Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.4, 2014

 

From Wu Zhu to Wu Zu: An Exploration of the Source of the Title 'Wu Hu'

(Abstract)

 

Chen Yong

 

The near half-century of rule by the Former and Later Zhao had a profound impact on the political structure and social concepts of the Eastern Jin and Sixteen Kingdoms period. The five emperors of the Former and Later Zhao—Liu Yuan, Liu Cong and Liu Yao from the Xiongnu people (匈奴) and Shi Le and Shi Hu from the Jie people (羯族)—were all landmark figures who overthrew the ethnic Han Western Jin Dynasty through armed force and established a new ethnic minority dynasty. Before and after each of these emperors took the throne, he promoted the legitimacy of his regime through prophetic books. This may be the source of the term "Wu Hu" (五胡 "Five Barbarians"). It initially referred to the five Hu ethnic minority leaders who led the conquest of central China and remained on the throne for a relatively long time. By the last years of the Eastern Jin and Sixteen Kingdoms period, the meaning of Hu was extended to cover the Xiongnu, Jie, Xianbei (鲜卑), Di (氐), and Qiang (羌), the major ethnic minorities active in northern China, thus forming a new concept of "Wu Hu". The change sums up the ethnic Han regimes’ knowledge of the history of the Sixteen Kingdoms during their prolonged confrontation with ethnic minority regimes.