Jie people

Common card · No. 323966

The Jie (Chinese: 羯; pinyin: Jié; Wade–Giles: Chieh2; Middle Chinese: [ki̯at]), also known as the Jiehu (羯胡), were an ethnic group of northern China. Regarded as one of the "Five Barbarians" of the Sixteen Kingdoms period, the Jie rose and fell in northern China within the first half of the 4th century AD under Shi Le and the Later Zhao dynasty. There is much debate surrounding the origins of the Jie. It is generally accepted that they came to modern-day Shanxi as an offshoot of the Southern Xiongnu, but their names and physical appearances have led researchers to believe that they were at least part Indo-European, possibly Sogdian or Yuezhi. The Jie also left behind a single phrase from their language, which had been analyzed as either belonging to the Turkic or Yeniseian language families. Proponents of the Yeniseian theory specifically connect the Jie to the Ket people. Many of the Jie were massacred by Ran Min and his followers in 349–350 AD, after which their population seemingly disappeared...

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