Xulihu was Wuwei’s younger brother and the Right Worthy King when the Xiongnu made him chanyu in 102 BC.[1] The throne passed over the dead Child Chanyu’s son, who was too young to rule. Xulihu held it for one year.[1] In that year he pulled down the Han line of forts north of Wuyuan and raided the frontier and the Hexi corridor. He died of illness before he could attack the Han city of Shouxiang.[2]

Accession

The Child Chanyu died after three years on the throne, and his son was young. The Xiongnu set up Wuwei’s younger brother, the Right Worthy King Xulihu. The Shiji dates this to the third year of Taichu, 102 BC.[1] Some scholars count this succession as one of four departures from the father-to-son line. The count covers the ten successions from Laoshang to Xulüquanqu.[3] Since the accession of the Child Chanyu in 105 BC, the Xiongnu had moved further to the north-west. The Shiji places their left wing at Yunzhong and their right wing opposite Jiuquan and Dunhuang.[2][4]

The Han forts and the autumn raids

Xulihu had hardly taken the throne when the Han began building fortifications against him. The imperial official Xu Ziwei went out through the Wuyuan pass. He advanced for several hundred li, and in places for more than a thousand. He built walls, forts and a row of beacon-towers as far as Luju. The general Han Yue and the Marquis of Changping, Wei Kang, were stationed beside them. Lu Bode, the commandant of the strong crossbows, built on the marsh of Juyan.[5]

That autumn the Xiongnu rode into Dingxiang and Yunzhong in force. They killed or took several thousand people and beat several officials of two thousand bushels. They then left, pulling down the walls and beacon-towers of Xu Ziwei as they went.[2] The Han Shu adds Wuyuan and Shuofang to the places entered.[6] The chanyu also sent the Right Worthy King into Jiuquan and Zhangye. There the Xiongnu took several thousand people. The Han officer Ren Wen came to the rescue. The Xiongnu lost all they had taken and left.[2] The annals of the Han Shu record the same raids. They add that the Xiongnu killed a commandant in Zhangye and Jiuquan.[7]

Dayuan and death

In that year the Han general Li Guangli beat Dayuan, the country of Ferghana. He came home with the head of its king.[2] The Xiongnu wished to cut off his return. According to the Shiji, they could not reach him. The Han Shu puts it differently: the chanyu wished to intercept him and did not dare.[1]

In the winter Xulihu meant to attack Shouxiang. He fell ill and died.[2] His reign had lasted one year. The Xiongnu set up his younger brother, the Left Great Commandant Qiedihou.[1]

Some scholars hold that Qiedihou stepped in because the Child Chanyu’s son was still a minor. They add that the son had also been a minor when Xulihu took the throne.[3] Of the seven chanyus from Wuwei to Xulüquanqu, only two held the throne for more than ten years.[8]

Name

The Shiji writes the name as 呴犁湖. The Han Shu writes it as 句黎湖. The commentaries of Pei Yin and Sima Zhen give two readings of the first character of the Shiji’s form, 呴. The first is the reading of 鉤, gou. The second is the reading of 吁, xu.[2] The pinyin Xulihu follows the second reading. No Xiongnu form of the name is recorded. Nothing in the sources fixes its language.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Shiji, juan 110; Han Shu, juan 94
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Shiji, juan 110
  3. ^ a b Sinor 1990, p. 137
  4. ^ Ögel 2015, p. 74–75
  5. ^ Shiji, juan 110; Han Shu, juan 6
  6. ^ Han Shu, juan 94
  7. ^ Han Shu, juan 6
  8. ^ Sinor 1990, p. 136

Sources

Literature

  • Denis Sinor (ed.), The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (1990)
  • Bahaeddin Ögel, Büyük Hun İmparatorluğu Tarihi II (2015)

Related

What links here4

Persons
Er Chanyu · Li Guangli · Qiedihou Chanyu · Wuwei Chanyu

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Xulihu Chanyu.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/persons/xulihu-chanyu/

Last revised: 8 November 2026