{"history":[],"article":{"id":"beaf5640-8b50-48e5-9918-5356f52013f4","title":"Yueban","slug":"yueban","content":":::summary\n**Conventional Long Name:** Yueban \n**Common Name:** Yueban \n**Era:** 1st millennium \n**Year Start:** 160 \n**Year End:** 490 \n**Image Map:** Mongolia III.jpg \n**Today:** [Kazakhstan](https://bliptext.com/articles/kazakhstan) \n:::\n\n# \n**Yueban** ([Middle Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-chinese): */jiuᴇt̚-pˠan/ < [Late Han Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/eastern-han-chinese): */jyat-pɑn/ ), colloquially: \"Weak [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu)\", was the name used by Chinese historians for remnants of the Northern [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu) in [Zhetysu](https://bliptext.com/articles/jetisu), now part of modern-day [Kazakhstan](https://bliptext.com/articles/kazakhstan).\nIn Chinese literature they are commonly called Yueban.\nThe Yuebans gained their own visibility after disintegration of the Northern Xiongnu state, because unlike the main body of the Northern Xiongnu, who escaped from the Chinese sphere of knowledge, the Yueban tribes remained closer to China.\nThe Yueban emerged after the disintegration of the [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu) confederation.\nAbout 480s, the Yueban split into four [Chuy](https://bliptext.com/articles/chuy-valley) tribes: [Chuy](https://bliptext.com/articles/chuy-valley)ue (處月), Chumi (處密), Chumukun (處木昆), and Chuban (處半).\nOne Yueban branch, Chuyue, later intermixing with [Göktürks](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rks), formed the [Shatuo](https://bliptext.com/articles/shatuo) of the Western [Göktürk Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rk-khaganate).\nThe Yueban-descended [Shatuo](https://bliptext.com/articles/shatuo) played an important role in Chinese dynastic history.\nIn the 10th century the remaining Shatuo branch of the Chuy tribe possibly joined [Mongolic-speaking](https://bliptext.com/articles/mongolic-languages) [Tatar confederation](https://bliptext.com/articles/tatar-confederation) in the territory of the modern [Mongolia](https://bliptext.com/articles/mongolia), and became known as [Ongud](https://bliptext.com/articles/ongud) or White Tatars branch of the Tatars.\nAnother Yueban-descended tribe, Chumukun, might be associated with the [Kimek confederation](https://bliptext.com/articles/kimek-kipchak-confederation).\n\n# Identity and location\n[Yury Zuev](https://bliptext.com/articles/yury-zuev) reconstructed 悅般 Yueban's underlying form as *Örpen ~ Ürpen, identifiable with the toponym Örpün mentioned in [Bilge Khagan inscription](https://bliptext.com/articles/orkhon-inscriptions).\nZuev also compared *Örpen ~ Ürpen to the [prefecture](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhou-country-subdivision) 咽麫 Yànmiàn (supposedly from [MC](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-chinese) < *iet-mien < *ermen ~ örmen?) at the [Irtysh](https://bliptext.com/articles/irtysh-river) [headwaters](https://bliptext.com/articles/tributary) in the 7th century.\nMeanwhile, Vladimir Tishin compared 咽麫 Yànmiàn (< LMC *ʔjianˊ-mjianˋ < EMC *ʔɛnH-mjianH < *Emän) to the names of the Chumukun's \"town of Yan\" (咽城) and the [Emel River](https://bliptext.com/articles/emil-river).\nGumilyov further identified Yueban with the Altï Čub Soğdak \"Six [Prefectures'](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhou-country-subdivision) Sogdians\".