The Quanrong () or Dog Rong were an ethnic group, classified by the ancient Chinese as " Qiang", active in the northwestern part of China during and after the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by ...

(1046–221 BCE). Their language or languages are considered to have been members of the

Tibeto-Burman The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family, over 400 of which are spoken throughout the Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia. Around 60 million people spe ...

branch of the

Sino-Tibetan languages Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...

Etymology

Scholars believe Quanrong was a later name for the

Xianyun The Xianyun (; Old Chinese: (Reconstructions of Old_Chinese#Zhengzhang (1981–1995), ZS) *''g.ramʔ-lunʔ''; (Schuessler) *''hɨamᴮ-juinᴮ'' < *''hŋamʔ-junʔ'') was an ancient nomadic tribe that invaded the Zhou dynasty. This Chinese exonym i ...

猃狁 (written with ''xian'', defined as a kind of dog with a long snout 'Erya''">Erya.html" ;"title="'Erya">'Erya''or a black dog with a yellow face [''Shuowen Jiezi">Erya">'Erya<_a>''.html" ;"title="Erya.html" ;"title="'Erya">'Erya''">Erya.html" ;"title="'Erya">'Erya''or a black dog with a yellow face [''Shuowen Jiezi'']). According to sinologist Li Feng (sinologist), Li Feng, "It is very probable that when the term Xianyun came to be written with the two characters 獫狁, the notion of 'dog' associated with the character ''xian'' thus gave rise to the term Quanrong 犬戎, or the 'Dog Barbarians'." Claiming ancestry from two white dogs, the Quanrong tribe worshipped a totem in the form of a white dog. They are classified as a nomadic tribe of the Qiang and were the sworn enemies of the Yanhuang tribe.

History

According to the ''

Book of the Later Han The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Lat ...

'': The Discourses of Zhou in the Guoyu records that at the time of King Mu of Zhou the power of the Quanrong gradually increased. Conflicts during the king's reign made him consider a

punitive expedition A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a political entity or any group of people outside the borders of the punishing state or union. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong beh ...

to the west against them. Duke of Zhai was against his father's plan: "this is not advisable. The illustrious former Emperors did not advocate the use of force." King Mu did not listen but won an unexpected victory in the subsequent clash, capturing the five kings of the Quanrong along with five white wolves and five white deer. In 771 BCE, the

Marquess A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman ...

of Shen invited the Quanrong to join him in an attack on King You of Zhou. The joint force subsequently occupied the Zhōu capital Haojing, killing King You and capturing his concubine Bao Si. In the end, the invaders left after taking a tribute from the Zhou and stealing the Nine Tripod Cauldrons. Duke Xiang of Qin sent an army to assist the Zhou as well as troops to escort King You's son King Ping of Zhou to the eastern capital of Chengzhou, effectively ending the Western Zhou and ushering in the beginning of the Eastern Zhou dynasty and the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...

. At the time of Emperor Ming of Han (reigned 58–75 CE) it was said: During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang (reigned 626–649 CE), Court Academician Liǔ Kàng petitioned: The traditional base of the Quanrong is modern Wēiróng Town in Jingning County, Gansu.

Notes

References

Lectures on Wolf Totem (in Chinese) (Retrieved February 2010)
* {{Historical Non-Chinese peoples in China Ancient peoples of China Zhou dynasty ja:犬戎

Etymology

History

See also

Notes

References