3406/arasi.2015.1881 |jstor=26358181 |issn=0004-3958 |quote=Considered as Yuezhi-Saka or simply Yuezhi, and p.3: "These tapestries were apparently manufactured in Bactria or in Gandhara at the time of the Saka-Yuezhi rule, when these countries were connected with the Parthian empire and the "Hellenized East." They represent groups of men, warriors of high status, and kings and/ or princes, performing rituals of drinking, fighting or taking part in a religious ceremony, a procession leading to an altar with a fire burning on it, and two men engaged in a ritual."}}</ref><ref name="LN">{{cite journal |last1=Nehru |first1=Lolita |title=KHALCHAYAN |journal=Encyclopaedia Iranica Online |date=14 December 2020 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-iranica-online/*-COM_215?lang=en |publisher=Brill |quote=About "[[Khalchayan]]", "site of a settlement and palace of the nomad Yuezhi": "Representations of figures with faces closely akin to those of the ruling clan at Khalchayan (PLATE I) have been found in recent times on woollen fragments recovered from a nomad burial site near Lake Baikal in Siberia, Noin Ula, supplementing an earlier discovery at the same site), the pieces dating from the time of Yuezhi/Kushan control of Bactria. Similar faces appeared on woollen fragments found recently in a nomad burial in south-eastern Xinjiang ([[Sampul tapestry|Sampula]]), of about the same date, manufactured probably in Bactria, as were probably also the examples from Noin Ula."}}</ref>]]

Most scholars agree that the Xiongnu elite may have been initially of [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]] origin, while later switching to a Turkic language.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Neumann |first1=Iver B. |last2=Wigen |first2=Einar |title=The Steppe Tradition in International Relations: Russians, Turks and European State Building 4000 BCE–2017 CE |date=19 July 2018 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-108-42079-2 |page=103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=huRfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]] |quote=While most scholars hold the Xiongnu to have originally had a leadership from a Sogdian kinship line, Kim (2023: 28-29) argues that during their migration west, they seem to have undergone a transformation from having had a Yeniseian leadership, which ruled over various Iranic, Alanic and Turko-Mongol to developing a Turkic royal line.}}</ref> [[Harold Walter Bailey]] proposed an [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] origin of the Xiongnu, recognizing all of the earliest Xiongnu names of the 2nd century BC as being of the [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] type.{{sfn|Bailey|1985|pp=21–45}} Central Asian scholar [[Christopher I. Beckwith]] notes that the Xiongnu name could be a cognate of [[Scythians|Scythian]], [[Saka]] and [[Sogdia]], corresponding to a name for [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranian Scythians]].{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|pp=71–73}}<ref name="Beckwith405">{{harvnb|Beckwith|2009|p=405}}: "Accordingly, the transcription now read as Hsiung- nu may have been pronounced * Soγdâ, * Soγlâ, * Sak(a)dâ, or even * Skla(C)da, etc."</ref> According to Beckwith the Xiongnu could have contained a leading Iranian component when they started out, but more likely they had earlier been subjects of an Iranian people and learned the Iranian nomadic model from them.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|pp=71–73}}

In the 1994 [[UNESCO]]-published ''History of Civilizations of Central Asia'', its editor [[János Harmatta]] claims that the royal tribes and kings of the Xiongnu bore Iranian names, that all Xiongnu words noted by the Chinese can be explained from a [[Scythian languages|Scythian language]], and that it is therefore clear that the majority of Xiongnu tribes spoke an Eastern Iranian language.<ref name="Harmatta488"/>

According to a study by Alexander Savelyev and Choongwon Jeong, published in 2020 in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences, "The predominant part of the Xiongnu population is likely to have spoken Turkic". However, important cultural, technological and political elements may have been transmitted by Eastern Iranian-speaking Steppe nomads: "Arguably, these Iranian-speaking groups were assimilated over time by the predominant Turkic-speaking part of the Xiongnu population".<ref name="Savelyev & Jeong, 2020">{{cite journal |last1=Savelyev |first1=Alexander |last2=Jeong |first2=Choongwoon |date=7 May 2020 |title=Early nomads of the Eastern Steppe and their tentative connections in the West |journal=[[Evolutionary Human Sciences]] |volume=2 |issue=E20 |article-number=e20 |doi=10.1017/ehs.2020.18 |pmc=7612788 |pmid=35663512 |s2cid=218935871 |hdl=21.11116/0000-0007-772B-4}} [[File:CC-BY_icon.svg|50x50px]] Text was copied from this source, which is available under a [[creativecommons:by/4.0/|Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License]]. "Such a distribution of Xiongnu words may be an indication that both Turkic and Eastern Iranian-speaking groups were present among the Xiongnu in the earlier period of their history. Etymological analysis shows that some crucial components in the Xiongnu political, economic and cultural package, including dairy pastoralism and elements of state organization, may have been imported by the Eastern Iranians. Arguably, these Iranian-speaking groups were assimilated over time by the predominant Turkic-speaking part of the Xiongnu population. ... The genetic profile of published Xiongnu individuals speaks against the Yeniseian hypothesis, assuming that modern Yeniseian speakers (i.e. Kets) are representative of the ancestry components in the historical Yeniseian speaking groups in southern Siberia. In contrast to the Iron Age populations listed in Table 2, Kets do not have the Iranian-related ancestry component but harbour a strong genetic affinity with Samoyedic-speaking neighbours, such as Selkups (Jeong et al., 2018, 2019)."</ref>

=== Yeniseian theories ===
{{See also|Yeniseian languages|Para-Yeniseian languages}}
[[File:Belt plaque in the shape of a kneeling horse, 3rd-1st century BCE, North China.jpg|thumb|Belt plaque in the shape of a kneeling horse, 3rd–1st century BC, gilded silver, made in North China for Xiongnu patrons.{{sfn|Bunker|2002|p=29}}<ref name="metmuseum.org">{{cite web |title=Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/44787 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref>]]
[[Lajos Ligeti]] was the first to suggest that the Xiongnu spoke a Yeniseian language. In the early 1960s [[Edwin Pulleyblank]] was the first to expand upon this idea with credible evidence. The Yeniseian theory proposes that the [[Jie people|Jie]], a western Xiongnu people, spoke a Yeniseian language. [[Hyun Jin Kim]] notes that the 7th century AD Chinese conpendium, ''Jin Shu'', contains a transliterated song of Jie origin, which appears to be Yeniseian. This song has led researchers Pulleyblank and [[Alexander Vovin|Vovin]] to argue for a Yeniseian Jie dominant minority, that ruled over the other Xiongnu ethnicities, such as Iranian and Turkic people. Kim has stated that the dominant Xiongnu language was likely Turkic or Yeniseian, but has cautioned that the Xiongnu were definitely a multi-ethnic society.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jin Kim |first1=Hyun |title=The Huns |date=November 2015 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=978-1-317-34090-4 |pages=6–17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mcf4CgAAQBAJ |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

Pulleybank and D. N. Keightley asserted that the Xiongnu titles "were originally Siberian words but were later borrowed by the Turkic and Mongolic peoples".{{sfn|Di Cosmo|2004|p=164}} Titles such as [[Tarkhan|tarqan]], [[tegin]] and [[Khagan|kaghan]] were also inherited from the Xiongnu language and are possibly of Yeniseian origin. For example, the Xiongnu word for "heaven" is theorized to come from Proto-Yeniseian *''tɨŋVr''.<ref name="Vovin">{{Cite journal |journal=Academia |url=https://www.academia.edu/1804191|title=Did the Xiongnu speak a Yeniseian language? Part 2: Vocabulary|last1=Vovin|first1=Alexander}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Georg |first1=Stefan |title=A Descriptive Grammar of Ket (Yenisei-Ostyak): Part 1: Introduction, Phonology and Morphology |date=22 March 2007 |publisher=Global Oriental |isbn=978-90-04-21350-0 |page=16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vfV5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16 |language=en |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

Vocabulary from Xiongnu inscriptions sometimes appears to have Yeniseian cognates which were used by Vovin to support his theory that the Xiongnu has a large Yeniseian component, examples of proposed cognates include words such as Xiongnu kʷala 'son' and Ket qalek 'younger son', Xiongnu sakdak 'boot' and Ket sagdi 'boot', Xiongnu gʷawa "prince" and Ket gij "prince", Xiongnu "attij" 'wife' and proto-Yeniseian "alrit", Ket "alit" and Xiongnu dar "north" compared to Yugh tɨr "north".<ref name="Vovin"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Vovin |first=Alexander |title=ONCE AGAIN ON THE ETYMOLOGY OF THE TITLE ''qaγan'' |journal=Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia |volume=12 |place=Kraków |date=2007 |url=https://core.ac.uk/reader/229243025 |access-date=6 April 2022}}</ref> Pulleyblank also argued that because Xiongnu words appear to have clusters with r and l, in the beginning of the word it is unlikely to be of Turkic origin, and instead believed that most vocabulary we have mostly resemble Yeniseian languages.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Xumeng |first=Sun |date=14 September 2020 |title=Identifying the Huns and the Xiongnu (or Not): Multi-Faceted Implications and Difficulties |website=PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository |url=https://prism.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/handle/1880/112546/ucalgary_2020_sun_xumeng.pdf?sequence=3}}</ref>

Alexander Vovin also wrote, that some names of horses in the Xiongnu language appear to be Turkic words with Yeniseian prefixes.<ref name="Vovin"/>

An analysis by Savelyev and Jeong (2020) has cast doubt on the Yeniseian theory. If assuming that the ancient Yeniseians were represented by modern [[Ket people]], who are more genetically similar to [[Samoyedic languages|Samoyedic]] speakers, the Xiongnu do not display a genetic affinity for Yeniseian peoples.<ref name="Savelyev & Jeong, 2020"/> A review by Wilson (2023) argues that the presence of Yeniseian-speakers among the multi-ethnic Xiongnu should not be rejected, and that "Yeniseian-speaking peoples must have played a more prominent (than heretofore recognized) role in the history of Eurasia during the first millennium of the Common Era".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wilson |first=Joseph A. P. |date=21 July 2023 |title=Late Holocene Technology Words in Proto-Athabaskan: Implications for Dene-Yeniseian Culture History |journal=Humans |language=en |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=177–192 |doi=10.3390/humans3030015 |doi-access=free |issn=2673-9461}}</ref>

Bonmann and Fries (2025) argued that the Xiongnu and succeeding Huns were of multi-ethnic origin, but had, at least a partial, Paleo-Siberian, specifically Yeniseian ethnic core, corresponding to the early [[Arin language]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bonmann |first1=Svenja |last2=Fries |first2=Simon |title=Linguistic Evidence Suggests that Xiōng-nú and Huns Spoke the Same Paleo-Siberian Language |journal=Transactions of the Philological Society |date=2025 |language=en |volume= |issue= |doi=10.1111/1467-968X.12321 |issn=1467-968X|doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Turkic theories ===
{{See also|Turkic languages}}
[[File:野驢紋金牌飾-Plaque in the Shape of a Grazing Kulan MET 2002 201 118 O1.jpg|thumb|Plaque in the shape of a grazing [[Turkmenian kulan|kulan]] (wild ass), 2nd–1st century BC, Northwest China, Xiongnu culture.<ref>{{cite web |title=Metropolitan Museum of Art |website=www.metmuseum.org |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/59527}}</ref>{{sfn|Bunker|2002|loc=p. 137, item 109}}]]
According to a study by Alexander Savelyev and Choongwon Jeong, published in 2020 in the journal Evolutionary Human Sciences, "The predominant part of the Xiongnu population is likely to have spoken Turkic". However, genetic studies found a mixture of haplogroups from western and eastern Eurasian origins that suggested large genetic diversity, and possibly multiple origins of Xiongnu elites. The Turkic-related component may be brought by eastern Eurasian genetic substratum.<ref name="Savelyev & Jeong, 2020"/>

Other proponents of a Turkic language theory include [[Edward Harper Parker|E.H. Parker]], [[Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat]], [[Julius Klaproth]], [[Gustaf John Ramstedt]], [[Annemarie von Gabain]],<ref name="Savelyev & Jeong, 2020" /> and [[Charles Hucker]].{{sfn|Hucker|1975|p=136}} André Wink states that the Xiongnu probably spoke an early form of Turkic; even if Xiongnu were not "Turks" nor Turkic-speaking, they were in close contact with Turkic-speakers very early on.{{sfn|Wink|2002|pp=60–61}} [[Craig Benjamin]] sees the Xiongnu as either proto-Turks or [[proto-Mongols]] who possibly spoke a language related to the [[Dingling]].<ref>Craig Benjamin (2007, 49), In: Hyun Jin Kim, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fX8YAAAAQBAJ The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe]. [[Cambridge University Press]]. 2013. page 176.</ref>

