Dynasties of ChinaNorthern and Southern DynastiesNorthern Wei Dynasty
Yanxing and others · Reign 471—499
The reformers trained by Fengtaihou moved the capital to Luoyang and fully Sinicized it, promoting the great integration of northern ethnic groups.
Yuan Hong's real name is Tuoba Hong, the eldest son of Emperor Xianwen. His biological mother, Mrs. Li, ordered him to die after he was established as Crown Prince, and he was raised by his grandmother Fengtaihou. In 471, he ascended the throne by his father Zen at the age of five. After the death of Emperor Xianwen in 476, Fengtaihou came to the throne again. Assisted by Li Chong and others, she implemented the banlu system in 484, promulgated the land equalization order in 485, established the three-chief system and reformed the tenancy system in 486. The Northern Wei Dynasty transformed from a tribal tradition to a mature Central Plains-style country.
Fengtaihou died in 490, and Emperor Xiaowen took charge. He believed that Pingcheng was located in the north and it was difficult to manage the Central Plains. In 493, he led his army to Luoyang in the name of a southern expedition and officially moved the capital the following year. Subsequently, an order was issued to ban Hu clothing and cut off the Northern language. It was stipulated that Xianbei moved to Luoyang and took Luoyang as his native place. In 496, the Tuoba surname was changed to the Yuan surname, the family name was designated, intermarriage between Xianbei and Han nobles was encouraged, and official rituals and music were reformed with reference to the system of the Southern Dynasties.
The reform was resisted by some Xianbei nobles. Crown Prince Yuan Xun tried to escape to Pingcheng and was condemned to death. Mu Tai and others rebelled in Pingcheng and were suppressed. In his later years, Emperor Xiaowen made successive southern expeditions to the Southern Qi Dynasty and captured the counties in Mianbei. He died of illness in Gutangyuan during the southern expedition in 499 at the age of thirty-three.
Emperor Xiaowen inherited Fengtaihou's reforms and pushed them further. He moved the capital to Luoyang and implemented comprehensive Sinicization. This transformed the Northern Wei Dynasty from the Xianbei tribal power to the Central Plains dynasty, which greatly accelerated the integration of various ethnic groups in the north. Systems such as equal land and three chiefs were also inherited by the Sui and Tang Dynasties. However, during the process of Sinicization, the nobles who moved to Luo quickly became cliquey and corrupted, while the military and civilian status of the six towns remaining in the north dropped sharply, and the N & S division became deeper, laying hidden dangers for the future uprising of the six towns and the split of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
PoliticsAccession through abdication at age five
Emperor Xianwen passed the throne, and Crown Prince Tuoba Hong, who was only five years old, became emperor in Pingcheng and changed his reign to Yanxing. Emperor Xianwen continued to rule as the Retired Emperor.
PoliticsFengtaihou returns to court
Emperor Xianwen suddenly collapsed, and Fengtaihou once again governed as regent as the Empress Dowager. In the following more than ten years, major reforms in the Northern Wei Dynasty were implemented under her leadership.
EconomyPromulgation of salary system
Before the Northern Wei Dynasty, officials had no salaries and relied mostly on war, plunder and plundering the people to survive. At the beginning of June, the salary of all officials in the class was increased. At the same time, it was stipulated that officials who had embezzled more than one piece of stolen goods should be put to death, and the government was to be clean.
EconomyPromulgate land equalization order
Farmers were granted open fields and mulberry fields on a per-population basis. The open fields were not allowed to be bought or sold, and the mulberry fields could be passed down from generation to generation. The land equalization system allowed the refugees to reattach themselves to the land, and was later used by the Northern Qi, Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang Dynasties.
EconomySet up three long-term rental arrangements
Adopt Li Chong's suggestion, regard five families as neighbors, five neighbors as li, and five li as party, and set up neighborhood chiefs, li chiefs, and party chiefs respectively. The Daizong supervisory system and household registration system will be replaced. At the same time, the new rent modulation will be levied on the basis of one husband and one woman.
CultureBegin to serve Gunmian
In the first month of the first month, Emperor Xiaowen wore a Chinese-style crown for the first time to attend court meetings with ministers. After that, he successively changed the system of court rituals, sacrifices, and vehicle uniforms. The trend of Hanization first started with the court etiquette system.
PeopleFengtaihou passed away
Fengtaihou died of illness in September. Emperor Xiaowen mourned the ceremony and could not drink water for five days. Fengtaihou was buried in the Yonggu Mausoleum in Fangshan, north of Pingcheng, and Emperor Xiaowen began to rule personally.
Lasting legacyThe Yonggu Mausoleum is located on the Fangshan Mountain north of present-day Datong, Shanxi Province. The tall seal still exists today and it is a national key cultural relic protection unit.
PoliticsTaking advantage of the Southern Expedition to establish and move the capital
In August, he led more than 300,000 infantrymen and cavalry to the southern Qi Dynasty. When he arrived in Luoyang in September, the autumn rain continued, and the officials knelt down to ask for a halt to the southern expedition. Emperor Xiaowen proposed to move the capital here instead of conquering the south. The ministers had no choice but to agree, and the decision to move the capital was made.
PoliticsMoved the capital to Luoyang
Li Chong, Mu Liang and others were ordered to build palaces in Luoyang. Emperor Xiaowen returned to Pingcheng to persuade the remaining nobles. He set out south in October and arrived in Luoyang in November. The following year, all the six palaces and civil and military officials moved south.