\nMeanwhile, Sergey Klyashtorny identified the Altï Čub Soğdak with the Sogdian-populated \"Six Barbarian Prefectures\" (六胡州 Liùhúzhōu) of Lu 魯, Li 麗, Han 含 (or She 舍), [Sai](https://bliptext.com/articles/saka) 塞, Yi 依, and Qi 契, established by [Tang](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-dynasty) Chinese in 679 from \"surrendered Turks\" (降突厥), \"originally a Sogdian people who had submitted collectively to the Eastern Turks\" Later on, Altï Čub Soğdak were mentioned in [Kul Tegin](https://bliptext.com/articles/kul-tegin) inscription as enemies of the [Second Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/second-turkic-khaganate), and they were conquered by [Bilge Khagan](https://bliptext.com/articles/bilge-khagan) in 701.\nThe Six Prefectures also revolted against Tang, until Tang army dispersed them in 722.\n\n# Language and customs\nAccording to the [Book of Wei](https://bliptext.com/articles/book-of-wei), the Yuebans' language and customs were the same as the [Gaoche](https://bliptext.com/articles/tiele-people), who were [Turkic speakers](https://bliptext.com/articles/turkic-people).\nYuebans cut their hair and trimmed their ghee-smeared, sun-dried, glossy eyebrows evenly, and washed before meals three times every day.\n\n# History\nBetween 155 and 166, the [Xianbei](https://bliptext.com/articles/xianbei) (*Särpi) (Ch. 鮮卑, Wade–Giles Hsien-pi, Hsien-pei), a former vassal tribe of the [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu), united under [Tanshihuai](https://bliptext.com/articles/xianbei-state) conducted a series of campaigns against Northern [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu), eventually defeating them and forcing them to flee west, which started a series of [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu) migrations (93 CE - circa 380 CE) westward to southern Siberia and Central Asia.\nThe defeat ended the prominence of the Xiongnu as a major power in inner Asia.\nTanshihuai expelled the Xiongnu from [Dzungaria](https://bliptext.com/articles/dzungaria) to beyond the [Tarbagatai Mountains](https://bliptext.com/articles/tarbagatai-mountains), and pushed the [Dingling](https://bliptext.com/articles/dingling) beyond the [Sayan Mountains](https://bliptext.com/articles/sayan-mountains).\nThe defeat had cost the Xiongnu their revenue from the [Silk Road](https://bliptext.com/articles/silk-road) in the agricultural dependencies in the [Tarim Basin](https://bliptext.com/articles/tarim-basin) (\"Western Territories\", Xiyu or Xinjian of the Chinese annals), forcing them to find new dependencies, and the Xiongnu split again.\nTribes known as the \"Weak Xiongnu\" or Yueban took advantage of the vulnerability of the neighboring Uar (a people possibly linked to the [Hephthalites](https://bliptext.com/articles/hephthalites) and/or the \"[Avars](https://bliptext.com/articles/pannonian-avars)\" who later invaded Eastern Europe) and conquered [Zhetysu](https://bliptext.com/articles/jetisu), where they established the principality of Yueban.\nLater, some Uar returned to Zhetysu, and in cooperation with the [Mukrins](https://bliptext.com/articles/mohe-people), a Xianbei tribe, occupied the Tianshan slopes in the 2nd century, retaining their independence for some time as the Western Xianbei Horde.\nZhetysu was also populated by the [Azi](https://bliptext.com/articles/az-people) (who lived between [Suyab](https://bliptext.com/articles/suyab) and [Uzkent](https://bliptext.com/articles/uzkent)) and the [Tuhsi](https://bliptext.com/articles/tuhsi).\nThe Azi and Tuhsi are sometimes linked to [Asii](https://bliptext.com/articles/asii) and [Tukharas](https://bliptext.com/articles/tushara); [Indo-European peoples](https://bliptext.com/articles/indo-european-migrations) who had conquered [Bactria](https://bliptext.com/articles/bactria) six centuries earlier, and formed the [Kushan Empire](https://bliptext.com/articles/kushan-empire).