Chinese sources link several Turkic peoples to the Xiongnu: 
* According to the ''[[Book of Zhou]]'', ''[[History of the Northern Dynasties]]'', ''[[Tongdian]]'', ''[[New Book of Tang]]'', the [[Göktürks]] and the ruling [[Ashina tribe|Ashina]] clan was a component of the Xiongnu confederation,<ref name="Zhou50">[[Linghu Defen]] et al., ''Zhoushu'', [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%91%A8%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B750 vol. 50] quote: "突厥者，蓋匈奴之別種，姓阿史那氏。"</ref><ref>''Beishi'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E5%8F%B2/%E5%8D%B7099#%E7%AA%81%E5%8E%A5 "vol. 99 - section Tujue"] quote: "突厥者，其先居西海之右，獨為部落，蓋匈奴之別種也。" translation: "The Tujue, their ancestors dwelt on the right bank of the Western Sea; a lone tribe, probably a separate branch of the Xiongnu"</ref><ref>Golden, Peter B. (August 2018). [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326609440_The_Ethnogonic_Tales_of_the_Turks "The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks"]. ''The Medieval History Journal'', 21 (2): p. 298 of 291–327, fn. 36. quote: "'Western Sea' (xi hai 西海) has many possible meanings designating different bodies of water from the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]], [[Caspian Sea|Caspian]] and [[Aral Sea|Aral]] Seas to [[Qinghai Lake|Kuku-nor]]. In the Sui era (581–618) it was viewed as being near [[Byzantium]] (Sinor, 'Legendary Origin': 226). Taşağıl, ''Gök-Türkler'', vol. 1: 95, n. 553 identifies it with [[Ruo Shui|Etsin-Gol]], which is more likely."</ref><ref name = "tongdian197">[[Du You]], ''Tongdian'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%80%9A%E5%85%B8/%E5%8D%B7197 vol. 197] quote: "突厥之先，平涼今平涼郡雜胡也，蓋匈奴之別種，姓阿史那氏。"</ref><ref>''Xin Tangshu'', [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7215%E4%B8%8A vol. 215A]. "突厥阿史那氏, 蓋古匈奴北部也." "The Ashina family of the Turk probably were the northern tribes of the ancient Xiongnu." quoted and translated in Xu (2005), [https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/19205 ''Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan''], University of Helsinki, 2005</ref>
** However, the Ashina-surnamed Göktürks were also stated to be they were "mixed barbarians" ({{wikt-lang|zh|雜胡}}; ''záhú'') who fled from [[Pingliang]] (now in modern [[Gansu province]], [[China]]).<ref>[[Wei Zheng]] et al., ''Suishu'', [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%9A%8B%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B784#%E7%AA%81%E5%8E%A5 vol. 84] quote: "突厥之先，平涼雜胡也，姓阿史那氏。"</ref><ref name= "tongdian197"/> or from an obscure Suo state (索國), north of the Xiongnu.<ref>''Zhoushu'', "vol. 50" "或云突厥之先出於索國，在匈奴之北。"</ref><ref>''Beishi'' "vol. 99 - section Tujue" quote: "又曰突厥之先，出於索國，在匈奴之北。"</ref>
* Uyghur Khagans claimed descent from the Xiongnu (according to Chinese history ''[[Weishu]]'', the founder of the [[Uyghur Khaganate]] was descended from a Xiongnu ruler).{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=155}}<ref>[[Wei Shou]] et al., [[Book of Wei]] [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%AD%8F%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7103#%E9%AB%98%E8%BB%8A vol. 103 - section Gaoche] quote: "高車，蓋古赤狄之餘種也，初號為狄歷，北方以為勑勒，諸夏以為高車、丁零。其語略與匈奴同而時有小異，或云其先匈奴之甥也。其種有狄氏、袁紇氏、斛律氏、解批氏、護骨氏、異奇斤氏。" translation: "The Gaoche are probably remnants of the ancient Red [[Beidi|Di]]. Initially they had been called Dili. Northerners consider them [[Tiele people|Chile]]. The [[Huaxia|various Xia]] (aka Chinese) consider them Gaoche [[Dingling]] (High-Cart Dingling). Their language, in brief, and Xiongnu [language] are the same yet occasionally there are small differences. Some say that they [Gaoche] are the sororal nephews/sons-in-laws of the Xiongnu of yore. Their tribes (種) are Di, Yuanhe (aka [[Uyghur Khaganate|Uyghurs]]), Hulu, Jiepi, Hugu, Yiqijin."</ref><ref>''Xin Tangshu'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7217%E4%B8%8A vol 217A - Huihu] quote: "回紇，其先匈奴也，俗多乘高輪車，元魏時亦號高車部，或曰敕勒，訛為鐵勒。" translation: "Huihe, their ancestors were the Xiongnu; because they customarily drove carts with high-wheels and many spokes, in [[Northern Wei|Yuan Wei]]'s they were also called Gaoche (High-Cart), or also called Chile, mistakenly rendered as [[Tiele people|Tiele]]."</ref>
* The ''[[Book of Wei]]'' states that the Yueban descended from remnants of the [[Northern Chanyu|Northern Xiongnu chanyu]]'s tribe and that Yueban's language and customs resembled Gaoche (高車),<ref>''Weishu'', "vol. 102 [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%AD%8F%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7102#%E7%83%8F%E5%AD%AB-%E7%96%8F%E5%8B%92-%E6%82%85%E8%88%AC Wusun, Shule, & Yueban]" quote: "悅般國，…… 其先，匈奴北單于之部落也。…… 其風俗言語與高車同"</ref> another name of the Tiele.
* The ''[[Book of Jin]]'' lists 19 southern Xiongnu tribes who entered [[Former Yan]]'s borders, the 14th being the [[Alat tribe|Alat]] (Ch. 賀賴 ''Helai'' ~ 賀蘭 ''Helan'' ~ 曷剌 ''Hela''); ''Alat'' being glossed "piebald horse" (Ch. 駁馬 ~ 駮馬 ''Boma'') in [[Old Turkic]].<ref>''Jinshu'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%99%89%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7097#%E5%8C%88%E5%A5%B4 vol. 97 Four Barbarians - Xiongnu]"</ref><ref>''[[Yuanhe Maps and Records of Prefectures and Counties]]'' vol. 4 quote: "北人呼駮馬為賀蘭"</ref><ref>Du You. Tongdian. [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%80%9A%E5%85%B8/%E5%8D%B7200#%E9%A7%AE%E9%A6%AC Vol. 200]. "突厥謂駮馬為曷剌，亦名曷剌國。"</ref>

However, Chinese sources also ascribe Xiongnu origins to the Para-Mongolic-speaking [[Kumo Xi]] and [[Khitans]].<ref name= "Lee2016p105"/>

=== Mongolic theories ===
{{See also|Mongolic languages}}
[[File:Belt Buckle LACMA M.76.97.583.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Belt Buckle, 2nd–1st century BC, Xiongnu. Another naturalistic belt buckle made to the Xiongnu taste, showing a mounted warrior frontally, holding a dagger and grabbing the hair of a demon who is also attacked by a dog. Also appears a nomadic cart pulled by [[reindeers]], and another dog on top of the cart.<ref>{{cite web |title=Belt Buckle LACMA Collections |url=https://collections.lacma.org/node/226318 |website=collections.lacma.org}}</ref>{{sfn|Bunker|2002|loc=pp. 30, 110, item 81}}<ref name="Prior_SR14_2016_186_195"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=So |first1=Jenny F. |last2=Bunker |first2=Emma C. |title=Traders and raiders on China's northern frontier: 19 November 1995 - 2 September 1996, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery |date=1995 |publisher=Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Inst. [u.a.] |location=Seattle |isbn=978-0-295-97473-6 |at=pp. 90–91, item 2 |url=https://ia601307.us.archive.org/28/items/tradersraiderson00soje/tradersraiderson00soje.pdf}}</ref>]]
Mongolian and other scholars have suggested that the Xiongnu spoke a language related to the [[Mongolic languages]].<ref>Ts. Baasansuren "The scholar who showed the true Mongolia to the world", Summer 2010 vol.6 (14) ''Mongolica'', pp.40</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Denis|last1=Sinor|title=Aspects of Altaic Civilization III |year=1990 |page={{page needed|date=May 2021}} }}</ref> Mongolian archaeologists proposed that the [[Slab Grave Culture]] people were the ancestors of the Xiongnu, and some scholars have suggested that the Xiongnu may have been the ancestors of the [[Mongols]].<ref name="Tumen"/> [[Hyacinth (Bichurin)|Nikita Bichurin]] considered Xiongnu and [[Xianbei]] to be two subgroups (or [[dynasty|dynasties]]) of but one same [[ethnicity]].<ref name="info">N.Bichurin "Collection of information on the peoples who inhabited Central Asia in ancient times", 1950, p. 227</ref>

According to the ''[[Book of Song]]'', the [[Rouran Khaganate|Rouran]]s, which the ''[[Book of Wei]]'' identified as offspring of [[proto-Mongols|Proto-Mongolic]]<ref>Pulleyblank, Edwin G. (2000). [https://web.archive.org/web/20171118181857/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~earlychina/docs/2008/ec25_pulleyblank.pdf "Ji 姬 and Jiang 姜: The Role of Exogamic Clans in the Organization of the Zhou Polity"], ''Early China''. p. 20</ref> [[Donghu people]],<ref>[[Wei Shou]]. ''Book of Wei''. vol. 91 "蠕蠕，東胡之苗裔也，姓郁久閭氏" tr. "Rúrú, offsprings of Dōnghú, surnamed Yùjiŭlǘ"</ref> possessed the alternative name(s) 大檀 ''Dàtán'' "[[Tatar confederation|Tatar]]" and/or 檀檀 ''Tántán'' "Tartar" and according to the ''[[Book of Liang]]'', "they also constituted a separate branch of the Xiongnu".<ref>''Liangshu'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%A2%81%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B754#%E8%8A%AE%E8%8A%AE%E5%9C%8B Vol. 54] txt: "芮芮國，蓋匈奴別種。" tr: "Ruìruì state, possibly a Xiongnu's separate branch"</ref><ref>Golden, Peter B. "Some Notes on the Avars and Rouran", in ''The Steppe Lands and the World beyond Them''. Ed. Curta, Maleon. Iași (2013). pp. 54-55</ref> The ''[[Old Book of Tang]]'' mentioned twenty Shiwei tribes,<ref>[[Liu Xu]] et al. ''Old Book of Tang'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%88%8A%E5%94%90%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B7199%E4%B8%8B#%E5%AE%A4%E9%9F%8B "vol. 199 section: Shiwei"]</ref> which other Chinese sources (the ''[[Book of Sui]]'' and the ''[[New Book of Tang]]'') associated with the [[Khitan people|Khitans]],<ref name="Elina-Qian 2005 p. 173-178">Xu Elina-Qian (2005). ''Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan''. University of Helsinki. p. 173-178</ref> another people who in turn descended from the Xianbei<ref>Xu Elina-Qian (2005). ''[https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/19205 Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan]''. University of Helsinki. p. 99. quote: "According to Gai Zhiyong's study, Jishou is identical with Qishou, the earliest ancestor of the Khitan; and Shihuai is identical to Tanshihuai, the Xianbei supreme chief in the period of the Eastern Han (25-220). Therefore, from the sentence "His ancestor was Jish[ou] who was derived from Shihuai" in the above inscription, it can be simply seen that the Khitan originated from the Xianbei. Since the excavated inscription on memorial tablet can be regarded as a firsthand historical source, this piece of information is quite reliable."</ref> and were also associated with the Xiongnu.<ref>[[Xue Juzheng]] et al. ''[[Old History of the Five Dynasties]]'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E8%88%8A%E4%BA%94%E4%BB%A3%E5%8F%B2/%E5%8D%B7137 vol. 137] quote: "契丹者，古匈奴之種也。" translation: "The Khitans, a kind of Xiongnu of yore."</ref> While the Xianbei, Khitans, and Shiwei are generally believed to be predominantly [[Mongolic languages|Mongolic-]] and [[Para-Mongolic languages|Para-Mongolic-]]speaking,<ref name="Elina-Qian 2005 p. 173-178"/><ref>Schönig, Claus. (27 January 2006) "Turko-Mongolic relations" in Janhunen (ed.) ''The Mongolic Languages''. Routledge. p. 393.</ref><ref>Shimunek, Andrew. [https://www.academia.edu/37176756 "Early Serbi-Mongolic-Tungusic lexical contact: Jurchen numerals from the 室韦 Shirwi (Shih-wei) in North China"]. Philology of the Grasslands: Essays in Mongolic, Turkic, and Tungusic Studies, Edited by Ákos Bertalan Apatóczky et al. (Leiden: Brill). Retrieved 22 September 2019. quote: "Asdemonstrated by Ratchnevsky (1966: 231), the Shirwi confederation was a multiethnic, multilingual confederation of Tungusic-speaking Mo-ho 靺鞨 people (i.e. ancestors of the Jurchen), the Meng-wa 蒙瓦 ~ Meng-wu 蒙兀, whom Pelliot (1928) and others have shown were Proto-Mongolic speakers, and other groups. The dominant group among the Shirwi undoubtedly were ethnolinguistic descendants of the Serbi (鮮卑 Hsien-pei), and spoke a language closely related to Kitan and more distantly related to Mongolic."</ref> yet Xianbei were stated to descend from the [[Donghu people|Donghu]], whom Sima Qian distinguished from the Xiongnu<ref>''Shiji'' [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7110 "vol. 110: Account of the Xiongnu"] quote: "東胡初輕冒頓，不爲備。及冒頓以兵至，擊，大破滅東胡王，而虜其民人及畜產。" translation: "Initially the Donghu despised Modun and were unprepared. So Modun arrived with his troops, attacked, routed [the Donghu] and killed Donghu king; then [Modun] captured his people as well as livestock."</ref><ref>''Book of Later Han''. [https://zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/%E5%BE%8C%E6%BC%A2%E6%9B%B8/%E5%8D%B790#%E9%AE%AE%E5%8D%91 "Vol. 90 section Xianbei"]. text: "鮮卑者, 亦東胡之支也, 别依鮮卑山, 故因為號焉. 漢初, 亦為冒頓所破, 遠竄遼東塞." Xu (2005:24)'s translation: "The Xianbei who were a branch of the Donghu, relied upon the Xianbei Mountains. Therefore, they were called the Xianbei. At the beginning of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), (they) were defeated by Maodun, and then fled in disorder to Liaodong beyond the northern border of China Proper"</ref><ref>Xu Elina-Qian (2005). ''Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan''. University of Helsinki. p. 24-25</ref> (notwithstanding Sima Qian's inconsistency<ref name = "hu proper"/><ref name = "ZGC"/><ref name = "xiongnu hu"/>{{sfn|Pulleyblank|1994|pp=518–520}}). Additionally, Chinese chroniclers routinely ascribed Xiongnu origins to various nomadic groups: for examples, Xiongnu ancestry was ascribed to Para-Mongolic-speaking [[Kumo Xi]], as well as the Turkic-speaking [[Göktürks]] and [[Tiele people|Tiele]];<ref name = "Lee2016p105">{{cite journal|first= Joo-Yup|last= Lee|title= The Historical Meaning of the Term Turk and the Nature of the Turkic Identity of the Chinggisid and Timurid Elites in Post-Mongol Central Asia|journal= Central Asiatic Journal |volume=59 |issue=1–2|page= 105|year= 2016}}</ref>

