Xiongnu gold ornaments, hedgehogs and crown/hair decoration(?), Warring States Period 5th-3rd C. BCE

January 03, 2023

Xiongnu gold ornaments, hedgehogs and crown/hair decoration(?), Warring States Period 5th-3rd C. BCE

"The Xiongnu empire appears, from statements made in the dynastic histories as well as from archaeological excavations, to have stretched from Inner Mongolia to Lake Baikal, and from Liaoning to parts of Xinjiang. This gives an idea of the nature of Xiongnu power. This power is further illustrated by the fact that, of all the non-Chinese peoples to the north of the Han, the Xiongnu were the only ones whose name designated both the people and the political power. The term "Xianbei", like "Qiang", for example, is strictly an ethnic designation. There were several different groups of both Xianbei and Qiang, but neither people constituted a single political entity or a force politically and culturally equal to the Han.

Most modern research treats the Xiongnu, not as an empire equal to that of the Han, but as a "national minority", perpetuating the Han view that the Xiongnu were at all times inferior to China, regardless of their political and military power. Modern historians such as Kurakichi Shiratori, Lu Simian, and Fang Zhuangyou maintain that Xiongnu government was based on Qin or Han government because the titles of the Xiongnu empire were like those used in China. Thomas J. Barfield subscribes to much the same theory postulating that the Xiongnu empire existed only because of the Qin or Han, ignoring the fact that both Qin and Han fell while the Xiongnu empire continued in strength."

-Sophia-Karin Psarras, Xiongnu Culture: Identification and Dating. Central Asiatic Journal Vol. 39, No. 1 (1995), pp. 102-136 (35 pages). Published by: Harrassowitz Verlag.

Xiongnu gold ornaments, hedgehogs and crown/hair decoration(?), Warring States Period 5th-3rd C. BCE. Special Exhibit: Xiongnu, Henan Provincial Museum, Zhengzhou. Museum photo credit: Gary Todd's flickr.