Ordos Plateau
In Chinese accounts, the Xiongnu first appear at Ordos in the "Yizhoushu" and "Shanhaijing" during the Warring States period before it was occupied by Qin and Zhao. It is generally thought to be their homeland, however when exactly they came to occupy the region is unclear, and it might have been much earlier than traditionally thought, as suggested by archaeological finds. As the Xiongnu expanded southward into Yuezhi territory around 160 BC under their leader Modun, the Yuezhi in turn defeated the Sakas (Scythians) and pushed them away at the Issyk Kul. It is thought the Xiongnu also occupied the Ordos area during the same period, when they came in direct contact with the Chinese. From there, the Xiongnu conducted numerous devastating raids into Chinese territory (167, 158, 142, 129 BC). The Han Dynasty started to fight the Xiongnu in the 2nd century BC under emperor Han Wudi, and colonized the area of the Ordos under Shuofang commandery in 127 BC. Prior to the campaign, there were already commanderies established earlier by Qin and Zhao until they were overrun by the Xiongnu in 209 BC.
Xiongnu
Chinese sources link the Tiele people and Ashina to the Xiongnu, not all Turkic peoples. According to the "Book of Zhou" and the "History of the Northern Dynasties", the Ashina clan was a component of the Xiongnu confederation, but this connection is disputed, and according to the "Book of Sui" and the "Tongdian", they were "mixed nomads" () from Pingliang. The Ashina and Tiele may have been separate ethnic groups who mixed with the Xiongnu. Indeed, Chinese sources link many nomadic peoples ("hu"; see "Wu Hu") on their northern borders to the Xiongnu, just as Greco-Roman historiographers called Avars and Huns "Scythians". The Greek cognate of "Tourkia" () was used by the Byzantine emperor and scholar Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in his book "De Administrando Imperio", though in his use, "Turks" always referred to Magyars. Such archaizing was a common literary "topos", and implied similar geographic origins and nomadic lifestyle but not direct filiation. Some Uyghurs claimed descent from the Xiongnu (according to Chinese history "Weishu", the founder of the Uyghur Khaganate was descended from a Xiongnu ruler), but many contemporary scholars do not consider the modern Uyghurs to be of direct linear descent from the old Uyghur Khaganate because modern Uyghur language and Old Uyghur languages are different. Rather, they consider them to be descendants of a number of people, one of them the ancient Uyghurs.