Editing Xiongnu (section)

=== Marriage diplomacy with Han dynasty ===
{{Main|Heqin}}
In the winter of 200 BC, following a Xiongnu [[siege]] of [[Taiyuan]], [[Emperor Gaozu of Han]] personally led a military campaign against [[Modu Chanyu]]. At the [[Battle of Baideng]], he was ambushed, reputedly by Xiongnu cavalry. The emperor was cut off from supplies and reinforcements for seven days, only narrowly escaping capture.

The Han dynasty sent commoner women falsely labeled as "princesses" and members of the Han imperial family to the Xiongnu multiple times when they were practicing [[Heqin]] ({{zh|c=和親|l=harmonious kinship}}) marriage alliances with the Xiongnu in order to avoid sending the emperor's daughters.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lo |first=Ping-cheung |editor1-last=Lo |editor1-first=Ping-cheung |editor2-last=Twiss |editor2-first=Sumner B. |date=2015 |edition=illustrated |title=Chinese Just War Ethics: Origin, Development, and Dissent |series=War, Conflict and Ethics |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KlhCQAAQBAJ&dq=han+fake+princess+xiongnu&pg=PA269 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |page=269 |chapter=11 Legalism and offensive realism in the Chinese court debate on defending national security 81 BCE |isbn=978-1-317-58097-3 |quote=There were altogether nine marriages of Han princesses (fake or real) to the Xiongnu during these roughly 60 years (for a complete list of details, see Cui 2007a, 555). We will call this policy Heqin Model One, and, as Ying-shih Yu ... |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Qian |first=Sima |date=2019 |title=Historical Records 史记: The First and Most Important Biographical General History Book in China |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-OGDwAAQBAJ&dq=han+fake+princess+xiongnu&pg=PT902 |publisher=DeepLogic |quote=Liu Jing said: "The Han dynasty was just calm, the soldiers were exhausted by the fire, and the Xiongnu could not be ... If the majesty could not send a big princess, let the royal woman or the fake princess, he I will know that I will ... |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Chin |first=Tamara T. |date=2020 |title=Savage Exchange: Han Imperialism, Chinese Literary Style, and the Economic Imagination |series=Harvard University Studies in East Asian Law |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5_YFEAAAQBAJ&dq=han+fake+princess+xiongnu&pg=PA225 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |page=225 |isbn=978-1-68417-078-4 |quote=In the Han- Wusun alliance (unlike the Han- Xiongnu heqin agreements) the gifts flowed in the proper direction, ... Thus, while Empress Lü transgressed the heqin marriage in having a false princess sent, Liu Jing's original proposal ... |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Chin |first=Tamara Ta Lun |date=2005 |title=Savage Exchange: Figuring the Foreign in the Early Han Dynasty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hi9PAQAAMAAJ&q=han+fake+princess+xiongnu |publisher=[[University of California, Berkeley]] |pages=66, 73, 74 |quote=Figuring the Foreign in the Early Han Dynasty Tamara Ta Lun Chin ... Emperor Han Wudi's military push to reverse the power relations between Xiongnu and Han stands in stark contrast to the original ... Xiongnu with a false princess. |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mosol |first=Lee |date=2013 |title=Ancient History of the Manchuria |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DyN-AwAAQBAJ&dq=han+fake+princess+xiongnu&pg=PA77 |publisher=X libris Corporation |page=77 |isbn=978-1-4836-6767-6 |quote=... 孝文皇帝 sent a girl as a new wife for the Chanyu as a 'fake princess of Royal family' with a eunuch named '中行 ... The Han lured the Xiongnu chief deep into the China proper town called "馬邑," but Gunchen Chanyu realized the trap ... |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The Han sent these "princesses" to marry Xiongnu leaders in their efforts to stop the border raids. Along with arranged marriages, the Han sent gifts to bribe the Xiongnu to stop attacking.{{sfn|Bentley|1993|p=36}} After the defeat at [[Datong|Pingcheng]] in 200 BC, the Han emperor abandoned a military solution to the Xiongnu threat. Instead, in 198 BC, the courtier {{Interlanguage link multi|Liu Jing (Han dynasty)|zh|3=劉敬 (西漢)|lt=Liu Jing}} was dispatched for negotiations. The peace settlement eventually reached between the parties included a Han princess given in marriage to the ''chanyu''; periodic gifts to the Xiongnu of [[silk]], [[distilled beverage]]s and [[rice]]; equal status between the states; and a [[Great Wall of China|boundary wall]] as a mutual border.

