Editing Northern and Southern dynasties (section)

==Northern dynasties==
{{Further|List of emperors of the Northern dynasties}}

The Northern dynasties began in 439 when the [[Northern Wei]] conquered the [[Northern Liang]] to unite northern China and ended in 589 when the [[Sui dynasty]] extinguished the [[Chen dynasty]]. It can be divided into three time periods: [[Northern Wei]]; [[Eastern Wei|Eastern]] and [[Western Wei]]s; [[Northern Qi]] and [[Northern Zhou]]. The Northern, Eastern, and Western Wei along with the Northern Zhou were established by the [[Xianbei]] people while the Northern Qi was established by a Xianbei-influenced ethnic Han.

In the north, local ethnic Han gentry clans responded to the chaos by constructing fortified villages. Clans would then carve de facto fiefs out of these highly cohesive family-based self-defense communities. Lesser peasant families would work for the dominant clan as tenants or serfs. The chaos also led these Han gentry families to avoid government service, before the Northern Wei court launched the sinicization movement. Northern gentry were therefore highly militarized as compared to their refined southern counterparts, and this distinction persisted well into the Sui and Tang dynasties centuries later.{{sfn|Lewis|2009|pp= 130-135}}

===Northern Wei (386–535)===
{{Main|Northern Wei}}

====Rise to power====
[[File:Tomb Terracotta Group of Figurines, Northern Wei (tomb of Sima Jinlong).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Army of [[Northern Wei]] terracotta soldiers in [[Xianbei]] uniform, tomb of [[Sima Jinlong]], 484 CE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dien |first1=Albert E. |title=Six Dynasties Civilization |date=1 January 2007 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-07404-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0zp6iMZoqt0C&pg=PA223 |language=en}}</ref>]]
In the [[Sixteen Kingdoms]] period, the [[Tuoba]] family of the Xianbei were the rulers of the state of [[Dai (Sixteen Kingdoms)]]. Although it was conquered by the [[Former Qin]], the defeat of the Former Qin at the [[Battle of Fei River]] resulted in the collapse of the Former Qin. The grandson of the last prince of Dai [[Tuoba Shiyijian|Tuoba Shiyiqian]], [[Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei|Tuoba Gui]] restored the fortunes of the Tuoba clan, renaming his state Wei (now known as Northern Wei) with its capital at Shengle (near modern [[Hohhot]]).  Under the rule of Emperors Daowu (Tuoba Gui), [[Emperor Mingyuan of Northern Wei|Mingyuan]], and [[Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei|Taiwu]], the Northern Wei progressively expanded. The establishment of the early Northern Wei state and the economy were also greatly indebted to the father-son pair of [[Cui Hong]] and [[Cui Hao]]. Tuoba Gui engaged in numerous conflicts with the [[Later Yan]] that ended favorably for the Northern Wei after they received help from Zhang Gun that allowed them to destroy the Later Yan army at the [[Battle of Canhe Slope]]. Following this victory, Tuoba Gui conquered the Later Yan capital of [[Datong|Pingcheng]] (modern-day Datong). That same year he declared himself Emperor Daowu.

Due to Emperor Daowu's cruelty, he was killed by his son Tuoba Shao, but crown prince Tuoba Si managed to defeat Tuoba Shao and took the throne as Emperor Mingyuan. Though he managed to conquer [[Liu Song]]'s province of Henan, he died soon afterward. Emperor Mingyuan's son Tuoba Tao took the throne as Emperor Taiwu. Due to Emperor Taiwu's energetic efforts, Northern Wei's strength greatly increased, allowing them to repeatedly attack Liu Song. After dealing with the [[Rouran]] threat to his northern flank, he engaged in a war to unite northern China. With the fall of the [[Northern Liang]] in 439, Emperor Taiwu united northern China, ending the Sixteen Kingdoms period and beginning the Northern and Southern dynasties period with their southern rivals, the Liu Song.

