ABSTRACT
The Qiang generally suffered from exploitation which exacerbated their hostility towards the Han. The Qiang Wars broke out against such a backdrop. The military confrontations between the Later Han and the Qiang constituted a "Hundred Years' War" in that they continued intermittently through the mid-first century CE to the late-second century CE, which also spanned nearly the whole life of the dynasty. The Qiang wore down the Later Han and triggered the failure of the empire. Such an invented lineage of the Qiang people has a long tradition in Chinese historical records. The fact that there are no independent accounts of the Qiang in the Shiji and the Hanshu might indicate that the Qiang had not yet been qualified as an important group in the eyes of the empire. The Later Han political elite entertained lesser expectations and hopes of the northwestern frontier region.
