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CSORNAI, Katalin Where Huns´ Blood Drew July-September 2009 JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Volume I., Issue 3. _____________________________________________________________________________________ CSORNAI, Katalin Where Huns´ Blood Drew The Xiongnu Abstract In the knowledge of the Han time sources we can conclude that the history of the Huns goes back in time as well as in territory much further than it has long been decided by mainstream scholars — their ancestors lived in Inner and Eastern Asia centuries before the Christian era, or regarding Sima Qian’s records on the Xia dynasty we might tentatively say millennia. Asian Huns are termed as Xiongnu in the Han chronicles. Undoubtedly the same sources do prove that parts of the Asian Huns, who had lived near the northern borders of the Han Empire in the centuries around the beginning of the Christian era, left their homeland in two directions — the Xiongnus of Zhizhi danhu moved west towards Europe, and other peoples who must have had Xiongnu blood in their veins went southwest towards the Indian subcontinent. The latter event occured in three waves: first by the Yuezhi in 204 B.C., after which the Kushan Emipre was founded; then in 176 B.C. by the Saka, whose relation to the Xiongnu is still debated; and finally by the Yuezhi and Wusun in 174 B.C. Introduction It is in fact a long time that our knowledge of the Huns has not been satisfactory due to the mainstream scholars using exclusively the Byzantine and European — occasionally the Arabic — sources for their researches. Accidentally one may at most find some references to Anonymus or Kézay. There have been some exceptions though, like De Groot or Béla Szász, who traced the history of the early Huns further back in time and in area, but they both have rather unduly been suppressed. They knew that substantial knowledge of the ancient Chinese chronicles was essential since the said chronicles gave thorough, detailed and genuine report on the Hun peoples. It is heartening news, however, that these conditions have begun to change. Borbála Obrusánszky or Éva Aradi, serious-minded and conscientious scholars of the field, are creditably and accurately going to the furthest possible reaches of the sources essential for the study. We give the Early Middle Chinese (EMC) and Middle Chinese (MC) phonetics of certain Hun names in the footnotes. It is the Chinese chronicles where one can find how Hun names could have been _____________________________________________________________________________________ © Copyright Mikes International 2001-2009 28 July-September 2009 JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Volume I., Issue 3. _____________________________________________________________________________________ pronounced in ancient times under research. At this point some difficulties are to be faced. Firstly, while being transcribed into pre-Qin, Qin or Han Chinese language, Hun words suffered great distortion owing to the monosyllabic way of Chinese language, and it should be added that considerably long time, counted in millennia, is dealt with. Secondly, it is not only the difference in the present-day pronunciation but also the richness of the dialects and the writing system having undergone significant transformations in the course of ages as well as in the different princedoms that make investigations of the phonetics rather difficult. Bernhard Karlgren, the Swedish sinologist dedicated a whole life’s work to the research of the ancient and classical — or in other terms EMC and MC — phonetics. His grand work of Grammata Serica has still remained the most minute and accurate opus with the widest range of Chinese characters. We refer to his work as GS in the footnotes. It must be noted that the name Xiongnu 匈奴1 recorded in the Chinese sources refers to Asian Hun peoples. The Han Empire is often termed as Middle Kingdom. I. Primary sources of the Asian Hun peoples in Qin and Han ages The following works provide us the biggest amount of reports on the early history of the Asian Huns, or the Xiongnu as they are referred to, in the ancient Chinese chronicles: Title and chapter Author and author’s age Compiled Period covered ______________ _____________________ ____________ _____________ Shiji 110 Sima Tan ca. 180-110 B.C. 104-86 B.C. 19 th century-95 B.C. Sima Qian ca. 145-86 B.C. Hanshu 68, 94 Ban Gu A.D. 32-92 200 B.C.-A.D. 24 206 B.C.