消失的鲜卑 / The Lost Sibe

我喜欢研究民族，尤其是那些已经消失了的民族。他们是谁？现在他们到底去了哪里？我们跟他们到底有没有联系？他们究竟还有没有后人？这些问题一直困扰着我，很想知道其究竟。鲜卑人就是其中的一个。
我总觉得一个人如果来过这个世上，就不免会留下一些足迹，更何况是一个民族。鲜卑人（Sibe)，从现在的地名不难看出一些端倪。在俄语中--ria的意思就是--的地方。顾名思义，就是Sibe人也就是我们所说的鲜卑人的地方，而且，了解历史的人也一定知道鲜卑人的确生活在那里。其实西伯利亚是一个很糟糕的翻译，正确的应称为鲜卑利亚。也就是鲜卑人生活的地方，这样就合情合理了。那么他们是不是已经彻底灭绝了，还是留有后人？我想他们中肯定有很多人早已经汉化，或融入其他民族中了。但还有一部分人还保留了原汁原味，他们就是今天的锡伯族。我个人认为锡伯又是一个不太好的音译，我认为他们自称Sibe，所以有些人译作鲜卑，而有些人又把它译作锡伯，因人而异，过去的研究工作实在不发达，大家也只能自己看着办。而Sibe在有的史书中又称为Siwe,中国史料有的译作室韦，也是蒙古人的祖先。这是我们也能看出北方少数民族的一些关联，我猜想鲜卑人在他们失败后有一部分逃到较隐蔽的地方，还保留了自己的族称及大部分的风俗习惯，如今天的锡伯族；但大部分人与其他民族发生了融合，从而形成了新的民族，如今天的蒙古族。

I’m interested in doing research on minority groups, especially those who have already disappeared. Who are they? Where have they gone? Are we related to them? Do they still have offspring? These questions have always puzzled me. I’m extremely keen on finding out. One of them is Sibe.
I believe if a person came to this world, he will definitely leave some trails behind. Let alone a group of them. Even until now, from the name of the place—Siberia, we still can figure out something. –ria in Russian language means the place of --. So Siberia should mean the place of Sibe. It clearly suggests that this place at one time belonged to Sibe. Are they completely distinguished? There’s one minority group in northern China called Sibo. From the name itself, we still can see the links. Sibo was the name given by the Chinese Government in the 1950s. I believe this was due to a lack of expertise and poor translation at the time. (Minority groups have their own languages) This group was also documented in some of the history books as Siwe—ancestors of today’s Mongolian. From here, we are able to see the links in between of some of the northern minority groups of people in China. I think after being defeated, some of the Sibe fled to isolated areas, still keeping their original tribal name and most of their traditions, rather like Sibo today. Some mixed with other tribes and changed their names, like today’s Mongolians.