\nAccording to Persian historian [Gardizi](https://bliptext.com/articles/gardizi), Azi and Tuhsi were remnants of [Türgesh](https://bliptext.com/articles/t-rgesh), along with [Khalaj](https://bliptext.com/articles/khalaj-people).\n[Karakhanid](https://bliptext.com/articles/karakhanid) linguist [Mahmud Kashgari](https://bliptext.com/articles/mahmud-kashgari) described Tuhsi as a dynastic tribe of Turkic-speaking [monoglots](https://bliptext.com/articles/monolingualism).\nThis may suggest that Indo-European peoples underwent [language replacement](https://bliptext.com/articles/language-replacement), in the form of \"[Turkification](https://bliptext.com/articles/turkification)\", had occurred.\nThe Azi were also alternatively proposed to be [Yeniseian](https://bliptext.com/articles/yeniseian-languages)-speaking, as [Vasily Bartold](https://bliptext.com/articles/vasily-bartold) noted the similarities between [Old Turkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-turkic) 𐰔 Az and the ethnonym Assan of a people who spoke an extinct Yeniseic [Kott](https://bliptext.com/articles/kott-language) dialect.\nIn 448 the [Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei](https://bliptext.com/articles/emperor-taiwu-of-northern-wei) received an envoy from the Yueban to negotiate a war with the [Rouran](https://bliptext.com/articles/rouran).\nIf the Yueban would pressure them from the west, the Rouran would lose any freedom to maneuver.\nThough no direct records exist about the war in Dzungaria, by the course of the events, there was no peace, and the nomadic empire of Rouran began to decline.\nIn the late 5th century the Yueban were attacked by the [Tiele](https://bliptext.com/articles/tiele-people), who had split from the Rouran in 487.\nThe Yueban principality ceased to existed during the 480s and split into four tribes, known as the Chuyue, Chumi, Chumuhun, and Chuban.\nThe dominance of Yueban's Tiele enemies was short-lived: first, the [Hephthalites](https://bliptext.com/articles/hephthalites) conquered the Tiele (495-496), followed by the Rouran in 530s and finally in 551, the Turks, as Rouran's vassals, again quelled Tiele's rebellion.\nNevertheless, the four splinter tribes still became major players in the [First Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/first-turkic-khaganate).\nAfter the First Khaganate's disintegration, Chumukun were in the [Duolu](https://bliptext.com/articles/duolu) wing, whereas Chuban were in both [Duolu](https://bliptext.com/articles/duolu) and [Nushibi](https://bliptext.com/articles/nushibi) wings of the [Western Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-turkic-khaganate) On Oq (Ten Arrows) elites.\nMuch later, Chuyue branch, intermixing with [Göktürk](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rk) remnants, formed the Shatuo tribe in Southern [Dzungaria](https://bliptext.com/articles/dzungaria), west of [Lake Barkol](https://bliptext.com/articles/bark-l-kazakh-autonomous-county).\nAn 8th-century Tibetan geographer mentioned Chumuhuns in Altai and south of it as the Ibilkur, and associated them with Külüg-Külchur.\nThey were the only Chuy tribe that in the middle of the 8th century preserved their independence, in spite of being sandwiched between [Karluks](https://bliptext.com/articles/karluks) and Turgesh.\nTheir possessions were on the west side of the [Tarbagatai](https://bliptext.com/articles/tarbagatai-mountains) range.\nChinese chroniclers listed Chumukun (處木昆), led by a *Külüg čor ([屈]律啜 [Qu]lü chuo), as the first of five [Duolu](https://bliptext.com/articles/duolu) tribes in the On-Ok union.\nBased on a reconstruction of Yueban history, [Lev Gumilev](https://bliptext.com/articles/lev-gumilev) argued against a then-widespread view that the Rouran were synonymous with the \"[Avars](https://bliptext.com/articles/pannonian-avars)\" or \"Pseudo-[Avars](https://bliptext.com/articles/pannonian-avars)\" (who attacked the Sabirs before invading Eastern Europe), because the Rouran would have had to pass through the Yueban state to attack the Sabirs.