The
Five Barbarians or
Wu Hu , is a Chinese historical
exonym for
ancient non-Han Chinese peoples who immigrated to northern China in the
Eastern Han Dynasty, and then overthrew the
Western Jin Dynasty and established
their own kingdoms in the 4th–5th centuries. They were a mix of tribes comprised mainly of Mongolian, Turkic and Tibetan stock among whom the Turkic peoples were to have the most significant influence upon events in China and contributed the most important achievements. Others divide them into two Turkic tribes, one Tungusic tribe, and two Tibetan tribes, and yet others into Tibetan and Altaic (proto-Mongolian and early Turkic). The peoples categorized as the Five Barbarians are the
Xiongnu,
Jie,
Xianbei,
Di, and
Qiang. Of these five ethnic groups, the Xiongnu and Xianbei were nomadic peoples from the northern steppes. The ethnic identity of the Xiongnu is uncertain, but the Xianbei appear to have been Mongolic. The Jie, another pastoral people, may have been a branch of the Xiongnu who may have been Yeniseian or
Indo-Scythian. The Di and Qiang were from the highlands of western China. The Qiang were predominantly herdsmen and spoke
Sino-Tibetan (Qiangic) languages, while the Di were farmers who may have spoken a Sino-Tibetan or
Turkic language