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TheDingling[a] were an ancient people who appear inChinese historiography in the context of the 1st century BCE.
The Dingling are considered to have been an earlyTurkic-speaking people.[1][2] They were also proposed to be the ancestors ofTungusic speakers among the laterShiwei people,[3][4] or are related toNa-Dené andYeniseian speakers.[5]
The origins of the Dinglings are frequently linked to the earliest nomadic groups mentioned in Chinese annals, specifically the Xunyu (獯鬻), who appear in records dating back to the Xia Dynasty(c. 2000 BC). This connection was most notably established by the scholarWang Guowei, a towering figure in early 20th-century Chinese historiography. In his groundbreaking phonetical studies of bronze inscriptions, Wang concluded that the names Xunyu, Xianyun, andGuifang were merely historical variations of a single ethnic lineage that eventually emerged as theXiongnu. Under this influential framework, theXunyu are identified as the foundational proto-Turkic stock emerging as early as the 3rd millennium BC. Since the Dingling are described in later chronicles like the Wei Shu as descendants of the Chidi (Red Di) a groupWang Guowei categorized within this same ethnic complex they are regarded as a primary northern branch of this ancient lineage. This establishes a direct historical thread from the 2000 BC Xunyu through the Dingling to the later Turkic tribes.[6]
Modern archaeologists have identified the Dingling as belonging to theeastern Scythian horizon, namely theTagar culture.[7]
The ethnonym 'Dingling' is regarded by modern scholars in the Western world as being interchangeable with the ethnonym'Tiele', who are believed to be the descendants of the Dingling.[8][9] Chinese historiographers believed that 'Tiele' was a mistaken transcription, related them to the ancient RedDi (狄翟), and recorded various names like Dili (狄历), Gaoche (高車) or Chile (敕勒).[10][11]
Several modern scholars, includingPeter B. Golden, now believe that all of these ethnonyms described by the Chinese all derive from Altaic exonyms describing wheeled vehicles, with 'Dingling' perhaps being an earlier rendering of a Tuoba word (*tegreg), meaning "wagon".[12]
Peter Golden also wrote that "Gaoche" or "high carts" may be a translation of "Dingling et al.".[13]Edwin Pulleyblank writes that "High Cart" is just one of several variations of exonyms that ultimately reflect the original Turkic meaning of 'Dingling', which is possibly derived from *Tägräg, meaning "circle, hoop".[14]
TheWeilüe mentioned three Dingling groups:[15]
Murphy (2003) proposes that the Dingling's country had been in theMinusinsk Basin on theYenisey river,[17] thus close to the location of the Dingling group who neighbored the Kangju, Wusun, and Majing people. Dingling gradually moved southward toMongolia andnorthern China. They were a huge independent horde for centuries, but were later defeated and temporarily became subject of theXiongnu Empire,[18][19] and thus presumably related to the invaders known asHuns in the west.[20] One group, known as the West Dingling, remained in an area that would becomeKazakhstan, while others – expelled fromMongolia by theRouran – settled in theTarim Basin during the 5th century and took control ofTurpan.