[[Genghis Khan]] refers to the time of Modu Chanyu as "the remote times of our ''chanyu''" in his letter to Daoist [[Qiu Chuji]].<ref name="Howorth">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/p1historyofmongo02howouoft|title=History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th century|first=Henry H. (Henry Hoyle)|last=Howorth|publisher=London : Longmans, Green|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Moreover, the sun and moon symbol of Xiongnu discovered by archaeologists is similar to Mongolian [[Soyombo symbol]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/archaeology/mongolia/xiongnu/xiongnuarchhist/sunandmoon_th.jpg |title=Sun and Moon |website=depts.washington.edu |format=JPG}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/archaeology/mongolia/xiongnu/xiongnuarchhist/xiongnuarchhist.html|title=Xiongnu Archaeology |website=depts.washington.edu}}</ref><ref>[https://www.academia.edu/2086480/Elite_Xiongnu_Burials_at_the_Periphery_Tomb_Complexes_at_Takhiltyn_Khotgor_Mongolian_Altai_Miller_et_al._2009_ Elite Xiongnu Burials at the Periphery] (Miller et al. 2009)</ref>

=== Multiple ethnicities ===
[[File:Genetic history of Xiongnu.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Pastoralist expansion into Mongolia c. 1000 BC (Early Iron Age), and schematic formation of the Xiongnu Empire in the 3rd century BC.<ref name="Choongwon"/>]]
Since the early 19th century, a number of Western scholars have proposed a connection between various language families or subfamilies and the language or languages of the Xiongnu. [[Albert Terrien de Lacouperie]] considered them to be multi-component groups.{{sfn|Geng|2005}} Many scholars believe the Xiongnu confederation was a mixture of different ethno-linguistic groups, and that their main language (as represented in the Chinese sources) and its relationships have not yet been satisfactorily determined.{{sfn|Di Cosmo|2004|p=165}} Kim rejects "old racial theories or even ethnic affiliations" in favour of the "historical reality of these extensive, multiethnic, polyglot steppe empires".<ref>Hyun Jin Kim, The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe. {{ISBN|978-1-107-00906-6}}. Cambridge University Press. 2013. page 31.</ref>

Chinese sources link the [[Tiele people]] and Ashina to the Xiongnu, not all [[Turkic peoples]]. According to the ''[[Book of Zhou]]'' and the ''[[History of Northern Dynasties|History of the Northern Dynasties]]'', the [[Ashina tribe|Ashina]] clan was a component of the Xiongnu confederation,<ref name="Zhou502">[[Linghu Defen]] et al., ''[[Book of Zhou]]'', [[:zh:s:周書/卷50|Vol. 50.]] {{in lang|zh}}</ref><ref name="Northern992">Li Yanshou ({{lang|zh-hans|李延寿}}), ''[[History of the Northern Dynasties]]'', [[:zh:s:北史/卷099|Vol. 99.]] {{in lang|zh}}</ref> but this connection is disputed,{{sfn|Christian|1998|p=249}} and according to the ''[[Book of Sui]]'' and the ''[[Tongdian]]'', they were "mixed nomads" ({{lang-zh|first=t|t={{linktext|雜|胡}} |s=杂胡 |p=zá hú |wg=tsa hu}}) from [[Pingliang]].<ref name="Sui84">[[Wei Zheng]] et al., ''[[Book of Sui]]'', [[:zh:s:隋書/卷84|Vol. 84.]] {{in lang|zh}}</ref><ref name="Tong197">{{cite book |last1=Du |first1=You |author-link=Du You |script-title=zh:《通典》 |trans-title=[[Tongdian]] |location=Beijing |publisher=[[Zhonghua Book Company]] |volume=197 |script-chapter=zh:辺防13 北狄4 突厥上 |year=1988 |isbn=978-7-101-00258-4 |page=5401 |language=zh-hans}}</ref> The Ashina and Tiele may have been separate ethnic groups who mixed with the Xiongnu.<ref name="ethnic">{{cite web|url=http://rudocs.exdat.com/docs/index-128726.html|title=Об эт нической принадлежности Хунну|website=rudocs.exdat.com|access-date=21 June 2014 |archive-date=14 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180914203456/http://rudocs.exdat.com/docs/index-128726.html}}</ref> Indeed, Chinese sources link many nomadic peoples (''hu''; see ''[[Five Barbarians|Wu Hu]]'') on their northern borders to the Xiongnu, just as Greco-Roman historiographers called [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]] and [[Huns]] "[[Scythians]]". The Greek [[cognate]] of ''[[Name of Turkey|Tourkia]]'' ({{langx|el|Τουρκία}}) was used by the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] [[List of Byzantine emperors|emperor and scholar]] [[Constantine VII]] in his book ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]'',<ref>{{Cite book|edition=New, revised|publisher=Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies|isbn=978-0-88402-021-9|last=Jenkins|first=Romilly James Heald|title=De Administrando Imperio by Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus|location=Washington, D.C.|series=Corpus fontium historiae Byzantinae|year=1967|page=65|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3al15wpFWiMC|access-date=28 August 2013}} According to Constantine Porphyrogenitus, writing in his ''[[De Administrando Imperio]]'' (ca. 950 AD) ''"Patzinakia, the [[Pechenegs|Pecheneg realm]], stretches west as far as the [[Siret River]] (or even the [[Carpathian Mountains|Eastern Carpathian Mountains]]), and is four days distant from Tourkia (i.e. Hungary)."''</ref><ref name="PrinzingSalamon1999">{{cite book|author1=Günter Prinzing|author2=Maciej Salamon|title=Byzanz und Ostmitteleuropa 950–1453: Beiträge zu einer table-ronde des XIX. International Congress of Byzantine Studies, Copenhagen 1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uZDgivj7_RAC&pg=PA46|access-date=9 February 2013|year=1999|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-04146-1|page=46}}</ref> though in his use, "Turks" always referred to [[Magyars]].<ref name="Howorth2008">{{cite book|author=Henry Hoyle Howorth|title=History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century: The So-called Tartars of Russia and Central Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hFc4mwsHZ7IC&pg=PA3|access-date=15 June 2013|year=2008|publisher=Cosimo, Inc.|isbn=978-1-60520-134-4|page=3}}</ref> Such archaizing was a common literary ''topos'', and implied similar geographic origins and nomadic lifestyle but not direct filiation.<ref>{{harvtxt|Sinor|1990}}</ref>

Some [[Yugur|Uyghurs]] claimed descent from the Xiongnu (according to Chinese history [[Weishu]], the founder of the [[Uyghur Khaganate]] was descended from a Xiongnu ruler),{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=155}} but many contemporary scholars do not consider the modern Uyghurs to be of direct linear descent from the old Uyghur Khaganate because modern [[Uyghur language]] and [[Old Uyghur language]]s are different.<ref name="Tursun">{{cite journal |url=http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Digital-Library/Publications/Detail/?ots591=0c54e3b3-1e9c-be1e-2c24-a6a8c7060233&lng=en&id=105630 |title= The Formation of Modern Uyghur Historiography and Competing Perspectives toward Uyghur History |author= Nabijan Tursun |journal=The China and Eurasia Forum Quarterly |date= 5 July 2023 |volume= 6 |issue= 3 |pages=87–100 }}</ref> Rather, they consider them to be descendants of a number of people, one of them the ancient Uyghurs.<ref name="xinjiang">{{cite book |author1=James A. Millward |author2=Peter C. Perdue |name-list-style=amp |year=2004 |chapter=Chapter 2: Political and Cultural History of the Xinjiang Region through the Late Nineteenth Century |title= Xinjiang: China's Muslim Borderland |editor = S. Frederick Starr |publisher= M. E. Sharpe |pages= 40–41 |isbn= 978-0-7656-1318-9 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GXj4a3gss8wC&pg=PA40 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Susan J. Henders|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fgHlxD4k0z4C&pg=PA135|title=Democratization and Identity: Regimes and Ethnicity in East and Southeast Asia|editor=Susan J. Henders|year=2006|publisher=Lexington Books |page=135|isbn=978-0-7391-0767-6|access-date=9 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The ETIM: China's Islamic Militants and the Global Terrorist Threat|first1=J. Todd|last1=Reed|first2=Diana |last2=Raschke|year=2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-36540-9|page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5I2b_hrJO8sC&pg=PA7}}</ref>

In various kinds of ancient inscriptions on monuments of [[Munmu of Silla]], it is recorded that King Munmu had Xiongnu ancestry. According to several historians, it is possible that there were tribes of [[Koreanic languages|Koreanic]] origin. There are also some Korean researchers that point out that the grave goods of Silla and of the eastern Xiongnu are alike.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Cho Gab-je|date=5 March 2004 |language=ko-kr |script-title=ko:騎馬흉노국가 新羅 연구 趙甲濟(月刊朝鮮 편집장)의 심층취재 내 몸속을 흐르는 흉노의 피|publisher=[[Monthly Chosun]]|url=http://monthly.chosun.com/client/news/viw.asp?nNewsNumb=200403100027&ctcd=&cpage=1|access-date=25 September 2016|author-link= Cho Gab-je}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=김운회|date=30 August 2005 |language=ko-kr |script-title=ko:김운회의 '대쥬신을 찾아서' <23> 금관의 나라, 신라"|publisher=프레시안|url=http://www.pressian.com/article/article.asp?article_num=40050830181724&Section=04|access-date=25 September 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|date=27 February 2009|language=ko-kr|script-title=ko:경주 사천왕사(寺) 사천왕상(四天王像) 왜 4개가 아니라 3개일까|publisher=조선일보 |url=http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/02/26/2009022601873.html|access-date=25 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230090440/http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/02/26/2009022601873.html|archive-date=30 December 2014}}</ref><ref>김창호, 〈문무왕릉비에 보이는 신라인의 조상인식 – 태조성한의 첨보 -〉, 《한국사연구》, 한국사연구회, 1986년</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nl.go.kr/nl/search/SearchDetail.nl?category_code=ct&service=KOLIS&vdkvgwkey=14167918&colltype=YON_ART&place_code_info=132&place_name_info=%EC%97%B0%EC%86%8D%EA%B0%84%ED%96%89%EB%AC%BC%EC%8B%A4(3%EC%B8%B5)&manage_code=MA&shape_code=B&refLoc=portal&category=storage&srchFlag=Y&h_kwd=%E6%96%B0%E7%BE%85%E5%BB%BA%E5%9C%8B%E8%A8%AD%E8%A9%B1%EC%9D%98+%E7%A1%8F%E7%A9%B6%7C4%E8%BC%AF(1972%EB%85%84+5%EC%9B%94),+p.+1-52 |script-title=ko:자료검색>상세_기사 {{!}} 국립중앙도서관 |title= |language=ko |trans-title= |website=www.nl.go.kr|access-date=15 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002190914/http://www.nl.go.kr/nl/search/SearchDetail.nl?category_code=ct&service=KOLIS&vdkvgwkey=14167918&colltype=YON_ART&place_code_info=132&place_name_info=%EC%97%B0%EC%86%8D%EA%B0%84%ED%96%89%EB%AC%BC%EC%8B%A4%283%EC%B8%B5%29&manage_code=MA&shape_code=B&refLoc=portal&category=storage&srchFlag=Y&h_kwd=%E6%96%B0%E7%BE%85%E5%BB%BA%E5%9C%8B%E8%A8%AD%E8%A9%B1%EC%9D%98+%E7%A1%8F%E7%A9%B6%7C4%E8%BC%AF%281972%EB%85%84+5%EC%9B%94%29%2C+p.+1-52 |archive-date=2 October 2018}}</ref>

