Huaguo
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Húagúo(py) or 滑国; is the name of a country mentioned in the Liang chih-kung-t'u (梁职贡图) from Henan or Shanxi province which was destroyed by the First Emperor of China in the late 3rd century BC.
The Chinese character 滑 (pinyin: hua) has a few meanings (e.g. slippery/cunning/confusing), but it is apparently used this time with no meaning simply as another transliteration of the native name of the tribe. According to Liu Qiyu this would have been pronounced as Huer/Hwer in Yangtze Delta dialects. Reconstruction of early Chinese pronunciations is aided by reference to archaic fossilizations preserved in languages like Japanese and Korean where it was pronunced as 'Huar'(활).
After their country was destroyed, the Huer are supposed to have become a nomadic nation under the yoke of the Xiong (see Huns). After the Nu tribes threw off the Xiong, they, like their other ex-Nu counterparts, started to extend their own influence. According to the Liang chih-kung-t'u they later re-emerged under the leadership of the Hephthal (see Hephthalites) (which some sources indicate were originally one of the 5 Yuezhi or 月氏 families from Kushan) who called themselves Hua and are described as the same in origin.
It seems that they also have been referred to as Uar and were one element of the Mongolian Bar-guni
Movements of the Hua tribe
The Huaguo in northern Henan was destroyed by Qin Shi Huang, and the Hua tribe sought refuge in Shanxi. They came under the Xiongnu and later the Rouran. While some Hua still exist in Shanxi, between 410-470CE a Hua-Hun (Var-Guni) pact was established and the Hua tribe rose to such a position of power that the Rouran placed them in charge of the huíhé 回紇 area when they conquered them in 460CE. Soon the Hua split into western (Hvar) and eastern (Hua) branches when they came to be ruled by a Yuezhi family called Yanda 厌哒 (traditional characters 厭達). According to the Liang "Chih-kung-t'u" the eastern Hua later re-emerged under the leadership of the Yanda; in 541CE when they started to assert control of the huíhé 回紇 area independently from the Rouran. At the same time because of their royal family they came to be known as Yanda by outsiders, but internally they still called themselves Hua. Meanwhile the western Hvar branch migrated into Hualazimu (花剌子模 aka Kua-Li-kia) and still exist to this day in Dagestan and on the northern slopes of the Caucasus. From this location they launched the European Avar empire, and enjoyed their last flourish of prowess under Kuber before settling in Transylvania to join the Magyar federation as the Havar. Several central European family names derive from the name of this tribe.
External link
- Picture of Liang chih-kung-t'u (http://www.cnarts.net/cweb/arts/yishubaoz/history/history2.asp#h23)