Dynastic history of the Former Han, compiled by Ban Gu and completed after his death. Its chapter 94, in two parts, is the fullest early Chinese account of the Xiongnu, and it records the Chanyu’s full title in Chinese transcription and glosses it.[1]
The Tengrism article rests an argument on that title. The gloss the chapter gives is itself contested.
The relevant chapters
Chapter 94, in two parts, takes up the Xiongnu from where the Shiji leaves them to the end of the Former Han: the famine and the civil wars of the first century BC, the submission of Huhanye, the flight and death of Zhizhi.[1] Its first part repeats the Shiji’s earlier material closely. Therefore the two are one witness there and not two.
Chapter 96, also in two parts, is the account of the Western Regions, and its second part opens with the Wusun.[2] That chapter is the fullest Chinese description of any steppe people of the period apart from the Xiongnu themselves. It gives the seat at the Red Valley city, the count of households and of men who could bear arms, and the offices. It also gives the flat judgement that the Wusun did not till or plant, followed the herds after water and grass, and had the same customs as the Xiongnu.[2] Every kingdom of the Tarim is entered in the same way, with its seat, households, people, men able to bear arms and distances. Shule, the Kashgar of today, has 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 men under arms.[2]
The chapter gives the chiefs of the five divisions of the Yuezhi, and the chiefs of the Wusun, the Chinese title xihou.[2] Some scholars identify this title with yabgu. They find yabgu already among the Xiongnu and at the courts of the Yuezhi and the Kushans, as a sign that the Xiongnu administration was Turkic.[3]
Chapter 94 also preserves the letter of the Chanyu to the Han court after his victories in the west. He writes that Loulan, the Wusun, the Hujie and twenty-six states beside them have all become Xiongnu, and that all the peoples who draw the bow have been made one family.[1] Some scholars take the western names in the letter as a sign that the Xiongnu came from the west, and Mongolia as the left wing of their empire. They reject the view that the Xiongnu empire was a Mongolian state.[4]
The title of the Chanyu
The most important passage is a title. The Han Shu gives the ruler’s full style as Chengli Gutu Chanyu and glosses it as son of heaven.[1] Chengli is generally understood as Tengri. What Gutu is remains open, and so does the question whether the Han court’s own gloss can be trusted against what the word looks like. The articles on Tengrism, Kut and the ethnogenesis debate turn on that question.
The methodological point is separate from the philological one. A court that called its own ruler the son of heaven had a standing reason to hear the same phrase in a neighbour’s title. The gloss is therefore evidence about the glossator as well as about the word.
Reliability
The Han Shu is a court compilation working from court records, written by men with access to the archives of the office that handled the frontier. Its numbers are households, populations and distances in li from Chang’an. These are administrative figures and are to be understood as such. They are what the Han state believed, not what a census found.[5]
The distances are not measured stage by stage. They are sums, reckoned to two fixed points, the capital Chang’an and the seat of the Protector General at Wulei, and they carry the faults of sums: rounded figures, wrong additions, transposed digits. Shanshan, for instance, stands 6,100 li from Chang’an and 1,785 li from the Protector’s seat.[2][6] The survey behind the chapter is dated by some scholars to about 30 BC, when the Han had come to hold the oases, and was drawn up for officials and merchants, probably at the order of the Protector General. Ban Gu gave it its present form about AD 90.[7]
For Göktürk history, the decisive fact is its distance in time. The Han Shu was finished around six centuries before Bumin. Every use of it here is an argument across that gap, not a description of the Göktürks.
The passage
李緒本漢塞外都尉，居奚侯城，匈奴攻之，緒降，而單于客遇緒，常坐陵上。
陵痛其家以李緒而誅，使人刺殺緒。
大閼氏欲殺陵，單于匿之北方，大閼氏死乃還。
單于壯陵，以女妻之，立爲右校王，衞律爲丁靈王，皆貴用事。
Li Xu had been a Han commandant beyond the frontier, living in the city of Xihou. The Xiongnu attacked it and Xu surrendered, and the chanyu treated Xu as a guest and always seated him above Ling.
Ling was bitter that his family had been put to death because of Li Xu, and sent a man to stab Xu to death.
The principal consort wished to kill Ling, and the chanyu hid him in the north, and he came back only after the principal consort had died.
The chanyu admired Ling's strength, gave him his daughter to wife and made him Right Jiao King. Wei Lü he made King of the Dingling. Both were honoured and held power.
