ABSTRACT
The term Xianbei appeared in history for the first time at the end of the Western Han. The cases of Liu Kun and Wang Jun show that, although the Han acknowledged the military prowess of the non-Han when their own survival was at stake, there was a widely accepted prejudice among them against a non-Han becoming emperor. As the turmoil in North China that accompanied the War of the Eight Princes and the invasion by the Five Barbarian Groups intensified, refugees continued to pour into the South. In North China, in the bedlam after the death of Shi Le and Shi Hu, many of the non-Han and the Han under the Later Zhao wanted to submit to the Eastern Jin. Huan Xuan then eliminated Sima Daozi and Sima Yuanxian and their followers and went on to declare himself emperor, with "Chu" as the name of his state.