-A.D. 24 Hou Hanshu 89 Fan Ye 398-445 A.D. 3 rd -5th centuries A.D. 25-220 Xiongnu Liezhuan (Systematic Biography of the Xiongnu), which is chapter 110 of Shiji (Records of the Historian) gives a complete and detailed review on the history and culture of the Asian Huns, or the Xiongnu as they are called, from as early as the period of the Xia dynasty’s last ruler (18 th century B.C.) up to his own time (95 B.C.). The Biography was completed by Sima Qian, the Grand Historian though the first steps were taken by his father, Sima Tan. 1 Xiongnu: χįung/χįwong-no/nuo GS: 1183d. and 94.l. _____________________________________________________________________________________ © Copyright Mikes International 2001-2009 29 July-September 2009 JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Volume I., Issue 3. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Xiongnu Zhuan (Biography of the Xiongnu), which is chapter 94 of Hanshu (Chronicle of the [Former] Han Dynasty), up to the time of 95 B.C. is almost equivalent to the above-mentioned work of Sima Qian apart from some small and mainly stylistic differences since it is based upon the latter. Then it goes on dealing with the history of the Huns until A.D. 24. Nan Xiongnu Zhuan (Biography of the Southern Xiongnu), which is chapter 89 of Hou Hanshu (Chronicle of the Later Han Dynasty) covers the period between the founding of the Later Han dynasty (A.D. 25) and the fall of the same dynasty (A.D. 220) with the history of the Xiongnu or rather the Southern Xiongnu as from A.D. 51 the reports are focused on the Southern State of the Hun Empire split into two countries — the Southern State now belonged to the Later Han Empire, and the Northern State, maintaining their independence, left their homeland and escaped the authority and interest of the Middle Kingdom. Jin Midi Zhuan (Biography of Jin Midi), which is chapter 68 of Hanshu , gives a detailed description of the life of Jin Midi, who had been a Hun prince but became an honoured subject of the Han Court — it was because of his honest and noble conduct that Han Wudi had him in his confidence always keeping him by his side and in turn he proved to be a reliable, loyal support till the end of his emperor’s life, which deserved him a whole chapter in Hanshu . II. The origin of the Xiongnu Among the peoples ever lived on the territory of present-day China there used to be a dynasty called Xia 夏. It was founded by the legendary Great Yu 大禹 in 2205 B.C. and maintained its rule until 1765 B.C. according to Chinese historians. On the basis of a legend still existing in his time, Sima Qian recorded that the Xiongnu were the descendants of the Xia. The legend is as follows. Jie 桀, the last ruler of the Xia lived a terribly nasty way of life, because of which he became dethroned and his House overthrown by Tang 湯 of the Shang 商 tribe. The Shang founded a new dynasty and banished Jie northward to Mingtiao. After three years in exile Jie died and, as was in custom then, his son, Chunwei 淳維,2 married his father’s wives, freeing them and the whole clan from banishment and leading them further north, where they started to pasture. Thus did he, son of the last Xia ruler, become the forefather of the Xiongnu. As organised Xiongnus they only came back from north in the 3 rd century, by which time they had strengthened and increased, and started to make attacks on the Middle Kigdom. Zhang Yen writes in Suoyin (Guide to the Hidden Meanings), an 8 th century commentary: 2 Chunwei: dįwən/źįuěn or tįwən/tśįuěn-dįwər/įwi. GS: 464e. and 575o. _____________________________________________________________________________________ © Copyright Mikes International 2001-2009 30 July-September 2009 JOURNAL OF EURASIAN STUDIES Volume I., Issue 3. _____________________________________________________________________________________ “In the Qin era Chunwei fled to the northern boundaries.” According to Le Yan, the Xiongnu mentioned in Guadipu (Territory Based Lineage , a long-lost book quoted in the above-mentioned Suoyin ) in fact refers the Xia since the Guadipu passage reads as follows: “Jie, (ruler of) the House of Xia lived an immoral life. Tang exiled him to Mingtiao, he died there three years later. His son Xunyu 獯粥3 married his wives and they wandered far away to the northern wilderness in search of pasture lands, and then in the Middle Kingdom they were mentioned as Xiongnu.” Considering the consistent historical data in the above sources, and on the grounds that in the Yin age (1401-1122 B.C.) there was a northern dialect of the word chunwei corresponding to xunyu, it is concluded that the two varieties must cover the same name. 4 For this reason does Ying Shao write in Fengsutung (The Meaning of Popular Customs by Ying Shao, A.D. 140-206): “The name Xunyu of the Yin age has been transformed to Xiongnu.” Fu Qian maintained the following view: “In times of Yao (2356-2255 B.C.) their name was Hunyu 葷粥,5 in the Zhou era (1122- 255 B.C.) it was Xianyun 獫狁,6 under the reign of the Qin (255-207 B.C.) it was Xiongnu.” As Wei Zhao commented: “During the Han (206 B.C.-A.D.
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