單于姓攣鞮氏，其國稱之曰「撐犁孤塗單于」。
匈奴謂天為「撐犁」，謂子為「孤塗」，單于者，廣大之貌也，言其象天單于然也。
置左右賢王，左右谷蠡，左右大將，左右大都尉，左右大當戶，左右骨都侯。
匈奴謂賢曰「屠耆」，故常以太子為左屠耆王。
自左右賢王以下至當戶，大者萬餘騎，小者數千，凡二十四長，立號曰「萬騎」。
其大臣皆世官。呼衍氏，蘭氏，其後有須卜氏，此三姓，其貴種也。
The chanyu's family name was Luandi, and in their country he was called “Chengli Gutu Chanyu”.
The Xiongnu call heaven “chengli” and a son “gutu”. “Chanyu” means a look of vastness and breadth. It says that he is like heaven, which is chanyu in the same way.
They set up Worthy Kings of the left and right, Guli of the left and right, Great Generals of the left and right, Great Commandants of the left and right, Great Danghu of the left and right, and Gudu Marquises of the left and right.
The Xiongnu call “worthy” “tuqi”, and so the heir is always made Left Tuqi King.
From the Worthy Kings of the left and right down to the Danghu, the greatest commanded more than ten thousand horsemen and the smallest several thousand. There were twenty-four chiefs in all, and their title was “Ten Thousand Horsemen”.
Their high officials all held office by inheritance. The Huyan clan and the Lan clan, and later the Xubu clan: these three families were their noble stock.
逐水草遷徙，無城郭常居耕田之業，然亦各有分地。無文書，以言語為約束。
兒能騎羊，引弓射鳥鼠，少長則射狐菟，肉食。士力能彎弓，盡為甲騎。
其俗，寬則隨畜田獵禽獸為生業，急則人習戰攻以侵伐，其天性也。
其長兵則弓矢，短兵則刀鋋。利則進，不利則退，不羞遁走。苟利所在，不知禮義。
自君王以下咸食畜肉，衣其皮革，被旃裘。壯者食肥美，老者飲食其餘。貴壯健，賤老弱。
父死，妻其後母；兄弟死，皆取其妻妻之。其俗有名不諱而無字。
They moved from place to place after water and grass. They had no walled towns or fixed dwellings and no work of ploughing fields, yet each had his own allotted ground. They had no writing and bound themselves by word of mouth.
A child could already ride a sheep and draw a bow to shoot birds and rats. When a little older he shot foxes and hares and ate the meat. The men strong enough to bend a bow all became armoured horsemen.
Their custom was this: in easy times they followed their herds and lived by hunting birds and beasts. In times of need every man practised war and attack in order to raid and invade. This was their nature.
Their long weapons were the bow and arrow, their short weapons the sword and the short spear. If it was to their advantage they advanced, and if not they withdrew, and they felt no shame at running away. Where advantage lay, they knew nothing of ritual and right.
From the ruler downwards all ate the flesh of their animals, wore their hides, and were wrapped in felt and fur. The strong ate the fat and good, and the old ate and drank what was left. They honoured the strong and the sound and despised the old and weak.
When a father died, a man took his stepmother as wife. When brothers died, all took the widows as wives. By their custom they had personal names, which were not tabooed, but no courtesy names.
孝惠、高后時，冒頓寖驕，乃為書，使使遺高后曰：
「孤僨之君，生於沮澤之中，長於平野牛馬之域，數至邊境，願遊中國。陛下獨立，孤僨獨居。兩主不樂，無以自虞，願以所有，易其所無。」
高后大怒，召丞相平及樊噲、季布等，議斬其使者，發兵而擊之。
樊噲曰：「臣願得十萬眾，橫行匈奴中。」
問季布，布曰：「噲可斬也！前陳豨反於代，漢兵三十二萬，噲為上將軍，時匈奴圍高帝於平城，噲不能解圍。天下歌之曰：『平城之下亦誠苦！七日不食，不能彀弩。』今歌吟之聲未絕，傷痍者甫起，而噲欲搖動天下，妄言以十萬眾橫行，是面謾也。且夷狄譬如禽獸，得其善言不足喜，惡言不足怒也。」
高后曰：「善。」令大謁者張澤報書曰：「單于不忘弊邑，賜之以書，弊邑恐懼。退日自圖，年老氣衰，髮齒墮落，行步失度，單于過聽，不足以自汙。弊邑無罪，宜在見赦。竊有御車二乘，馬二駟，以奉常駕。」
冒頓得書，復使使來謝曰：「未嘗聞中國禮義，陛下幸而赦之。」因獻馬，遂和親。
In the time of Emperor Xiaohui and of the Empress Gao, Modu grew ever prouder. He wrote a letter and sent envoys to give it to the Empress Gao, saying:
“I am a lonely and forlorn ruler, born among marshes and raised on the open plains, in the land of oxen and horses. Many times I have come to the frontier, and I wish to travel in the Middle Kingdom. Your Majesty stands alone, and I live alone, forlorn. Neither of us two rulers has any joy, and we have nothing to amuse ourselves with. I wish to exchange what I have for what I lack.”
