Qihuo

The Qihuo (Chinese: 乞活; pinyin: Qǐhuó; Wade–Giles: Ch'i-huo; lit. 'Begging-for-life') were a refugee group during the Jin dynasty (266–420) and Sixteen Kingdoms period. Originating from Bing province in modern-day Shanxi, the Qihuo branched out to parts of Hebei and Henan during the Upheaval of the Five Barbarians, where they acted as semi-autonomous militia forces for the Jin. Among the various refugee groups of their time, the Qihuo lasted the longest, as even after a century since the fall of the Western Jin, their descendants continued to invoke the group's name and provide military services.