Xiutu (Ch: 休屠王, Xiu-tu also Hsiu-tu, lit. "The king who puts an end to massacres") was a king in the Hexi corridor of the Gansu region, west of Wuwei, during the 2nd century BCE. Together with King Hunye, he was a vassal of the Xiongnu under their ruler Yizhixie (伊稚邪 126–114 BCE), and was antagonistic with the Chinese Han dynasty.
King Xiutu, considered as "Hu" (胡,barbarian) by the Chinese, was positionned between the Xiongnu tribes of the Mongolian steppes to the north, the Han to the east, the Saka to the northwest, the Tocharians to the west, and the Southern Qiang (南羌, Nanqiang) to the south.
Although a vassal, Xiutu was probably not himself a Xiongnu: it is actually reported that his territory was occupied by the Xiongnu as they were pushed westward by the Han.
Han-Xiongnu war
When the Han–Xiongnu War (133-89 BCE) broke out, the Han dynasty led a campaign against the rulers of the Hexi corridor. In 121 BCE, Huo Qubing was put in charge of an attack on the Hexi corridor, leading 10,000 light cavalry. He defeated the troops of the Xiongnu. Kings Xiutu and Hunye decided to surrender to the Han, as they were also criticized by the Xiongnu for their military failure. But meeting Huo Qubing with his troops, Xiutu renounced his promise and was killed nu King Hunye who also seized his troops. Huo Qubing then attacked the troops of Hunye, killing 8,000 troops, and obtaining the surrender of the remaining 40,000. King Hunye was sent to Chang'an were he was welcomed by Han Wudi, who gave him the title of Duke.
King Xiutu has a son named Midi, born in 134 BC, who was also captured and became a close aid to Han Wudi, becoming known as Jin Midi (金日磾) in Chinese.
Gold statues
The Book of Han records that in 121 BCE, after Huo Qubing defeated the Xiongnu, he "captured golden (or gilded) men used by the King of Xiutu to worship Heaven".
These golden statues were unlikely Buddhist, as the Xiongnu were unrelated to this religion. According to Liu Yiqing (403-444 CE), they were about three meters tall and looked Buddhist, but were from the earlier time of Han Wudi.
The statues were later moved to the Yunyang 雲陽 Temple, near the royal summer palace Ganquan 甘泉 (modern Xianyang, Shaanxi), which had also the capital of the Qin Empire.
A New Account of the Tales of the World (c. 6th century CE) claimed that the golden statues were more than ten feet high, and Emperor Wu of Han sacrificed to it in the Ganquan 甘泉 palace, which "is how Buddhism gradually spread into (China)." In Cave 323 in Mogao caves (near Dunhuang in the Tarim Basin), Emperor Wudi is shown worshipping two golden statues, with the following inscription (which closely paraphrases the tradional accounts of Huo Qubing's expedition):
The Han expedition to the west and the capture of booty by general Huo Qubing is well documented, but the later Buddhist interpretation at the Mogao Caves of the worship of these statues as a means to propagate Buddhism in China is probably apocryphal, since Han Wudi is not known to have ever worshipped the Buddha.