Hu (people)

Hu (Chinese: 胡; pinyin: Hú; Wade–Giles: Hu; IPA: [xǔ]) also Huren (胡人, "Hu people") or Huzu (胡族, "Hu tribes"), was a rather vague term to designate ancient barbarians, namely populations beyond the Central Plains, generally to the north and west of the Huaxia realm. The Hu are usually horse or mounted nomads.^[2]

Hu statues from Wu Baizhuang tomb (吳白莊), Late Eastern Han period (2nd century CE), Linyi, Shandong.^[1]

According to Hill (2009):

The term hu 胡 was used to denote non-Han Chinese populations. It is, rather unsatisfactorily, commonly translated as 'barbarian'. While sometimes it was used in this general way to describe people of non-Han descent, and carried the same negative overtones of the English term, this was not always the case. Most frequently, it was used to denote people, usually of Caucasoid or partial Caucasoid appearance, living to the north and west of China.^[3]

Ancient Chinese dynasties such as the Shang dynasty and Zhou dynasty, into the Spring and Autumn period, recount of numerous encounters with the nomadic tribes of the northern steppes and other alien tribes. At that time, the preferred term to designate them was the "Four Barbarians" (Chinese: 四夷; pinyin: sìyí), each was named for a cardinal direction: the Dongyi (東夷, "Eastern Barbarians"), Nanman (南蠻, "Southern Barbarians"), Xirong (西戎, "Western Barbarians"), and Beidi (北狄, "Northern Barbarians").^[4]

According to Di Cosmo, the Chinese considered the Hu as "a new type of foreigner" and "This term, whatever its origin, soon came to indicate an 'anthropological type' rather than a specific group or tribe, which the records allow us to identify as early steppe nomads. The Hu were the source of the introduction of cavalry in China."^[5]

During the pre-Qin dynasty (before 221 BCE) period, the term "Hu" (胡) came to be used to designate the Xiongnu barbarians to the north of China.^[6] The vassal of the Xiongnu, and later confidant of Emperor Han Wudi, Jin Midi (134–86 BCE) would be described as both a Hu (胡),^[7] and a Yidi (夷狄).^[8] Indo-European "Scythian" Sakas from Central Asia, or the Yuezhi would also be referred as "Hu".^[6] Some northeastern barbarians were also referred as the Donghu ("Eastern Hu").^[6]

Sogdian Huteng dancer, Xiuding temple pagoda, Anyang, Henan, China, Tang dynasty, 7th century.

During the Han dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE) and Jin dynasty (266–420 CE) "Hu" tends to refer to the Five Barbarians (五胡), which are the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie, Di, and Qiang.^[6]

Later, "Hu" was also used to designate various groups of Iranians in China, especially the Sogdians, whose cultural practices would be qualified as "Hu", such as their dance the "Huteng" (胡腾, "Barbarian hopping"), or the Sogdian Whirl dance (胡旋, Húxuăn, "Whirling Barbarian", also 胡旋舞, Húxuănwǔ, "Dance of the Whirling Barbarian"),^[9][10] but known as "Sogdian Whirl dance" or simply "Sogdian whirl" to Western scholars.^[11] The "Jihu" (稽胡) were indigenous inhabitants of Shaanbei and Western Shanxi in the 7th century CE.^[4]

References

1. Guan, Liu; Bing, Huang (2023). "The hybrid origin of the dragon-wrapped column in Han dynasty China". Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering. 22 (4): 1970–1994. doi:10.1080/13467581.2022.2153057. S2CID 256778140. Other evidence to support our argument is that Western, Asian-style architectural elements such as Hu statue columns and arched doorways (Figure 35) indicate the influence of foreign styles in some of the large, high-grade Han pictorial stone tombs currently found in this region, such as the afore-mentioned Wu Baizhuang 吳白莊 tomb in Linyi 臨 沂, Shandong.
2. Psarras, Sophia-Karin (1999). "Upper Xiajiadian". Monumenta Serica. 47 (1): 6. doi:10.1080/02549948.1999.11731324. ISSN 0254-9948. "Hu" usually refers to horse or mounted nomads, often specifically to the Xiongnu or to peoples within the Xiongnu sphere of influence.
3. Hill, John. 2009. Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, First to Second Centuries CE. BookSurge. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1
4. Pulleyblank E. G. (1994) “Ji Hu: Indigenous Inhabitants of Shaanbei and Western Shanxi” in Edward H. Kaplan, ed., Opuscula Altaica: Essays presented in honor of Henry Schwarz. ed. by. Bellingham: Western Washington University. pp. 518-519 of 499-531
5. Cosmo, Nicola Di (1999). Northern Frontier in Pre-Imperial China (Cambridge History of Ancient China). Cambridge University Press. pp. 951–952.
6. 徐, 龙国 (2017). "山东发现的汉代大型胡人石雕像再研究" (PDF). 美术研究 (Art Research).
   上述石雕像为胡人形象，对此学者们均无异议。胡人是我国古代中原汉人对北方和西方异族的通称。在汉人的认知领域，胡人的概念比较模糊，大致也有个变化的过程。先秦时的胡，专指匈奴，汉晋时期泛指匈奴、鲜卑、羯、氐、羌，"胡人"的范围已由北方逐渐扩大到西部族群。
   "The above-mentioned stone statues are images of Hu people, and scholars have no objection to this. Hu people are the general name given by the Han people in the Central Plains of our country to the foreign ethnic groups in the north and west in ancient China. In the cognitive field of Han people, the concept of Hu people is relatively vague, and it has a tendency to change with time. The Hu in the pre-Qin period refers specifically to the Xiongnu, but in the Han and Jin dynasties generally Hu refers to the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jie, Di, and Qiang. The scope of "Hu people" also expanded from the north to the west."
   山东发现的这种高鼻深目、头戴尖帽的胡人形象，很可能是与斯基泰人文化有关的某些白种民族，并推测可能是月氏或早于月氏的民族
   "The image of a barbarian with a high nose, deep eyes, and a pointed hat found in Shandong is likely to be some white ethnic group related to the Scythian culture, it is also speculated that it may be the Yuezhi or an ethnic group earlier than the Yuezhi."
7. 貴戚多竊怨，曰：「陛下妄得一胡兒，反貴重之！」上聞，愈厚焉。in Ford, Randolph B. (23 April 2020). Rome, China, and the Barbarians: Ethnographic Traditions and the Transformation of Empires. Cambridge University Press. p. 124, note 96. ISBN 978-1-108-59660-2.
8. Ban Gu also uses the terms 夷狄 yidi to describe Jin Midi: 金日磾夷狄亡国 "The nation of the barbarian Jin Midi was destroyed" in Ford, Randolph B. (23 April 2020). Rome, China, and the Barbarians: Ethnographic Traditions and the Transformation of Empires. Cambridge University Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-108-59660-2.
9. Ning, Qiang (2004). Art, Religion, and Politics in Medieval China The Dunhuang Cave of the Zhai Family. University of Hawaiʻi Press. p. 126. ISBN 9780824827038.
10. Jeong, Su-il (2016). The Silk Road Encyclopedia. Seoul Selection. ISBN 9781624120763.
11. Furniss, Ingrid. "Retracing the Sounds of Sogdiana". Freer, Sackler - Smithsonian. Archived from the original on 11 September 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2021.