Xunyu

For Cao Cao's advisor, see Xun Yu.
Anthropomorphic axe, bronze, excavated in the tomb of Heibo (潶伯), a military noble in charge of protecting the northern frontier, at Baicaopo, Lingtai County, Western Zhou period (1045–771 BCE). Gansu Museum. This is considered as a possible depiction of a Xianyun or Guifang.[1]

The Xunyu (Chinese: 獯鬻; Wade–Giles: Hsünyü; Old Chinese: (ZS) *qʰun-lug, (Schuessler): *hun-juk[2]) is the name of an ancient nomadic tribe which invaded China during legendary times. They are traditionally identified with the Guifang, the Xianyun and the Xiongnu.[3]

  1. ^ "灵台白草坡 西周墓葬里的青铜王国". www.kaogu.net.cn. The Institute of Archaeology (CASS Chinese Academy of Social Sciences). There is research on the ethnic image of the northern nomadic people of the Altaic language family. It may be that this is the image of the Xianyun tribe that once posed a serious military threat to the northern border of the Zhou Dynasty. They were called "Ghost people" (Guifang) because they looked different from the Chinese. 有考证系阿尔泰语系的北方游牧民族人种形象。可能是曾经对周朝北方边境构成严重军事威胁的猃狁部族，因相貌异于华夏，被称作"鬼方"。
  2. ^ Schuessler, A. (2014) "Phonological Notes on Hàn Period Transcriptions of Foreign Names and Words" (PDF). Studies in Chinese and Sino-Tibetan Linguistics: Dialect, Phonology, Transcription and Text. Language and Linguistics Monograph Series (53). Taipei, Taiwan: Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica. p. 264
  3. ^ Book of Jin "Vol. 97, section Northern Di" quote: "匈奴之類，總謂之北狄。…… 夏曰：薰鬻，殷曰鬼方，周曰獫狁，漢曰匈奴。"