Why the Conflicts between the Hans and the Hsiung-nu Happened?

This essay discusses the origin, purpose and undeniable external circumstances that influenced Hsiung-nu’s long-lasting, perseverant military invasion movement of the Chinese Central-Plainregion regimes. Contents in this essay are cited from the article written by Daniel C. Waugh (2010), “Selection from the Han Narrative Histories”. This article includes tremendous amount of information about the origin and development of Hsiung-nu’s culture, its living environment of Hsiung-nu and the conflict between it and Han Dynasty. Referenced content is used to deduce possible motivations for the Hsiung-nu military movement to not only the Han Dynasty, but also each generation of the Chinese regimes set in the Central Plain region. Hsiung-nu people lived in an environment with a much lower temperature than that of the Central Plain region; the area Hsiung-nu lived also has little arable land which leads to poor agriculture and insuffcient food production. Comparing with the poor and harsh environment in their living area, the Central Plain was obviously a considerable lure to Hsiung-nu. The problem came with the vast territory of regimes in the region, so Hsiung-nu came up with the idea to assault the border, rob labor force and herd, then force Central-Plain government to pay more resources from them to stop the conflict. Thus, a relatively stable income was created by this fierce and wise race to sustain their livelihoods.