\n# [Rouran Khaganate and Yueban | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Nirun%2C///Tuyuhun%2C///Yueban%2C///Tuoba///Wei.jpg]\n# [Asia in 400 AD, showing the Yueban Khanate and its neighbors. | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Asia///400ad.jpg]\n\n# Theism, spirits, and magic\nNo records address the Yueban religion, though Chinese annals depict some manifestations of religious rites and magic.\nA narration about the Yuebans tells about sorcerers, able to cause frost and rainstorm.\nDuring a war with the Rouran, Chuban sorcerers incited a snowstorm against them, making the Rouran so frostbitten they had to stop their campaign and retreat.\nA similar legend is later told about the [Eurasian Avars](https://bliptext.com/articles/avars-carpathians) sorcerers in their war with the [Franks](https://bliptext.com/articles/franks), and [Naiman](https://bliptext.com/articles/naimans) sorcerers against [Chingis-Khan](https://bliptext.com/articles/chingis-khan).\nThe [Manichaean](https://bliptext.com/articles/manichaean) [Chuyue](https://bliptext.com/articles/chigils) tribe's descendants, Shatuo, later founded the Chinese state [Hou Tang](https://bliptext.com/articles/later-tang) (923-936) in Northern China, and adopted a Chinese surname Li (李).\nThe Shatuo had a predominant Dragon cult.\nLater Tang's founder [Li Keyong](https://bliptext.com/articles/li-keyong) also came from the Dragon tribe.\nThe annals even noted that the Shatuo were praying \"old services following the custom of the North\" at the Thunder-mountain, at the Gates of Dragon.\nWithin China, Chuy Shatuo became active adherents and protectors of [Buddhism](https://bliptext.com/articles/buddhism) and [Taoism](https://bliptext.com/articles/taoism), and initiated construction of many Buddhist temples.\nSubsequent to Shatuo, most of these temples were demolished.\n\n# Legacy\nThe Chuyue (處月) were often identified with the [Čigil](https://bliptext.com/articles/chigils), a [Middle Turkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-turkic)-speaking tribe \"opposing [Rūm](https://bliptext.com/articles/byzantine-empire)\" mentioned by 10th century Karakhanid scholar [Mahmud al-Kashgari](https://bliptext.com/articles/mahmud-al-kashgari); still, Atwood (2010) doubts this Chuyue-Chigil identification and notes that Chuyue is phonetically closer to the Chunghyl \"bones\" of the [Yugurs](https://bliptext.com/articles/yugurs).\nThe Chumi (處密) tribe may be identified with the Čömül, another tribe opposing Rūm and spoke both [Middle Turkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-turkic) and their own \"gibberish\" (Ar. رَطَانَة‎ raṭāna).\nThe Chumukun (處木昆) were identified by Gumilyov with the [Kimek](https://bliptext.com/articles/kimek-kipchak-confederation) (which existed in the period of 743-1050 AD).\n[Abu Said Gardizi](https://bliptext.com/articles/abu-said-gardizi) (d. 1061) listed the [Kimek khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/kimek-kipchak-confederation)'s seven constituents as [Imi](https://bliptext.com/articles/imi), [Yemeks](https://bliptext.com/articles/yemek), [Tatars](https://bliptext.com/articles/tatars), [Bayandur](https://bliptext.com/articles/bayandur), [Kipchaks](https://bliptext.com/articles/kipchaks), [Lanikaz](https://bliptext.com/articles/lanikaz), and [Ajlad](https://bliptext.com/articles/ajlad).