The Rouran Khaganate (柔然; Róurán), also known as Ruanruan or Juan-juan (蠕蠕; Ruǎnruǎn) (or variously Jou-jan, Ruruan, Ju-juan, Ruru, Ruirui, Rouru, Rouruan or Tantan),[6][7] was a tribal confederation and later state founded by a people of Proto-Mongolic Donghu origin.

[11][12] The Rouran Khaganate ended when they were defeated by a Göktürk rebellion at the peak of their power, which subsequently led to the rise of the Turks in world history.

The Rouran have been credited as "a band of steppe robbers", because they adopted a strategy of raids and extortion of Northern China.

The Khaganate was an aggressive militarized society, a "military-hierarchical polity established to solve the exclusively foreign-policy problems of requisitioning surplus products from neighbouring nations and states.

"[1] Róurán 柔然 is a Classical Chinese transcription of the endonym of the confederacy;[17] meanwhile, 蠕蠕 Ruǎnruǎn ~ Rúrú (Weishu), which connoted something akin to "wriggling worm" , was used derogatorily in Tuoba-Xianbei sources.

[23] Klyastorny reconstructed the ethnonym behind the Chinese transcription 柔然 Róurán (LHC: *ńu-ńan; EMC: *ɲuw-ɲian > LMC: *riw-rian) as *nönör and compares it to Mongolic нөкүр nökür "friend, comrade, companion" (Khalkha нөхөр nöhör).

According to Klyashtorny, *nönör denotes "stepnaja vol'nica" "a free, roving band in the steppe, the 'companions' of the early Rouran leaders".

In early Mongol society, a nökür was someone who had left his clan or tribe to pledge loyalty to and serve a charismatic warlord; if this derivation were correct, Róurán 柔然 was originally not an ethnonym, but a social term referring to the dynastic founder's origins or the core circle of companions who helped him build his state.

[24] However, Golden identifies philological problems: the ethnonym should have been *nöŋör to be cognate to nökür, & possible assimilation of -/k/- to -/n/- in Chinese transcription needs further linguistic proofs.

Before being used as an ethnonym, Rouran had originally been the byname of chief Cheluhui (車鹿會), possibly denoting his status "as a Wei servitor".

[31][32][33] After the Xianbei migrated south and settled in Chinese lands during the late 3rd century AD, the Rouran made a name for themselves as fierce warriors.

[39] The Rouran also ousted the previous dynasty of Gaochang (the remnants of the Northern Liang) and installed Kan Bozhou as its king.

[1] Kradin notes that, possibly strained after the battle with Wei, the Rourans were not able to prevent the Uighur chief Abuzhiluo from heading "a 100 thousand tents" west, in a series of events that led to the overthrowing and killing of Doulun Khan.

It contained artistically invaluable murals, a mostly pillaged but still consistent treasure, Byzantine coins and about a thousand vessels and clay figurines.

The Rouran dignitaries of the ruling elite also adopted nicknames referring to their deeds, similar to the titles the Chinese bestowed posthumously.

There appears to have been a wide circle composing the nomadic aristocracy, including elders, chieftains, military commanders.

He cites as an example of this an event occurred in 518, when Nagai entitled the sorceress Diwai khagatun, taking her as his wife, and gave a compensation, a post and a title to Fushengmou, her then former husband.

[1] Initially the Rouran chiefs, having no letters to make records, "counted approximately the number of warriors by using sheep's droppings".

A later source claims that the Rouran later adopted the Chinese written language for diplomatic relations,[3] and under Anagui, started to write internal records.

[1] In the Book of Song there is the story of an educated Rouran "whose knowledge shamed a wise Chinese functionary".

[1] Hyun Jin Kim notes a similar use of bodyguards performing the same function in the contemporary Hunnic Empire to the west.

[43] Kim also compared the "rudimentary bureaucratic organisation" of the Rourans to that of the Huns, as well as their "hierarchical, stratified structure of government".

[44] Anagui's chief advisor was the Chinese Shunyu Tan, whose role is comparable to that of Yelü Chucai with the Mongols and Zhonghang Yue with the Xiongnu (or Huns).

[citation needed] In 555, Turks invaded and occupied the Rouran and Yujiulü Dengshuzi led 3000 soldiers in retreat to Western Wei.

"Genetically speaking, the elite Avars have a very, very eastern profile," says Choongwon Jeong, a co-author and a geneticist at Seoul National University.

In 567, diplomats from the Eastern Roman Empire reported the arrival of a new group from the east on the shores of the Caspian Sea.

[53] However, it's unlikely that Rouran would have migrated to Europe in any sufficient strength to establish themselves there, due to the desperate resistances, military disasters, and massacres.

[48] The remainder of the Rouran fled into China, were absorbed into the border guards, and disappeared forever as an entity.

Their pretensions to empire despite their relatively small numbers indicate descendance from a previously hegemonic power in the Far East.

[56] Li et al. 2018 examined the remains of a Rouran male buried at the Khermen Tal site in Mongolia.