Nomadic empire
The Xiongnu were a confederation of nomadic tribes from Central Asia with a ruling class of unknown origin and other subjugated tribes. They lived on the Mongolian Plateau between the 3rd century BC and the 460s AD, their territories including modern day Mongolia, southern Siberia, western Manchuria, and the modern Chinese provinces of Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Xinjiang. The Xiongnu was the first unified empire of nomadic peoples. Relations between early Chinese dynasties and the Xiongnu were complicated and included military conflict, exchanges of tribute and trade, and marriage treaties. When Emperor Qin Shihuang drove them away from the south of the Yellow River, he built the famous Great Wall to prevent the Xiongnu from coming back.
Economic history of China before 1912
In 304, there was a massive uprising of barbarian clans that were under Chinese control. Following several years of civil war between the various princes of the Jin dynasty, the Xiongnu, led by Liu Yuan, revolted and declared their independence from China. Several other groups under Chinese control subsequently revolted, including the Jie, Qiang, Di, and Xianbei. These groups became collectively known as the Wu Hu, committing genocide against Han Chinese in the Yellow River valley. The collapse of the Jin Empire quickly followed these revolts. The Wu Hu invasion caused large-scale depopulation and the market economy that developed during the Qin, Han, Wei and Jin to decline rapidly, allowing the feudal manorial economy returned to prominence. Large manorial estates were self-sufficient and isolated from the wider market. These estates were self-contained economies that practised agriculture, herding, forestry, fishing, and the production of handicraft goods. Exchange was no longer carried out through money, but barter. Following the economic revival after the unification of the Sui, the manorial economy again declined.