The formation of societies that were simultaneous to the Huns of Central Asia occurred under somewhat special conditions.
Already in the first millennium BC. On the territory of Central and partly of North Asia, in particular in the Minusinsk Basin and in the Altai, the first nomadic cattle-breeding communities are emerging. The formation of societies that were simultaneous to the Huns of Central Asia occurred under somewhat special conditions. The emergence and development of cattle breeding was strongly associated with agriculture, while in the Mongolian steppes the Hunnic society knew not so much farming as hunting as an auxiliary farming.
Two lines of social development have already appeared since ancient times. On the one hand, in the provinces of Henan and Gansu, a Neolithic culture of farmers is opened, represented by the culture of the Trypillian type of the so-called Yanshao; on the other - in the steppe regions, north of the Yellow River, it has a modern micro-lithoid culture, which goes back to the steppe culture of Mongolia, Transbaikalia and the steppes of Central Asia. In accordance with these two complexes in the Bronze Age, two lines of development of Chinese culture are also outlined. Thus, in Henan in Gansu, a culture of the Shan and Yin type (1766-1122) develops, and in the steppes and beyond the Great Wall of China a bronze culture develops, which finds analogies on the extensive material of southern Siberia.
As though these two complexes of cultural phenomena are connected by the early forms of the animal style, traced still on the pictograms of the Yin bronze. From the Chou era (from 1122 BC), sharp differences in the development of these adjacent complexes are revealed. While in Henan and Gansu, one complex is represented by such expressive finds as the early Chou bronze of the so-called archaic style (1122-650 BC), which is associated with the ornamentation of the Yanshao culture, a culture is formed in the Central Asian steppes with typical Karasuk forms of bronze, mainly derived from Ordos. In the steppes, this culture is probably composed not without the influence of southern Siberia, with its classical forms of animal style.
In the VII century. BC. along with the parallel development of the two complexes of culture, originating from the land-dwelling and nomadic societies, characteristic crossings appear. So, from North China there is a significant group of things that have a clear Scythian face. An example of this is the characteristic forms of daggers with a cross in the form of lowered antennae, belt buckles with a hook, knives and daggers decorated with sculptural images of animals. At the same time, the entire complex is closely linked with the preceding Karasuk forms. Under the influence of the Karasuk and then Scythian culture, a number of changes are observed in the classical Chinese bronze of the Chou time. The appearance of animal elements in the geometric ornamentation of archaic and medium bronze (1122-950 and 950-650 BC), which allows to identify the appropriate style of Huai (650-200 BC), from which grows a kind of art of Han Chinese. An important fact is also the position that the culture of the Scythian type penetrates into the interior of China. So, in addition to Ordos, one can note the points in the province of Hubei (the culture of Xuanhua) and about Peking (the culture of Lianbin).
This relationship of cultures reaches its highest expression in the monuments of southern Manchuria of the 5th-3rd cc. BC, they reflect the process of crossing nomadic and settled culture. Note the settlement of Muyancheng, which has the appearance of a settled agricultural culture. With the culture of this settlement, several later burials echo, in Nanshanli, made of bricks, in which clay models of houses with tiled roofs were found. These complexes correspond to the earth graves of the Muyancheng settlement, which contain characteristic ceramics in the form of bowls, spherical round-bottomed vessels, glass-shaped vessels with a conical, sometimes slotted tray. Especially note the petioled bones and bronze arrows. Muyangcheng settlements and graves, as well as burials in Nanshanli, characterize two variants of the economy - a settled and nomadic, coexisting at that time. This is the last manifestation of the syncretism of the two economic orders. Since the end of the III century. there are already sharp differences in the culture of the steppes and agricultural China.
Traced changes in the culture of China and the nomads allow a somewhat different view of the news of written Chinese sources. The North Chinese tribes of the time of the legendary emperors Tang and Yu (2357-2255 BC), namely shanzhong, xianyun and hunyu, are related in origin to China. The last sovereign of the Xia era died in 1764 BC. And it is indicated that his son Shunwei went to the steppe and became a nomad. Departures to the steppe of the "former" farmers, for example, the "trustee of farming" Gunl, are repeated. These legends seem to be an echo of the actual process of separation of the first herdsmen from the farmers, which corresponds to the third-second millennium BC. the change of the culture of Yanshao and the late Neolithic - the early bronze of the steppes. Chinese sources note that as far back as 1140 BC. northern tribes - the nomads of jung and di represent a tribute to the name "huangfu" and have close ties with farmers. This connection is documented by Yin images of animals in pictograms, which are a kind of manifestation of the "Scythian" animal style on Chinese soil.