=== Language isolate theories ===
Turkologist [[Gerhard Doerfer]] has denied any possibility of a relationship between the Xiongnu language and any other known language, even any connection with Turkic or Mongolian.{{sfn|Di Cosmo|2004|p=164}}

== Geographic origins ==
The original geographic location of the Xiongnu is disputed among steppe archaeologists. Since the 1960s, the geographic origin of the Xiongnu has attempted to be traced through an analysis of [[Early Iron Age]] burial constructions. No region has been proven to have [[Morgue|mortuary]] practices that clearly match those of the Xiongnu.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Honeychurch |first=William |title=Thinking Political Communities: The State and Social Stratification among Ancient Nomads of Mongolia |journal=The Anthropological Study of Class and Consciousness |page=47}}</ref>

=== Archaeology ===
[[File:Chinggis Khaan National Museum 02.jpg|thumb|Reconstruction of a Xiongnu burial at the [[Noin-Ula burial site]].]]
In the 1920s, [[Pyotr Kozlov]] oversaw the excavation of royal tombs at the [[Noin-Ula burial site]] in northern Mongolia, dated to around the first century AD. Other Xiongnu sites have been unearthed in [[Inner Mongolia]], such as the [[Ordos culture]]. [[Sinologist]] Otto Maenchen-Helfen has said that depictions of the Xiongnu of [[Transbaikal]]ia and the Ordos commonly show individuals with West Eurasian features.{{sfn|Maenchen-Helfen|1973|pp=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CrUdgzSICxcC/page/n397 370]–371}} Iaroslav Lebedynsky said that West Eurasian depictions in the Ordos region should be attributed to a "Scythian affinity".<ref>{{cite book |last=Lebedynsky |first=Yaroslav |author-link=Iaroslav Lebedynsky |title=Les nomades |date=2007 |publisher=[[:fr:Éditions Errance|Éditions Errance]] |isbn=978-2-87772-346-6 |page=125 |quote=Europoid faces in some depictions of the Ordos, which should be attributed to a Scythian affinity}}</ref>

Portraits found in the [[Noin-Ula burial site|Noin-Ula excavations]] demonstrate other cultural evidence and influences, showing that Chinese and Xiongnu art influenced each other mutually. Some of these embroidered portraits in the Noin-Ula [[kurgan]]s also depict the Xiongnu with long braided hair with wide ribbons, which is seen to be identical with the [[Ashina tribe|Ashina clan]] hair-style.<ref>Camilla Trever, "Excavations in Northern Mongolia (1924–1925)", Leningrad: J. Fedorov Printing House, 1932 [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/museums/shm/trever.pdf]</ref> Well-preserved bodies in Xiongnu and pre-Xiongnu tombs in [[Mongolia]] and southern [[Siberia]] show both East Asian and West Eurasian features.<ref>The Great Empires of the Ancient World – Thomas Harrison – 2009 – page 288</ref>

Analysis of cranial remains from some sites attributed to the Xiongnu have revealed that they had [[dolichocephalic]] skulls with East Asian craniometrical features, setting them apart from neighboring populations in present-day Mongolia.{{sfn|Psarras|2003|p=69}} Russian and Chinese anthropological and craniofacial studies show that the Xiongnu were physically very heterogenous, with six different population clusters showing different degrees of West Eurasian and East Asian physical traits.<ref name="Tumen"/>

[[File:Noin-Ula carpet, animal styleNoin-Ula carpet, animal style.jpg|thumb|[[Noin-Ula burial site|Noin-Ula]] carpet, animal style. 1st century AD.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hermitage Museum |url=https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/11.+Textiles%2C+Tapestry/430781}}</ref>]]
Presently, there exist four fully excavated and well documented cemeteries: [[Ivolga archaeological site|Ivolga]],<ref>A. V. Davydova, Ivolginskii arkheologicheskii kompleks II. Ivolginskii mogil'nik. Arkheologicheskie pamiatniki Siunnu 2 (Sankt-Peterburg 1996). А. В. Давыдова, Иволгинский археологи-ческий комплекс II. Иволгинский могильник. Археологические памятники Сюнну 2 (Санкт-Петербург 1996).</ref> Dyrestui,<ref>S. S. Miniaev, Dyrestuiskii mogil'nik. Arkheologicheskie pamiatniki Siunnu 3 (Sankt-Peterburg 1998). С. С. Миняев, Дырестуйский могильник. Археологические памятники Сюнну 3 (Санкт-Петербург 1998).</ref> Burkhan Tolgoi,<ref>Ts. Törbat, Keramika khunnskogo mogil'nika
Burkhan-Tolgoi. Erdem shinzhilgeenii bichig. Arkheologi, antropologi, ugsaatan sudlal 19,2003, 82–100. Ц. Тѳрбат, Керамика хуннского могильника Бурхан-Толгой. Эрдэм шинжилгээний бичиг. Археологи, антропологи, угсаатан судлал 19, 2003, 82–100.</ref><ref>Ts. Törbat, Tamiryn Ulaan khoshuuny bulsh ba Khünnügiin ugsaatny büreldekhüünii asuudald. Tükhiin setgüül 4, 2003, 6–17. Ц. Төрбат, Тамирын Улаан хошууны булш ба Хүннүгийн угсаатны бүрэлдэхүүний асуудалд. Түүхийн сэтгүүл 4, 2003, 6–17.</ref> and Daodunzi.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Ningxia Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute (寧夏文物考古研究所) |author2=[[Chinese Academy of Social Sciences]] Archaeology Institute Ningxia Archaeology Group |author3=[[Tongxin County]] Cultural Relics Administration (同心縣文物管理所) |script-title=zh:寧夏同心倒墩子匈奴墓地 |title= |language=zh |trans-title= |journal={{lang|zh-hant|考古學報}} [Archaeology Journal] |year=1988 |issue=3 |pages=333–356}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Bryan |title=Xiongnu Archaeology |year=2011 |publisher=Vor- und Fruhgeschichtliche Archaeologie Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn |location=Bonn |isbn=978-3-936490-14-5 |url=http://www.vfgarch.uni-bonn.de/veroeffentlichungen/bonn-bonn-contributions-to-asian-archaeology/bcaa-5-toc |editor-first=Jan |editor-last=Bemmann |access-date=13 December 2012 |archive-date=29 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729150654/http://www.vfgarch.uni-bonn.de/veroeffentlichungen/bonn-bonn-contributions-to-asian-archaeology/bcaa-5-toc }}</ref> Additionally thousands of tombs have been recorded in [[Transbaikal]]ia and Mongolia.

The archaeologists at a Xiongnu cemetery in [[Arkhangai Province]] said the following: <blockquote>"There is no clear indication of the ethnicity of this tomb occupant, but in a similar brick-chambered tomb of the late Eastern Han period at the same cemetery, archaeologists discovered a bronze seal with the official title that the Han government bestowed upon the leader of the Xiongnu. The excavators suggested that these brick chamber tombs all belong to the Xiongnu (Qinghai 1993)."<ref name="Lai 34–43">{{cite journal|last=Lai|first=Guolong|title=The Date of the TLV Mirrors from the Xiongnu Tombs|journal=The Silk Road|volume=4|issue=1|pages=34–43 |url=http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/newsletter/vol4num1/srnewsletter_v4n1.pdf}}</ref></blockquote>Classifications of these burial sites make distinction between two prevailing type of burials: "(1) monumental ramped terrace tombs which are often flanked by smaller "satellite" burials and (2) 'circular' or 'ring' burials."<ref>{{cite book|last=Miller|first=Bryan|title=Xiongnu Archaeology|year=2011|publisher=Vor- und Fruhgeschichtliche Archaologie Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn|location=Bonn|isbn=978-3-936490-14-5|url=http://www.vfgarch.uni-bonn.de/veroeffentlichungen/bonn-bonn-contributions-to-asian-archaeology/bcaa-5-toc|editor=Jan Bemmann|page=23|access-date=13 December 2012|archive-date=29 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729150654/http://www.vfgarch.uni-bonn.de/veroeffentlichungen/bonn-bonn-contributions-to-asian-archaeology/bcaa-5-toc}}</ref> Some scholars consider this a division between "elite" graves and "commoner" graves. Other scholars, find this division too simplistic and not evocative of a true distinction because it shows "ignorance of the nature of the mortuary investments and typically luxuriant burial assemblages [and does not account for] the discovery of other lesser interments that do not qualify as either of these types."<ref>{{cite book |last=Miller |first=Bryan |title=Xiongnu Archaeology |year=2011 |publisher=Vor- und Fruhgeschichtliche Archaologie Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universitat Bonn |location=Bonn |isbn=978-3-936490-14-5 |url=http://www.vfgarch.uni-bonn.de/veroeffentlichungen/bonn-bonn-contributions-to-asian-archaeology/bcaa-5-toc |editor-first=Jan |editor-last=Bemmann |page=24 |access-date=13 December 2012 |archive-date=29 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130729150654/http://www.vfgarch.uni-bonn.de/veroeffentlichungen/bonn-bonn-contributions-to-asian-archaeology/bcaa-5-toc }}</ref>

== Genetics ==
{{See also|Rouran Khaganate#Genetics|Xianbei#Genetics|Donghu people#Genetics|Huns#Genetics|Scythians#Archaeogenetics|Pannonian Avars#Genetics}}

=== Maternal lineages ===
[[File:Uniparental Haplogroup Assignments by Group and Sex-Bias Z Scores on Xiongnu.png|thumb|right|Uniparental haplogroup assignments by group and sex-bias "z" scores of Xiongnu.<ref name="Choongwon"/>]]
A 2003 study found that 89% of Xiongnu maternal lineages are of East Asian origin, while 11% were of West Eurasian origin. However, a 2016 study found that 37.5% of Xiongnu maternal lineages were West Eurasian, in a central Mongolian sample.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Joo-Yup |last2=Kuang |first2=Shuntu |title=A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and Y-DNA Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples |journal=Inner Asia |date=2017 |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=197–239 |doi=10.1163/22105018-12340089 |s2cid=165623743 |issn=1464-8172 |doi-access=free}} "Analysis of the mitochondrial DNA, which is maternally inherited, shows that the Xiongnu remains from this Egyin Gol necropolis consist mainly of Asian lineages (89%). West Eurasian lineages makeup the rest (11%) (Keyser-Tracqui et al. (2003: 258). However, according to a more recent study of ancient human remains from central Mongolia, the Xiongnu population in cen- tral Mongolia possessed a higher frequency of western mitochondrial DNA haplotypes (37.5%) than the Xiongnu from the Egyin Gol necropolis (Rogers 2016: 78)."</ref>

According to Rogers & Kaestle (2022), these studies make clear that the Xiongnu population is extremely similar to the preceding [[Slab Grave culture|Slab Grave]] population, which had a similar frequency of Eastern and Western maternal haplogroups, supporting a hypothesis of continuity from the Slab Grave period to the Xiongnu. They wrote that the bulk of the genetics research indicates that roughly 27% of Xiongnu maternal haplogroups were of West Eurasian origin, while the rest were East Asian.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rogers |first1=Leland Liu |last2=Kaestle |first2=Frederika Ann |title=Analysis of mitochondrial DNA haplogroup frequencies in the population of the slab burial mortuary culture of Mongolia (ca. 1100–300 BCE ) |journal=American Journal of Biological Anthropology |date=2022 |volume=177 |issue=4 |pages=644–657 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.24478 |s2cid=246508594 |language=en |issn=2692-7691|doi-access=free }} " The first pattern is that the slab burial mtDNA frequencies are extremely similar to those of the aggregated Xiongnu populations and relatively similar to those of the various Bronze Age Mongolian populations, strongly supporting a population continuity hypothesis for the region over these time periods (Honeychurch, 2013)"</ref>