CultureExcavation of Longmen Grottoes
Before and after the capital was moved, grottoes began to be excavated in Yique, the southern suburb of Luoyang. Guyang Cave is the earliest cave excavated in Longmen. There are a large number of statues and inscriptions of princes and nobles of the Northern Wei Dynasty preserved in the cave.
Lasting legacyThe Longmen Grottoes were included in the World Heritage List in 2000; nineteen of the famous "Longmen Twenty Pieces" in the history of calligraphy are from Guyang Cave, which is a representative work of Wei stele calligraphy.
SocietyForbidden clothing
In December, an edict was issued prohibiting soldiers and civilians from wearing Xianbei clothes and wearing Han-style clothes instead. Emperor Xiaowen later saw women still wearing Hu clothing on the streets of Luoyang, and he sternly blamed the left-behind officials for their poor enforcement.
SocietyDuanbei language
In June, the court was ordered to ban the Xianbei language. Those over the age of 30 could gradually correct it. Officials under the age of 30 must immediately switch to speaking Chinese. Those who violated the rule would be demoted and removed from office.
SocietyChanged his native place to Henan
It was stipulated that the Xianbei people who moved south were buried in Henan after death and were not allowed to be buried in Pingcheng. From then on, they changed their registration to Luoyang people in Henan Province, which legally severed the connection between the Xianbei people who moved to Luo and their homeland.
CultureWorshiping Confucius in Qufu
In April, he visited Lucheng and worshiped Confucius Temple in person. He issued an edict to select one of the eldest sons of the Confucius family to be conferred the title of Chongshenghou for worshiping. He also repaired Confucius's tomb, which showed that the Northern Wei Dynasty regarded itself as Chinese orthodoxy.
CultureShaolin Temple was built by imperial decree
He built a temple at the northern foot of Shaoshi Mountain in Songshan Mountain for the Tianzhu monk Batuo to live and teach the Dharma. Because the temple is located in the forest of Shaoshi Mountain, it was named Shaolin Temple.
Lasting legacyShaolin Temple's permanent hospital, pagoda forest and Chu Zu'an were included in the World Heritage List in 2010 as part of the "Heaven and Earth" historical building complex in Dengfeng.
SocietyChanged surname to Yuan
In the first month of the first month, an edict was issued to change the Tuoba surname to the Yuan surname, and other Xianbei compound surnames to single-syllable Han surnames, such as Qiu Muling to Mu, Bu Liugu to Lu, and Dugu to Liu; and the eight surnames of Mu, Lu, He, Liu, Lou, Yu, Ji, and Wei were designated as the highest family status in Xianbei.
Lasting legacyToday, some of the surnames such as Yuan, Mu, Lu, He, Yu, and Ji are derived from the Xianbei surnames changed by Emperor Xiaowen.
PeopleWaste Crown PrinceYuan Xun
Crown Prince Yuan Xun was fat and afraid of heat, and was dissatisfied with the move to the capital. He took advantage of the secret of Emperor Xiaowen's patrol and planned to escape back to Pingcheng. After the incident was revealed, Emperor Xiaowen personally punished him with a cane, deposed him as a commoner, and was sentenced to death the following year.
PoliticsPut down the rebellion of Mu Tai
Mu Tai, Lu Rui and other Xianbei nobles who guarded Pingcheng attempted to support the clan and raised troops to oppose the move of the capital. The king of Rencheng, Yuan Cheng, was ordered to lead his army to pacify the city. Mu Tai was executed and Lu Rui was sentenced to death in prison.
MilitaryTake Mianbei from the south
He personally led a large army to conquer the Southern Qi Dynasty, conquered Wancheng, Xinye and other places, captured five counties in Nanyang area north of Mian River, and pushed the territory of the Northern Wei Dynasty to the north bank of the Han River.
PoliticsGu Tangyuan died of illness
During Chen Xianda's Northern Expedition in the Southern Qi Dynasty, Emperor Xiaowen fell ill and repelled the expedition in person. He died of illness in Gutangyuan on his way back south in April at the age of 33. Fenghuanghou, who had an affair with someone, was ordered to die by imperial edict.
Emperor Xiaowen's grandmother came to the court twice. Assisted by Li Chong and others, she presided over the reforms of Banlu, Juntian, Sanchang, and rent transfer. She also personally raised and taught Emperor Xiaowen. He is shrewd in his government and strict in his subordinates.
The Li family of Longxi won the trust of Fengtaihou, proposed the three-chief system and presided over its implementation, and also presided over the planning and construction of Luoyang Palace City. Emperor Xiaowen still relied on him as his confidant after taking office, and died of illness in 498.
Born in the Wang family of Langya, his father and brother were killed by Qi Emperor Wu, and he defected to the Northern Wei Dynasty in 493. Emperor Xiaowen discussed governance with him, and they met late, relying on his familiarity with the laws of the Southern Dynasties to formulate official etiquette.
Grandson of Emperor Jingmu. When Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital through the Southern Expedition, he was the first to understand and express his support. Later, he was ordered to return to Pingcheng to announce the move of the capital. He also put down the rebellion of Mu Tai and was an important supporter of the Sinicization reform.
The younger brother of Emperor Xiaowen, he was erudite and good at writing. He accompanied his brother in battles and participated in formulating rituals and music. Emperor Xiaowen died of illness in the army. He kept the funeral secret and escorted the coffin back north, thus stabilizing the political situation. In 508, he was framed and sentenced to death by Gao Zhao.
The eldest son of Emperor Xiaowen, formerly the Crown Prince. Dissatisfied with the relocation of the capital and Sinicization, he tried to escape back to Pingcheng in 496 but was deposed. The following year, he was sentenced to death for treason at the age of fifteen.