[[File:Belt Buckle LACMA M.76.97.582.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|left|A traveling nomad family led by a man in belted jacket and trousers, pulling a nomadic cart.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Moorey |first1=P. R. S. (Peter Roger Stuart) |last2=Markoe |first2=Glenn |title=Ancient bronzes, ceramics, and seals: The Nasli M. Heeramaneck Collection of ancient Near Eastern, central Asiatic, and European art, gift of the Ahmanson Foundation |date=1981 |location=Los Angeles, CA |publisher=Los Angeles County Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-87587-100-4 |at=p. 168, item 887 |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientbronzesce00losa/page/168/mode/1up}}</ref> Belt Buckle, Mongolia or southern Siberia, dated to 2nd–1st century BC (Xiongnu period).<ref>{{cite web |title=Belt Buckle LACMA Collections |url=https://collections.lacma.org/node/226294 |website=collections.lacma.org}}</ref><ref name="Prior_SR14_2016_186_195">{{cite journal |last1=Prior |first1=Daniel |title=FASTENING THE BUCKLE: A STRAND OF XIONGNU-ERA NARRATIVE IN A RECENT KIRGHIZ EPIC POEM |journal=The Silk Road |date=2016 |volume=14 |page=191 |url=http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/newsletter/vol14/Prior_SR14_2016_186_195.pdf}}</ref>]]
[[File:Belt plaque with design of wrestling men, Ordos region and western part of North China, 2nd century BC, bronze - Ethnological Museum, Berlin (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.35|Belt plaque with design of wrestling men, [[Ordos Plateau|Ordos]] region and western part of North China, 2nd century BC, bronze - Ethnological Museum, Berlin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=So |first1=Jenny F. |last2=Bunker |first2=Emma C. |title=Traders and raiders on China's northern frontier |date=1995 |publisher=Seattle : Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, in association with University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-97473-6 |pages=22, 90 |url=https://archive.org/details/tradersraiderson00soje/page/22/mode/1up?view=theater}}</ref> According to [[Henri-Paul Francfort|Frankfort]], the wrestlers are Xiongnu, and their horses have Xiongnu-type [[horse trappings]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Francfort |first1=Henri-Paul |author-link=Henri-Paul Francfort|title=Sur quelques vestiges et indices nouveaux de l'hellénisme dans les arts entre la Bactriane et le Gandhāra (130 av. J.-C.-100 apr. J.-C. environ) |journal=Journal des Savants |date=2020 |volume=1 |doi=10.3406/jds.2020.6422 |at=p. 37, Fig.16 |url=https://www.academia.edu/45042820|quote="Bronze plaque from northwestern China or south central Interior Mongolia, wrestling Xiongnus, the horses have Xiongnu-type trappings" (French: "Plaque en bronze ajouré du nord-ouest de la Chine ou Mongolie intérieure méridionale centrale, Xiongnu luttant, les chevaux portent des harnachements de «type Xiongnu».")}}</ref>]]
This first treaty set the pattern for relations between the [[Han dynasty|Han]] and the Xiongnu for sixty years. Up to 135&nbsp;BC, the treaty was renewed nine times, each time with an increase in the "gifts" to the Xiongnu Empire. In 192&nbsp;BC, [[Modu Chanyu|Modun]] even asked for the hand of [[Emperor Gaozu of Han]] widow [[Empress Lü Zhi]]. His son and successor, the energetic Jiyu, known as [[Laoshang Chanyu]], continued his father's expansionist policies. Laoshang succeeded in negotiating terms with [[Emperor Wen of Han|Emperor Wen]] for the maintenance of a large scale government sponsored market system.