Some examples of maternal haplogroups observed in Xiongnu specimens include [[Haplogroup D (mtDNA)#D4|D4b2b4]], [[Haplogroup N (mtDNA)|N9a2a]], [[Haplogroup G (mtDNA)|G3a3]], [[Haplogroup D (mtDNA)#D4|D4a6]] and [[Haplogroup D (mtDNA)#D4|D4b2b2b]].{{sfn|Damgaard et al.|2018 |loc=Supplementary Table 8, Rows 87-88, 94-96}} and [[Haplogroup U (mtDNA)#Haplogroup U2|U2e1]].<ref name=":1"/>

===Paternal lineages===
According to Rogers & Kaestle (2022), roughly 47% of Xiongnu period remains belonged to paternal haplogroups associated with modern West Eurasians, while the rest (53%) belonged to East Asian haplogroups. They observed that this contrasts strongly with the preceding [[Slab Grave culture|Slab Grave]] period, which was dominated by East Asian patrilineages. They suggest that this may reflect an aggressive expansion of people with West Eurasian paternal haplogroups, or perhaps the practice of marriage alliances or cultural networks favoring people with Western patrilines.<ref>{{harvnb|Rogers|Kaestle|2022|ps=:"While during the slab burial period (ca.1100–300 BCE) eastern patrilines seem to have been dominant, in the Xiongnu period about half of the population had western patrilines with virtually no change to the mtDNA gene pool in east–west terms. If sex bias migration patterns were similar with those found in Europe, this increase of western patrilines would be consistent with aggressive expansion of people with western male ancestry (Batini et al., 2017); however, such a pattern could also be due to a gradual nonaggressive assimilation, such as the practice of marriage alliances associated with an expansion of trade or cultural networks that favored people with western patrilines (Honeychurch, 2013)."}}</ref>

Some examples of paternal haplogroups in Xiongnu specimens include [[haplogroup Q (Y-DNA)|Q1b]],<ref>{{cite conference|last1=Kang |first1=L. L. |last2=Jin |first2=T. |last3=Wu |first3=F. |last4=Ao |first4=X. |last5=Wen |first5=S. |last6=Wang |first6=C. |last7=Huang |first7=Y. |last8=Li |first8=X. |last9=Li |first9=H. Y |publisher=American Society of Human Genetics |conference=ASHG 63rd Annual Meeting 22–26 October 2013: Boston|date= 2013 |volume=2041|title=Y chromosomes of ancient Hunnu people and its implication on the phylogeny of East Asian linguistic families}} (Poster abstracts [https://www.ashg.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2013-poster-abstracts.pdf p. 235]; 2041F)</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Knowing the Xiongnu Culture in Eastern Tianshan Mountain from Tomb Heigouliang and Dongheigou Site at the Beginning of Xihan Dynasty|author1=Ren Meng|author2=Wang Jian Xin|date=2011|journal= Xibu Kaogu|pages=252–290}} (Journal: {{lang|zh|西部考古}} {{transliteration|zh|Xibu kaogu}} [Archaeology of the western regions])</ref> [[Haplogroup R1|R1]], [[Haplogroup R1b|R1b]], [[Haplogroup O-M175|O3a]] and [[Haplogroup O-M175|O3a3b2]],{{sfn|Damgaard et al.|2018|loc=Supplementary Table 9, Rows 20-23}} , [[Haplogroup J-M172|J2a]], [[Haplogroup J-M267|J1a]] and [[E1b1b|E1b1b1a]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jeong |first1=Choongwon |last2=Wang |first2=Ke |last3=Wilkin |first3=Shevan |last4=Erdene |first4=Myagmar |last5=Hendy |first5=Jessica |last6=Warinner |first6=Christina |title=A Dynamic 6,000-Year Genetic History of Eurasia's Eastern Steppe |journal=Cell |date=2020 |volume=183 |issue=4 |pages=890–904 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.015 |pmid=33157037 |pmc=7664836 |hdl=21.11116/0000-0007-77BF-D |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

According to Lee & Kuang, the main paternal lineages of Xiongnu Elite remains in the [[Egiin Gol]] valley belonged to the paternal [[Haplogroup N1c1|haplogroups N1c1]], [[Haplogroup Q-M242|Q-M242]], and [[Haplogroup C-M217|C-M217]]. Xiongnu remains from [[Barkol Kazakh Autonomous County|Barkol]] belonged exclusively to haplogroup Q. They argue that the haplogroups C2, Q and N likely formed the major paternal haplogroups of the Xiongnu tribes, while R1a was the most common paternal haplogroup (44.5%) among neighbouring nomads from the Altai mountain, who were probably incorporated into the Xiongnu confederation and may be associated with the [[Jie people]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Joo-Yup |last2=Kuang |first2=Shuntu |date=18 October 2017 |title=A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and y-dna Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/inas/19/2/article-p197_197.xml |journal=Inner Asia |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=197–239 |doi=10.1163/22105018-12340089 |issn=2210-5018}}</ref> Elite Xiongnu samples from Duurlig Nars belonged to [[Haplogroup R1a|R1a1]] and to C-M217, while elite Xiongnu remains from Tamir Ulaan Khoshuu beloged to [[Haplogroup R1a#R1a1a1b2 (R-Z93) (Asia)|R1a-Z95]], [[Haplogroup R1a#R1a1a1b2 (R-Z93) (Asia)|R1a-Z2125]], [[Haplogroup Q-M120|Q1a-M120]], J1 and [[Haplogroup N-M231#N1a1 (M46/Page70/Tat, L395/M2080)|N1a1]].<ref name=":1">{{harvnb|Kim et al.|2010|p=429}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Keyser |first1=C. |last2=Zvénigorosky |first2=V. |display-authors=etal |year=2020 |title=Genetic evidence suggests a sense of family, parity and conquest in the Xiongnu Iron Age nomads of Mongolia |url=https://www.podgorski.com/main/assets/documents/Keyser_2020.pdf |journal=Human Genetics |volume=140 |issue=2 |pages=349–359 |doi=10.1007/s00439-020-02209-4 |pmid=32734383 |s2cid=220881540}}</ref> According to Juhyeon Lee sample DA39, a likely ''[[chanyu]]'' of the Xiongnu empire from Gol Mod 2 site in central-north Mongolia was assigned to [[Haplogroup R1 (Y-DNA)|haplogroup R1]].<ref name="JLEE" /> Högström et al. (2024) later reassigned DA39 to haplogroup [[Haplogroup R1a#R1a1a1b2 (R-Z93) (Asia)|R-Y56311]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foundation |first=Kyrgyz American |date=2024-10-17 |title=The Huns in Scandinavia: A New Approach Centered Around Modern DNA - Karl O. Högström |url=https://www.kyrgyzamericanfoundation.org/post/vikinghuns |access-date=2025-11-06 |website=Kyrgyz American |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Högström |first=Karl O. |date=2024-09-09 |title=The Huns in Scandinavia: A new approach centered around modern DNA |url=https://www.academia.edu/87950565/The_Huns_in_Scandinavia_A_new_approach_centered_around_modern_DNA |journal=Reconstructing the Past: Journal of Historical Studies |doi=10.54414/XNAJ8079}}</ref>

===Autosomal ancestry===
A study published in the ''[[American Journal of Physical Anthropology]]'' in October 2006 detected significant genetic continuity between the examined individuals at Egyin Gol and modern Mongolians.{{sfn|Keyser-Tracqui et al.|2006|p=272}}

[[File:Xiongnu ancestry.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Mapping of Xiongnu ancestry per burial sites in Mongolia. [[Ancient Northeast Asians]] ([[Ancient Northeast Asians|ANA]] <small>{{Color sample|green|0.6}}</small>, [[Khövsgöl LBA|Khövsgöl]] <small>{{Color sample|#9400D3|0.6}}</small>) form the main contribution, followed by the hybrid [[Saka]] culture ([[Chandman culture|Chandman]] <small>{{Color sample|pink|0.6}}</small>), and smaller contributions of [[Han people|Han]], [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|BMAC]] and [[Sarmatian]].<ref name="Choongwon"/>]]
A genetic study published in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' in May 2018 examined the remains of five Xiongnu.{{sfn|Damgaard et al.|2018|loc=Supplementary Table 2, Rows 28-32}} The study concluded that Xiongnu confederation was genetically heterogeneous, and Xiongnu individuals belonging to two distinct groups, one being of primarily [[East Asian]] origin (associated with the earlier [[Slab-grave culture]]) and the other presenting considerable admixture levels with West Eurasian (possibly from Central Saka) sources. The evidence suggested that the [[Huns]] probably emerged through minor male-driven geneflow into the Saka through westward migrations of the Xiongnu.<ref>{{harvnb|Damgaard et al.|2018|pp=371–374}}: "Principal Component Analyses and D-statistics suggest that the Xiongnu individuals belong to two distinct groups, one being of East Asian origin and the other presenting considerable admixture levels with West Eurasian sources... We find that Central Sakas are accepted as a source for these 'western-admixed' Xiongnu in a single-wave model. In line with this finding, no East Asian gene flow is detected compared to Central Sakas as these form a clade with respect to the East Asian Xiongnu in a D-statistic, and furthermore, cluster closely together in the PCA (Figure 2)... Overall, our data show that the Xiongnu confederation was genetically heterogeneous, and that the Huns emerged following minor male-driven East Asian gene flow into the preceding Sakas that they invaded... As such our results support the contention that the disappearance of the Inner Asian Scythians and Sakas around two thousand years ago was a cultural transition that coincided with the westward migration of the Xiongnu. This Xiongnu invasion also led to the displacement of isolated remnant groups—related to Late Bronze Age pastoralists—that had remained on the south-eastern side of the Tian Shan mountains."</ref>

A study published in November 2020 examined 60 early and late Xiongnu individuals from across Mongolia. The study found that the Xiongnu resulted from the admixture of three different clusters from the Mongolian region. The two early genetic clusters are "early Xiongnu_west" from the [[Altai Mountains]] (formed at 92% by the hybrid Eurasian [[Chandman]] ancestry, and 8% [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|BMAC]] ancestry), and "early Xiongnu_rest" from the [[Mongolia]]n Plateau (individuals with primarily [[Ulaanzuukh]]-[[Slab Grave]] ancestry, or mixed with "early Xiongnu_west"). The later third cluster named "late Xiongnu" has even higher heterogenity, with the continued combination of [[Chandman]] and [[Ulaanzuukh]]-[[Slab Grave]] ancestry, and additional geneflow from [[Sarmatian]] and [[Han Chinese]] sources. Their uniparental haplogroup assignments also showed heterogenetic influence on their ethnogenesis as well as their connection with Huns.<ref name="Choongwon">{{Cite journal|last1=Jeong|first1=Choongwon|last2=Wang|first2=Ke|last3=Wilkin|first3=Shevan|last4=Taylor|first4=William Timothy Treal|last5=Miller|first5=Bryan K.|last6=Bemmann|first6=Jan H.|last7=Stahl|first7=Raphaela|last8=Chiovelli|first8=Chelsea|last9=Knolle|first9=Florian|last10=Ulziibayar|first10=Sodnom|last11=Khatanbaatar|first11=Dorjpurev|date=12 November 2020|title=A Dynamic 6,000-Year Genetic History of Eurasia's Eastern Steppe|journal=Cell|language=English|volume=183|issue=4|pages=890–904.e29|doi=10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.015|issn=0092-8674|pmid=33157037|pmc=7664836 }} [[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px]] Text was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License].
</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Maróti |first1=Zoltán |last2=Neparáczki |first2=Endre |last3=Schütz |first3=Oszkár |date=25 May 2022 |title=The genetic origin of Huns, Avars, and conquering Hungarians |journal=[[Current Biology]] |language=English |volume= 32|issue= 13|pages= 2858–2870.e7|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.093 |pmid=35617951 |s2cid=249050620|doi-access=free |bibcode=2022CBio...32E2858M }}</ref> In contrast, the later [[Mongol Empire|Mongols]] had a much higher eastern Eurasian ancestry as a whole, similar to that of modern-day Mongolic-speaking populations.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Jeong|first1=Choongwon |date=12 November 2020|title=A Dynamic 6,000-Year Genetic History of Eurasia's Eastern Steppe|journal=Cell|language=English|volume=183|issue=4 |pages=890–904.e29 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.015|issn=0092-8674|pmid=33157037|pmc=7664836 |quote=The Xiongnu emerged from the mixing of these populations and those from surrounding regions. By comparison, the Mongols exhibit much higher eastern Eurasian ancestry, resembling present-day Mongolic-speaking populations.}}</ref>