\nMuch later, both Chumukun and [Kipchaks](https://bliptext.com/articles/kipchaks) would possibly contribute to the ethnogenesis of the [Polovtsy](https://bliptext.com/articles/cumans).","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-26T09:15:47.996Z","updated_at":"2025-01-26T09:15:47.996Z","search_vector":"'yueban':1","search_content":" \n**Conventional Long Name:** Yueban \n**Common Name:** Yueban \n**Era:** 1st millennium \n**Year Start:** 160 \n**Year End:** 490 \n**Image Map:** Mongolia III.jpg \n**Today:** [Kazakhstan](https://bliptext.com/articles/kazakhstan) \n \n\n# \n**Yueban** ([Middle Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-chinese): */jiuᴇt̚-pˠan/ < [Late Han Chinese](https://bliptext.com/articles/eastern-han-chinese): */jyat-pɑn/ ), colloquially: \"Weak [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu)\", was the name used by Chinese historians for remnants of the Northern [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu) in [Zhetysu](https://bliptext.com/articles/jetisu), now part of modern-day [Kazakhstan](https://bliptext.com/articles/kazakhstan).\nIn Chinese literature they are commonly called Yueban.\nThe Yuebans gained their own visibility after disintegration of the Northern Xiongnu state, because unlike the main body of the Northern Xiongnu, who escaped from the Chinese sphere of knowledge, the Yueban tribes remained closer to China.\nThe Yueban emerged after the disintegration of the [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu) confederation.\nAbout 480s, the Yueban split into four [Chuy](https://bliptext.com/articles/chuy-valley) tribes: [Chuy](https://bliptext.com/articles/chuy-valley)ue (處月), Chumi (處密), Chumukun (處木昆), and Chuban (處半).\nOne Yueban branch, Chuyue, later intermixing with [Göktürks](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rks), formed the [Shatuo](https://bliptext.com/articles/shatuo) of the Western [Göktürk Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rk-khaganate).\nThe Yueban-descended [Shatuo](https://bliptext.com/articles/shatuo) played an important role in Chinese dynastic history.\nIn the 10th century the remaining Shatuo branch of the Chuy tribe possibly joined [Mongolic-speaking](https://bliptext.com/articles/mongolic-languages) [Tatar confederation](https://bliptext.com/articles/tatar-confederation) in the territory of the modern [Mongolia](https://bliptext.com/articles/mongolia), and became known as [Ongud](https://bliptext.com/articles/ongud) or White Tatars branch of the Tatars.\nAnother Yueban-descended tribe, Chumukun, might be associated with the [Kimek confederation](https://bliptext.com/articles/kimek-kipchak-confederation).\n\n# Identity and location\n[Yury Zuev](https://bliptext.com/articles/yury-zuev) reconstructed 悅般 Yueban's underlying form as *Örpen ~ Ürpen, identifiable with the toponym Örpün mentioned in [Bilge Khagan inscription](https://bliptext.com/articles/orkhon-inscriptions).\nZuev also compared *Örpen ~ Ürpen to the [prefecture](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhou-country-subdivision) 咽麫 Yànmiàn (supposedly from [MC](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-chinese) < *iet-mien < *ermen ~ örmen?) at the [Irtysh](https://bliptext.com/articles/irtysh-river) [headwaters](https://bliptext.com/articles/tributary) in the 7th century.\nMeanwhile, Vladimir Tishin compared 咽麫 Yànmiàn (< LMC *ʔjianˊ-mjianˋ < EMC *ʔɛnH-mjianH < *Emän) to the names of the Chumukun's \"town of Yan\" (咽城) and the [Emel River](https://bliptext.com/articles/emil-river).\nGumilyov further identified Yueban with the Altï Čub Soğdak \"Six [Prefectures'](https://bliptext.com/articles/zhou-country-subdivision) Sogdians\".