[[File:Northern Wei soldier.jpg|thumb|upright|Northern Wei officer. Tomb statuette, [[Luoyang]] Museum.]]
Even though it was a time of great military strength for the Northern Wei, Rouran harassment from the north forced them to divert their focus from their southern expeditions. After uniting the north, Emperor Taiwu also conquered the powerful [[Shanshan]] kingdom and subjugated the other kingdoms of ''Xiyu'' ([[Western Regions]]). In 450, Emperor Taiwu once again attacked the Liu Song and reached Guabu (瓜步, in modern Nanjing, Jiangsu), threatening to cross the river to attack Jiankang, the Liu Song capital. Though up to this point, the Northern Wei military forces dominated the Liu Song forces, they took heavy casualties. The Northern Wei forces plundered numerous households before returning north.

[[File:NorthernWeiMaitreya.JPG|thumb|left|upright|[[Northern Wei dynasty|Northern Wei]] [[Buddharupa|Buddha]] Maitreya gilt-bronze figurine, 443]]

At this point, followers of the Buddhist Gai Wu ({{zhi|c=蓋吳}}) rebelled. After pacifying this rebellion, Emperor Taiwu, under the advice of his Daoist prime minister [[Cui Hao]], proscribed Buddhism — the first of the persecutions of Chinese Buddhism known as the [[Three Disasters of Wu]]. At this late stage in his life, Emperor Taiwu meted out cruel punishments, which led to his death in 452 at the hands of the eunuch [[Zong Ai]]. His death sparked off turmoil that only ended with the ascension of [[Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei|Emperor Wencheng]] later that same year. {{ill|Wang Yu (Northern Wei)|lt=Wang Yu|zh|王遇 (北魏)}}, an ethnic [[Qiang (historical people)|Qiang]] court eunuch and the favourite of Empress Dowager Wenming, patronized Buddhism lavishly. He constructed Cave 9–10, the most highly decorated of the [[Yungang Grottoes]], and had a temple constructed in 488 at Lirun, Fengyi (modern day Chengcheng), which was his birthplace according to the Booke of Wei. Wang Yu may have been castrated during the suppression of a 446 Qiang rebellion since the Northern Wei would castrate rebel tribes' young elite.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Watt |first1=James C. Y. |others= Angela Falco Howard, Boris Ilʹich Marshak, Su Bai, Zhao Feng, Maxwell K. Hearn, Denise Patry Leidy, Chao-Hui Jenny Lui, Valentina Ivanova Raspopova, Zhixin Sun |title=China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD |date=2004 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=1588391264 |page=23 |edition=illustrated |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JbdS-R3y72MC&q=Wang+Yu+%28d.+after+500%29+began+his+career+as+a+palace+eunuch+in+his+youth+and+achieved+senior+positions+at+court%2C+...+hundred+miles+northeast+of+Xi%27an%2C+was+the+ancient+town+of+Lirun%2C+where+there+was+a+great+concentration+of+Qiang+people.&pg=PA23}}</ref>

In the first half of the [[Northern Wei dynasty]], the [[Xianbei]] steppe tribesmen who dominated northern China kept a policy of strict social distinction between them and their Han subjects. Ethnic Han were drafted into the bureaucracy, employed as officials to collect taxes, etc. However, the Han were kept out of many higher positions of power. They also represented the minority of the populace where centers of power were located.