From the first millennium BC. after successful wars of the state of Zhou with the nomads of the guanjuns, whose totems were wolves and deer, the connection between nomads and farmers is broken. Nomadic tribes, isolated from China for three or four centuries, develop their nomadic culture and have little influence on it. This era - in the archaeological language "Karasuk" - corresponds to the local Chinese style, the so-called archaic and medium bronze of the end of II to the middle of the I millennium BC.
The main nomadic tribes surrounding China are the following: in the Gansu area - the tribes of gongzhu, guanzhun, divan; in Ordos iküy and leufan, and, finally, in Manchuria, dunhu and shanjong. About all these tribal groups, the Chinese report: "Each (of the generations) was scattered around the edges of the mountain valleys. They had leaders and elders, often gathered up to more than 100 (families) of juniors, but all could not connect. "
From the VI-V centuries. BC. e. the offensive movement of the nomads to China begins. Among the ikuyskie zhunov there were already 25 "cities", i.e. fortified settlements (cheng). Chinese ruler Xiantaihe is married to one of the leaders of the jungle. These facts of the connection of the jungle with China, continuing until the III century. BC, and explain the appearance of monuments such as Muyancheng and Nanshanli, and the addition in Chou bronze Huai style. In 307 BC. the Chinese commander Ulyan breaks the tribes of linhu and leufan and begins the construction of the "Great Wall of China" from Yinshan.
Thus ended the first stage of the division of nomads and farmers, lasting a millennium, on the one hand, the unification of China began under the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), on the other - the sufficiently mature class relations among the nomads lead to the creation of their association, first in the framework of the military-democratic system. Tribes of Rongs play a dominant role here. The ethnonym of the latter is clearly connected with the name of the tribal union of Central Asia - the "Huns". Accelerated the process of consolidating the forces of the nomadic jungle building "Great Wall of China."
It should be noted some finds of "Hun-Chinese" origin, from the Ordos region. Here, for the Hun era, art objects are strongly associated with the types of the previous Bronze Age and the so-called Scythian culture. Such monuments, in particular, are slotted plaques, on which you can often see the image of people. So, for example, on one buckle is depicted a scene of wires: a two-wheeled cart is a man, next to him a woman, maybe a wife who says goodbye to his dog. In the stingy detail of the scene are the characteristic features of the life of the North Chinese nomads, i. the southern Huns; this is clearly indicated by clothing. In the Han period in the art of North China, the appearance in ornamentation and voluminous images of new plots is clearly evident. Pets - a horse, a bull - more and more often appear in ornaments and ornaments.
Sculptural images of horses, apparently having a ritual character, appear in the gravestones. The sculpture replaces the live horse, which in earlier burials was killed and put in the grave (for example, in the mound Pazyryk).
The animal style of the Huns is realistic. There is almost no fantasy; fiction and abstraction in art develop in a later period and are caused by the addition of a new type of social relations. The art of the North Chinese nomads had a strong influence on China, in which, in contrast to, for example, the dry geometric ornament of the Chou era - in Han time. Here there is, not without the influence of nomads, a realistic style, there are such subjects as a realistic image of animals, fish, horsemen, etc.
In the Hunnish burial grounds, we meet many Chinese things: mirrors, coins, fabrics, lacquered cups, etc. Particularly numerous are Chinese things in the richest graves. According to some found items or even some remains of large items of weapons, as well as things such as chariots, you can restore things of Chinese origin. To do this, it is enough to compare things from China of the Han period with things extracted from the Noinulin mounds. The image of "barbarians" (probably Huns) is found on Han carved images in Shandong and other provinces. China's cultural influence on the nomads (and back) was very strong. Not only with China, but also with Korea, cultural contacts of nomads can be judged by archaeological material. The concentration of things of Chinese origin in the richest kurgans makes one suppose the social significance of the Hun Shanyu, who held in their hands the bulk of not only gifts, but also tribute.