 Despite receiving relatively little attention in the hands of traditional historians, the rebellion nonetheless had lasting importance as it removed Han Chinese power in the northwest and prepared that land for a number of non-Han-Chinese states in the centuries to come.The rebellion began in the winter of 184 with two groups of Qiang people causing disturbances in the outlying regions of northwestern China, with one group in the northwestern commanderies of Beidi () and Anding, and another in at the counties of Fuhan () and Heguan () in the upper Yellow River valley.Initially, the two groups were likely separate, each trying to seize the opportunity to resist the weakened Han rule after years of corruption and misrule.