The Nan Qi Shu is the dynastic history of the Southern Qi, who ruled southern China from 479 to 502. Xiao Zixian, a grandson of the dynasty’s founder, compiled it under the Liang. Its chapter 59 opens with the Rouran, called Ruirui. It is the fullest southern account of them.[1]
The Ruirui
The chapter calls the Ruirui a mixed people from beyond the frontier. They plaited their hair and fastened their robes on the left.[1] After the Tuoba had entered the frontier, it says, the Ruirui moved in search of water and grazing. They took the whole of the old Xiongnu court and overawed the Western Regions.[1] They lived in felt yurts and kept records by notching wood. They did not know writing.[1]
The embassies, 478–483
Under the Song, the Nan Qi Shu reports, the chief minister of the Ruirui, Xili Yin, was versed in astronomy and calculation. He spoke both the language of the Hu and Chinese. He used to say that a man named Qi would rise in the south.[1] In 478 Xiao Daocheng, then regent of the Song and soon the first Qi emperor, sent Wang Hongfan to the Ruirui to fix a date for a joint attack on the Wei.[1] In the eighth month of 479 the Ruirui ruler sent three hundred thousand horsemen south. They came within seven hundred li of Pingcheng. The Wei kept to their walls and did not dare to fight. The ruler hunted below Mount Yanran and went home.[1] The new Qi court was not yet able to send an army.[1]
In 480 and 481 the Ruirui sent sable skins and other goods and a letter proposing war on the Wei. In the letter the ruler addressed the emperor as an equal and called himself “I”.[1] They sent trousers of lion skin. A Hu merchant who saw them in Shu said that the skin was not a lion’s.[1] The chief minister, Xing Jiqiluohui, sent a memorial. It read the portents of the stars and the prophecies as proof that Qi was to succeed Song.[1] The Ruirui asked for physicians, brocade weavers, a south-pointing chariot and water clocks. The emperor Wu answered that southern medicine did not suit the north. The weavers were women and could not travel so far. No craftsmen were left who could make the chariot or the clocks.[1] Wang Hongfan came back in 483, after a journey of more than thirty thousand li.[1]
The move south
The chapter ends with the Ruirui in retreat. In the tenth year, it says, the Dingling attacked them from the north and took their old land. The Ruirui moved south. The Wei emperor Yuan Hong sent tens of thousands of horsemen against them, and many men and horses died in the cold and snow.[1] Read as the tenth year of the Yongming era, that is 492. This was the year of the Wei campaign and of the Gaoche kingdom in the Wei Shu.[1] The Ruirui, the chapter adds, usually reached Yizhou by the road through the country of the Tuyuhun.[1]
The passage
宋世其國相希利垔解星筭數術，通胡、漢語，常言南方當有姓名齊者，其人當興。
建元元年八月，芮芮主發三十萬騎南侵，去平城七百里，魏虜拒守不敢戰，芮芮主於燕然山下縱獵而歸。
上初踐阼，不遑出師。
Under the Song, the chief minister of the country, Xili Yin, was versed in astronomy and calculation and understood the languages of both the Hu and the Chinese. He used to say that in the south there would be a man named Qi, and that this man would rise.
In the eighth month of the first year of Jianyuan, the Ruirui ruler set out south with three hundred thousand horsemen and came to within seven hundred li of Pingcheng. The Wei barbarians held their walls and did not dare to fight. The Ruirui ruler hunted freely below Mount Yanran and went home.
The emperor had only just ascended the throne and had no leisure to send out an army.
自芮芮居匈奴故庭，十年，丁零胡又南攻芮芮，得其故地，芮芮稍南徙。
魏虜主元宏以其侵逼，遣偽平元王駕鹿渾、龍驤將軍楊延數十萬騎伐芮芮，大寒雪，人馬死者眾。
芮芮常由河南道而抵益州。
Ten years after the Ruirui had settled in the old court of the Xiongnu, the Dingling Hu attacked south against the Ruirui again, took their old land, and the Ruirui moved gradually south.
The Wei barbarian ruler Yuan Hong, because of their encroachment, sent the so-called King of Pingyuan Jialuhun and the Dragon-Leaping General Yang Yan with several hundred thousand horsemen against the Ruirui. There was great cold and snow, and many men and horses died.
The Ruirui regularly reached Yizhou by the Henan road.
芮芮虜，塞外雜胡也。
編髮左衽。
晉世什翼圭入塞內後，芮芮逐水草，盡有匈奴故庭，威服西域。
土氣早寒，所居為穹廬氈帳。
刻木記事，不識文書。
馬畜丁肥，種眾殷盛。
常與魏虜為讎敵。
The Ruirui barbarians were mixed Hu from beyond the frontier.
They plaited their hair and fastened their robes on the left.
In the Jin period, after Shiyigui had entered the frontier, the Ruirui followed water and grass, took the whole of the old court of the Xiongnu and overawed the Western Regions.
The climate turned cold early, and they lived in domed tents of felt.
They notched wood to record matters and did not know writing.
Their horses and herds were strong and fat, and their people were numerous and flourishing.
They were constantly enemies of the Wei barbarians.
References
Sources
- Nan Qi Shu, juan 59
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Cite this article
Yavuz, Emre-E. “Nan Qi Shu.” Turkic Atlas, revised 28 October 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/sources/nan-qi-shu/
Last revised: 28 October 2026
