Northern Wei

34°16′00″N 108°54′00″E / 34.2667°N 108.9000°E / 34.2667; 108.9000

Wei 魏
386–535
CHAM- PA 500 SASANIAN EMPIRE BYZANTINE EMPIRE NORTHERN WEI HYMYAR SOUTHERN QI Alchon Huns Nezaks TOCHA- RIANS ZHANGZHUNG FUNAN TUYUHUN GUPTA EMPIRE HEPHTHALITES ROURAN KHAGANATE Kyrgyzs Gaoju Turks Yueban Magyars Sabirs Alans Kutrigurs Venedae Finnish Ugrians Yakuts Bashkirs Antes GOGU- RYEO AKSUM ◁ ▷ The Northern Wei and contemporary Asian polities c. 500 CE.
Northern Wei territory. They were bordered to the south by the Southern Qi from 479 to 502, and by the Liang from 502.
Capital	Shengle (386–398, capital of former Dai, near modern Hohhot) Pingcheng (398–493) Luoyang (493–534) Chang'an (534–535)
Common languages	Tuoba, Middle Chinese.
Government	Monarchy
Emperor
• 386–409	Emperor Daowu
• 409–423	Emperor Mingyuan
• 424–452	Emperor Taiwu
• 452–465	Emperor Wencheng
• 471–499	Emperor Xiaowen
• 499–515	Emperor Xuanwu
• 528–530	Emperor Xiaozhuang
• 532–535	Emperor Xiaowu
History
• Established	20 February[1] 386
• Emperor Daowu's claim of imperial title	24 January 399[2]
• Unification of northern China	439
• Movement of capital to Luoyang	25 October 493[3]
• Erzhu Rong's massacre of ruling class	17 May 528[4]
• Establishment of Eastern Wei, marking division	8 November[5] 535
• Emperor Xiaowu's death	3 February 535[5]
Area
450[6]	2,000,000 km2 (770,000 sq mi)
Currency	Chinese coin, Chinese cash
Preceded by Succeeded by Former Qin Later Yan Xia (Sixteen Kingdoms) Northern Yan Northern Liang Eastern Wei Western Wei
Today part of	China Mongolia

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Wei (/weɪ/), known in historiography as the Northern Wei (Chinese: 北魏; pinyin: Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei (Chinese: 拓跋魏; pinyin: Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei (Chinese: 元魏; pinyin: Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei (Chinese: 後魏; pinyin: Hòu Wèi), was an imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Tuoba (Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei. The first of the Northern dynasties, it ruled northern China from 386 to 535^[7] during the period of the Northern and Southern dynasties. Described as "part of an era of political turbulence and intense social and cultural change",^[8] the Northern Wei dynasty is particularly noted for unifying northern China in 439, bringing an end to the chaotic Sixteen Kingdoms period, and strengthening imperial control over the rural landscape via reforms in 485. This was also a period of introduced foreign ideas, such as Buddhism, which became firmly established. The Northern Wei was referred to as "Plaited Barbarians" (索虜; suǒlǔ) by writers of the Southern dynasties, who considered themselves the true upholders of Chinese culture.^[9][10]

During the Taihe period (477–499), Empress Dowager Feng and Emperor Xiaowen instituted sweeping reforms that deepened the dynasty's control over the local population in the Han hinterland. Emperor Xiaowen also introduced changes that eventually led to the dynasty moving its capital from Datong to Luoyang, in 494. The Tuoba adopted the surname Yuan (元) as a part of systematic sinicization.

Many antiques and art works, both Taoist art and Buddhist art, from this period have survived. It was the time of the construction of the Yungang Grottoes near Datong during the mid-to-late fifth century, and towards the latter part of the dynasty, the Longmen Grottoes outside the later capital city of Luoyang, in which more than 30,000 Buddhist images from the time of this dynasty have been found.

Towards the end of the Northern Wei dynasty there was significant internal dissension, resulting in a split into the Eastern Wei and the Western Wei dynasties under the rule of the same imperial house in 534–535, which were soon replaced by the Northern Qi and the Northern Zhou dynasties respectively. While the rule of Tuoba clan ended in the mid-6th century CE, its important policies, in particular the political recentralization reforms under Empress Dowager Feng and ethnic integration under Emperor Xiaowen, had a long-lasting impact on later periods of Chinese history.