The Dingling were an ancient people who appear in Chinese historiography in the context of the 1st century BCE.
The Dingling are considered to have been an early Turkic-speaking people.Hyun Jin Kim: The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe. Cambridge University Press, 2013. pp.175-176.Peter B. Golden: Some Thoughts on the Origins of the Turks and the Shaping of the Turkic Peoples in Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawaii Press, 2006. p.140 They were also proposed to be the ancestors of Tungusic speakers among the later Shiwei people,Xin Tangshu vol. 219 "Shiwei" txt: "室韋, 契丹别種, 東胡之北邊, 蓋丁零苗裔也" translation by Xu (2005:176) "The Shiwei, who were a collateral branch of the Khitan inhabited the northern boundary of the Donghu, were probably the descendants of the Dingling ... Their language was the same as that of the Mohe."Xu Elina-Qian, Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan, University of Helsinki, 2005. p. 176. quote: "The Mohe were descendants of the Sushen and ancestors of the Jurchen, and identified as Tungus speakers." or are related to Na-Dené and Yeniseian speakers.Werner, Heinrich Zur jenissejisch-indianischen Urverwandtschaft. Harrassowitz Verlag. 2004 abstract. p. 25
Modern archaeologists have identified the Dingling as belonging to the eastern Scythian horizon, namely the Tagar culture. "The Dinlin are considered to have been part of the Tagar Culture and are mentioned in the written sources as being among the acquired "possessions" of the Huns (Mannai—Ool 1970: 107; Sulimirski 1970: 112)."
Etymology The ethnonym 'Dingling' is regarded by modern scholars in the Western world as being interchangeable with the ethnonym 'Tiele', who are believed to be the descendants of the Dingling. "Dingling is alternatively called Tiele. Suishu and Beishi, both of which were written during the seventh century during the Tang period, traced the origin of the Tiele or Dingling back to Xiongnu." "...the Dingling 丁零, Old Chin. (before 200 BCE): *têŋ-rêŋ > Late Han (after 200 BCE to 200 CE): teŋ leŋ,32 a tribal union north of the Xiongnu, viewed as ancestral to the Tiele and possibly an early rendering of that ethnonym." Chinese historiographers believed that 'Tiele' was a mistaken transcription, related them to the ancient Red Di (狄翟), and recorded various names like Dili (狄历), Gaoche (高車) or Chile (敕勒).Weishu Vol 103 Gaoche "高車，蓋古赤狄之餘種也，初號為狄歷，北方以為勑勒，諸夏以為高車、丁零。" tr. "Gaoche, probably the remnant stock of the ancient Red Di. Initially, they had been called Dili; northerners considered them to be Chile; the various Xia (i.e. Chinese) considered them to be Gaoche Dingling (i.e. Dingling with High Cart)"Xin Tangshu vol. 217a "回紇，其先匈奴也，俗多乘高輪車，元魏時亦號高車部，或曰敕勒，訛為鐵勒。" tr: "Uyghurs, their predecessors were the Xiongnu. Because, customarily, they ride high-wheeled carts. In Yuan Wei time, they were also called Gaoche (i.e. High-Cart) tribe. Or called Chile, or mistakenly as Tiele."
Several modern scholars, including Peter B. Golden, now believe that all of these ethnonyms described by the Chinese all derive from Altaic exonyms describing wheeled vehicles, with 'Dingling' perhaps being an earlier rendering of a Tuoba word (*tegreg), meaning "wagon". "The latter were part of the Tiĕlè union, earlier termed the Gāochē "High Carts" (Liu, 1985, I:127--128; Pulleyblank, 1990: 21-26; Dobrovitz, 2011: 375-378), and before that the Dīnglíng, perhaps a rendering of *tegreg "wagon", a Tuoba/Tabgač exonym for Tiele (Kljaštornyj, 2010: 162-163; Golden, 2012 : 179-180.)"
Peter Golden also wrote that "Gaoche" or "high carts" may be a translation of "Dingling et al.". "55 Chinese accounts of the Northern Wei era also termed them Gaoche “high carts,” seemingly a translation of Dingling et al.: E. G. Pulleyblank, “The 'High Carts': A Turkish Speaking People before the Türks,” Asia Major 3.1 (1990) 21–26." Edwin Pulleyblank writes that "High Cart" is just one of several variations of exonyms that ultimately reflect the original Turkic meaning of 'Dingling', which is possibly derived from *Tägräg, meaning "circle, hoop". "The name Ting-ling continued to be used occasionally but other forms soon became more common. One is the Chinese Kao-ch'e "High Carts," which is explained as referring to their wagons with very large wheels. The others, Ti-li, T'e-le, Ch'ih-le, Chih-le, and T'ieh-le,4 which are obviously transcriptions of foreign names, are evidently new transcriptions of the name that underlay Ting-ling. James Hamilton proposes to interpret this as *Tägräg, a word defined in Kashgari's dictionary as "circle, hoop."5 The Chinese term "High Carts" was therefore probably not merely descriptive of their habits but related to the meaning of the Turkish name."