A Xiongnu remain (GD1-4) analysed in a 2024 study was found to be entirely derived from [[Ancient Northeast Asians]] without any West Eurasian-associated ancestry. The sample clustered closely with a [[Göktürks|Göktürk]] remain (GD1-1) from the later Turkic period.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Juhyeon |last2=Sato |first2=Takehiro |last3=Tajima |first3=Atsushi |last4=Amgalantugs |first4=Tsend |last5=Tsogtbaatar |first5=Batmunkh |last6=Nakagome |first6=Shigeki |last7=Miyake |first7=Toshihiko |last8=Shiraishi |first8=Noriyuki |last9=Jeong |first9=Choongwon |last10=Gakuhari |first10=Takashi |date=1 March 2024 |title=Medieval genomes from eastern Mongolia share a stable genetic profile over a millennium |url=https://www.pivotscipub.com/hpgg/4/1/0004 |journal=Human Population Genetics and Genomics |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.47248/hpgg2404010004 |issn=2770-5005|doi-access=free }}</ref>

====Relationship between ethnicity and status among the Xiongnu====
[[File:Map of Mongolia (Early Iron Age).png|thumb|left|upright=1.45|Pre-Xiongnu populations. The [[Slab Grave culture|Slab-grave]] people were uniformly of [[Ancient Northeast Asian]] origin ([[Ancient Northeast Asians|ANA]] <small>{{Color sample|green|0.6}}</small>), while [[Saka]] populations to the west combined [[Sintashta]] (<small>{{Color sample|orange|0.6}}</small>) and Ancient Northeast Asian ([[Baikal EBA]] <small>{{Color sample|#3CB371|0.6}}</small>) ancestry, with some [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|BMAC]] <small>{{Color sample|#8B4513|0.6}}</small> component.]]
Although the Xiongnu were ethnically heterogeneous as a whole, it appears that variability was highly related to social status. Genetic heterogeneity was highest among retainers of low status, as identified by their smaller and peripheral tombs. These retainers mainly displayed ancestry related to the [[Chandman culture|Chandman/Uyuk culture]] (characterized by a hybrid Eurasian gene pool combining the genetic profile of the [[Sintashta culture]] and Baikal hunter-gatherers ([[Baikal EBA]])), or various combinations of [[Chandman culture|Chandman/Uyuk]] and Ancient Northeast Asian [[Ulaanzuukh]]/[[Slab Grave]] profiles.<ref name="JLEE"/>

On the contrary, high status Xiongnu individuals tended to have less genetic diversity, and their ancestry was essentially derived from the Eastern Eurasian [[Ulaanzuukh]]/[[Slab Grave culture]], or alternatively from the [[Xianbei]], suggesting multiple sources for their Eastern ancestry. High Eastern ancestry was more common among high status female samples, while low status male samples tended to be more diverse and having higher Western ancestry.<ref name="JLEE"/> DA39, a likely ''[[chanyu]]'' identified by his prestigious tomb, was shown to have had similar ancestry as a high status female in the "western frontiers", deriving about 39.3% [[Slab Grave culture|Slab Grave]] (or [[Ancient Northeast Asian]]) genetic ancestry, 51.9% [[Han people|Han]] (or Yellow River farmers) ancestry, with the rest (8.8%) being [[Saka]] ([[Chandman culture|Chandman]]) ancestry.<ref name="JLEE">{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Juhyeon |last2=Miller |first2=Bryan K. |last3=Bayarsaikhan |first3=Jamsranjav |last4=Johannesson |first4=Erik |last5=Ventresca Miller |first5=Alicia |last6=Warinner |first6=Christina |last7=Jeong |first7=Choongwon |date=14 April 2023 |title=Genetic population structure of the Xiongnu Empire at imperial and local scales |journal=Science Advances |language=en |volume=9 |issue=15 |article-number=eadf3904 |bibcode=2023SciA....9F3904L |doi=10.1126/sciadv.adf3904 |issn=2375-2548 |pmc=10104459 |pmid=37058560 |quote="In this genome-wide archaeogenetic study, we find high genetic heterogeneity among late Xiongnu-era individuals at two cemeteries located along the far western frontier of the Xiongnu empire and describe patterns of genetic diversity related to social status. Overall, we find that genetic heterogeneity is highest among lower-status individuals. In particular, the satellite graves surrounding the elite square tombs at TAK show extreme levels of genetic heterogeneity, suggesting that these individuals, who were likely low-ranking retainers, were drawn from diverse parts of the empire. In contrast, the highest-status individuals at the two sites tended to have lower genetic diversity and a high proportion of ancestry deriving from EIA Slab Grave groups, suggesting that these groups may have disproportionately contributed to the ruling elite during the formation of the Xiongnu empire." (...) "a chanyu, or ruler of the empire. Like the elite women at the western frontier, he also had very high eastern Eurasian ancestry (deriving 39.3 and 51.9% from SlabGrave1 and Han_2000BP, respectively, and the rest from Chandman_IA; data file S2C)" (...) "Chandman_IA was representative of people in far western Mongolia associated with Sagly/Uyuk (ca. 500 to 200 BCE), Saka (ca. 900 to 200 BCE), and Pazyryk (ca. 500 to 200 BCE) groups in Siberia and Kazakhstan." (...) "This further suggests the existence of an aristocracy in the Xiongnu empire, that elite status and power was concentrated within specific subsets of the broader population."... Although not conclusive, this suggests that the ANA ancestry source of the Xiongnu-period individuals may not be exclusively traced back to the Slab Grave culture but may also include nearby groups with a similar ANA genetic profile, such as the Xianbei. ... Last, our findings also confirm that the highest-status individuals in this study were females, supporting previous observations that Xiongnu women played an especially prominent role in the expansion and integration of new territories along the empire's frontier.}}</ref> 
{{clear}}

== Culture ==
===Art===
[[File:Plaque with 3 Ibexes, 2nd-1st century BCE, Xiongnu.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Belt buckle with three [[Ibex]]es, 2nd–1st century BC, Xiongnu.<ref>{{cite web |title=Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/49444 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref>{{sfn|Bunker|2002|p=136}}{{sfn|Bunker|2002|p=30}}]]
[[File:Belt buckle with animal combat scene, 2nd-1st century BCE, North China.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Belt buckle with animal combat scene, 2nd – 1st century BC, made in North China for the Xiongnu.{{sfn|Bunker|2002|loc=pp. 29, 101; item 68}}<ref name="metmuseum.org"/>]]
[[File:Belt Buckle with Zoomorphic Design, North China, 3rd-2nd century BCE.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|Belt Buckle with [[Ordos culture|nomadic]]-inspired [[animal style|zoomorphic design]], manufactured in China for the Xiongnu.{{sfn|Bunker|2002|loc=p. 100, item 67}}{{sfn|Bunker|2002|p=29}}]]
Within the Xiongnu culture more variety is visible from site to site than from "era" to "era," in terms of Chinese chronology, yet all form a whole that is distinct from that of the Han and other peoples of the non-Chinese north.{{sfn|Psarras|2003|p={{page needed|date=April 2022}}}} In some instances, the iconography cannot be used as the main cultural identifier, because art depicting animal predation is common among the steppe peoples. An example of animal predation associated with Xiongnu culture is that of a tiger carrying dead prey.{{sfn|Psarras|2003|p={{page needed|date=April 2022}}}} A similar motif appears in work from [[Maoqinggou]], a site which is presumed to have been under Xiongnu political control but is still clearly non-Xiongnu. In the Maoqinggou example, the prey is replaced with an extension of the tiger's foot. The work also depicts a cruder level of execution; Maoqinggou work was executed in a rounder, less detailed style.{{sfn|Psarras|2003|p={{page needed|date=April 2022}}}} In its broadest sense, Xiongnu iconography of animal predation includes examples such as the gold headdress from Aluchaideng and gold earrings with a turquoise and jade inlay discovered in [[Xigoupan]], Inner Mongolia.{{sfn|Psarras|2003|p={{page needed|date=April 2022}}}}

Xiongnu art is harder to distinguish from [[Saka]] or [[Scythian art]]. There is a similarity present in stylistic execution, but Xiongnu art and Saka art often differ in terms of iconography. Saka art does not appear to have included predation scenes, especially with dead prey, or same-animal combat. Additionally, Saka art included elements not common to Xiongnu iconography, such as winged, horned horses.{{sfn|Psarras|2003|p={{page needed|date=April 2022}}}} The two cultures also used two different kinds of bird heads. Xiongnu depictions of birds tend to have a medium-sized eye and beak, and they are also depicted with ears, while Saka birds have a pronounced eye and beak, and no ears.{{sfn|Psarras|2003|pp=102–103}} Some scholars{{who|date=November 2014}} claim these differences are indicative of cultural differences. Scholar Sophia-Karin Psarras suggests that Xiongnu images of animal predation, specifically tiger-and-prey, are a spiritual representation of death and rebirth, and that same-animal combat is representative of the acquisition or maintenance of power.{{sfn|Psarras|2003|pp=102–103}}

=== Rock art and writing ===
[[File:Fig6Ishjamts p166R1.gif|thumb|upright=0.5|left|2nd century BC – 2nd century AD characters of Xiongnu-[[Xianbei]] script (Mongolia and Inner Mongolia).{{sfn|Ishjamts|1996|loc=p. 166, Fig 5}}]]
The rock art of the [[Yin Mountains|Yin]] and [[Helan Mountains]] is dated from the 9th millennium BC to the 19th century AD. It consists mainly of engraved signs (petroglyphs) and only minimally of painted images.{{sfn|Demattè|2006}}

[[Records of the Grand Historian|Chinese sources]] indicate that the Xiongnu did not have an ideographic form of writing like Chinese, but in the 2nd century BC, a renegade Chinese dignitary Yue "taught the [[Shanyu]] to write official letters to the Chinese court on a wooden tablet {{Convert|31|cm|in|abbr=on}} long, and to use a seal and large-sized folder." The same sources tell that when the Xiongnu noted down something or transmitted a message, they made cuts on a piece of wood ('ke-mu'), and they also mention a "Hu script" (vol. [[:zh:s:史記/卷110|110]]). At Noin-Ula and other Xiongnu burial sites in Mongolia and the region north of Lake Baikal, among the objects discovered during excavations conducted in 1924 and 1925 were over 20 carved characters. Most of these characters are either identical or very similar to letters of the [[Old Turkic alphabet]] of the Early Middle Ages found on the Eurasian steppes. From this, some specialists conclude that the Xiongnu used a script similar to the ancient Eurasian runiform, and that this alphabet was a basis for later Turkic writing.{{sfn|Ishjamts|1996|loc=p. 166, Fig 6}}

=== Religion and diet ===
According to the ''[[Book of Han]]'', the Xiongnu called Heaven (天) 'Chēnglí,' (撐犁)<ref>Book of Han, Vol. 94-I, 匈奴謂天為「撐犁」，謂子為「孤塗」，單于者，廣大之貌也.</ref> a Chinese transcription of [[Tengri]]. The Xiongnu were a nomadic people. From their lifestyle of herding flocks and their horse-trade with China, it can be concluded that their diet consisted mainly of [[Lamb and mutton|mutton]], [[horse meat]] and wild geese that were shot down.

