In this rich and beautiful land in the northeast, the ancestors of the Chinese nation have long worked, lived and multiplied. In the pre-Qin era, there were three major indigenous peoples in the northeast, and Donghu was the most powerful of them. So, how did the name of the Donghu people come about?
Donghu people
In ancient China, the northeast was vast and sparsely populated. In this vibrant land, the indigenous people of the northeast live happily by fishing and hunting. Later, because of the changes in ethnic groups, the three just nationalities of Donghu, Sushen and Shuyi were gradually formed. To tell the history of the northeast, we must start from the indigenous people of the northeast. Today, we will talk about how the name of the Donghu people came about.
The northeasterners have always been tough, and the indigenous people of the northeast, who date back to the pre-Qin period, are even more fierce, and Donghu is one of the representatives. We all know that the Xiongnu were very good at war and fought with the Han Dynasty for hundreds of years. However, for a period of time, the Xiongnu in the eyes of the Donghu, that is, a small ant, vulnerable, every New Year's Festival, the Xiongnu will give gifts to the Donghu.
In fact, the Donghu originally had no name. In that barbaric era, the indigenous people of the northeast bravely wrestled with nature, only knowing the names of their relatives, or cats or dogs, and not knowing the names of the ethnic groups.
However, when a classic work of China appeared, this indigenous people in the northeast had a name!
Yi Zhou Shu
This work is the Book of Yi Zhou.
For this work, many people do not know. This work is a compilation of ancient Chinese historical documents, with narratives ranging from Zhou Wen and Wu Wang to the Ling And Jing Wangs in the late Spring and Autumn Period. The original name was "Book of Zhou", and after the Sui and Tang Dynasties, it was also known as "Book of Zhou". However, some of the contents and ideas of this work are contrary to Confucian moral theory. Ancient Chinese dynasties reused Confucianism, so scholars did not pay much attention to this work until the Qing Dynasty. However, during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, this work was edited into the "Four Libraries complete book" and could be studied by later generations.
In the Yi zhou Shu Wang Hui Chapter, it is mentioned that "Dong Hu Huang Qi, Shan Rong Rong Shu". This is the first time that the name "Donghu" has gone to history, and since then, the word Donghu has continued endlessly and has frequently appeared in various historical works. For example, the Book of Jin records that Murong Hui, who had been awarded the title of "Governor of Xianbei" in the Jin Dynasty, "was also a Xianbei person in Changli Thorn City." Its predecessor was the Miao descendant of the Xiong clan, who lived in Beiyi and was known as Donghu. "There is the Xiong clan, which is the Yellow Emperor tribe." It is recorded in the "Chronicle of the Xiongnu" that since the historical records of Donghu, the contact with the Yan and Zhao states in the Central Plains was relatively frequent.
So, why is it called Donghu? Let's look again at the historical background of the Book of Yizhou, which records the events from the time of King Wen of Zhou to the Jingwang of Eastern Zhou, during which the Xiongnu called themselves Hu, when the Central Plains referred to the tribes that operated east of the Xiongnu (Hu) as "Eastern Hu". The northeast is on the eastern side of the Mongolian plateau, so it is logical that the author of the Yizhou Book wrote the names of people at that time for Donghu.
Since then, there have been other works that complement this, for example, the history of the Xiongnu and Cihai clearly indicate that Donghu "was named after the Xiongnu (Hu) east of them". In fact, Donghu appeared very early in history, but because the "Book of Yizhou" was written in the Warring States, the author would use the title of the time when writing, so it was called Donghu.
Tunguska people
In modern times, scholars have a new interpretation of the origin of the name Donghu, and some scholars believe that Donghu is a storyteller.
Donghu is pronounced the same as the Old Altaic (Mongolian-Tungusic) Word Toung-gu(s), and the correct pronunciation is "Tunggu (Si)", that is, "Donghu" is a cross-spelling of the word "Tunggu (Si)". In The Old AltayMese languages t, d; h, and g are often indiscriminate and common to each other, so it is also possible that "Tongu" is pronounced "Donghu". The "Tong" of "Tongu" means willow bush, "Ancient" means river, the literal translation of "Tongu" means "Wicker River" or "River with willow trees on the bank of the river", and after adding the ending "s" indicating most of the parts of speech, it evolved into the ethnic name of the ethnic group living by the river - "Tunguska", as a family name, meaning the ethnic group that lives on the banks of the river full of willow trees, or can be understood as "people living in the Willow River Basin". In fact, Donghu originally referred to the ethnic groups living in the Liuhe River valley in the upper reaches of the Liao River, and had already obtained this title before the Xiongnu advanced eastward, and this title should be their self-title, that is, they called themselves "people who live by the Liuhe River".
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The Tunguska ethnic group is basically a fishing and hunting people, which was originally the Name of the Evenk by the Yakuts, living in northeast China and the far northeast of Russia, as well as in central Siberia along the Tunguska River. Their language is similar to the Manchu language in northeast China, so this language group is called The Manchu-Tungusic language family.
So, is Donghu a Tungusic? There is no conclusive historical data to support this view. However, among the indigenous peoples in the northeast, the Donghu are the first to rise, very bloody, and dare to challenge authority. So, in the history of Northeast China, how did Donghu rise and how did it perish? Stay tuned for tomorrow's content on the new media platform of Daily Chinese Characters. 【Author:Daily Kanji】