Dingling

The Dingling ( (174 BCE); (200 BCE); Eastern Han Chinese: *''teŋ-leŋ'' < Old Chinese: *''têŋ-rêŋ'') were ancient people who lived in Siberia, mentioned in Chinese historiography in the context of the 1st century BCE.
They are assumed to have been related to Na-Dené and Yeniseian speakers, to be early Proto- Turkic people or ancestors of Tungusic speakers among the Shiwei.

They originally lived on the bank of the Lena River in the area west of Lake Baikal, gradually moving southward to Mongolia and northern China. They were a huge independent horde for centuries, but were later defeated and temporarily became subject of the Xiongnu Empire, and thus presumably related to the invaders known as Huns in the west.
Around the 3rd century they were assimilated into the Tiele, also named Di (翟), Dili (狄历), Gaoche (高車) or Chile (敕勒), who gradually expanded westward into Central Asia. Some, known as the West Dingling, remained in an area that would become Kazakhstan, while others – expelled from Mongolia by the Rouran – settled in the Tarim Basin during the 5th century and took control of Turpan.

Origin and migration

The Classic of Mountains and Seas (circa 4th century BCE) mentioned, within the region between China and North Sea (aka Lake Baikal), " ere is a Land of the Dingling People (釘靈國). Its people have hairy legs below their knees as well as horse hooves. They are adept at running."''A Chinese bestiary: strange creatures from the guideways through mountains and seas''. Translated by Richard E. Strassberg. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. (2002). p. 226. This is echoed in a Wusun's account, recorded in Weilüe (compiled 239-265 CE), that "north of the Dingling (丁令) is the kingdom of Majing (馬脛 ‘Horses Shanks’). These men make sounds like startled wild geese. From above the knee, they have the body and hands of a man, but below the knees, they grow hair, and have horses’ legs and hooves. They don't ride horses as they can run faster than horses. They are brave, strong, and daring fighters". Weilüe mentioned three Dingling groups: one group was located south of Majing, north of Kangju, and west of Wusun, another south of Lake Baikal, and another north of Xiongnu and neighbouring the Qushi (屈射), Hunyun (渾窳), Gekun (隔昆), and Xinli (薪犁), all of whom had once been conquered by the Xiongnu.

The Dingling were a warlike group, formed by traders, hunters, fishers, and gatherers, living a semi-nomadic life in the southern Siberian mountain taiga region from Lake Baikal to northern Mongolia. Chinese records did not mention the physical appearance of the Dingling, suggesting general homogeneity with people of the Asiatic region, and their name appears rarely, such as Di or Zhai (翟), an example of the family name that been translated based on their group name or the last name of the top ruling class (see: Zhai Liao). Some ancient sources claims that Di or Zhai (翟) was adopted as the group name because the Zhai family had been the ruling house for centuries.

Other sources claim that they might have been correlated with the Guifang, a northern tribe that appears in the oracle bone inscriptions from Yinxu.

According to the ''History of the Gaoche'' of Wei Shou (6th century), the origin of the Dingling can be traced to the Chidi (赤狄) (lit. Red Di), who lived in northern China during the Spring and Autumn period. The '' Mozi'' mentions a total of eight related Di groups, of whom only "Red Di" (赤狄, Chidi), the "White Di" (白狄, Baidi), and "Tall Di" (長狄, Changdi) are known.

To the north of the Xiongnu empire and Dingling territories, at the headwaters of the Yenisei around Tannu Uriankhai, lived the ''Gekun'' (鬲昆), also known as the Yenisei Kirghiz in later records. Further to the west near the Irtysh river lived the Hujie (呼揭). Other tribes living of the Xiongnu, such as the Hunyu (浑庾), Qushe (屈射), and Xinli (薪犁), were only mentioned once in Chinese records, and their exact location is unknown.

During the 2nd century BCE, the Dingling became subjects of Modu Chanyu along with 26 other tribes, including the Yuezhi and Wusun.

Dingling and Xiongnu

The Dingling were first subjugated by the Xiongnu, but the latter gradually weakened. In 71 BCE, after numerous conflicts between the Chinese and the Xiongnu, the Dingling, led by Zhai Jin, with help from neighboring tribes, took the opportunity to revolt. From 63 to 60 BCE, during a split within the Xiongnu ruling clan of Luanti (挛鞮), the Dingling attacked the Xiongnu, together with the Wusun from the west, supported by the Chinese from the south and the Wuhuan from the southeast.

In 51 BCE, the Dingling, together with the Hujie and Gekun, defeated by the Xiongnu under Zhizhi Chanyu

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