Historical evidence gives reason to believe that, from the 2nd century BC, proto-Mongol peoples (the Xiongnu, [[Xianbei]], and [[Khitan people|Khitans]]) were familiar with Buddhism. Remains of Buddhist [[prayer beads]] were found in a Xiongnu grave in [[Ivolginsky District]].<ref name="a">Александр Берзин, Тибетский буддизм: история и перспективы развития, M., 1992 (Alexandr Berzin, ''Tibetan Buddhism: History and Future Prospects'', Moscow 1992; Буддизм, Л. Л. Абаева, М., Республика, 1991 (''Buddhism'', L.L. Abaeva, Respublika, Moscow 1991)</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Ban Yong]]
* [[Ethnic groups in Chinese history]]
* [[History of the Han dynasty]]
* [[List of largest empires]]
* [[Chanyu#List of Xiongnu chanyus|List of Xiongnu chanyus]]
* [[Nomadic empire]]
* [[Ordos culture]]
* [[Chanyu#Chanyu family trees|Rulers family tree]]
* [[Zubu]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}
{{Clear}}

== References ==
{{Reflist |30em}}

== Sources ==
=== Primary sources ===
{{Refbegin |30em |indent=yes}}
* [[Ban Gu]] et al., ''[[Book of Han]]'', esp. vol. 94, [[:zh:s:漢書/卷094上|part 1]], [[:zh:s:漢書/卷094下|part 2]].
* [[Fan Ye (historian)|Fan Ye]] et al., ''[[Book of the Later Han]]'', esp. [[:zh:s:後漢書/卷89|vol. 89]].
* [[Sima Qian]] et al., ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'', esp. [[:zh:s:史記/卷110|vol. 110]].
{{Refend}}

=== Other sources consulted ===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{cite book |last=Adas |first=Michael |year=2001 |title=Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History |publisher=American Historical Association/Temple University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Bailey |first=Harold W. |author-link=Harold Walter Bailey |year=1985 |title=''Indo-Scythian Studies: being Khotanese Texts'', VII |url=https://archive.org/details/EtymologyOfXiongnuNamesByTheLateH.w.Bailey |publisher=Cambridge University Press |jstor=312539 |access-date=30 May 2015}}
* {{cite book |last=Barfield |first=Thomas J. |year=1989 |title=The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, 221 BC to AD 1757 |publisher=Basil Blackwell}}
* {{cite book |last=Beckwith |first=Christopher I. |author-link=Christopher I. Beckwith |date=16 March 2009 |title=Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jG1eHe3y4EC |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-13589-2 |access-date=30 May 2015}}
* {{cite book |last=Bentley |first=Jerry |year=1993 |title=Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times |place=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Bunker |first=Emma C. |title=Nomadic Art of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes: The Eugene V. Thaw and Other Notable New York Collections |location=New York |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://archive.org/details/NomadicArtoftheEasternEurasianSteppesTheEugeneVThawandOtherNotableNewYorkCollection/page/n43/mode/2up |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-300-09688-0 |oclc=819761397 |via=Internet Archive}} ({{cite web |title=Via Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries |url=http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/96120/rec/302 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203033950/http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/96120/rec/302 |archive-date=3 December 2013 |access-date=27 December 2021}})
* {{cite book |last=Christian |first=David |title=A history of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, Vol. 1: Inner Eurasia from prehistory to the Mongol Empire |publisher=Blackwell |year=1998}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Damgaard |first1=P. B. |last2=Marchi |first2=N. |s2cid=13670282 |display-authors=1 |date=9 May 2018 |title=137 ancient human genomes from across the Eurasian steppes |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0094-2 |access-date=11 April 2020 |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |publisher=[[Nature Research]] |volume=557 |issue=7705 |pages=369–373 |bibcode=2018Natur.557..369D |doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0094-2 |pmid=29743675 |hdl=1887/3202709 |ref={{harvid|Damgaard et al.|2018}} |hdl-access=free}}
* {{cite book |last=Demattè |first=Paola |year=2006 |chapter=Writing the Landscape: Petroglyphs of Inner Mongolia and Ningxia Province (China) |title=Beyond the steppe and the sown: proceedings of the 2002 University of Chicago Conference on Eurasian Archaeology |editor=David L. Peterson |display-editors=et al |publisher=Brill |series=Colloquia Pontica: series on the archaeology and ancient history of the Black Sea area |volume=13 |pages=300–313}} (Proceedings of the First International Conference of Eurasian Archaeology, University of Chicago, 3–4 May 2002.)
* {{cite book |last=Di Cosmo |first=Nicola |year=1999 |chapter=The Northern Frontier in Pre-Imperial China |title=The Cambridge History of Ancient China |editor=Michael Loewe |name-list-style=and |editor2=Edward Shaughnessy |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Di Cosmo |first=Nicola |year=2002 |title=Ancient China and its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History |publisher=Cambridge University Press}} (original edition)
* {{cite book |last=Di Cosmo |first=Nicola |year=2004 |title=Ancient China and its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History |publisher=Cambridge University Press}} (First paperback edition)
* {{cite journal |last1=Fairbank |first1=J.K. |last2=Têng |first2=S.Y. |title=On the Ch'ing Tributary System |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |volume=6 |number=2 |pages=135–246 |year=1941 |doi=10.2307/2718006 |jstor=2718006}}
* {{cite journal |last=Geng |first=Shimin [耿世民] |journal=Yu Yan Yu Fan Yi |script-title=zh:阿尔泰共同语、匈奴语探讨 |trans-title=On Altaic Common Language and Xiongnu Language |script-journal=zh:语言与翻译（汉文版） |trans-journal=Language and Translation |year=2005 |issue=2 |issn=1001-0823 |oclc=123501525 |url=http://scholar.ilib.cn/A-QCode~yyyfy200502001.html |archive-date=25 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225170056/http://scholar.ilib.cn/A-QCode~yyyfy200502001.html}}
* {{cite book |last=Golden |first=Peter B. |year=1992 |title=An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis and State-Formation in Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East |isbn=978-3-447-03274-2 |chapter=Chapter VI – The Uyğur Qağante (742–840) |publisher=O. Harrassowitz |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontohi00gold |url-access=limited}}
* {{Cite book |last=Grousset |first=Rene |year=1970 |title=The Empire of the Steppes |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-1304-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof}}
* Hall, Mark & Minyaev, Sergey. Chemical Analyses of Xiong-nu Pottery: A Preliminary Study of Exchange and Trade on the Inner Asian Steppes. In: ''Journal of Archaeological Science'' (2002) 29, pp.&nbsp;135–144
* {{cite book |last=Harmatta |first=János |author-link=János Harmatta |chapter=Conclusion |editor1-last=Harmatta |editor1-first=János |editor1-link=János Harmatta |date=1 January 1994 |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations, 700 B. C. to A. D. 250 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9U6RlVVjpakC |publisher=[[UNESCO]] |pages=485–492 |isbn=978-92-3-102846-5 |access-date=29 May 2015}}
* {{cite book |last=Harmatta |first=János |author-link=János Harmatta |chapter=The Emergence of the Indo-Iranians: The Indo-Iranian Languages |editor1-last=Dani |editor1-first=A. H. |editor1-link=Ahmad Hasan Dani |editor2-last=Masson |editor2-first=V. M. |date=1992 |title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Dawn of Civilization: Earliest Times to 700 B. C. |url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0009/000944/094466e.pdf#xml=http://www.unesco.org/ulis/cgi-bin/ulis.pl?database=&set=4DC27DB7_0_203&hits_rec=10&hits_lng=eng |publisher=[[UNESCO]] |pages=346–370 |isbn=978-92-3-102719-2 |access-date=29 May 2015}}
* {{cite book |last=Hucker |first=Charles O. |year=1975 |title=China's Imperial Past: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=0-8047-2353-2 |quote="The proto-Turkic Hsiung-nu were now challenged by other alien groups — proto-Tibetans, proto-Mongol tribes called the Hsien-pi, and separate proto-Turks called To-pa (Toba)."}}
* {{cite book |last=Ishjamts |first=N. |year=1996 |chapter=Nomads In Eastern Central Asia |title=History of civilizations of Central Asia |series=Volume 2: The Development of Sedentary and Nomadic Civilizations, 700 bc to ad 250 |editor=Janos Harmatta |display-editors=et al |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=92-3-102846-4 |oclc=928730707 |pages=151–170}}
* {{cite book |last=Jankowski |first=Henryk |author-link=:pl:Henryk Jankowski (turkolog) |date=2006 |title=Historical-Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Russian Habitation Names of the Crimea |series=Handbuch der Orientalistik [HdO], 8: Central Asia; 15. |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=978-90-04-15433-9}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Keyser-Tracqui |first1=Christine |last2=Crubézy |first2=Eric |display-authors=1 |date=October 2006 |title=Population origins in Mongolia: genetic structure analysis of ancient and modern DNA |journal=[[American Journal of Physical Anthropology]] |publisher=[[American Association of Physical Anthropologists]] |volume=131 |issue=2 |pages=272–281 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.20429 |pmid=16596591 |ref={{harvid|Keyser-Tracqui et al.|2006}}}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Kim |first1=Kijeong |last2=Brenner |first2=Charles H. |display-authors=1 |date=July 2010 |title=A western Eurasian male is found in 2000-year-old elite Xiongnu cemetery in Northeast Mongolia |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/41104159_A_Western_Eurasian_Male_Is_Found_in_2000-Year-Old_Elite_Xiongnu_Cemetery_in_Northeast_Mongolia |journal=[[American Journal of Physical Anthropology]] |publisher=[[American Association of Physical Anthropologists]] |volume=142 |issue=3 |pages=429–440 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.21242 |pmid=20091844 |ref={{harvid|Kim et al.|2010}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Loewe |first=Michael |year=1974 |chapter=The campaigns of Han Wu-ti |title=Chinese ways in warfare |editor-first1=Frank A. Jr. |editor-last1=Kierman |editor-first2=John K. |editor-last2=Fairbank |publisher=Harvard Univ. Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Maenchen-Helfen |first=Otto |author-link=Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen |year=1973 |title=The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture |edition=1st |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |location=Berkeley |isbn=0-520-01596-7 |lccn=79094985 |oclc=801712 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CrUdgzSICxcC/page/n5 |access-date=2 June 2025}}
* {{cite book |last=Pearce |first=Scott |title=Northern Wei (386-534): A New Form of Empire in East Asia |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2023}}
* {{cite journal |last=Psarras |first=Sophia-Karin |title=Han and Xiongnu: A Reexamination of Cultural and Political Relations |journal=Monumenta Serica |volume=51 |year=2003 |pages=55–236 |jstor=40727370 |s2cid=156676644 |doi=10.1080/02549948.2003.11731391}}
* {{cite journal |last=Pulleyblank |first=Edwin G. |author-link=Edwin G. Pulleyblank |year=1994 |title=Ji Hu: Indigenous Inhabitants of Shaanbei and Western Shanxi |journal=Opuscula Altaica: Essays Presented in Honor of Henry Schwarz |volume=19 |pages=499–531 |url=https://cedar.wwu.edu/easpress/18/}}
* {{cite journal |last=Pulleyblank |first=Edwin G. |author-link=Edwin G. Pulleyblank |url=http://www.dartmouth.edu/~earlychina/docs/2008/ec25_pulleyblank.pdf |title=Ji 姬 and Jiang 姜: The Role of Exogamic Clans in the Organization of the Zhou Polity |journal=Early China |volume=25 |issue=25 |pages=1–27 |year=2000 |doi=10.1017/S0362502800004259 |s2cid=162159081 |access-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171118181857/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~earlychina/docs/2008/ec25_pulleyblank.pdf |archive-date=18 November 2017}}
* {{cite journal |last=Schuessler |first=Axel |title=Phonological Notes on Hàn Period Transcriptions of Foreign Names and Words |journal=Studies in Chinese and Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Dialect, Phonology, Transcription and Text |series=Language and Linguistics Monograph Series |issue=53 |publisher=Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica |location=Taipei, Taiwan |year=2014 |url=http://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/Files/LL/UploadFiles/MonoFullText/Studies%20in%20Chinese%20and%20Sino-Tibetan%20Linguistics.pdf |access-date=27 December 2021 |archive-date=7 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607101617/http://www.ling.sinica.edu.tw/Files/LL/UploadFiles/MonoFullText/Studies%20in%20Chinese%20and%20Sino-Tibetan%20Linguistics.pdf}}
*{{cite web |author=State Hermitage Museum |year=2007 |url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_2_7.html |title=Prehistoric Art - Early Nomads of the Altaic Region |publisher=The Hermitage Museum |access-date=31 July 2007 |archive-date=22 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070622035146/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_2_7.html}}
* {{Cite book |last=Tang |first=Changru |script-title=zh:《魏晋南北朝史论丛》 |publisher=[[Commercial Press]] |date=December 2010 |isbn=978-7-100-07451-3 |location=Beijing |language=zh}} Chapters:
** 〈魏晋杂胡考 一 屠各〉
** 〈魏晋杂胡考 四 乌丸〉
** 〈魏晋杂胡考 二 卢水胡〉
* {{cite book |editor-last=Whitehouse |editor-first=Ruth |title=Macmillan Dictionary of Archaeology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TDJdDwAAQBAJ |date=2016 |publisher=[[Macmillan Education]] |isbn=978-1-349-07589-8}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}
* {{cite book |last=Wink |first=A. |year=2002 |title=Al-Hind: making of the Indo-Islamic World |publisher=Brill |isbn=0-391-04174-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Yap |first=Joseph P. |year=2009 |title=Wars with the Xiongnu: A translation from Zizhi tongjian |publisher=AuthorHouse |isbn=978-1-4490-0604-4}} AuthorHouse.
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
{{Library resources box}}
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* Davydova, Anthonina. The Ivolga archaeological complex. Part 1. The Ivolga fortress. In: ''Archaeological sites of the Xiongnu'', vol. 1. St Petersburg, 1995.
* Davydova, Anthonina. The Ivolga archaeological complex. Part 2. The Ivolga cemetery. In: ''Archaeological sites of the Xiongnu'', vol. 2. St Petersburg, 1996.
* {{in lang|ru}} Davydova, Anthonina & Minyaev Sergey. The complex of archaeological sites near Dureny village. In: ''Archaeological sites of the Xiongnu'', vol. 5. St Petersburg, 2003.
* Davydova, Anthonina & Minyaev Sergey. The Xiongnu Decorative bronzes. In: ''Archaeological sites of the Xiongnu'', vol. 6. St Petersburg, 2003.
* {{cite journal |last1=Keyser-Tracqui |first1=Christine |last2=Crubézy |first2=Eric |display-authors=1 |date=July 2003 |title=Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA Analysis of a 2,000-Year-Old Necropolis in the Egyin Gol Valley of Mongolia |journal=[[American Journal of Human Genetics]] |publisher=[[Cell Press]] |volume=73 |issue=2 |pages=247–260 |doi=10.1086/377005 |pmc=1180365 |pmid=12858290 |ref={{harvid|Keyser-Tracqui et al.|2003}}}}
* {{in lang|hu}} Helimski, Eugen. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090225053205/http://ludens.elte.hu/~briseis/finnugor/egyestort/szamojed.html "A szamojéd népek vázlatos története"] (Short History of the Samoyedic peoples). In: ''The History of the Finno-Ugric and Samoyedic Peoples''. 2000, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
* {{cite journal |author-link=Walter Bruno Henning |last=Henning |first=W. B. |date=1948 |jstor=608717 |title=The date of the Sogdian ancient letters |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |volume=12 |issue=3–4 |pages=601–615 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00083178 |s2cid=161867825}}
* {{in lang|ru}} Kiuner (Kjuner, Küner) [Кюнер], N.V. 1961. ''Китайские известия о народах Южной Сибири, Центральной Азии и Дальнего Востока'' (Chinese reports about peoples of Southern Siberia, Central Asia, and Far East). Moscow.
* {{in lang|ru}} Klyashtorny S.G. [Кляшторный С.Г.] 1964. ''Древнетюркские рунические памятники как источник по истории Средней Азии''. (Ancient Türkic runiform monuments as a source for the history of Central Asia). Moscow: Nauka.
* {{in lang|ru}} Kradin , Nikolay. 2002. ''"Hun Empire"''. Acad. 2nd ed., updated and added., Moscow: Logos, {{ISBN|5-94010-124-0}}
* Kradin, Nikolay. 2005. Social and Economic Structure of the Xiongnu of the Trans-Baikal Region. ''[[Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia]]'', No 1 (21), p.&nbsp;79–86.
* Kradin, Nikolay. 2012. New Approaches and Challenges for the Xiongnu Studies. In: ''Xiongnu and its eastward Neighbours''. Seoul, p.&nbsp;35–51.
* {{in lang|de}} Liu Mau-tsai. 1958. ''Die chinesischen Nachrichten zur Geschichte der Ost-Türken (T'u-küe)''. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
* Minyaev, Sergey. On the origin of the Xiongnu // Bulletin of International association for the study of the culture of Central Asia, UNESCO. Moscow, 1985, No. 9.
* Minyaev, Sergey. News of Xiongnu Archaeology // Das Altertum, vol. 35. Berlin, 1989.
* Minyaev, Sergey. "Niche Grave Burials of the Xiong-nu Period in Central Asia", Information Bulletin, Inter-national Association for the Cultures of Central Asia 17 (1990): 91–99.
* Minyaev, Sergey. The excavation of Xiongnu Sites in the Buryatia Republic// ''Orientations'', vol. 26, n. 10, Hong Kong, November 1995.
* Minyaev, Sergey. Les Xiongnu// Dossiers d' archaeologie, # 212. Paris 1996.
* Minyaev, Sergey. Archaeologie des Xiongnu en Russie: nouvelles decouvertes et quelques Problemes. In: ''Arts Asiatiques'', tome 51, Paris, 1996.
* {{in lang|ru}} Minyaev, Sergey. Derestuj cemetery. In: Archaeological sites of the Xiongnu, vol. 3. St-Petersburg, 1998.
* Minyaev, Sergey. The origins of the "Geometric Style" in Hsiungnu art // BAR International series 890. London, 2000.
* Minyaev, Sergey. Art and archeology of the Xiongnu: new discoveries in Russia. In: Circle of Iner Asia Art, Newsletter, Issue 14, December 2001, pp.&nbsp;3–9
* {{in lang|ru}} Minyaev, Sergey. The Xiongnu cultural complex: location and chronology. In: ''Ancient and Middle Age History of Eastern Asia''. Vladivostok, 2001, pp.&nbsp;295–305.
* Miniaev, Sergey & Elikhina, Julia. On the chronology of the Noyon Uul barrows. The Silk Road 7 (2009): 21–30.
* Minyaev, Sergey & Sakharovskaja, Lidya. Investigation of a Xiongnu Royal Tomb in the Tsaraam valley, part 1. In: ''Newsletters of the Silk Road Foundation'', vol. 4, no.1, 2006.
* Minyaev, Sergey & Sakharovskaja, Lidya. Investigation of a Xiongnu Royal Tomb in the Tsaraam valley, part 2. In: ''Newsletters of the Silk Road Foundation'', vol. 5, no.1, 2007.
* Minyaev, Sergey & Smolarsky Phillipe. Art of the Steppes. Brussels, Foundation Richard Liu, 2002.
* {{in lang|hu}} Obrusánszky, Borbála. August 2009. [http://www.transoxiana.org/14/obrusanszky_tongwan_city.html Tongwancheng, city of the southern Huns]. ''Transoxiana'', August 2009, 14. {{ISSN|1666-7050}}.
* {{in lang|fr}} Petkovski, Elizabet. 2006. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060622050334/http://eprints-scd-ulp.u-strasbg.fr:8080/496/ ''Polymorphismes ponctuels de séquence et identification génétique: étude par spectrométrie de masse MALDI-TOF'']. Strasbourg: Université Louis Pasteur. Dissertation
* {{in lang|ru}} Potapov, L.P. 1969. [http://web1.kunstkamera.ru/siberia/Texts/Potapov-Etn.sostav.doc ''Этнический состав и происхождение алтайцев''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420224645/http://web1.kunstkamera.ru/siberia/Texts/Potapov-Etn.sostav.doc |date=20 April 2012 }} (Etnicheskii sostav i proiskhozhdenie altaitsev, Ethnic composition and origins of the Altaians). Leningrad: Nauka. Facsimile in Microsoft Word format.
* {{in lang|ru}} Potapov, L.P. [Потапов, Л.П.] 1966. Этнионим ''Теле'' и Алтайцы. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716153114/http://www.orientalstudies.ru/rus/index.php?option=com_publications&Itemid=75&pub=564 ''Тюркологический сборник''] (The ethnonym "Tele" and the Altaians. ''Turcologica''): 233–240. Moscow: Nauka.
* {{in lang|ru}} Talko-Gryntsevich, Julian. 1999. Paleo-Ethnology of Trans-Baikal area. In: ''Archaeological sites of the Xiongnu'', vol. 4. St Petersburg.
* Taskin V.S. [Таскин В.С.]. 1984. ''Материалы по истории древних кочевых народов группы Дунху'' (Materials on the history of the ancient nomadic peoples of the Dunhu group). Moscow.
* Brosseder, Ursula, and Bryan Miller. ''Xiongnu Archaeology: Multidisciplinary Perspectives of the First Steppe Empire in Inner Asia''. Bonn: Freiburger Graphische Betriebe- Freiburg, 2011.
* {{cite journal |last=Csányi |first=B. |display-authors=et al |date=July 2008 |title=Y-Chromosome Analysis of Ancient Hungarian and Two Modern Hungarian-Speaking Populations from the Carpathian Basin |url=https://www.academia.edu/12724604 |access-date=6 April 2022 |journal=Annals of Human Genetics |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=519–534 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-1809.2008.00440.x |pmid=18373723 |s2cid=13217908}}
* Hill, John E. (2009) ''Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd centuries CE''. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. {{ISBN|978-1-4392-2134-1}}. (Especially pp.&nbsp;69–74)
* Houle, J. and L.G. Broderick (2011) ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20160405150721/https://www.mendeley.com/research/settlement-patterns-domestic-economy-xiongnu-khanui-valley-mongolia/ "Settlement Patterns and Domestic Economy of the Xiongnu in Khanui Valley, Mongolia"]'', 137–152. In ''Xiongnu Archaeology: Multidisciplinary Perspectives of the First Steppe Empire in Inner Asia''.
* {{Citation |last1=Mallory |first1=J. P. |author-link=J. P. Mallory |last2=Mair |first2=Victor H. |author2-link=Victor H. Mair |year=2000 |title=The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West |place=London |publisher=Thames & Hudson}}.
* {{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Bryan K. |title=Xiongnu "Kings" and the Political Order of the Steppe Empire |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |date=2014 |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=1–43 |doi=10.1163/15685209-12341340}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Neparáczki |first1=Endre |last2=Maróti |first2=Zoltán |display-authors=1 |date=12 November 2019 |title=Y-chromosome haplogroups from Hun, Avar and conquering Hungarian period nomadic people of the Carpathian Basin |journal=[[Scientific Reports]] |publisher=[[Nature Research]] |volume=9 |issue=16569 |page=16569 |bibcode=2019NatSR...916569N |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-53105-5 |pmc=6851379 |pmid=31719606 |ref={{harvid|Neparáczki et al.|2019}}}}
* {{cite journal |last=Pritsak |first=O. |year=1959 |title=XUN Der Volksname der Hsiung-nu |language=de |journal=Central Asiatic Journal |volume=5 |pages=27–34}}
* {{cite web |last=Sims-Williams |first=Nicholas |year=2004 |title=The Sogdian ancient letters. Letters 1, 2, 3, and 5 translated into English. |url=http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/sogdlet.html}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Toh |first1=Hoong Teik |title=The -yu Ending in Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Gaoju Onomastica |journal=Sino-Platonic Papers |date=2005 |volume=146 |url=http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp146_xiongnu.pdf}}
* {{cite web |website=Genome News Network |last=Touchette |first=Nancy |date=25 July 2003 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516040010/http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/07_03/ancient.shtml |archive-date=16 May 2006 |title=Ancient DNA Tells Tales from the Grave |url=http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/07_03/ancient.shtml}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Vaissière |year=2005 |title=Huns et Xiongnu |journal=Central Asiatic Journal |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=3–26 |language=fr}}
* Yap, Joseph P, (2019). The Western Regions, Xiongnu and Han, from the Shiji, Hanshu and Hou Hanshu. {{ISBN|978-1-7928-2915-4}}
* {{cite book |last1=Zhang |first1=Bibo |last2=Dong |first2=Guoyao |year=2001 |script-title=zh:中国古代北方民族文化史 |trans-title=Cultural History of Ancient Northern Ethnic Groups in China |location=Harbin |publisher=Heilongjiang People's Press |isbn=978-7-207-03325-3}}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Xiongnu}}
{{Wiktionary|Xiongnu|Hsiung-nu}}
{{EB1911 poster|Hiung-nu}}
* [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/exhibit/xiongnu/xiongnu.html Material Culture presented by University of Washington]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130208080824/http://www.experiencefestival.com/xiongnu_-_origins_and_early_history_of_the_xiongnu#.UMi9NoNfCw1 Encyclopedic Archive on Xiongnu]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150319062455/http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=The_Xiong_Nu_Empire The Xiongnu Empire]
* [http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/newsletter/vol4num1/srnewsletter_v4n1.pdf The Silk Road Volume 4 Number 1]
* [http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/newsletter/vol9/srjournal_v9.pdf The Silk Road Volume 9]
* [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/exhibit/hu/fig_25.html Gold Headdress from Aluchaideng]
* [http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/18.33.1 Belt buckle, Xiongnu type, 3rd–2nd century B.C.]
* [http://www.lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/videos_projects_watch.php?nav_id=946 Videodocumentation: Xiongnu – the burial site of the Hun prince (Mongolia)]
* [http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/museums/ubhist/xiongnu.html The National Museum of Mongolian History :: Xiongnu]
* [https://www.chnmus.net/clzl/node_1573.htm Xiongnu and the Central Plains: The Collision and Fusion of Civilizations], Henan Provincial Museum exhibition {{In lang|zh}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Joo-Yup |title=A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and y-dna Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples |journal=Inner Asia |date=2017 |volume=19 |issue=2 |doi=10.1163/22105018-12340089 |page=213|s2cid=165623743 |  url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320552611|doi-access=free }}

{{Central Asian history}}
{{16 Kingdoms |state=autocollapse}}
{{Inner Asia}}
{{Empires}}
{{Huns}}
{{Mongolia topics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Xiongnu| ]]
[[Category:460 disestablishments]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of China]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of the Han dynasty]]
[[Category:Former countries in Chinese history]]
[[Category:Nomadic empires]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 1st century]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 3rd century BC]]
[[Category:Former confederations]]
[[Category:Nomadic confederacies]]