The Empress Gao was furious. She summoned the chancellor Ping, Fan Kuai, Ji Bu and others, and they discussed cutting off the envoys' heads and sending out troops to attack.
Fan Kuai said: “Your servant wishes to have a hundred thousand men and to ride at will through the Xiongnu.”
She asked Ji Bu, and Bu said: “Kuai deserves to be beheaded! Earlier, when Chen Xi rebelled in Dai, the Han army was three hundred and twenty thousand strong and Kuai was its commander-in-chief. At that time the Xiongnu besieged the High Emperor at Pingcheng, and Kuai could not lift the siege. The whole empire sang of it: ‘Below Pingcheng it was truly bitter! Seven days without food, and no one could draw a crossbow.’ The sound of that song has not died away, the wounded have only just risen, and now Kuai wants to shake the empire and idly says that with a hundred thousand men he will ride at will. This is deceiving you to your face. Besides, barbarians are like birds and beasts: their good words are not enough to rejoice at, and their bad words are not enough to be angry at.”
The Empress Gao said: “Good.” She ordered the Grand Usher Zhang Ze to answer in writing: “The chanyu has not forgotten our poor city and has favoured it with a letter, and our poor city is fearful. Withdrawing, I thought over my own case: I am old and my breath is failing, my hair and teeth are falling out, and my steps are unsteady. The chanyu has been misled by what he heard, and I am not worth his defiling himself. Our poor city is guilty of nothing and should be pardoned. I humbly have two imperial carriages and two teams of four horses, which I offer for your regular driving.”
When Modu received the letter, he again sent envoys to thank her, saying: “I had never heard of the rites and rightness of the Middle Kingdom. Your Majesty has graciously pardoned me.” With this he presented horses, and so there was a marriage alliance.
昌、猛見單于民眾益盛，塞下禽獸盡，單于足以自衛，不畏郅支。
聞其大臣多勸單于北歸者，恐北去後難約束，昌、猛即與為盟約曰：「自今以來，漢與匈奴合為一家，世世毋得相詐相攻。
有竊盜者，相報，行其誅，償其物；有寇，發兵相助。
漢與匈奴敢先背約者，受天不祥。令其世世子孫盡如盟。」
昌、猛與單于及大臣俱登匈奴諾水東山，刑白馬，單于以徑路刀金留犁撓酒，以老上單于所破月氏王頭為飲器者共飲血盟。
Chang and Meng saw that the chanyu's people had grown ever more numerous, that the game under the frontier was used up, and that the chanyu was strong enough to defend himself and did not fear Zhizhi.
They heard that many of his ministers were urging the chanyu to return north. Fearing that once he had gone north he would be hard to bind, Chang and Meng at once made a covenant with him, saying: “From now on the Han and the Xiongnu are joined as one house, and for all generations they shall not deceive or attack one another.
If anyone steals, they shall inform each other, carry out the punishment and make good the goods. If there are raiders, they shall send troops to help each other.
Whichever of the Han and the Xiongnu dares first to break the covenant shall receive ill fortune from Heaven. Let all their descendants for all generations be bound as by this oath.”
Chang and Meng went up with the chanyu and his ministers to the eastern mountain by the Nuo river of the Xiongnu. They slaughtered a white horse, and the chanyu stirred the wine with the jinglu blade and the golden liuli. They drank the blood together in covenant from the cup made of the head of the king of the Yuezhi whom the chanyu Laoshang had defeated.
