Southern Yan

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Yan 燕
398–410
Southern Yan in 400 AD
Capital	Huatai (398–399) Guanggu (399–410)
Government	Monarchy
Emperor
• 398–405	Murong De
• 405–410	Murong Chao
History
• Established	398
• Capturing of Guanggu	399
• Disestablished	410
Preceded by Succeeded by Later Yan Jin Dynasty (266–420)
Today part of	China

Yan, known in historiography as the Southern Yan (Chinese: 南燕; pinyin: Nán Yān; 398–410), was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Murong clan of the Xianbei during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms. Its founder Murong De (Emperor Xianwu) was a son of Murong Huang (Emperor Wenming) and brother of Murong Jun (Emperor Jingzhao) and Murong Chui (Emperor Chengwu), and therefore was an imperial prince of both the Former Yan and Later Yan dynasties.

All rulers of the Southern Yan declared themselves "emperors". Initially ruling from Huatai (滑台, in modern Anyang, Henan) in northern Henan, they later moved to Shandong and established Guanggu (廣固, in modern Qingzhou, Shandong) as their capital. As one of many Yan states from the period, they were given the prefix of "Southern" by historiographers to distinguish them with the others as they were based south of the Yellow River.