\nMeanwhile, Sergey Klyashtorny identified the Altï Čub Soğdak with the Sogdian-populated \"Six Barbarian Prefectures\" (六胡州 Liùhúzhōu) of Lu 魯, Li 麗, Han 含 (or She 舍), [Sai](https://bliptext.com/articles/saka) 塞, Yi 依, and Qi 契, established by [Tang](https://bliptext.com/articles/tang-dynasty) Chinese in 679 from \"surrendered Turks\" (降突厥), \"originally a Sogdian people who had submitted collectively to the Eastern Turks\" Later on, Altï Čub Soğdak were mentioned in [Kul Tegin](https://bliptext.com/articles/kul-tegin) inscription as enemies of the [Second Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/second-turkic-khaganate), and they were conquered by [Bilge Khagan](https://bliptext.com/articles/bilge-khagan) in 701.\nThe Six Prefectures also revolted against Tang, until Tang army dispersed them in 722.\n\n# Language and customs\nAccording to the [Book of Wei](https://bliptext.com/articles/book-of-wei), the Yuebans' language and customs were the same as the [Gaoche](https://bliptext.com/articles/tiele-people), who were [Turkic speakers](https://bliptext.com/articles/turkic-people).\nYuebans cut their hair and trimmed their ghee-smeared, sun-dried, glossy eyebrows evenly, and washed before meals three times every day.\n\n# History\nBetween 155 and 166, the [Xianbei](https://bliptext.com/articles/xianbei) (*Särpi) (Ch. 鮮卑, Wade–Giles Hsien-pi, Hsien-pei), a former vassal tribe of the [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu), united under [Tanshihuai](https://bliptext.com/articles/xianbei-state) conducted a series of campaigns against Northern [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu), eventually defeating them and forcing them to flee west, which started a series of [Xiongnu](https://bliptext.com/articles/xiongnu) migrations (93 CE - circa 380 CE) westward to southern Siberia and Central Asia.\nThe defeat ended the prominence of the Xiongnu as a major power in inner Asia.\nTanshihuai expelled the Xiongnu from [Dzungaria](https://bliptext.com/articles/dzungaria) to beyond the [Tarbagatai Mountains](https://bliptext.com/articles/tarbagatai-mountains), and pushed the [Dingling](https://bliptext.com/articles/dingling) beyond the [Sayan Mountains](https://bliptext.com/articles/sayan-mountains).\nThe defeat had cost the Xiongnu their revenue from the [Silk Road](https://bliptext.com/articles/silk-road) in the agricultural dependencies in the [Tarim Basin](https://bliptext.com/articles/tarim-basin) (\"Western Territories\", Xiyu or Xinjian of the Chinese annals), forcing them to find new dependencies, and the Xiongnu split again.\nTribes known as the \"Weak Xiongnu\" or Yueban took advantage of the vulnerability of the neighboring Uar (a people possibly linked to the [Hephthalites](https://bliptext.com/articles/hephthalites) and/or the \"[Avars](https://bliptext.com/articles/pannonian-avars)\" who later invaded Eastern Europe) and conquered [Zhetysu](https://bliptext.com/articles/jetisu), where they established the principality of Yueban.\nLater, some Uar returned to Zhetysu, and in cooperation with the [Mukrins](https://bliptext.com/articles/mohe-people), a Xianbei tribe, occupied the Tianshan slopes in the 2nd century, retaining their independence for some time as the Western Xianbei Horde.\nZhetysu was also populated by the [Azi](https://bliptext.com/articles/az-people) (who lived between [Suyab](https://bliptext.com/articles/suyab) and [Uzkent](https://bliptext.com/articles/uzkent)) and the [Tuhsi](https://bliptext.com/articles/tuhsi).\nThe Azi and Tuhsi are sometimes linked to [Asii](https://bliptext.com/articles/asii) and [Tukharas](https://bliptext.com/articles/tushara); [Indo-European peoples](https://bliptext.com/articles/indo-european-migrations) who had conquered [Bactria](https://bliptext.com/articles/bactria) six centuries earlier, and formed the [Kushan Empire](https://bliptext.com/articles/kushan-empire).\nAccording to Persian historian [Gardizi](https://bliptext.com/articles/gardizi), Azi and Tuhsi were remnants of [Türgesh](https://bliptext.com/articles/t-rgesh), along with [Khalaj](https://bliptext.com/articles/khalaj-people).