References
Literature
- Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)
- Albert Herrmann, Die alten Seidenstrassen zwischen China und Syrien. Beiträge zur alten Geographie Asiens, Bd. 1 (1910)
- Bahaeddin Ögel, Türk Kültür Tarihine Giriş I: Türklerde köy ve şehir hayatı (2000)
Articles resting on this source 134
Aksu · Ancestor Cult · Army of the Steppe Empires · Ay Ata · Ayran · Bagatur (Modu Chanyu) · Camels · Captives and the Unfree · Cave of the ancestors · Chanyu · Chinese Bans on the Export of Iron · Chinese transcriptions of Turkic · Craftsmen in the Steppe Empires · Death of Princess Dayi · Dingling · Diplomacy of the Steppe Empires · Donghu · Duman (Touman) · Dunhuang · Emperor Gaozu of Han · Emperor Wu of Han · Envoys and Embassies · Er Chanyu · Ferghana · Following in Death · Fuzhulei Chanyu · Gaochang · Gold of the Xiongnu Court · Grape Wine in Central Asia · Han Bestowals on the Chanyu · Han dynasty · Han Military Farms in the Western Regions · Heqin · History of the Turkic peoples · Horse Sacrifice · Hou Han Shu · Huhanye Chanyu · Hulugu Chanyu · Hunye King · Huo Qubing · Huyandi Chanyu · Iye · Jade Gate · Jiaohe · Jin Midi · Jiuquan · Junchen Chanyu · Kam (Turkic Shaman) · Kangju · Karashahr · Kashgar · Khan (Khagan) · Khotan · Kumys · Kün Tengri · Kushan Empire · Kut · Laoshang Chanyu · Li Guangli · Li Ling · Livestock Losses in the Annals · Loulan · Luandi · Luntai · Mayi ambush · Meng Tian · Millet · Millet Beer · Mobei campaign, 119 BC · Mounted Archery · Qiedihou Chanyu · Quli · Raw Materials and Trade among the Turkic Peoples · Sacred Mountains · Scapulimancy · Seasonal Pastures · Seating at the Feast · Shamanism · Shanshan · Sheep · Siege of Baideng · Skull Cup · Sogdians · Steppe Diet · Su Wu · Tarim Basin · Tengri · Tengrism · The Economy of the Steppe Empires · The Göktürks and the Xiongnu · The Great Empires of the Steppe · The Han–Xiongnu heqin treaties · The Kirghiz descent from Li Ling · The language of the Xiongnu · The making of Tengrism · The Three Xiongnu Assemblies · The Turkic ethnogenesis debate · The Xiongnu–Han Wars · Tiele · Tongpu Duwei · Toy · Trade Routes of the Steppe · Tribute Missions and Bestowals · Tuğ · Wang Zhaojun · Warfare of the Steppe Empires · Water Cult · Wei Lü · Wei Qing · Women among the Turkic Peoples · Wood and Woodworking · Worthy Kings of the Left and Right · Woyanqudi Chanyu · Wuhuan · Wulei · Wusun · Wuwei · Wuwei Chanyu · Xihai · Xiongnu · Xiongnu Agriculture · Xiongnu Herds · Xiongnu Ironworking · Xiongnu split of 48 · Xiongnu: Making the First Steppe Empire · Xulihu Chanyu · Xulüquanqu Chanyu · Yarkand · Yizhixie Chanyu · Yuezhi · Yunzhong · Zhao Xin City · Zhizhi Chanyu · Zhonghang Yue
What links here62
- Persons
- Bagatur (Modu Chanyu) · Ban Chao · Emperor Gaozu of Han · Emperor Wu of Han · Er Chanyu · Fuzhulei Chanyu · Huhanye Chanyu · Hulugu Chanyu · Hunye King · Huo Qubing · Huyandi Chanyu · Jin Midi · Li Ling · Meng Tian · Qiedihou Chanyu · Su Wu · Wang Zhaojun · Wei Lü · Wei Qing · Woyanqudi Chanyu · Wuwei Chanyu · Xulihu Chanyu · Xulüquanqu Chanyu · Yizhixie Chanyu · Zhonghang Yue
- States
- Han dynasty · Kushan Empire · Shanshan · Southern Xiongnu
- Conflicts
- The Xiongnu–Han Wars
- Battles & Events
- Death of Princess Dayi · The Han–Xiongnu heqin treaties · Xiongnu split of 48
- Places
- Dunhuang · Jade Gate · Jiuquan · Karashahr · Kashgar · Loulan · Tarim Basin · Wuwei · Yunzhong
- Peoples
- Wusun
- Lineages
- Luandi
- Institutions and Titles
- Army of the Steppe Empires · Chanyu · Skull Cup · Tongpu Duwei · Xiongnu Ironworking
- Foods
- Grape Wine in Central Asia · Kumys · Millet · Millet Beer · Steppe Diet
- Customs & Pastimes
- Seating at the Feast · The Three Xiongnu Assemblies
- Sources
- Hou Han Shu · Shiji
- Controversies
- The Göktürks and the Xiongnu · The Kirghiz descent from Li Ling
Cite this article
Yavuz, Emre-E. “Han Shu.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/sources/hanshu/
Last revised: 8 November 2026
