Talk:Northern Xiongnu

It seems (reading through various history pages) it was decided by editors in the past (despite the substantial, though perhaps fallacious, publication on the connection) that since "Xiongnu" is a chinese word and was not used by non-Chinese sources we can not know that Hunnoi and Xiongnu refer to the same people (indeed, scholars assume that the Hunnoi more likely descend from the Western Rong) and hence the articles were separated. In fairness to this perhaps timid decision, we do know that by the vast majority of Chinese references to Xiongnu it is understood that the southeastern Xiongnu are meant, -who did indeed simmer in the "Han" melting pot at Pingyang. So in order not to cause confusion (and revert wars), typing up the substantial academic discussion of theories on where exactly the northwestern Xiongnu were based, what they did, and what became of them, should probably be be separated from discussion of what is generally meant by the usage "Xiongnu" i.e. the southwestern Xiongnu. Hence this article exists. Kaz 12:48, 3 September 2006 (UTC)