The Dingling had a warlike society, formed by traders, hunters, fishers, and gatherers, living a semi-nomadic life in thesouthern Siberian mountaintaiga region fromLake Baikal to northern Mongolia. Some ancient sources claims that Di or Zhai (翟) was adopted as the group name because the Zhai family had been the ruling house for centuries.[23][24][25]
Other sources claim that they might have been correlated with theGuifang, a northern tribe that appears in theoracle bone inscriptions fromYinxu.[26]
According to theHistory of the Gaoche ofWei Shou (6th century), the origin of the Dingling can be traced to the Chidi (赤狄) (lit. Red Di), who lived in northern China during theSpring and Autumn period. TheMozi mentions a total of eight related Di groups, of whom only "Red Di" (赤狄, Chidi), the "White Di" (白狄, Baidi), and "Tall Di" (長狄, Changdi) are known.[27][28][29]
To the north of theXiongnu empire and Dingling territories, at the headwaters of theYenisei aroundTannu Uriankhai, lived theGekun (鬲昆), also known as theYenisei Kyrgyz in later records. Further to the west near theIrtysh river lived the Hujie (呼揭). Other tribes living of the Xiongnu, such as the Hunyu (浑庾), Qushe (屈射), andXinli (薪犁), were only mentioned once in Chinese records, and their exact location is unknown.[30][31]
During the 2nd century BCE, the Dingling became subjects ofModu Chanyu along with 26 other tribes, including theYuezhi andWusun.[32]
The Dingling were first subjugated by theXiongnu, but the latter gradually weakened. In 71 BCE, after numerous conflicts between the Chinese and the Xiongnu, the Dingling, led by Zhai Jin, with help from neighboring tribes, took the opportunity to revolt. From 63 to 60 BCE, during a split within the Xiongnu ruling clan of Luanti (挛鞮), the Dingling attacked the Xiongnu, together with theWusun from the west, supported by the Chinese from the south and theWuhuan from the southeast.[33]
In 51 BCE, the Dingling, together with the Hujie and Gekun, were defeated by the Xiongnu underZhizhi Chanyu, on his way toKangju. Over the next century there may have been more uprisings, but the only recorded one was in the year 85, when together with theXianbei they made their final attack on the Xiongnu, and Dingling regained its power under Zhai Ying.[34] After that, under the Dingling pressure, the remaining of northern Xiongnu and theTuoba formed the confederacy by Xianbei chiefTanshihuai (檀石槐). After his death in 181, the Xianbei moved south and the Dingling took their place on the steppe.
Some groups of Dingling, called the West Dingling by the ancient Chinese, started to migrate into western Asia, but settled inKangju (康居), modern dayKazakhstan andUzbekistan. There is no specific source to tell where exactly they settled, but some claimLake Zaysan (宰桑 or 斋桑).
Between the short-livedXianbei confederacy in 181 and the foundation of theRouran Qaghanate in 402, there was a long period without a tribal confederacy on the steppe. During this period, a part of the Dingling were assimilated to thenorthern Xiongnu by permanently settling further to the south.[35] Another group, documented as about 450,000, moved southeast and merged into the Xianbei.
Some groups of Dingling settled in China duringWang Mang's reign. According to theWeilüe, another group of Dingling escaped to the western steppe in Kazakhstan, which has been called the West Dingling.[36] Around the 3rd century, Dinglings living in China began to adopt family names such as Zhai or Di (翟), Xianyu (鲜于), Luo (洛) and Yan (严).[37] These Dingling became part of the southern Xiongnu tribes known asChile (赤勒) during the 3rd century, from which the name Chile (敕勒) originated.
During theSixteen Kingdoms period, the West Dingling Khan Zhai Bin (翟斌) lead his hordes, migrate from Kazakhstan into Central China, served under theFormer Qin, after series of plotting, Zhai Bin was betrayed by Former Qin, to avoid Qin nobles further attempts, he revolted against the Former Qin Dynasty. Murong Chui (慕容垂), the Xianbei leader under Former Qin court, got appointed as the high command of Former Qin army, was expected to take down the revolt, but convinced by Zhai Bin, joined his mutiny to against Former Qin. Their mutiny were also joined by several other Xianbei tribes which formed the Anti-Qin leagues, with the suggestion by Zhai Bin, Murong Chui was elected to be the leader of the leagues. Near end of the same year, Murong Chui styled himself King of Yan (燕王), left Zhai Bin the new leader of the league and a dilemma of the war, later Murong Chui broke the alliance with the leagues, murdered Zhai Bin and his three sons in an ambush. His nephew Zhai Zhen (翟真) inherited the horde, was elected be the new Leader of the leagues, seeking for revenge, but later assassinated by his military advisor Xianyu Qi (鲜于乞), Xian did not escape far, were caught by the Dingling soldiers and got executed, the leagues elected Zhai Zhen's cousin Zhai Cheng (翟成) as the new Leader, but later also been assassinated by Yan spy, thenZhai Liao (翟辽), became the new leader of Dingling horde, with the support from the Leagues, he founded theWei state, a DingLing Dynasty in China in modern Henan Province.[38]
About one-quarter of the Tuoba clans show similar names as found among the later Gaoche and Tiele tribes. Among them, theHegu (紇骨) and Yizhan (乙旃) clans kept their high status.