While the Xiongnu benefited handsomely, from the Chinese perspective marriage treaties were costly, very humiliating and ineffective. Laoshang Chanyu showed that he did not take the peace treaty seriously. On one occasion his scouts penetrated to a point near [[Chang'an]]. In 166 BC he personally led 140,000 cavalry to invade [[Anding Commandery|Anding]], reaching as far as the imperial retreat at Yong. In 158 BC, his successor sent 30,000 cavalry to attack [[Shangdang]] and another 30,000 to [[Yunzhong Commandery|Yunzhong]].{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}

The Xiongnu also [[Heqin#Xiongnu|practiced marriage alliances with Han dynasty officers and officials]] who defected to their side by marrying off sisters and daughters of the ''[[Chanyu]]'' to Han Chinese who joined the Xiongnu and Xiongnu in Han service. The daughter of Laoshang Chanyu (and older sister of [[Junchen]] Chanyu and [[Yizhixie]] Chanyu) was married to the Xiongnu General [[Zhao Xin (general)|Zhao Xin]], the Marquis of Xi who was serving the Han dynasty. The daughter of [[Qiedihou]] Chanyu was married to the [[Han Chinese]] General [[Li Ling]] after he surrendered and defected.<ref>{{citation |title=Aristocratic elites in the Xiongnu empire
|url=https://www.academia.edu/5147439 |first=Nicola |last=di Cosmo |page=31}}</ref><ref name="SimaWatson1993">{{cite book |first1=Qian |last1=Sima |first2=Burton |last2=Watson |title=Records of the Grand Historian: Han dynasty |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YNlgKEVYdHEC&q=li+guangli+daughter&pg=PA161 |date=January 1993 |publisher=Renditions-[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-08166-5 |pages=161– |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Monumenta Serica |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8-1wAAAAMAAJ&q=li+guangli+daughter+chanyu|year=2004 |publisher=H. Vetch |page=81 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Wakeman1985">{{cite book |first=Frederic E. |last=Wakeman |title=The Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in Seventeenth-century China |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8nXLwSG2O8AC&pg=PA41 |year=1985 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-04804-1 |pages=41– |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sima |first=Qian |title=Records of the Grand Historian: Han Dynasty II |year=1993 |url=https://dokumen.pub/records-of-the-grand-historian-han-dynasty-ii-0231081677-9780231081672.html |page=128 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=0-231-08167-7}}</ref> Another Han Chinese General who defected to the Xiongnu was [[Li Guangli]], a general in the [[War of the Heavenly Horses]], who also married a daughter of the [[Hulugu]] Chanyu.<ref>{{cite book |author=Lin Jianming (林剑鸣) |script-title=zh:秦漢史 |trans-title=History of Qin and Han |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lqfrEY8UW1UC&pg=PA557 |year=1992 |publisher=Wunan Publishing |isbn=978-957-11-0574-1 |pages=557–558 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> The Han Chinese diplomat [[Su Wu]] married a Xiongnu woman given by Li Ling when he was arrested and taken captive.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hong |first1=Yuan |title=The Sinitic Civilization Book II: A Factual History Through the Lens of Archaeology, Bronzeware, Astronomy, Divination, Calendar and the Annals |date=2018 |publisher=iUniversе |isbn=978-1-5320-5830-1 |page=419 |edition=abridged |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nay8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA419}}</ref> Han Chinese explorer [[Zhang Qian]] married a Xiongnu woman and had a child with her when he was taken captive by the Xiongnu.<ref name="James A. Millward 2007 20">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC&q=zhang+qian+wife&pg=PA20 |title=Eurasian crossroads: a history of Xinjiang |first=James A. |last=Millward |year=2007 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-13924-3 |page=20 |access-date=17 April 2011 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Great Wall: China Against the World, 1000 BC – AD 2000 |first=Julia |last=Lovell |year=2007 |publisher=[[Grove Press]] |isbn=978-0-8021-4297-9 |page=73 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IWS53cuiuVgC&q=zhang+xiongnu+wife+children+managed+to+escape&pg=PA73 |access-date=17 April 2011 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QJsx7eQ0rwAC&q=zhang+qian+wife |title=The Human Record: To 1700 |first1=Alfred J. |last1=Andrea |first2=James H. |last2=Overfield |year=1998 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin]] |isbn=978-0-395-87087-7 |page=165 |access-date=17 April 2011 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Yiping Zhang 2005 22">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35L3Ww72M-YC&q=zhang+qian+wife&pg=PA22|title=Story of the Silk Road |first=Yiping |last=Zhang |year=2005 |publisher=[[:zh:五洲传播出版社|China Intercontinental Press]] |page=22 |isbn=978-7-5085-0832-0 |access-date=17 April 2011}}</ref><ref name="Charles Higham 2004 409">{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of ancient Asian civilizations |first=Charles |last=Higham |year=2004 |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-8160-4640-9 |page=409 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1c1UIEVH9gC&q=zhang+qian+wife&pg=PA409 |access-date=17 April 2011 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3EyBAAAAMAAJ&q=123+BC+with+his+Xiongnu+wife+and+the+slave+Ganfu |title=Man and environment, Volume 23, Issue 1 |author1=Indian Society for Prehistoric |author2=Quaternary Studies |name-list-style=amp |year=1998|publisher=Indian Society for Prehistoric and Quaternary Studies |page=6 |access-date=17 April 2011 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Mayor2014">{{cite book |first=Adrienne |last=Mayor |title=The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rboWBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA422 |date=22 September 2014 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-1-4008-6513-0 |pages=422– |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

The [[khagan]]s of the [[Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate]] claimed descent from the Chinese general [[Li Ling]], grandson of the [[Han dynasty]] general [[Li Guang]].<ref>{{cite book |access-date=8 February 2012 |title=The role of women in the Altaic world: Permanent International Altaistic Conference, 44th meeting, Walberberg, 26-31 August 2001|editor=Veronika Veit |edition=illustrated |volume=152 |series=Asiatische Forschungen |year=2007 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-05537-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OBEIq8kTQBcC&pg=PA61 |page=61 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |access-date=8 February 2012 |title=Tang China and the collapse of the Uighur Empire: a documentary history |first=Michael Robert |last=Drompp |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NB6DEdAxLOsC&pg=PA126 |edition=illustrated |volume=13 |series=Brill's Inner Asian library |year=2005 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |isbn=90-04-14129-4 |page=126 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Kyzlasov">{{cite book |last=Kyzlasov |first=Leonid R. |date=2010 |title=The Urban Civilization of Northern and Innermost Asia Historical and Archaeological Research |url=http://nbdrx.ru/pdf/bx00000168.pdf |id=Florilegium magistrorum historiae archaeologiaeque Antiqutatis et Medii Aevi |series=Curatores seriei Victor Spinei et Ionel Candeâ VII |publisher=Romanian Academy Institute of Archaeology of Iaşi Editura Academiei Romane - Editura Istros |page=245 |isbn=978-973-27-1962-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Drompp |first=Michael |date=2021 |title=Tang China and the Collapse of the Uighur Empire: A Documentary History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5oZSEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22it+is+interesting+to+see+how+the+Kirghiz+apparently+had+retained+a+tradition+of+historical+memory%22&pg=PA126 |series=Brill's Inner Asian Library |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |page=126 |isbn=978-90-474-1478-0 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Li Ling was captured by the Xiongnu and defected in the first century BC.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The role of women in the Altaic world: Permanent International Altaistic Conference, 44th meeting, Walberberg, 26-31 August 2001 |date=2007 |publisher=Harrassowitz |last=Veit |first=Veronika |isbn=978-3-447-05537-6 |location=Wiesbaden |page=61 |oclc=182731462}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Drompp |first=Michael R. |date=1999 |title=Breaking the Orkhon Tradition: Kirghiz Adherence to the Yenisei Region after A. D. 840 |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=119 |issue=3 |pages=394–395 |doi=10.2307/605932 |jstor=605932}}</ref> And since the Tang royal Li family also claimed descent from Li Guang, the Kirghiz Khagan was therefore recognized as a member of the Tang Imperial family. This relationship soothed the relationship when Kyrgyz khagan [[Are Khagan|Are]] (阿熱) invaded [[Uyghur Khaganate]] and executed Qasar Qaghan. The news brought to [[Chang'an]] by Kyrgyz ambassador Zhuwu Hesu (註吾合素).