In Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, the Xiongnu 匈奴 were mentioned as Shanrong 山戎, Xianyun 獫狁, and Hunyu 葷粥 "since before the time of Tang [i.e. Emperor Yao (堯)] and Yu [i.e. Emperor Shun (舜)]" (唐虞以上).
"[5] In Shiji Suoyin (史記索隱) "Seeking the Obscure in the Records", Tang history Sima Zhen quoted from Fengsu Tongyi (風俗通義) "Comprehensive Meaning of Customs and Mores", by Ying Shao 應劭, that “In the time of Yin, they were called Xunyu [獯粥], which was changed to Xiongnu [匈奴]”;[6] however, this quote no longer exists in Fengsu Tongyi's received text.
Sima Zhen stated that Yue Chan (樂產) wrote in now-lost Guadipu (括地譜) "Register of the Encompassing Lands" that: “Jie, (ruler of) the House of Xia lived an immoral life.
His son Xunyu 獯粥 married his concubines and they wandered far away to the northern wilderness in search of pasture lands, and then in the Middle Kingdom they were mentioned as Xiongnu 匈奴.”[8] Sima Zhen also quoted Zhang Yan (張晏)'s statement that “Chunwei, during the Yin era, fled to the northern borders.”[9] However, Goldin (2011) points out chronological difficulties resulting from attempts to identify Chunwei 淳維 with Hunyu 葷粥 ~ Xunyu 獯粥.
[a] If one would literally interpret "since before the time of Tang [i.e. Emperor Yao] and Yu [i.e. Emperor Shun]" (唐虞以上) (when the Hunyu supposedly had been in existence)[b] in Sima Qian's Shiji and would identify Chunwei 葷粥 with Hunyu 葷粥 ~ Xunyu 獯粥, those would result in Chunwei, allegedly a son of Jie of the Xia dynasty, living before instead of many generations after Yao and Shun, both of whom had lived and ruled before the Xia dynasty.