\n[Karakhanid](https://bliptext.com/articles/karakhanid) linguist [Mahmud Kashgari](https://bliptext.com/articles/mahmud-kashgari) described Tuhsi as a dynastic tribe of Turkic-speaking [monoglots](https://bliptext.com/articles/monolingualism).\nThis may suggest that Indo-European peoples underwent [language replacement](https://bliptext.com/articles/language-replacement), in the form of \"[Turkification](https://bliptext.com/articles/turkification)\", had occurred.\nThe Azi were also alternatively proposed to be [Yeniseian](https://bliptext.com/articles/yeniseian-languages)-speaking, as [Vasily Bartold](https://bliptext.com/articles/vasily-bartold) noted the similarities between [Old Turkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-turkic) 𐰔 Az and the ethnonym Assan of a people who spoke an extinct Yeniseic [Kott](https://bliptext.com/articles/kott-language) dialect.\nIn 448 the [Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei](https://bliptext.com/articles/emperor-taiwu-of-northern-wei) received an envoy from the Yueban to negotiate a war with the [Rouran](https://bliptext.com/articles/rouran).\nIf the Yueban would pressure them from the west, the Rouran would lose any freedom to maneuver.\nThough no direct records exist about the war in Dzungaria, by the course of the events, there was no peace, and the nomadic empire of Rouran began to decline.\nIn the late 5th century the Yueban were attacked by the [Tiele](https://bliptext.com/articles/tiele-people), who had split from the Rouran in 487.\nThe Yueban principality ceased to existed during the 480s and split into four tribes, known as the Chuyue, Chumi, Chumuhun, and Chuban.\nThe dominance of Yueban's Tiele enemies was short-lived: first, the [Hephthalites](https://bliptext.com/articles/hephthalites) conquered the Tiele (495-496), followed by the Rouran in 530s and finally in 551, the Turks, as Rouran's vassals, again quelled Tiele's rebellion.\nNevertheless, the four splinter tribes still became major players in the [First Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/first-turkic-khaganate).\nAfter the First Khaganate's disintegration, Chumukun were in the [Duolu](https://bliptext.com/articles/duolu) wing, whereas Chuban were in both [Duolu](https://bliptext.com/articles/duolu) and [Nushibi](https://bliptext.com/articles/nushibi) wings of the [Western Turkic Khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/western-turkic-khaganate) On Oq (Ten Arrows) elites.\nMuch later, Chuyue branch, intermixing with [Göktürk](https://bliptext.com/articles/g-kt-rk) remnants, formed the Shatuo tribe in Southern [Dzungaria](https://bliptext.com/articles/dzungaria), west of [Lake Barkol](https://bliptext.com/articles/bark-l-kazakh-autonomous-county).\nAn 8th-century Tibetan geographer mentioned Chumuhuns in Altai and south of it as the Ibilkur, and associated them with Külüg-Külchur.\nThey were the only Chuy tribe that in the middle of the 8th century preserved their independence, in spite of being sandwiched between [Karluks](https://bliptext.com/articles/karluks) and Turgesh.\nTheir possessions were on the west side of the [Tarbagatai](https://bliptext.com/articles/tarbagatai-mountains) range.\nChinese chroniclers listed Chumukun (處木昆), led by a *Külüg čor ([屈]律啜 [Qu]lü chuo), as the first of five [Duolu](https://bliptext.com/articles/duolu) tribes in the On-Ok union.\nBased on a reconstruction of Yueban history, [Lev Gumilev](https://bliptext.com/articles/lev-gumilev) argued against a then-widespread view that the Rouran were synonymous with the \"[Avars](https://bliptext.com/articles/pannonian-avars)\" or \"Pseudo-[Avars](https://bliptext.com/articles/pannonian-avars)\" (who attacked the Sabirs before invading Eastern Europe), because the Rouran would have had to pass through the Yueban state to attack the Sabirs.