For information on the Luochong lu, see source 3.14.

This section of the Luochong lu groups all peoples of the northern steppe, both past and present, into a catchall category called “Xiongnu” and divides them into five types. It is mostly a “recklessly simplified” (in Yuming He’s words) mixture of information from the Youyang zazu (see source 4.15) and the Secret History of the Mongols (also known as the Secret History of the Yuan Dynasty). A striking aspect of this mishmash is that the first three types are distinguished by their physical appearance, rather than their ethnonyms or cultural practices, and that the first and third types are actually based on earlier descriptions of the Kyrgyz.

The translation below is mine. For a different translation and detailed analysis of this passage, see Yuming He, “The Book and the Barbarian in Ming China and Beyond: The Luo chong lu, or ‘Record of Naked Creatures,’” Asia Major, Third Series, 24.1 (2011), 43-85, esp. 53-59.

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The Xiongnu

This kind (zhong 種) has five types (se 色, literally “colors”).

One kind has yellow hair and was born of a mountain demon and a cow.¹

One kind has short necks and is stout and fat, and was born of a juejia and a wild hog.²

One kind has white skin and black hair, and is descended from the soldiers of the Han [general] Li Ling.³

One kind are called Türks (Tujue). Their ancestor was named Shemo and was born of a union between the god of the Sheli Sea and a white deer with golden antlers. Shemo beheaded the chief of the A’er [clan] with his own hands, and to this day they use people [of the A’er] as human sacrifices to their banners before going to war.⁴ Their customs esteem archery and killing. They worship a demon god but have no ancestral shrines; instead, they cut felt into images [of their ancestors] and put them into fur bags. Wherever they roam, they smear [the images] with butter, or tie them to long poles, and worship them in all seasons.⁵

Another kind are the descendants of Tabachi Khan. The Secret History of the Yuan Dynasty says that he was born to a grey wolf and a fallow doe.⁶ In the twenty-fifth generation was born Temujin (Tiemuzhen), who called himself Chieftain of the Great Mongols and illegitimately assumed the title “emperor.” For generations, they lived six thousand li northeast of the [Gobi] desert. Later, they moved to the north of the mountains. They are called the Tatars (Dada 韃靼). Their land produces sheep and horses, but has no cities and houses. They set up their dwellings wherever water and grass are found. Their customs esteem archery and hunting, and they eat animals such as sheep, horses, and wild deer. They clothe themselves in leather and skins. Temujin’s fourth-generation grandson Khubilai (Hubilie) illegitimately resided in the Central Lands and called himself emperor.

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1. This modifies the Kyrgyz origin myth reported by the Youyang zazu (see source 4.15). ↩︎
2. The juejia 玃猳 or jiajue 猳玃 is a mythical macaque-like creature first mentioned in Zhang Hua’s Bowu zhi (see source 4.1b). It inhabits the mountains of Sichuan and kidnaps human women, with whom it then sires human-like offspring. The creature’s sons are sent home to be raised by the mother’s family; if they refuse to raise the child, the mother dies, so they dare not refuse. However, the human mother morphs physically into the same form as the juejia within ten years and has no desire to leave. ↩︎
3. This is also based on the account of the Kyrgyz in the Youyang zazu. ↩︎
4. This is a garbled and much simplified version of a myth found in the Youyang zazu: “The ancestor of the Türks was named Shemo. There was a god in the Sheli Sea, west of the Ashide Cave. Shemo had extraordinary divine powers, and every dusk the sea god’s daughter used a white deer to guide him into the sea [to visit her]. At dawn, he was sent back out. This went on for several decades. Later, the clans were about to hold a big hunt. That night, the sea god’s daughter told Shemo, ‘During the hunt tomorrow, a golden-antlered white deer will come out of the cave where your ancestors were born. If you can shoot this deer, then you can continue to visit me; but if you fail to shoot it, then our relationship will come to an end.’ At dawn, he entered the hunting encirclement and sure enough, a golden-antlered white deer emerged from the cave where [his ancestors] were born. Shemo sent his attendants to secure the encirclement, but when the deer was about to leap out of the encirclement, they killed it. Shemo was angry and beheaded the chief of the A’er [clan] with his own hands. He then made a vow, saying, ‘Because we have killed this [deer], from now on we will make human sacrifices to Heaven.’ They thus took the descendants of the A’er [clan] and beheaded them as human sacrifices. To this day, the Türks make human sacrifices to their banners before going to war, and routinely take [men of] the A’er clan and sacrifice them. Shemo having beheaded the A’er [chief], he returned at dusk, but the sea god’s daughter told him, ‘You beheaded a man with your own hands, and they reek of blood. Our relationship must now come to an end.’”
   [Note that Yuming He reads the name of the clan as A’nuo not A’er. The second graph is irregular and rare, consisting of a 口 radical on the left and 爾 or 尔 on the right. It has several possible readings, including nuo, er, and shi.] ↩︎
5. This description of the felt images is from the Youyang zazu, which however has xianshen 祆神 (Zoroastrian god) rather than yaoshen 妖神 (demon god). ↩︎
6. “Tabachi Khan” is a mistranscription of “Bataci Khan,” the Mongol progenitor named at the opening of the Secret History of the Mongols. The Secret History identifies his parents as a grey wolf and a fallow doe who crossed “the sea” (Lake Baikal) and settled at the headwaters of the Onon River. ↩︎