Five Barbarians

The Five Barbarians, or Wu Hu (Chinese: 五胡; pinyin: Wǔ Hú), is a Chinese historical exonym for five ancient non-Han "Hu" peoples who immigrated to northern China in the Eastern Han dynasty, and then overthrew the Western Jin dynasty and established their own kingdoms in the 4th–5th centuries. The peoples categorized as the Five Barbarians were the Xiongnu, Jie, Xianbei, Qiang and Di.

Out of the five tribal ethnic groups, the Xiongnu and Xianbei were nomadic peoples from the northern steppes. The ethnic identity of the Xiongnu is uncertain, but the Xianbei appear to have been Mongolic. The Jie, another pastoral people, may have been a branch of the Xiongnu, who may have been Yeniseian or Iranian. The Di and Qiang were from the highlands of western China. The Qiang were predominantly herdsmen and spoke Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman) languages, while the Di were farmers who may have spoken a Sino-Tibetan or Turkic language.

Although the term "Five Barbarians" is often used alongside the Sixteen Kingdoms, there were in fact more than five relevant ethnic groups during the period, such as the Dingling and Wuhuan. Patrilineally, the ruling family of Cheng-Han descended from the Bandun Man, also known as Cong (賨), but are referred to as Ba-Di as they mingled with the Di tribes. The Juqu clan of Northern Liang, though often classed as Xiongnu, were of Lushuihu ethnicity, while Gao Yun, who can either be interpreted as the last ruler of Later Yan or first ruler of Northern Yan, was an ethnic Goguryeo.

Chronologicaly, the earliest usage of the phrase "Five Barbarians" or "Wu Hu" (五胡) comes from an edict written by the Empress Dowager, Chu Suanzi, when she terminated her regency in favour for her son, Emperor Mu of Jin in 357. Her edict can be found in the Book of Jin, which was compiled in 648 during the Tang dynasty. The lead editor of the record, Fang Xuanling, also mentioned the "Five Barbarians" in his evaluation of Emperor Yuan of Jin, but it is unclear which groups they were supposed to represent. Other expressions that generally refer to the non-Chinese groups during this period include the "Four Barbarians (四夷)" and "Six Barbarians (六夷)".

Additionally, the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Sixteen Kingdoms (501–522) also contains a quote in 385 by the Former Qin ruler, Fu Jian, that uses the "Five Barbarians" terminology. Modern historians like Chen Yinke and Zhou Yiliang believe that the "Five Barbarians" in this case was simply in reference to the "Five Virtues of Beginning and End", a theoretical concept often invoked by Chinese dynasties to legitimize their reigns.

The Five Barbarians were only categorized during the 12th century in the Southern Song dynasty, when the official, Hong Mai wrote an essay titled "Wuhu Luanhua" (五胡亂華; "Upheaval of the Five Barbarians") in his book, Rongzhai Suibi (容齋隨筆). Even so, he did not properly define the term, as the seven rulers he mentioned only accounted for four non-Han groups, namely the Xiongnu, Jie, Xianbei and Di. A later Southern Song official, Wang Yinglin defined the Five Barbarians as "Liu Yuan's Xiongnu, Shi Le's Jie, Murong-Xianbei, Fu Hong's Di and Yao Chang's Qiang." Hu Sanxing's annotation of the Zizhi Tongjian affirms Wang Yinglin's view by listing the five as the Xiongnu, Jie, Xianbei, Di and Qiang, after which it became widely accepted.

They were a mix of tribes from various stocks, such as proto-Mongolic, Turkic, Tibetan and Yeniseian. Others divide them into two Turkic tribes, one Tungusic tribe, and two Tibetan tribes, and yet others into Tibetan and Altaic (proto-Mongolian and early Turkic). While later historians determined that there were more than five, the Five Barbarians has become a collective term for all northern and western non-Han groups that lived during the Jin dynasty (266–420) and Sixteen Kingdoms period.

Since the later Han dynasty, northern China was home to various ethnic groups from the north and west. These peoples were subjects of the Han, taking up agriculture and serving in the military force. While many of them retained their respective tribal identity, they also underwent various degrees of Sinicization. By the Western Jin period, their population had grown substantially, becoming a cause for concern among a few officials within the imperial court as they began to revolt. There were calls to have the tribes relocated outside the borders, most notably by the minister Jiang Tong in his essay, Xi Rong Lun (徙戎論; Discussion on Relocating the Rong Tribe), but these proposals were disregarded. As central authority collapsed due to the War of the Eight Princes, many of these "barbarians" rebelled alongside their Han Chinese compatriots in the Upheaval of the Five Barbarians, although there were also those who initially fought on the side of Jin. Throughout the 4th century and early-5th century, several states were founded by the "Five Barbarians" in northern China and Sichuan, collectively known as the Sixteen Kingdoms.