====Sinicization====
Widespread social and cultural transformation in northern China came with [[Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei]] (reigned 471–499), whose father was a Xianbei, but whose mother was Han. Although of the [[Tuoba]] Clan from the Xianbei tribe, Emperor Xiaowen asserted his dual Xianbei-Han identity, renaming his own clan "Yuan" ({{zhi|c=元}}). In the year 493 Emperor Xiaowen instituted a new sinification program that had the Xianbei elites conform to many Han standards. These social reforms included donning Han clothing (banning Xianbei clothing at court), learning the Han language (if under the age of thirty), converting Xianbei family names to one-character Han surnames, and encouraging high-ranking Xianbei and Han families to intermarry. Emperor Xiaowen also moved the capital city from Pingcheng to one of China's old imperial sites, [[Luoyang]], which had been the capital during the earlier Eastern Han and Western Jin dynasties. The new capital at Luoyang was revived and transformed, with roughly 150,000 Xianbei and other northern warriors moved from north to south by the year 495 to serve in the capital. Within a couple of decades, the population rose to about half a million residents and was famed for being home to over a thousand Buddhist temples. Defectors from the south, such as Wang Su of the prestigious Langye Wang family, were largely accommodated and felt at home with the establishment of their own Wu quarter in Luoyang (this quarter of the city was home to over three thousand families). They were even served tea (by this time gaining popularity in southern China) at court instead of the yogurt drinks commonly found in the north.

{{multiple image|perrow=1/3|total_width=300|caption_align=center
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| image1   = Stone funerary bed (tomb of Sima Jinlong), detail.jpg
| image2   = Northern Wei Pottery Figure, Tomb of Sima Jinlong, 484 AD (10100520026).jpg
| image3   = Northern Wei Wood Head, Tomb of Sima Jinlong, 484 AD (10100471244).jpg
| image4   = Northern Wei Pottery Figure, Tomb of Sima Jinlong, 484 AD (10100552803).jpg
| footer=Tomb of Northern Wei General [[Sima Jinlong]] and some of its artefacts, 484 CE.
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Beginning in the 480s, the Northern Wei arranged for Han elites to marry daughters of the Xianbei [[Tuoba]] imperial family.<ref name="Watson1991">{{cite book|author=Rubie Sharon Watson|title=Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gAIcwz3V_JsC&pg=PA80|year=1991|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-07124-7|pages=80–}}</ref> More than fifty per cent of Tuoba Xianbei princesses of the Northern Wei were married to southern Han men from the imperial families and aristocrats of the southern dynasties, who defected and moved north to join the Northern Wei.<ref>{{cite thesis|url=https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/33493331/TANG-DISSERTATION-2016.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y |title= Divorce and the Divorced Woman in Early Medieval China (First through Sixth Century) |pages=151, 152, 153 |last=Tang |first=Qiaomei |date=May 2016 |type=A dissertation presented by Qiaomei Tang to The Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of East Asian Languages and Civilizations |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Harvard University}}</ref> Several daughters of the Xianbei [[Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei]] married Han elites: the [[Liu Song]] royal Liu Hui ({{zhi|c=刘辉}}), married Princess Lanling ({{zhi|c=蘭陵公主}}) of the Northern Wei,<ref name="SwartzCampany2013">{{harvp|Lee|2014}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Papers on Far Eastern History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BdtBAAAAYAAJ&q=liu+hui+wei+princess|year=1983|publisher=Australian National University, Department of Far Eastern History.|page=86}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hinsch |first1=Bret |title=Women in Early Medieval China |date=2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1538117972 |page=97 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84BqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hinsch |first1=Bret |title=Women in Imperial China |date=2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1442271661 |page=72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1L7kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA72}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Jen-der |editor1-last=Swartz |editor1-first=Wendy |editor2-last=Campany |editor2-first=Robert Ford |editor3-last=Lu |editor3-first=Yang |editor4-last=Choo |editor4-first=Jessey |title=Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook |date=2014 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0231531009 |pages=156–165 |edition=illustrated |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AeiIl2y6vJQC&pg=PA161 |chapter=9. Crime and Punishment The Case of Liu Hui in the Wei Shu}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Australian National University. Dept. of Far Eastern History |title=Papers on Far Eastern History, Volumes 27–30 |date=1983 |publisher=Australian National University, Department of Far Eastern History. |pages=86, 87, 88 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BdtBAAAAYAAJ&q=liu+hui+lanling}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Yi-t’ung |title=Slaves and Other Comparable Social Groups During The Northern Dynasties (386-618) |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |date=1953 |volume=16 |issue=3/4 |page=322 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2718246 |publisher=Harvard-Yenching Institute|doi=10.2307/2718246 |jstor=2718246 }}</ref> Princess Huayang ({{zhi|c=華陽公主}}) to Sima Fei ({{zhi|c=司馬朏}}), a descendant of [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Jin]] royalty, Princess Jinan ({{zhi|c=濟南公主}}) to Lu Daoqian ({{zhi|c=盧道虔}}), and Princess Nanyang ({{zhi|c=南阳长公主}}) to [[Xiao Baoyin]], a member of [[Southern Qi]] royalty.<ref>{{cite book|title=China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200–750 AD|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JbdS-R3y72MC&q=Xiao+Baoyin&pg=PA30|year=2004|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=978-1-58839-126-1|pages=30–}}</ref> [[Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei]]'s sister, the Shouyang Princess, was wedded to [[Emperor Wu of Liang]]'s son {{ill|Xiao Zong|zh|蕭綜}}.<ref>{{cite book|title=Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature (vol.3 & 4): A Reference Guide, Part Three & Four|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWLPBAAAQBAJ&q=Xiao+Baoyin&pg=PA1566|date=22 September 2014|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-27185-2|pages=1566–}}</ref> According to the [[Book of Zhou]], [[Emperor Xiaowu of Northern Wei]]'s sister was married to the ethnic Han Zhang Huan, son of Zhang Qiong.{{noteTag|His name is given as Zhang Xin in the [[Book of Northern Qi]] and [[History of the Northern Dynasties]] which mention his marriage to a Xianbei princess of Wei. His personal name was changed due to a [[naming taboo]] on the emperor's name. }}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adamek |first1=Piotr  |date=2017 |title=Good Son is Sad If He Hears the Name of His Father: The Tabooing of Names in China as a Way of Implementing Social Values |trans-title= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WzQrDwAAQBAJ&q=zhang+emperor+xiaowu&pg=PA242 |url-status= |url-access= |format= |language= |location= |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1351565219 |archive-url= |archive-date= |page=242|via= |quote=... Southern Song.105 We read the story of a certain Zhang Huan 張歡 in the Zhoushu, who married a sister of Emperor Xiaowu 宣武帝 of the Northern Wei (r.}}</ref> When the Eastern Jin dynasty ended, Northern Wei received the Jin prince {{ill|Sima Chuzhi|zh|司馬楚之}} as a refugee, and he married a Northern Wei Princess. Their son [[Sima Jinlong]] in turn married [[Northern Liang]] Xiongnu King [[Juqu Mujian]]'s daughter.<ref>{{cite book|title=China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200–750 AD|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JbdS-R3y72MC&pg=PA18|year=2004|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=978-1-58839-126-1|pages=18–}}</ref>

