ABSTRACT
East of the Hiung-nu were what the Chinese in ancient times called the Tung-hu, or Eastern Hu, the word hu in its broadest sense including every species of what we call Tartars, besides Coreans, Kashgarians, Turkomans, Affghans, and to a certain extent Syrians, Hindoos, and Persians (cf. p. 5). It is never applied to the Japanese, Tibetans, Indo-Chinese, or any of the European races. In a narrower sense it frequently means those nations using Sanskrit or Syriac as distinct from the yellow-skinned races, or those using Chinese writing. The term " Eastern Hu " seems to be confined to the Coreans and progenitors of the Manchu races; in fact, to what we call the Tungusic races, and all tribes speaking cognate languages with them. It hardly seems likely that the European word Tungusic can have immediate etymological connection with the Chinese words Tung-hu, but at any rate the signification of the two terms is conveniently coincident. The Turkish word Tungus, meaning " a pig," may possibly owe its origin, as applied by them to the Chinese, to an attempt on their ancestors' part to accommodate the Chinese syllables Tung-hu with a Hiung-nu word of similar sound but offensive meaning. If there is one thing remarkable about the ancient Tungusic races, it is the fact that they all reared and all ate swine, which the Hiung-nu apparently did not. Hence, just as the Chinese turned the Hiung-nu national designation into Chinese syllables meaning " fierce slaves," so would the Hiung-nu style their eastern neighbours (described to them as Tung-hu by the Chinese) " pig people "; and, as North China has been, off and on, for many centuries, and continued from 1644 up to 1911 under the rule of Eastern Hu, the term " pig people " would be extended to the Chinese, who certainly are as a nation the most universal pig-eaters the world has ever seen. In Genghis Khan's time the Mongol-Turkish Zagatai states of Persia used to style the Emperor of China the " pig emperor." Genghis and his successors did in fact replace the " pig-tailed " emperors of the Nüchên or Kin Tartar dynasty, admitted by the pig-tailed Manchus to have been their kinsmen. The Chinese never wore the " pig-tail" or queue until forced thereto by the Manchus nearly three centuries ago. Even the Corean youths wear pig-tails until they are married, though possibly there have been changes since 1887, when I left. Thus there is a fairly sound basis for something more than mere coincidence between the ideas Tung-hu, Tungusic, and pig. Possibly, on the other hand, the Chinese may have called their eastern neighbours Tung-hu because the Hiung-nu called them Tungus; and, in support of this view, it may be mentioned that the expression Si-hu or " Western Hu" is exceedingly rare, and never refers to a dominion.