Origin and migration The Weilüe mentioned three Dingling groups:Yu Huan, Weilüe, quoted in Chen Shou, Sanguozhi, vol. 30 Xirong, draft translation by John E. Hil 2004 Section 28 one group south of Majing (馬脛, literally: "Horse-Shank[ed people]"), north of Kangju, and west of Wusun; another south of the North Sea, identified as Lake Baikal; and another north of Xiongnu and neighbouring the Qushi (屈射), Hunyun (渾窳), Gekun (隔昆), and Xinli (薪犁), all of whom had once been conquered by the Xiongnu.Sima Qian Records of the Grand Historian Vol. 110 "後北服渾庾、屈射、丁零、鬲昆、薪犁之國。於是匈奴貴人大臣皆服，以冒頓單于爲賢。" tr. "Later [in the] north [he] subjugated the nations of Hunyu, Qushe, Dingling, Gekun, and Xinli. Therefore, the Xiongnu nobles and dignitaries all admired [and] considered Modun chanyu as capable."
Murphy (2003) proposes that the Dingling's country had been in the Minusinsk Basin on the Yenisey river, "...the country of Dinlin [sic], which was located in the Minusinsk Basin on the Yenisey river." thus close to the location of the Dingling group who neighbored the Kangju, Wusun, and Majing people. Dingling gradually moved southward to Mongolia and northern China. They were a huge independent horde for centuries, but were later defeated and temporarily became subject of the Xiongnu Empire,Lu (1996), pp. 111, 135-137.Li (2003), pp. 110-112. and thus presumably related to the invaders known as Huns in the west.A. J. Haywood, Siberia: A Cultural History, Oxford University Press, 2010, p.203 One group, known as the West Dingling, remained in an area that would become Kazakhstan, while others – expelled from Mongolia by the Rouran – settled in the Tarim Basin during the 5th century and took control of Turpan.
The Dingling had a warlike society, formed by traders, hunters, fishers, and gatherers, living a semi-nomadic life in the southern Siberian mountain taiga region from Lake Baikal to northern Mongolia. Some ancient sources claims that Di or Zhai (翟) was adopted as the group name because the Zhai family had been the ruling house for centuries.Xue (1992), pp. 54-60.Lu (1996), pp. 305-320.Duan (1988) pp. 35-53.
Other sources claim that they might have been correlated with the Guifang, a northern tribe that appears in the oracle bone inscriptions from Yinxu.Duan (1988) pp. 8-11.
According to the History of the Gaoche of Wei Shou (6th century), the origin of the Dingling can be traced to the Chidi (赤狄) (lit. Red Di), who lived in northern China during the Spring and Autumn period. The Mozi mentions a total of eight related Di groups, of whom only "Red Di" (赤狄, Chidi), the "White Di" (白狄, Baidi), and "Tall Di" (長狄, Changdi) are known.Duan (1988), pp. 1-6Suribadalaha (1986), p. 27.Theobald, Ulrich (2012). Di 狄 in ChinaKnowledge.de - An Encyclopaedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art
To the north of the Xiongnu empire and Dingling territories, at the headwaters of the Yenisei around Tannu Uriankhai, lived the Gekun (鬲昆), also known as the Yenisei Kyrgyz in later records. Further to the west near the Irtysh river lived the Hujie (呼揭). Other tribes living of the Xiongnu, such as the Hunyu (浑庾), Qushe (屈射), and Xinli (薪犁), were only mentioned once in Chinese records, and their exact location is unknown.Lu (1996), p. 136.Shen (1998), p. 75.
During the 2nd century BCE, the Dingling became subjects of Modu Chanyu along with 26 other tribes, including the Yuezhi and Wusun.Li (2003), p. 73.
Dingling and Xiongnu
The Dingling were first subjugated by the Xiongnu, but the latter gradually weakened. In 71 BCE, after numerous conflicts between the Chinese and the Xiongnu, the Dingling, led by Zhai Jin, with help from neighboring tribes, took the opportunity to revolt. From 63 to 60 BCE, during a split within the Xiongnu ruling clan of Luanti (挛鞮), the Dingling attacked the Xiongnu, together with the Wusun from the west, supported by the Chinese from the south and the Wuhuan from the southeast.Duan (1988) pp. 99-100.
In 51 BCE, the Dingling, together with the Hujie and Gekun, were defeated by the Xiongnu under Zhizhi Chanyu, on his way to Kangju. Over the next century there may have been more uprisings, but the only recorded one was in the year 85, when together with the Xianbei they made their final attack on the Xiongnu, and Dingling regained its power under Zhai Ying.Duan (1988) pp. 101-103. After that, under the Dingling pressure, the remaining of northern Xiongnu and the Tuoba formed the confederacy by Xianbei chief Tanshihuai (檀石槐). After his death in 181, the Xianbei moved south and the Dingling took their place on the steppe.
Some groups of Dingling, called the West Dingling by the ancient Chinese, started to migrate into western Asia, but settled in Kangju (康居), modern day Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. There is no specific source to tell where exactly they settled, but some claim Lake Zaysan (宰桑 or 斋桑).
Assimilation Between the short-lived Xianbei confederacy in 181 and the foundation of the Rouran Qaghanate in 402, there was a long period without a tribal confederacy on the steppe. During this period, a part of the Dingling were assimilated to the northern Xiongnu by permanently settling further to the south.Duan (1988) pp. 111-113. Another group, documented as about 450,000, moved southeast and merged into the Xianbei.
Some groups of Dingling settled in China during Wang Mang's reign. According to the Weilüe, another group of Dingling escaped to the western steppe in Kazakhstan, which has been called the West Dingling.Hill (2004), Section 28 Around the 3rd century, Dinglings living in China began to adopt family names such as Zhai or Di (翟), Xianyu (鲜于), Luo (洛) and Yan (严).Duan (1988), pp. 137-142, 152-158. These Dingling became part of the southern Xiongnu tribes known as Chile (赤勒) during the 3rd century, from which the name Chile (敕勒) originated.