\n# [Rouran Khaganate and Yueban | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Nirun%2C///Tuyuhun%2C///Yueban%2C///Tuoba///Wei.jpg]\n# [Asia in 400 AD, showing the Yueban Khanate and its neighbors. | upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Asia///400ad.jpg]\n\n# Theism, spirits, and magic\nNo records address the Yueban religion, though Chinese annals depict some manifestations of religious rites and magic.\nA narration about the Yuebans tells about sorcerers, able to cause frost and rainstorm.\nDuring a war with the Rouran, Chuban sorcerers incited a snowstorm against them, making the Rouran so frostbitten they had to stop their campaign and retreat.\nA similar legend is later told about the [Eurasian Avars](https://bliptext.com/articles/avars-carpathians) sorcerers in their war with the [Franks](https://bliptext.com/articles/franks), and [Naiman](https://bliptext.com/articles/naimans) sorcerers against [Chingis-Khan](https://bliptext.com/articles/chingis-khan).\nThe [Manichaean](https://bliptext.com/articles/manichaean) [Chuyue](https://bliptext.com/articles/chigils) tribe's descendants, Shatuo, later founded the Chinese state [Hou Tang](https://bliptext.com/articles/later-tang) (923-936) in Northern China, and adopted a Chinese surname Li (李).\nThe Shatuo had a predominant Dragon cult.\nLater Tang's founder [Li Keyong](https://bliptext.com/articles/li-keyong) also came from the Dragon tribe.\nThe annals even noted that the Shatuo were praying \"old services following the custom of the North\" at the Thunder-mountain, at the Gates of Dragon.\nWithin China, Chuy Shatuo became active adherents and protectors of [Buddhism](https://bliptext.com/articles/buddhism) and [Taoism](https://bliptext.com/articles/taoism), and initiated construction of many Buddhist temples.\nSubsequent to Shatuo, most of these temples were demolished.\n\n# Legacy\nThe Chuyue (處月) were often identified with the [Čigil](https://bliptext.com/articles/chigils), a [Middle Turkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-turkic)-speaking tribe \"opposing [Rūm](https://bliptext.com/articles/byzantine-empire)\" mentioned by 10th century Karakhanid scholar [Mahmud al-Kashgari](https://bliptext.com/articles/mahmud-al-kashgari); still, Atwood (2010) doubts this Chuyue-Chigil identification and notes that Chuyue is phonetically closer to the Chunghyl \"bones\" of the [Yugurs](https://bliptext.com/articles/yugurs).\nThe Chumi (處密) tribe may be identified with the Čömül, another tribe opposing Rūm and spoke both [Middle Turkic](https://bliptext.com/articles/middle-turkic) and their own \"gibberish\" (Ar. رَطَانَة‎ raṭāna).\nThe Chumukun (處木昆) were identified by Gumilyov with the [Kimek](https://bliptext.com/articles/kimek-kipchak-confederation) (which existed in the period of 743-1050 AD).\n[Abu Said Gardizi](https://bliptext.com/articles/abu-said-gardizi) (d. 1061) listed the [Kimek khaganate](https://bliptext.com/articles/kimek-kipchak-confederation)'s seven constituents as [Imi](https://bliptext.com/articles/imi), [Yemeks](https://bliptext.com/articles/yemek), [Tatars](https://bliptext.com/articles/tatars), [Bayandur](https://bliptext.com/articles/bayandur), [Kipchaks](https://bliptext.com/articles/kipchaks), [Lanikaz](https://bliptext.com/articles/lanikaz), and [Ajlad](https://bliptext.com/articles/ajlad).\nMuch later, both Chumukun and [Kipchaks](https://bliptext.com/articles/kipchaks) would possibly contribute to the ethnogenesis of the [Polovtsy](https://bliptext.com/articles/cumans).","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}