In the year 523, Prince Dongyang of the Northern Wei was sent to [[Dunhuang]] to serve as its governor for a term of fifteen years. With Buddhism gaining mainstream acceptance in Chinese society, Prince Dongyang and local wealthy families set out to establish a monumental project in honor of Buddhism, carving and decorating Cave 285 of the [[Mogao Caves]] with beautiful statues and murals. Such promotion of the arts would continue for centuries at Dunhuang and it is now one of China's greatest tourist attractions.

===Split into Eastern Wei (534–550) and Western Wei (535–557)===
{{Main|Eastern Wei|Western Wei}}
{{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=300|caption_align=center
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| image1   = Western Wei civil officer.jpg
| caption1 = Civil officer, Western Wei, 535–557
| image2   = Armored warriors, China, Eastern Wei dynasty, 534-550 AD, ceramic - Linden-Museum - Stuttgart, Germany - DSC03593.jpg
| caption2 = Soldiers, Eastern Wei, 534-550
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In the year 523, a revolt of several military garrisons broke out, the Rebellion of the Six Garrisons (''Liu Zhen''). The revolt was caused by a food shortage far north of Luoyang. After the rebels force was suppressed, the government had 200,000 surrendered garrison rebels deployed to Hebei, which proved later to be a mistake when a former garrison officer organized another rebellion in the years 526–527. The underlying cause of these wars was the growing rift between the governing aristocracy which was increasingly adopting Han-style sedentary policies and lifestyles and their nomadic tribal armies who continued to preserve the old steppe way of life.<ref name=ger>{{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 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern/page/192 192]–193 |edition=illustrated, reprint, revised}}</ref>

