As my post history might betray I have a bit of an obsession when it comes to steppe nomads. the Xiongnu are one of my favorite subjects, and while the information available regarding this massive multi-ethnic steppe confederation is not as vast as I would like, there still is plenty to read.
However when I want to look into the post Xiongnu empire period, it suddenly becomes harder to find information and learn what happened. I'd be very interested in reading English translations of the primary sources since classical Chinese isn't an option for me, but I haven't come across any. Well I bought this 2 dollar translated version of the book of Jin, but the translation is as good as you would expect from a 2 dollar e-book.
Anyways I want to find out about these Five Barbarians, particularly the steppe nomad groups, and especially the Jié. There is very little information about them but I find them fascinating.
What I already know is that the Jié were likely Yeniseian speaking, that they had a very distinct look and that under Shi Le the Jié managed to rule the Later Zhao dynasty. This period of rule ended after the Wei-Jie war which lead to a genocide of the Jié on the orders of Ran Min. The Jié were apparently very recognizable due to their features and were promptly executed.
The Book of Jìn describes the Jié with such physical characteristics that today we would attribute to Caucasians: deep eye sockets (深目 shēn mù), high noses (高鼻 kāo bí), and bushy beards (多鬚 duō xū)
However I would like to know the details regarding this piece of history, as well as the general backdrop of the Sixteen Kingdom Period of the Five Barbarians. Here is a list of questions I'd like answered but do not feel pressured to answer them all, I'm not expecting all of them to be able to get answered:
If most of this can get answered I would be extremely grateful, thanks in advance! It would be cool to get some quoted excerpts from the book of Jin but my hopes are not high regarding that. Honestly even some recommendations of books or publications would be highly appreciated.
For the people interested, here is the only attested phrase of the Jié language:
秀支 替戾剛 僕谷 劬禿當
si̯u-ci̯e - tʰei-let/lei-kɑŋ - bok/buk-kuk/yo - ɡi̯u̯o-tʰuk-tɑŋ
army - go out - Liu Yao*'s barbarian title - capture*
Yeniseian interpretation:
suke t-i-r-ek-ang bok-kok k-o-t-o-kt-ang
Armies have gone out. [They] will catch Bokkok.
Oh and if you share this steppe nomad obsession with me please check out r/TheGreatSteppe and r/Xiongnu!
The Battle of the Eight Princes was very long and weakened the dynasty. During the war, many princes also used the nomads as a military force. The nomads later took advantage of the weakened country and attacked, leading to the Five Barbarian uprising. Of the five barbarians, two are from the nomadic tribes from the northern steppes (one of them is Mongolic), one is Yeniseian, and two are from western Chinas (Tibeto-Burman language & Turkic language).
After the Wei-Jie war, Ran Min formed his own state. He was later executed by Murong Jun and his state surrendered after that.
Ran Min took over the and massacred the entire Shi family (they're the ruling family). The Jie and such doesn't accept his rule and began a rebellion, leading to the Wei-Jie War. The war ended with Ran Min winning and massacring the Wu Hu & the Jie.
He was sold to Shi Huan, who later freed him (because he was impressed with Shi Le's talents). He somehow became a bandits leader after that and later befriended Ji Sang (Commander of Sima Ying). After Sima Ying got deposed by Sima Yong, Gongsun started a rebellion. Ji & Shi joined. Gongsun later was killed and Ji took over and made Shi his general. Their rebellion was defeated and Shi joined Liu Yan (a former Sima Ying suordinate), who made him a general. He later led his roving army throughout battles in China and gained many followers. His victory against the largest Jin force gained him prestige and power. After Sima Yue's death, his capital, left defenseless, was converged by several generals, including Shi. I'll shorten it from here. He later fought many other battles, ending up defeating Han Zhao, and Han Zhao's former territory became his, forming the Later Zhao. Here's more info on Shi Le.
Borrowed from my responding message to OP:
I don't specialize in Central Asian/Inner Asian history so I don't know too many sources about that field specifically but the best sources on the background of these migrating people from a Chinese perspective are in the official court histories including the Book of Later Han 後漢書, Record of the Three Kingdoms 三國志, and the Book of Jin 晉書. All of these histories cover the timeline of the period you're asking about and contain chapters on the various nomadic groups.
But since you can't read any sort of Chinese and translations are extremely limited, there's some great English-language histories you can consult. Aside from René Grousset's works, you should try "A History of Chinese civilization" by Jacques Gernet and the second volume of "The Cambridge History of China" edited by Albert E. Dien and Keith N. Knapp. "China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD" by James Watt heavily touches on the relationship between Chinese civilization and steppe peoples. You should check that out as well, especially if you're interested in the material and art culture of the entire Six Dynasties period and into the Sui-Tang era. "The Arts of China to A.D. 900" by William Watson is also informative.
As for your questions I'll add to what people in this thread already mentioned:
What lead to the Five Barbarian uprising and which ethnic groups were part of this uprising?
As 6-O-C already mentioned, Sima Yan, the first emperor of the Jin Dynasty, made a big mistake of handing over too much central military authority to provincial princes (who were also clan members). His successor was completely inept, so the branches of the ruling Sima family struggled for de facto power to the point of exhaustion. Keep in mind, China still did not recover from the preceding chaos of the fall of the Han Dynasty which lasted some hundred years, when the population dropped from the 50-60 million peak during the Han golden age to around 15-25 million. Meanwhile, for about a century, non-Chinese groups were increasingly migrating and being settled in northern China due to trade and China's policy of substituting for the depleted local Han population, which suffered heavy losses due to heavy warfare, famines, and migrations of those fleeing south to safer areas of China. Once the princes started fighting, the nomads seized this perfect opportunity to progressively and successfully carve out their own states in the northern part of the empire, hence the start of the Sixteen Kingdoms in the north and the surviving Eastern Jin in the south.
The Xiongnu, Jie, Xianbei, Di, Qiang were the main ethnicities that rebelled against the Jin. The Xiongnu were a confederation of different peoples, so they still may have had contained some Indo-European elements, but the other ethnicities were definitely not Indo-European. Some of them, the Di and Qiang, were not steppe nomads but were originally hill people from the Tibetan Plateau.
Were groups like the Yuezhi, Wusun or Kangjun still relevant in this time period and were they part of these dynamics?
Not really, due to environmental, economic, and political reasons the previously existing nomads near China were already pushed aside by non-Indo-Europeans newcomers such as the Xianbei. By the Sixteen Kingdoms period, people like the Yuezhi were extinguished/moved away/assimilated a long time ago.
Are there any artworks referring to this period? paintings, murals, statues etc.
Yes! The foremost example is the Longmen Grottoes, constructed by the Northern Wei, near the city of Luoyang in Henan Province. If you go there, although some of the carvings/statues (especially the more accessible and smaller ones) have been damaged by anti-Buddhists and age, the grottoes are still very outstanding and intricate. It is a symbol of increasing Buddhist patronage by both Chinese, semi-Chinese, and non-Chinese rulers of the Six Dynasties. It's also a representation of the trend of Indian influence that started from the Eastern Han dynasty and an even more ancient trend of pan-Eurasian commercial/technological exchanges that started from the Western Han period and even before that.