The best known of the Xianbei peoples were the Tuoba tribe

Mongol / Sergei Bodrov

Xianbei was a group of tribes, who lived on the Eastern Steppe, roughly described in the present Inner Mongolia reaching out in East and West. 

Here they had lived "allways", or at least long before rise of written history.

The best known of the Xianbei peoples were the Xianbei-Tuoba tribe. 

They had their name after their sacred royal lineage, Tuoba. 

Following modern rules of pronunciation it must be pronounced something like "Tor-bar", and I think, it means the descendants after "Tor".

In China's early history all the peoples on the plains were labeled as "-rong", which means something like barbarians or natives. 

During the Qin dynasty (221 BC - 206 BC) and early Han Dynasty, most of peoples of the steppe were categorized as Xiongnu. 

Only after collapse of the the Xiongnu federation the Xianbei tribes appeared in the history under their separate names.

Typical Xianbei art - Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Museum Typical Xianbei art - Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Museum.

In the year 48 AC the before so mighty Xiong federation split up into two groups, the southern and the northern Xiongnu. 

An officer of the Han court named Zang Gong suggested that China should take advantage of the situation, ally with Xianbei and attack Xiongnu; but Emperor Guang Wu-di rejected firmly further acts of war.

The chinese characters for Xianbei says "Bai Lu", which literally means fresh new thieves. It can not be a name that they called themselves. 

At the same time it sounds very much like "Xin bai", which means "new whites".

Modern Chinese humor runs very much on expressions, which sound like each other, but have different meanings. 

It must be something that the language's character invites. 

Maybe some witty heads back then named the new barbarians of the steppe "Fresh thieves", which also sounded as "New whites", a double meaning that they found interesting.

The "Xianbei" tribes are interesting for Danes, because both "Qi Dan" and "Dan-Xiang" (The Chinese prefer the alphabetizing "Dang-Xiang") claimed that they descended from "Xianbei", and both these people called themselves for something with "Dan".

The Northern Wei empire was a migratory state, ruled by a branch of Xianbei people. Their sacred royal family was the Tuobas. They seem to have been the royal family superior to all others. 

The kings of Qi Dan as well of Dan(g) Xiang (Tangut) claimed both that they descended from Tuoba. 

These kingdoms emerged several hundred years after the doom of the Northern Wei empire; here one can realy talk about "The return of the king". The Tuoba royal lineage must have had a simply enormous prestige.

Many nations' history-interested "make claim" on the Xianbei tribes. Chinese literature refers routinely to them as a typical Mongolid people. Koreans have no doubt that the Xianbe was a tungusic people, like they think about themselves. 

Turkish history enthusiasts call them often as a "proto-Turkish", "proto" as they have a timeline problem, all without existence of real arguments that support such claims. 

All parties label routinely the Xianbei's kings as khan, although this is a Turkish title, which was not invented before after several hundred years.

But there are many indications that Xianbei was a non-Mongolian people with white skin and often with blond or reddish hair.


http://www.dandebat.dk/eng-dan14.htm