Between the 4th and 7th centuries, the name "Dingling" slowly disappeared from Chinese records, coinciding with the rise of theUyghur Khaganate.[39]
| Dingling | |
|---|---|
| Region | northernChina |
| Ethnicity | Dingling |
| Extinct | after 7th century |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
Several theories have been proposed about the relationship between the Dingling and both ancient and living cultures, based on linguistic, historical and archaeological evidence.
The Dingling are considered to have been an earlyTurkic-speaking people.[40][41]
Weilüe records the Dingling word for thearctic fox (vulpes lagopus) as 昆子kūnzǐ (Middle Chinese (ZS): *kuən-t͡sɨX < Early Middle Chinese: *kwən-tsɨ’/tsi’ <Eastern Han Chinese: *kûn-tsəʔ), which is proposed to be fromProto-Turkic *qïrsaq ~ *karsak.[42][43][44][45]
Chinese historians linked the Tungusic speakers among the laterShiwei people to the Dingling, considering them as descendants of the Dingling owing to linguistic similarities.[3][4][b]
InZur jenissejisch-indianischen Urverwandtschaft (Concerning Yeniseian-Indian Primal Relationship), the German scholar Heinrich Werner developed a new language family which he termedBaikal–Siberic. By extension, he groups together theYeniseian peoples (Arin,Assan,Yugh,Ket,Kott, andPumpokol), theNa-Dene Indigenous peoples of the Americas, and the Dingling of Chinese chronicles toProto-Dingling.[47] The linguistic comparison of Na-Dene and Yeniseian shows that the quantity and character of the correspondences points to a possible common origin. According to Russian linguistic experts, they likely spoke apolysynthetic orsynthetic language with anactive form ofmorphosyntactic alignment, exhibiting a linguistically and culturally unified community.
The name Dingling resembles both:
Although theDené–Yeniseian language family is now a widely known proposal, his inclusion of the Dingling is not widely accepted.
There is some evidence that the Dingling looked similar to European people, based on their identification with theTagar culture of the Altai region in Siberia. In the 20th century, several historians proposed that the Tagar people were characterized by a high frequency of light hair and light eyes, and that the associated Dingling were blond-haired.[48][49] Genetic testing of fossils from the Tagar culture has confirmed the theory that they were often blue eyed and light-haired.[50] Twenty-first century scholars continue to describe the Dingling in a similar manner. Adrienne Mayor repeated N. Ishjants' description (1994) of the Dingling as "red-haired, blue-eyed giants" while M.V. Dorina called the Dingling "European-looking."[51][52]
The Chinese sources do not differentiate the Dingling's appearance from the Han Chinese. Chinese histories unanimously depict the Dingling as the ancestors of the Tiele, whose physical appearance is also not described, but seem to have included non-Turkic speaking peoples. TheAlans, an Iranic people, are included among them, as well as the Bayegu, who had a somewhat different language than the Tiele according to theNew Book of Tang. TheNew Book also relates that the Kyrgyz intermixed with the Dingling. TheBook of Sui states that the Tiele had similar customs to theGöktürks but different marriage and burial traditions.[53]
TheClassic of Mountains and Seas described the Dingling as human beings with horses' legs and hooves and excellent at running.[54] However, this description is mythological in nature.[55] A similar description is also echoed in aWusun account, recorded in theWeilüe (compiled 239-265 CE), which describes the men of Majing ("Horse Shanks"), located north of the Dingling, as possessing horse legs and hooves.[56]
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