The Sanguozhi tells how the Xianbei chief Kebineng came by weapons of the Chinese kind. Since Yuan Shao had taken Hebei, it says, many Chinese had fled and gone over to him. They taught his people to make weapons, armour and shields. They taught some writing as well.[1]

The refugees

Kebineng began as the chief of a small Xianbei tribe. His people lived close to the frontier.[1] The text gives the effect of the Chinese refugees on his rule. He ordered and led his tribes in the Chinese manner, and he set up banners and signalled advance and retreat with drums.[1] He is said to have commanded more than a hundred thousand mounted archers.[1]

The Sanguozhi also reports Chinese households among the Xianbei. In the second year of Huangchu, 221, Kebineng released more than five hundred Wei households that lived among them, and they went back to Dai commandery.[1] In the next year, 222, he settled more than a thousand Chinese households at Shanggu.[1]

The earlier warning of 177

The same fear had been voiced in 177. The Han councillor Cai Yong told the court that fine metal and good iron had passed to the Xianbei, and that Han fugitives were their chief counsellors.[2] Their weapons, he said, were sharper than those of the Xiongnu.[2] The article on the Chinese bans on the export of iron gives the passage. The two reports come from different decades.

The Wuhuan

The Wuhuan, who lived beside the Xianbei, needed no Chinese teacher for this craft. The Hou Han Shu says that their men could make bows, arrows, saddles and bridles and forge metal and iron into weapons.[2] The Sanguozhi says the same of their great men.[1]

Limits of the sources

The Sanguozhi names no refugee and no workshop.[1] It does not say what the weapons were made of, or whether the iron came from China or from the Xianbei’s own land.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sanguozhi, juan 30
  2. ^ a b c Hou Han Shu, juan 90

Sources

Related

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Chinese Weaponsmiths among the Xianbei.” Turkic Atlas, revised 7 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/institutions/chinese-weaponsmiths-among-the-xianbei/

Last revised: 7 November 2026