The Northern Wei court was betrayed by one of their own generals, who had the empress dowager and the young emperor thrown into the Yellow River while establishing his own puppet ruler to maintain authority. As conflict swelled in the north between successive leaders, [[Gao Huan]] took control of the east and Luoyang (holding [[Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei]] as a puppet ruler) by 534, while his rival [[Yuwen Tai]] took control of the west and the traditional Chinese capital of [[Chang'an]] by 535. The Western regime was dominated by the sinicized nobles and their Han bureaucrats while the Eastern regime was controlled by the traditional steppe tribes.<ref name=ger/>

===Northern Qi (550–577) and Northern Zhou (557–581)===
{{Main|Northern Qi|Northern Zhou}}
[[File:Northern Zhou stele.PNG|thumb|left|[[Northern Zhou]] Daoist [[stele]] made of [[limestone]]]]
Eventually, Gao Huan's son [[Emperor Wenxuan of Northern Qi|Gao Yang]] forced the Eastern Wei emperor to abdicate in favor of his claim to the throne, establishing the [[Northern Qi]] dynasty (551–577). Afterward, Yuwen Tai's son [[Yuwen Jue]] seized the throne of power from [[Emperor Gong of Western Wei]], establishing the [[Northern Zhou]] dynasty (557–580).

The Northern Qi inherited the primary recruiting grounds of the Northern Wei army; previously, five out of six Northern Wei military officers came from the eastern territories, particularly the local armed forts of Han military families and steppe tribes who had settled in these areas. The members of these military families, both men and women, were often expert riders and archers.<ref name="cosmopo">{{cite book |last1=Mark Edward Lewis |title=China's Cosmopolitan Empire The Tang Dynasty |date=2012 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674265417 |page=13}}</ref>

Like its predecessor the Western Wei, the Northern Zhou reacted against sinicization by trying to revive Xianbei warrior culture: reviving Xianbei tunics, trousers and boots, reverting sinicized surnames into Xianbei names and even giving Han officers Xianbei surnames.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nicola Di Cosmo, Don J Wyatt |title=Political Frontiers, Ethnic Boundaries and Human Geographies in Chinese History |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135790950 |page=103}}</ref> This "tribalization" policy was intended to convert large numbers of Han Chinese army recruits into "Xianbei" who would pay for their own equipment in exchange for tax exemptions. The policy was highly successful in boosting the state's military strength.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dien |first1=Albert E. |title=Six Dynasties Civilization |date=1 January 2007 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-07404-8 |page= |language=en}}</ref>

The Northern Zhou dynasty was able to defeat and conquer Northern Qi in 577, reunifying the north. However, this success was short-lived, as the Northern Zhou was overthrown in 581 by Yang Jian, who became [[Emperor Wen of Sui]].

With greater military power and morale, along with convincing propaganda that the Chen dynasty ruler [[Chen Shubao]] was a decadent ruler who had lost the [[Mandate of Heaven]], the Sui Dynasty was able to effectively conquer the south. After this conquest, the whole of China entered a new golden age of reunification under the centralization of the short-lived Sui dynasty and the succeeding [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907).

The core elite of the Northern dynasties, mixed-culture, and mixed-ethnicity military clans, would later also form the founding elites of the Sui and Tang dynasties. Hence, they tended to have a flexible approach to steppe nomads, viewing them as possible partners rather than intrinsic enemies.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Marc S. Abramson |title=Ethnic Identity in Tang China |date=2011 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0812201017 |pages=15, 143}}</ref>