The Tiefu Huns were a newlyemerged ethnic which inhabited in northern China in the period of the Sixteen States, and they once established their rule in the region of Shuofang. Liu Meng, the ancestor of this ethnic, was renemed Liu after the imperial family of the Han Dynasty. In the reign of Liu Hu, they named themselves Tiefu, meaning “from the father of Hun and mother of Xi’anbei”. The Tiefus established their state in times of Bobo, and called their state “Xia” according to the historical records that the Huns were descendents of King of Hou of the Xia Dynasty. Later they built the town of Tongwan as capital and changed the imperial family name “Liu” into “Helian”, prominently characteristic of the Hun ethnic. This change showed the contradiction and capriciousness in selfidentification and change of ethnical awareness and also the Tiefu representative deep control over the history of the Huaxia nation and current political situation and the people’s feelings.

the period of the Sixteen States; the Tiefu Huns; selfidentification