Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Li Xian (Northern Zhou general)" in English language version.
About the epitaph tablets: "All these tell us that Li Xian was born to a prominent family in the Guyuan area -in present-day Ningxia Province, China, where the tomb is located, then under the rule of the Northern Wei. His family were migrants to this area. The biographies record that his 10th generation ancestor Yidigui had come southwest from the steppes across the Yin mountains. (...) As we see from the biographies, they had not lost knowledge of their northern steppe ancestry"
Li Xian was from a prominent family of the Guyuan area where the lacquered coffin cited above was found. There is some question as to the ethnic affiliation of the Li family ; Turkish , Xiongnu , and Xianbei have all been argued. A tenth generation ancestor named Yidigui led the way south through the Yin Mountains. Li Xian's family had been in Guyuan for at least three generations and in the Tianshui area before that , so no doubt there had been a long period of adaptation to Chinese culture.
Before adopting the surname Li, the ancestors of Lixian were Tuoba, the royal Xianbei lineage of the Northern Dynasties.
其十世祖"俟地归"氏应为一少数民族姓氏。关于其祖随魏南迁一事,志文较本传为详。魏圣帝指圣武帝拓跋诘玢。鲜卑拓跋部东汉初迁居今内蒙古地带的呼伦贝尔草原一带,在此居七代后,献帝拓眩邻"七分国人"共分八部,让他们放弃大泽牧地继续南迁。
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)This genealogy claimed by the T'ang royal house established its claim to be descended from a notable Han clan and to be members of a prominent north-western lineage. However, there is some reason to believe that this line of descent, presented as solid fact by the T'ang histories, was in fact a deliberate fabrication. It has been suggested that the Li clan was not connected with the royal house of Western Liang, or with the prestigious Li clan of Lung-hsi, but was a minor offshoot of an eastern lineage, the Li clan of Chao-chun in Ho-pei, who had settled in the north-west under the Toba Northern Wei, and had intermarried widely with the non-Chinese tribal aristocracy." Two of the men who, it has been suggested, were among the ancestors of Li Hu [grandfather of Li Yuan] were the generals Li Ch'u-ku-pa and Li Mai-te, whose names show that they had either adopted or been granted the Chinese surname Li, but retained alien, perhaps Hsien-pei, personal names.
The official histories compiled during the Tang had been subjected to much political doctoring in order to mask and conceal the imperial house's "barbarian" background. The newest proof is the recent archaeological discovery showing that another contemporary prominent Li clan, namely that of Li Xian, the Northern Zhou Grand General with the same Longxi ancestry claim, was in fact of unmistakable Tuoba Xianbei descent.
The official histories compiled during the Tang had been subjected to much political doctoring in order to mask and conceal the imperial house's "barbarian" background. The newest proof is the recent archaeological discovery showing that another contemporary prominent Li clan, namely that of Li Xian, the Northern Zhou Grand General with the same Longxi ancestry claim, was in fact of unmistakable Tuoba Xianbei descent.
The official histories compiled during the Tang had been subjected to much political doctoring in order to mask and conceal the imperial house's "barbarian" background. The newest proof is the recent archaeological discovery showing that another contemporary prominent Li clan, namely that of Li Xian, the Northern Zhou Grand General with the same Longxi ancestry claim, was in fact of unmistakable Tuoba Xianbei descent.
This genealogy claimed by the T'ang royal house established its claim to be descended from a notable Han clan and to be members of a prominent north-western lineage. However, there is some reason to believe that this line of descent, presented as solid fact by the T'ang histories, was in fact a deliberate fabrication. It has been suggested that the Li clan was not connected with the royal house of Western Liang, or with the prestigious Li clan of Lung-hsi, but was a minor offshoot of an eastern lineage, the Li clan of Chao-chun in Ho-pei, who had settled in the north-west under the Toba Northern Wei, and had intermarried widely with the non-Chinese tribal aristocracy." Two of the men who, it has been suggested, were among the ancestors of Li Hu [grandfather of Li Yuan] were the generals Li Ch'u-ku-pa and Li Mai-te, whose names show that they had either adopted or been granted the Chinese surname Li, but retained alien, perhaps Hsien-pei, personal names.
The official histories compiled during the Tang had been subjected to much political doctoring in order to mask and conceal the imperial house's "barbarian" background. The newest proof is the recent archaeological discovery showing that another contemporary prominent Li clan, namely that of Li Xian, the Northern Zhou Grand General with the same Longxi ancestry claim, was in fact of unmistakable Tuoba Xianbei descent.
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