Early Nomads in China

Chinese history and the history of Eurasia cannot be understood without looking at the central role played by the nomads. The history of sedentary states from China to Central Europe moulded in large measure by the ebb and flow of their relationships with the nomads, sometimes with one in the ascendancy and sometimes the other. At the same time, sustained contact with the Chinese state gave nomads fresh new insights into political ideology and organization, providing a new model of imperial authority which led to the creation of the earliest “conquest regime” under the Xianbei in North China.

Early Nomads in China

Xiongnu and the Rise of the Nomads

The rise of the Xiongnu in the 3rd century B.C.E. marked the emergence of the first major nomadic empire in northern China and initiated a new chapter in the Hu-Han relations that endured over the next two thousand years. The military threat posed by the Xiongnu encouraged Western Han to seek alliances with the Kushan empire in Bactria (modern-day Afghanistan and northern Pakistan). This, in turn, opened Eurasia to new ideas about art, culture, technology, and science, brought in through a trade route connecting China and the West that came to be known as the Silk Road.

Early Nomads in China

Xianbei’s Transformation of China

The Xianbei were innovators. While their art resembles that of the Xiongnu, it introduces new iconography, such as the “Master (or Mistress) of Animals” motif, where a person is shown simultaneously dominating two animals. Building on earlier paired animal forms, Xianbei designs group the opposing animals around a central object, such as a tree, wheel, animal, or even a human figure (as in the “Master of Animals” motif).

Militarily, the Xianbei were the first to develop heavy cavalry in China, as seen in their terracotta horse sculptures, shown fully armoured. The Xianbei discovered new equestrian technologies which improved their military capability, setting them ahead of other nomadic groups. Selective breeding, for instance, significantly increased the size of their horses (larger than the indigenous Mongol horse), while stirrups enabled the heavily armoured warriors to mount.