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Ethnic groups in Chinese history

Any non clear-cut connection is denoted by a question mark (?) besides the equivalences. As lots of ethnic groups ever appeared in history, this table is certainly not complete. The sole purpose of creating this page was provoking conservations and constructive arguments on connecting Eastern and Western knowledge of those ethnic groups.

Pinyin Romanization	Names in Chinese characters and Pronunciation	Approximate residing areas according to Chinese texts	Time of appearance in Chinese history	Equivalence(s) in World history	Time of appearance outside China	Modern descendant(s)
Miao	苗 (miao2)	Various areas stretching from provinces (Hebei, Shanxi) north of Huang he to Yunnan province	As early as 25th century B.C. to present	Miao	see Miao	Laotians, ethnic groups in China, America and Europe
Xiongnu, Xianyun	匈奴 (xiong1 nu2), 玁狁 (xian3 yun3)	Today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, northern portions of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and eastern portion of Xinjiang	6th century B.C. ? to late 1st century for Northern Xiongnu who migrated westward after that period. Southern Xiongnu remained active until mid 5th century then assimilated into Chinese	Huns	late 4th century to mid 6th century in Europe	No known descendants
Wuhuan[?]	烏桓 (wu1 huan2)	western portions of Manchuria (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning provinces) and Inner Mongolia	4th century B.C. to late 3rd century, assimilated into Chinese	No known equivalence	N/A	No known descendants
Xianbei	鮮卑 (xian1 bei1)	Manchuria (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning provinces), Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. Moved into areas north of Huang he as they founded a dynasty there.	4th century B.C. ? to mid 6th century, assimilated into Chinese	No known equivalence	N/A	No known descendants
Qiang[?]	羌 (qiang1)	Gansu, Qinghai, eastren portion of Sichuan, eastern portion of Xinjiang and northeastern portion of Tibet	4th century B.C. ? to late 5th century, assimilated into Chinese	No known equivalence	N/A	as minorities in Sichuan
Di[?]	氐 (di1)	Areas of of neighboring borders of Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan and Shaanxi	8th century B.C. ? to mid 6th century, assimilated into Chinese	No known equivalence	N/A	as minorities in Sichuan
Jie	羯 (jie2)	Shanxi province	late 2nd century to mid 4th century, assimilated into Chinese	No known equivalence	N/A	No known descendants
Dingling[?], Gaoche, Shule	丁零 (ding1 ling2), 高車 (gao1 che1), 疏勒 (shu1 le4)	banks of Lake Baikal and on the borders of Today Mongolia and Russia then migrated to Shanxi province and Xinjiang region	1st century BC to late 5th century, assimilated into Chinese	?	?	some descendants still living by the lake ?
Gaogouli	高勾驪 (gao1 gou1 li2)	central and southeastern Manchuria (Today Jilin and eastern portion of Liaoning province)	1st century BC to mid 7th century, dissipated	Goguryeo or Koguryo	1st century to mid 7th century in Korea	Korean
Wo	倭 (wo1)	First memtioned as residing in central Manchuria (Today Jilin province), continuously moving east	Since 1st century to present	?	1st century to present in Japan	Japanese
Rouran, Ruru,	柔然 (rou2 ran2), 蠕蠕 (ru2 ru2), 茹茹 (ru2 ru2)	Today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, northern portions of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia and eastern portion of Xinjiang	early 3rd century to early 6th century	Avars?	late 6th century to early 9th century	descendants living in today Daghestan[?]?
Tujue	突厥 (tu2 jue2)	Today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, northern portions of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Xinjiang, eastern portion of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan	late 5th century to mid 10th century	Gokturks	mid 6th century to early 9th century	The western Turks migrated to nowaday Turkey while the eastern Turks assimiliated to the Uighurs in Xinjiang
Huihe	回紇 (hui2 he2)	Today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, northern portions of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia	early 7th century to mid 10th century	Uighurs	early 9th century to present	largest ethnic group in Xinjiang region
Tubo	吐蕃(tu3 fan1) sometimes pronounced as 吐播 (tu bo1)	Today Tibet, Qinghai, western border of Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi and Southern border of Xinjiang	mid 6th century to present	Tibetans	early 6th century to present	Tibetans
Qidan	契丹 (qi4 dan1)	Today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, Liaoning, northern border of Shanxi and Hebei and later in Xinjiang and eastern border of Kazakhstan	late 5th century to mid 13th century	Khitan	early 6th century to present	No known descendants
Xi	奚 (xi1)	more or less the same residence of the Khitans since regarded as two ethnic groups with one unique ancestry	mid 6th century to mid 12th century	No known equivalence	N/A	No known descendants
Shiwei	室韋 (shi4 wei2)	Today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, western Manchuria and southern Siberia	late 6th century - late 10th centruy[?]	No known equivalence	N/A	conquered by Khitans, splinter groups and remnants re-emerged as Mongols
Menggu	蒙古 (meng2 gu3)	Today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, western Manchuria, southern Siberia, eastern and central Xinjiang before Genghis Khan	since late 8th century (?)	Mongol	late 12th century to present	Mongol
Dangxiang	黨項 (dang3 xiang4)	Ningxia, Gansu, northern portions of Shanxi, southwestern portion of Mongolia, Southeastern portion of Xinjiang	mid 8th century to early 13th century	Tanguts	?	No known descendants
Mohe	靺鞨 (mo4 he2)	Manchuria and northern portion of Inner Mongolia	early 7th century to early 10th century, established Bohai.	No known equivalence	N/A	Nuuzhen (see entry below)
Nuuzhen or Manzhouren	女真 (nuu3 zhen1), 滿洲人 (man3 zhou1 ren2), 滿人 (man3 ren2)	Manchuria and northern portion of Inner Mongolia	early 10th century to present, established Jin Dynasty and Qing Dynasty	Jurchen, Mancho, Manchus or Manchurian	Since mid 17th century, first encountered by Russians	largest ethnic group in Dongbei region or Manchuria. Their culture has very much assimilated with the Chinese but some distinctive aspects still remain.