Records of the Historian, Xiongnu Liezhuan

This is not a Scythian text in the narrow ethnic sense. It belongs on the Scythian shelf because the Chinese frontier records are indispensable for the eastern half of the Central Eurasian problem: mounted pastoral power, archery, herd movement, northern ancestry, and the frontier vocabulary by which China saw the steppe.

The Shiji's opening portrait of the Xiongnu should be read beside Herodotus, Old Persian Saka lists, and Strabo's eastern geography. It is another civilized border writing about peoples whose power did not come from cities.

The translation below is from the Classical Chinese text of the Xiongnu liezhuan.

Translation

The Xiongnu were, in their first ancestry, descendants from the line of the Xia sovereigns. Their ancestor was called Chunwei. Above the age of Tang and Yu there were Shanrong, Xianyun, and Hunyu, dwelling among the northern peoples and moving as their animals pastured.

The animals they had in greatest number were horses, cattle, and sheep. Their rarer beasts were camels, donkeys, mules, swift horses, fine wild horses, and mixed breeds. They moved in pursuit of water and grass. They had no walled cities, no fixed dwelling, and no regular labor of ploughing fields; yet each group had its own divided land. They had no written documents. By spoken words they made their bonds.

A child could ride a sheep and draw a bow to shoot birds and mice. When a little older, he shot foxes and hares and used them for food. Men strong enough to draw the bow all became armored riders. In peace, by their custom, they followed the herds and lived by shooting and hunting birds and beasts. In urgency, men practiced war and attack, invading and striking; this was their nature.

Their long weapons were bows and arrows. Their short weapons were knives and spears. When advantage was present, they advanced; when it was not, they withdrew, feeling no shame in flight. Wherever advantage lay, they knew no ritual or righteousness. From the ruler downward, all ate the flesh of their herds, wore hides and leather, and wrapped themselves in felt and fur. The strong ate the fat and good portions; the old ate what remained. They honored vigor and strength and despised age and weakness. When a father died, a son married the stepmother; when brothers died, the surviving brothers took their wives. Their custom had personal names without taboo, and no family names or courtesy names.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Scythian shelf by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the source text printed below. The English is an independent rendering from the source-language Chinese, with existing public translations used only as controls for difficult or conventional passages.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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Source Text: Shiji, Xiongnu Liezhuan, Opening

Classical Chinese source text from the Shiji. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

匈奴，其先祖夏后氏之苗裔也，曰淳维。唐虞以上有山戎、猃狁、荤粥，居于北蛮，随畜牧而转移。其畜之所多则马、牛、羊，其奇畜则橐駞、驴、驘、駃騠、騊駼、騨騱。逐水草迁徙，毋城郭常处耕田之业，然亦各有分地。毋文书，以言语为约束。儿能骑羊，引弓射鸟鼠；少长则射狐兔：用为食。士力能毋弓，尽为甲骑。其俗，宽则随畜，因射猎禽兽为生业，急则人习战攻以侵伐，其天性也。其长兵则弓矢，短兵则刀鋋。利则进，不利则退，不羞遁走。茍利所在，不知礼义。自君王以下，咸食畜肉，衣其皮革，被旃裘。壮者食肥美，老者食其馀。贵壮健，贱老弱。父死，妻其后母；兄弟死，皆取其妻妻之。其俗有名不讳，而无姓字。

Source Colophon

Classical Chinese text inspected from Chinese Text Project, Sima Qian, Shiji, Xiongnu Liezhuan, paragraph 1. The source page identifies the digital base as the Wuyingdian Twenty-Four Histories edition of the Shiji. The English rendering above is newly prepared from the Chinese, with the CTP user/AI English display used only as a control.

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