A Chinese Historian Describes a Nomadic People

Sima Qian is considered the founder of Chinese historical writing. By interviewing eyewitnesses, travelling, and collecting old records, he hoped to write a history of China and its neighbors from the beginning of Chinese civilization. He had access to official documents from his position in the imperial government, but he lost favor when he defended a scapegoat for military disasters against the Xiongnu (nomads north of China). His punishment was castration. In the following passage, Sima Qian describes the customs of the Xiongnu.

The ancestor of the Xiongnu descended from the ruler of the Xia dynasty, whose name was Qun Wei. From before the time of Emperors Yao and Shun [third millennium B.C.E.], there have been barbarians . . . living in northern uncivilized areas and wandering around herding animals. They herd mainly horses, cattle, and sheep, but also some unusual animals, such as camels, donkeys, mules, and wild horses. . . . They move around looking for water and pasture and have no walled settlements or permanent housing. They do not farm, but they do divide their land into separate holdings under different leaders. They have no writing, and all contracts are verbal. When their children can ride a sheep, they begin to use bows and arrows to shoot birds and rodents. When they are older, they shoot foxes and rabbits for food. In this way, all the young men are easily able to become archers and serve as cavalry. It is their custom when times are easy to graze their animals and hunt with the bow for their living, but when hard times come, they take up weapons to plunder and raid. This is their innate nature. Their long-range weapons are bows and arrows; they use swords and spears in close combat. When they have the advantage in battle, they advance, but if not, they retreat, since there is no shame in running away. They are only concerned with self-interest, knowing nothing of proper behavior or justice.

Everyone, including the chiefs, eats the meat of their domesticated animals and wears clothing of hides and coats of fur. The men who are in their prime eat the fattiest and best food, while the elderly eat what is left over, since the Xiongnu treasure the strong and healthy but place little value on the weak and old. When his father dies, a son marries his stepmother, and when brothers die, the surviving brothers marry their widows. They have personal names but no family names or additional names. . . .

[By 221 B.C.E.] the state of Qin had finally defeated the other six states of China [to create a unified empire]. The First Emperor of Qin sent General Meng Tian with 100,000 men to attack the barbarians in the north. He won control of all the lands south of the Yellow River and made the river into a defended border. Meng Tian built forty-four walled settlements along the river and filled them with convicts sentenced to labor and sent to the border to do garrison duty. He also constructed the direct road from Jiuyuan to Yunyang. In this way, he used the slopes of the mountain and the valleys to create a defended border, erecting ramparts and fortifications at needed points. The entire line of defense stretched over two thousand miles from Lintao to Liaodong and even crossed the Yellow River, running through Yangshan and Beijia. . . .

The chief of the Xiongnu was named Touman. Too weak to resist the army of Qin, Touman had retreated to the far north, where he held out with his subjects for more than a decade. Following Meng Tian’s death, the revolt of the subordinate lords against the Qin dynasty created conflict and unrest in China. The convict laborers that the Qin dynasty had sent to garrison the border seized this opportunity to return home. When the Xiongnu discovered that no one was defending the border, they crossed the Yellow River southward into their old territory and established themselves along China’s previous border.

Touman’s oldest son and heir apparent as chief of the Xiongnu was named Maodun, but Touman also had a younger son from a different mother whom he had married later. Touman loved this woman very much and decided to eliminate Maodun, to make the younger son his heir. Touman therefore sent Maodun as a diplomatic hostage held by the Yuezhi.1 As soon as Maodun reached the Yuezhi, Touman suddenly attacked them. They were on the verge of executing Maodun in revenge for the attack when he stole one of their best horses and got away. When he made his way home, his courage so impressed Touman that he made Maodun the commander of a cavalry unit of ten thousand men.

Maodun had arrows made that whistled in flight and trained his men to shoot their bows as they were riding. He ordered, “He who does not shoot where my whistling arrow hits will be executed!” He then went out hunting birds and animals, and if any of his men failed to shoot at what he shot at with his whistling arrow, he immediately beheaded them. Next, he shot a whistling arrow at his own favorite horse. Some of his men hesitated, not daring to shoot the horse. Maodun beheaded them. A little later, he used a whistling arrow to shoot at his favorite wife. Again, some of his men, perhaps because they were afraid, did not dare to shoot. Once more, Maodun beheaded them. Later, he went hunting with his men and shot his father’s best horse. All his men shot it, too. Then Maodun knew that he could rely on his troops. Accompanying Touman on a hunting trip, he shot a whistling arrow at his father. All his followers shot where the whistling arrow struck and killed the chief. Next, Maodun murdered his stepmother, his younger brother, and all the senior officers who refused to follow his commands. So Maodun made himself the chief [in 209 B.C.E.].

Thomas R. Martin, Herodotus and Sima Qian: The First Great Historians of Greece and China (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010), 129–131.

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