Editing Jie people (section)

=== Sixteen Kingdoms ===
{{Main|Later Zhao}}
Most of what is known about the Jie people comes from the [[Later Zhao|Later Zhao dynasty]], one of the [[Sixteen Kingdoms]] that existed in the first half of the 4th-century. The earliest recorded Jie was [[Shi Le]], a minor chieftain from [[Wuxiang County]] in [[Bingzhou|Bing province]] (roughly modern-day [[Shanxi]]) under the Western Jin dynasty. However, his name was not originally "Shi Le", as it does not appear that the Jie had family names; Instead, his original name was either Bei (㔨) or Fule (匐勒). He became chieftain by succeeding his father Zhouhezhu (周曷朱) and grandfather Yeyiyu (耶奕于) before him. When a famine struck Bing in 303, he and many other Jie and ''hu'' people became displaced. The Jin provincial inspector, looking to fund his military for an [[War of the Eight Princes|ongoing civil war]], had them captured and sold into slavery. The Jie and ''hu'' were scattered around the [[Hebei]] and [[Shandong]] regions, with Shi Le himself becoming a slave.

After attaining his freedom, Shi Le became a bandit and later a rebel leader with his [[Han Chinese]] friend, [[Ji Sang]], who gave Shi Le his name. When their rebellion was defeated in 307, Shi Le joined the [[Xiongnu]]-led [[Han-Zhao|Han-Zhao dynasty]], where he quickly rose through the ranks and became a key commander in their war against the Western Jin. He was also effectively a powerful warlord who controlled the eastern parts of the empire and made the city of Xiangguo (襄國, in modern [[Xingtai]], [[Hebei]]) his capital. In 319, Shi Le broke away and established the Later Zhao. He conquered his former state in 329, and while some areas remained independent, the Later Zhao became the hegemonic power of northern China, reaching a stalemate with the [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Eastern Jin]] and [[Cheng-Han]] dynasties in the south.

During his reign, Shi Le issued a ban on the word "''hu''", replacing it with the word "guoren" (國人; countryman) when referring to the Jie and other miscellaneous ''hu'' tribes. Shi Le's family also had an unusual practice of heavily adopting people into their clan. His brother, [[Shi Hu]], for example was a distant cousin who was adopted by his father during their tribal years. Shi Le continued this practice during his rise to power, adopting the likes of Shi Hui (石会), previously Zhang Beidu (張㔨督) of a different ''hu'' tribe, as well as [[Shi Kan]] and [[Shi Cong (Later Zhao)|Shi Cong]], who were [[Han Chinese]]. The adopted members were turned into powerful princes and military generals. However, after Shi Le died, Shi Hu violently seized power from his biological son, [[Shi Hong]] and ascended the throne in 334. 

Shi Hu shifted the capital to [[Ye (Hebei)|Ye]] and ruled over northern China for roughly 15 years. Records describe him as a brutal tyrant who oppressed the common people through his excessive building projects, concubine collection and military campaigns. By the end of his reign, he was troubled by a succession crisis, and after his death in 349, his family members engaged in an internecine struggle over the throne. During the course of the conflict, Shi Hu's adopted Han Chinese grandson, [[Ran Min|Shi Min]], was promised the role of Crown Prince, but soon took control of the emperor and capital by force after his promise was reneged upon. The Zhao state then split into two parts when [[Shi Zhi]], a son of Shi Hu, formed a faction against Shi Min in the old capital of Xiangguo.

After surviving multiple assassination attempts, Shi Min suspected that he could not trust the Jie and tribespeople in Ye. In 349, he ordered the killing of every Jie and ''hu'' people, identifying them by their high noses and full beards. Shi Min personally led his soldiers to massacre the tribes in Ye while his generals purged their armies of tribesmen. According to some sources, more than 200,000 of them were slain, but a large portion of them were also Han Chinese who were mistaken due to their facial features. Regardless, the culling order appears to have had an adverse effect on the Jie population.<ref>''The Buddhist Conquest of China'', Erik Zürcher, [https://books.google.com/books?id=388UAAAAIAAJ&dq=CHIEH++people&pg=PA111 p. 111]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Maenchen-Helfen |first=Otto J. |author-link=Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen |date=1973|title=The World of the Huns: Studies in Their History and Culture|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CrUdgzSICxcC_2 |publisher=[[University of California Press]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CrUdgzSICxcC_2/page/n399 372]|isbn=0520015967|access-date=January 16, 2015}}</ref> Later that year, Shi Min massacred the Shi clan in Ye, changed his name to Ran Min and proclaimed himself Emperor of (Ran) Wei. He also reversed the genocide policy to avoid causing more tribesmen to join Shi Zhi's side. 

In 351, the final ruler of Later Zhao, [[Shi Zhi]] and his family were massacred in Xiangguo, bringing the dynasty to an end. The last member of the Shi clan fled to the Eastern Jin in [[Jiankang]], but was executed upon his arrival. The remaining Jie people eventually became subjects of the [[Xianbei]]-led [[Former Yan]], who defeated Ran Min and conquered the [[Hebei]] and [[Shandong]] regions.