Northern Rong

Xirong (Chinese: ; pinyin: Xīróng; Wade–Giles: Hsi-jung; literally: "Western warlike people") or Rong were various people who lived primarily in and around the extremities of ancient China known as early as the Shang dynasty (1765-1122 BCE). They were typically to the west (in modern Gansu, etc.) of the later Zhou state from the Zhou Dynasty (1046 – 221 BCE) onwards. They were mentioned in some ancient Chinese texts as perhaps related to the people of the Chinese civilization.

The historian Li Feng says that during the Western Zhou period, since the term Rong "warlike foreigners" was "often used in bronze inscriptions to mean 'warfare', it is likely that when a people was called 'Rong' the Zhou considered them as political and military adversaries rather than as cultural and ethnic 'others'."

After the Zhou dynasty, the term usually referred to various peoples in the west during early and late medieval times. Prusek suggests relations between the Rong of Zhou and the Ren () tribes known in Shang.

Xirong was also the name of a state during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of Chinese history.

The Xirong together with the eastern Dongyi, northern Beidi, and southern Nanman were collectively called the Siyi 四夷 "Four Barbarians". The Liji "Record of Rites" details ancient stereotypes about them.

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