They were known as early as the Shang dynasty (1765–1122 BCE),[1] as one of the Four Barbarians that frequently (and often violently) interacted with the sinitic Huaxia civilization.
[citation needed] The Xirong together with the eastern Dongyi, northern Beidi, and southern Nanman were collectively called the Sìyí (四夷; 'Four Barbarians').
The people of those five regions – the Middle states, and the [Rong], [Yi], (and other wild tribes round them) – had all their several natures, which they could not be made to alter.
The people of the Middle states, and of those [Yi], Man, [Rong], and [Di], all had their dwellings, where they lived at ease; their flavours which they preferred; the clothes suitable for them; their proper implements for use; and their vessels which they prepared in abundance.
To make what was in their minds apprehended, and to communicate their likings and desires, (there were officers) – in the east, called transmitters; in the south, representationists; in the west, [Di-dis]; and in the north, interpreters.
[citation needed] William H. Baxter and Laurent Sagart (2014)[13] reconstruct the Old Chinese name of Róng as 戎, OC:*nuŋ, mod.
Today, similar-sounding self-designated ethnonyms among modern-day Tibeto-Burman peoples in western China include Rgyalrong of Sichuan, and Nung and Trung of northwestern Yunnan (see also Rung languages).
Průšek suggests relations between the Rong during the Zhou dynasty and the Rén (人 < OC *ni[ŋ]) tribes during Shang dynasty,[14] however, the Rén (人) dwelt in southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu, thus east, not west, of the Shang.
It is believed that the Quanrong during the Western Zhou-Warring States period (1122–476 BC) spoke a Tibeto-Burman branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, and united with the Jiang clan to rebel against the Zhou.