[1][2] Some references argue that the Chinese term "Tu" was derived from the name of Tuyühu Khan, who was the older son of the King of Murong Xianbei who migrated westward from the northeast in 284.

It was derived from their origins from the Murong Xianbei, from whom Tuyühu Khan separated and who had been historically referred to as "the White Section" or "Bai Bu," due to their lighter skin.

[10][11][12][13][14][15] Subsequently, the Flemish Catholic missionary, Louis Schram, made it into an international name through three volumes of extensive reports based on his experiences from having lived among them from 1911 to 1922.

[20][21] This admixture may come from an earlier period as many of their carnival-like festivals and masked fertility rituals have similarities in the Hellenistic times with Dionysian representations, not in Byzantine Christian-era Greek celebrations.

others=5.78 Their earliest origins from the Donghu are reflected in their account of the unique wedding ceremony attributed to Madam Lushi,[24] who organized an ambush through an elaborate banquet combined with liquor and singing in order to subdue a bully named "Wang Mang".

It eventually evolved into the Upper Xiajidian Culture, which was associated with the Donghu and characterized by the practice of agriculture and animal husbandry supplemented by handicrafts and bronze art.

The fraction that supported Murong Wei into the Khanate position aimed at ruling over China, whereas Tuyühu intended to preserve the Xianbei culture and lifestyles.

After settling down in the northwest, they established the powerful Tuyühu Empire named to his honor as the first Khan who led them there, by subjugating the native peoples who were summarily referred to as the "Qiang" and included more than 100 different and loosely coordinated tribes that did not submit to each other or any authorities.

Their territories encompassed, at their height, the present Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei, and Henan, and their capitals included Beijing and other cities.

The Gaxian Cave,[39] currently Khabarovsk and Amur regions in the Russian Far East, which had stone inscriptions of the Northern Wei emperor dated 443, was recognized to be the sacred ancestral shrine of the Xianbei.

Among the Monguor settlement in Minhe, Qinghai today, the La and Bao Family Villages were accounted to have descended from "Tiebie",[44] indicating that they have derived their origins from the Tufa (Tuoba) Xianbei of the Southern Liang.

As the An Lushan Rebellion shook up the Tang court and caused its emperor to flee, Tibet overtook the entire territory of Tuyühu until internal turmoil developed within the Tibetan government and massive revolts brought an end to its rule.

Through this period, the Xianbei underwent massive diasporas over a vast territory that stretched from the northwest into central and eastern parts of China, with the greatest concentrations found by Mt.

In 946, the Shatuo Turk, Liu Zhiyuan, conspired to murder the highest Xianbei leader, Bai Chengfu, who was reportedly so wealthy that "his horses had silver mangers".

[46] With that stolen wealth, which included an abundance of property and thousands of fine horses, Liu established the Later Han (947–950), the shortest dynasty in Chinese history, lasting only four years.

Through effective military organizations that integrated cavalry, chariots, archery, shields, artillery (cannons carried on the back of camels), and amphibious troops for combats on the land and water,[48] the Xia army maintained a powerful stance in opposition to the Song, Liao (916–1125), and Jin (1115–1234) empires to its east, the last of which was founded by the Jurchens, who were the predecessors of the Manchus who would found the Qing dynasty (1644–1912).

[49][50][51] In the beginning of the thirteenth century, Genghis Khan unified the northern grasslands of Mongolia and led the Mongol troops to carry out six rounds of attacks against Western Xia over a period of twenty-two years.

As Western Xia resisted vehemently, more and more of its people crossed the Qilian Mountains to join the earlier establishments in Qinghai and Gansu in order to avoid the Mongol assaults, which gave rise to the current settlements of the Monguor.

After the Xia capital was overrun in 1227, the Mongols destroyed much of hu its architecture and written records, killing the last emperor and massacring tens of thousands of civilians.

In addition to the Tibetans and authentic Han people, the "Qiang" comprised a portion of the Miao/Hmong who were relocated to the northwest from central China after their Three Miao Kingdom was destroyed by the legendary Chinese Emperor Yü the Great about four thousand years ago.

Since the autonyms of the Miao/Hmong include "Guoxiong",[65] "Gaoxiong," and "Gouxiong," the character "Gao" (or "Mighty") in the Xia national title could have derived as a variant abbreviation.

As early as the Tuyühu period, Confucianism served as the core ideology to govern the country, and the Chinese Buddhism and Shamanism functioned as the principle religions.

After Western Xia fell, its territory centered in Ningxia was fragmented by the successive establishments of Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai provinces, which increasingly weakened the political and military powers of the Monguor.

Through the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties, the Monguor continued to play important roles in the national defense, and political and religious affairs of China.

[69][70][71][72][73] The Monguor troops led by their Tusi defended not only their own homeland but also joined the national army to participate in wars that took place as far as in eastern Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Yunnan, Mongolia, and Dunhuang,[74] which progressively weakened their military power.

Most Monguor in rapidly changing rural settlements today practice sedentary agriculture, supplemented by minimum animal husbandry, and seasonal work in towns and cities.

Both "Nadun" and "Nadam" are special nouns designated to an annual festival and reflect their shared origins from the Xianbei who were recorded to have "one major gathering every spring for leisure and fun by river".

[81] Whereas the Mongolian Nadam preserved the nomadic features of horse race, wrestling, and archery, the Monguor Nadun has encoded their history through masked dance performances and presents as an annual military drill combined with joyful celebrations of harvest.

[82] Held by villages in turn along the Yellow River and circles through the entire Sanchuan/Guanting region in Minhe, the Nadun festival is inherently tied to agricultural work.

Its name and styles bear resemblance to the "Andai" dance of the Mongols who live in Ordos, an area that has historically served as the transitional point for the Xianbei to move about in China.