Origin of the Western Qiang, Part 1 (HHS087)
[The commentary by Li Xian in italics (slightly abbreviated)]
The Western Qiang's origin springs from the Three Miao and a branch of the Jiang clan. Their state was near the Southern Marchmount, i.e. Heng Mountain. When Shun banished the four wicked ones, and moved them to Sanwei, it was the Qiang land south-west of Heguan.
Sanwei is a mountain now located south-east of Sha Province's Dunhuang county. The mountain has three summits, and for that reason was named Sanwei [“Three Perils”].
From the boundary at Cizhi until the head of the He is a far-stretched land of a thousand li. Cizhi is what the Tribute of Yu speaks of as Xizhi. To the south they are connected to Man Yi outside the borders of Shu and Han. To the north-west they are connected to the various states of Shanshan and Jushi.
Where they live is not regular, they rely on following water and grass. The land has little of the five grains, they use herding livestock as their livelihood. In their customs, clan and family are not settled. Sometimes they use the father's name and the mother's family name as the title of their kind. After twelve generations, they intermarriage with each other. If the father is lost, they take as wife the stepmother. If the older brother perishes, they accept in turn the widowed sister-in-law. For that reason their state has no widowers or widows, and their kind multiply with a blaze.
They do not establish lords and subjects, and there is no single chief. If someone is strong, he will divide off his kind and become a chieftain. If someone is weak, he will be a person adhering to a group. Furthermore, they kidnap and bully each other, and use strength to dominate.
Killing a person is repaid with death, they have no other prohibitions or orders. Their troops excel in mountains and valleys, and are weak on level land. They are unable for a long time, but are bold in sudden charges. They consider death in battle to be a lucky gain, and meeting their end in illness to be inauspicious. They are capable of enduring cold hardships in the same way as birds and beasts. Even women giving birth to children likewise do not avoid the wind and snow. They are by nature hard, tough, fierce, and violent, they have obtained the western region's aura of the metal agent.
The Yellow Emperor's Plain Questions says: The western region is the district of metal and jade, and the place for sand and stone. Its people are mountain dwellers and there is much wind. Water and soil is tough and strong.
If the king's government is put in order, guests submit. If the virtuous teachings are lost, bandits make chaos. Formerly, Taikang of the Xiahou clan lost the state and the Four Yi turned their backs to him and rebelled.
Taikang was the son of Qi of Xia. He was absorbed in the roaming hunt, and did not have compassion for people's affairs. He was expelled by Yi and did not manage to return to his state.
When Hou Xiang was enthroned, he therefore campaigned against the Quan Yi, and after seven years they came as guests.
Hou Xiang was Taikang's grandson, and the son of Zhongkang.
Arriving at Hou Xue, he first applied feudal ranks and instructions, and because of that they submitted and followed.
Xie was Xi's eight generations descendant, and the son of Emperor Mang.
During the chaos of Hou Jie, the Quan Yi entered to dwell in the Bin and Qi¤ area. When Tang the Successful had risen, he attacked and ejected them. Reaching the middle decline of the House of Yin, the various Yi all rebelled. Arriving at Wuding, he attacked the Western Rong and Guifang [lit. “Ghost Region”], and in three years he overcame them. For that reason his poem says: “Even those Di and Qiang did not dare to not come to the King.”
Wuding was King of Yin. The Changes says: “The Exalted Ancestor attacked Guifang.” Pronunciation and Right meanings of the Book Han says: “Guifang was a distant region.” The text is from the Odes of Yin.
[The oldest extant oracle script inscriptions have been excavated from King Wuding of Shang's capital at Yin, near modern Anyang, and dated to c. 1200 BC. As such he is the oldest historical Chinese ruler in the most strict sense.]
Reaching Wuyi's brutal cruelty, the Quan Rong [“Dog Rong”] robbed the border. Gugong of Zhou crossed over Liang Mountain, and escaped to beneath Qi¤ [Mountain].
Emperor Wuyi was a three generations descendant of Wuding. He had not the Way. He had a figurine carved of a person, and spoke of it as the Heavenly God. He cast sticks with it, and ordered people to act in place of it. If the Heavenly God did not win, he humiliated and insulted it. He also made a leather bag filled with blood, looked up and shot at it, instructing it be called “Shooting at Heaven”. Thereupon he was struck by a lightning and died. Gugong was King Wen's grandfather.
Reaching his son Jili, he then attacked the Gui Rong of the Xiluo.
Bamboo Annals: 35th Year of Wuyi, the King of Zhou, Ji, attacked the Gui Rong of Xiluo, and took prisoner twenty Di kings.
In the time of Taiding, Jili then attacked the Rong of Yanjing. The Rong people greatly defeated the Zhou regiments.
Taiding was the son of Wuyi. Bamboo Annals: 2nd Year of Taiding, the people of Zhou attacked Yanjing. The Zhou regiments were greatly defeated.
Two years later, the people of Zhou vanquished the Rong of Yuwu, and so Taiding instructed Jili to be Herdsman of the Regiments.
Jili was King Wen's father. The Bamboo Annals says: 4th Year of Taiding, the people of Zhou attacked the Rong of Yuwu, and overcame them. The King of Zhou, Ji, was instructed to be Yin's Herdsman of the Regiments.
After that point, he furthermore attacked the Rong of Shihu and Yitu, and always overcame them.
The Bamboo Annals says: 7th Year of Taiding, the people of Zhou attacked the Rong of Shihu, and overcame them. 11th Year, the people of Zhou attacked the Rong of Yitu, and won against their their three grandees.
When King Wen became Earl of the West, to the west there were the worries of the Kun Yi, and to the north there were the difficulties of Xianyun. Consequently, he ejected the Rong and Di, and defended against them, there were nobody who did not submit and yield. Therefore he led the Western Rong, and campaigned against Yin's rebellious states in service to Zhou#.
In the Zuo Transmittals, Jin's Han Xianzi says: “King Wen led Yin's rebellious states in service to Zhou#, indeed knowing the right timing.”
When King Wu attacked Shang, the Qiang and Mao led the regiments to assemble in the fields of Mu.
The Hallowed Documents says: The people of Yong, Shu, Qiang, Mao, Wei, Lu, and Peng.
Kong Anguo's Commentary says: All these are the Man, Yi, Rong, and Di.
Arriving at the time of King Mu, the Rong and Di did not tribute. The King therefore went west to campaign against the Quan Rong, and captured their five kings. He also obtained four white deers and four white wolves. The King then moved the Rong to Taiyuan.