Editing Sinicization (section)

====Han, Jin, and Sixteen Kingdoms period====
{{Main|Sixteen Kingdoms}}
From the late [[Han dynasty]] to the early [[Jin dynasty (266–420)]], large numbers of non-Chinese peoples living along China's northern periphery settled in northern China. Some of these migrants such as the [[Xiongnu]] and [[Xianbei]] had been pastoralist nomads from the northern steppes. Others such as the [[Di (Five Barbarians)|Di]] and [[Qiang (historical people)|Qiang]] were farmers and herders from the mountains of western [[Sichuan]] of southwest China. As migrants, they lived among ethnic Chinese and were sinicized to varying degrees. Many worked as farm laborers. Some attained official positions in the court and military. The numerous tribal groups in the north and northwest who had been heavily drafted into the military then exploited the chaos to seize power by local Chinese warlords.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jacques Gernet |title=A History of Chinese Civilization |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern |url-access=registration |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521497817 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern/page/180 180] |edition=illustrated, reprint, revised}}</ref>

During the [[Three Kingdoms]] period, [[Cao Cao]] initiated the policy of settling Xiongnu nomads away from the frontier near Taiyuan in modern Shanxi province, where they would be less likely to rebel. The Xiongnu abandoned nomadism and the elite were educated in Chinese-Confucian literate culture.<ref>{{cite book |last1=David Graff |title=Medieval Chinese Warfare 300–900 |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=1134553536 |page=48}}</ref> The migration of northern Chinese people to the south further settled China as a multi-ethnic empire.