The Northern Wei dynasty (Tuoba or Bei Wei) unified northern China during the Northern and Southern dynasties period.
[1]
Before unification under the Northern Wei, the northern region was ruled by the Sixteen Barbarian States that had risen up when the Western Jin fled to the south.
[1]
The Northern Wei conquered Northern Yan and Northern Liang to unify the north.
[2]
During Northern Wei rule, Tuoba continued to expand its territory. By 439 CE the dynasty controlled Henan, Hebei, and parts of Shaanxi, Manchuria, Gansu, and Sichuan.
[3]
At its peak the territory of the Northern Wei expanded from the Tarim Basin to the Yellow Sea, and from the northern steppe to edge of territory of the Southern dynasties.
[1]
In 500 CE, the Northern Wei territory encompassed 1.7 million square kilometers.
[4]
The rulers of the Northern Wei belonged to the Tuoba tribe of the Xianbei northern steppe federation.
[1]
The Tuoba language was close to Turkish, and the non-Han Chinese rulers were first seen as foreign invaders.
[3]
In the late 400s the Tuoba Sinicized their customs, language, and government, and moved their capital to Luoyang.
[5]
Buddhism was upheld as a state religion for most of the Northern Wei. The Buddhist caves of Yungang and Longmen were constructed during the period.
[1]
In the early 500s, Luoyang had over one thousand monasteries and number of mansions and large palaces.
[6]
The fall of the Northern Wei was due to a civil war caused by rebellions in garrisons in the northern frontier
[5]
The rival army factions spilt the dynasty into Eastern and Western Wei in 535 CE.
[2]
Population and political organization
In the Northern Dynasties, nobles and landowners often had vesting holdings with dependent servants and slaves who did not pay taxes.
[1]
The Northern Wei government attempted to break up these large holdings to reduce the power of provincial nobles. The government deported over 400,000 dependent peasants to unused land near the first capital of Pingcheng.
[3]
The Northern Wei also instituted an equal-fields system in which the state owned all land and individuals were given certain allotments for life.
[6]
In the late 400s, the Northern Wei moved the capital to Luoyang and began to create a more Chinese-style state.
[5]
The Tuoba relied on Chinese civil servants to assist with governance.
[5]
The population of the Northern Wei dynasty was 32 million in 500 CE.
[7]
The second Wei capital of Luoyang had a population of 600,000 at its peak.
[8]
[1]: (Theobald 2000) Theobald, U. 2000. Northern Dynasties (386-581). Accessed June 15, 2017. http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Division/beichao.html Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/GSM2F6GX
[2]: (Xiong 2009, 384) Xiong, V C. 2009. Historical Dictionary of Medieval China. Scarecrow Press, Inc., Plymouth. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/ZE3I2EQK/q/xiong.
[3]: “Wei dynasty | Chinese history [386- 534 535].” Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Wei-dynasty. Accessed June 15, 2017. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/B2C94XG8
[4]: (Chase-Dunn Spreadsheet)
[5]: (Holcombe 2017, 109) Holcombe, Charles. 2017. “Was Medieval China Medieval? (Post-Han to Mid-Tang)” In A Companion to Chinese History, edited by Michael Szonyi. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 106-117. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/DJMEH684
[6]: (Ebrey 1996, 91) Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. 1996. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: CUP. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/TDMBGBF8
[7]: (Graff 2002, 127)Graff, D A. 2002. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900. Routledge. London. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/NUJQCRPA
[8]: (Graff 2002, 98)Graff, D A. 2002. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900. Routledge. London. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/NUJQCRPA
| alliance with [---] |
| Xianbei |
| Western Wei |
| [6,000,000 to 9,000,000] km2 |
| continuity |
| UNCLEAR: [continuity] |
| unitary state |
| inferred present |
| unknown |
| absent |
| present |
| absent |
| inferred present |
| inferred present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| 1,073 km | 423 CE |
| 681 km | 446 CE |
| inferred present |
| present | |
| absent |
| inferred absent |
| inferred present |
| inferred absent |
| absent |
| absent |
| present |
| inferred present |
| inferred absent |
| Year Range | Northern Wei (cn_northern_wei_dyn) was in: |
|---|---|
| (386 CE 557 CE) | Middle Yellow River Valley |
First capital at Shengle under Gui. Gui "declared himself Prince of Wei before he assumed the imperial mantle in the new capital Pingcheng in early 399 CE."
[1]
Pingcheng capital from 398 CE.
[2]
Pingcheng (or Datong, in Shanxi).
[3]
In the decade after the move of the capital to Luoyang "walls and palaces were built and populations transferred from Pingcheng and other centers in North China."
[4]
Building of Luoyang began 493 CE and capital moved there by Xiaowendi 494 CE.
[5]
"Having been in ruins from 311, Luoyang came back to life when Xiaowendi moved his capital there from Pingcheng in 494 as part of his overall strategy to sinify Tuoba institutions."
[6]
[1]: (Xiong 2009, 21)
[2]: (Xiong 2009, 393)
[3]: (Graff 2002, 97)
[4]: (Graff 2002, 98)
[5]: (Xiong 2009, ci)
[6]: (Xiong 2009, 347)
First capital at Shengle under Gui. Gui "declared himself Prince of Wei before he assumed the imperial mantle in the new capital Pingcheng in early 399 CE."
[1]
Pingcheng capital from 398 CE.
[2]
Pingcheng (or Datong, in Shanxi).
[3]
In the decade after the move of the capital to Luoyang "walls and palaces were built and populations transferred from Pingcheng and other centers in North China."
[4]
Building of Luoyang began 493 CE and capital moved there by Xiaowendi 494 CE.
[5]
"Having been in ruins from 311, Luoyang came back to life when Xiaowendi moved his capital there from Pingcheng in 494 as part of his overall strategy to sinify Tuoba institutions."
[6]
[1]: (Xiong 2009, 21)
[2]: (Xiong 2009, 393)
[3]: (Graff 2002, 97)
[4]: (Graff 2002, 98)
[5]: (Xiong 2009, ci)
[6]: (Xiong 2009, 347)
First capital at Shengle under Gui. Gui "declared himself Prince of Wei before he assumed the imperial mantle in the new capital Pingcheng in early 399 CE."
[1]
Pingcheng capital from 398 CE.
[2]
Pingcheng (or Datong, in Shanxi).
[3]
In the decade after the move of the capital to Luoyang "walls and palaces were built and populations transferred from Pingcheng and other centers in North China."
[4]
Building of Luoyang began 493 CE and capital moved there by Xiaowendi 494 CE.
[5]
"Having been in ruins from 311, Luoyang came back to life when Xiaowendi moved his capital there from Pingcheng in 494 as part of his overall strategy to sinify Tuoba institutions."
[6]
[1]: (Xiong 2009, 21)
[2]: (Xiong 2009, 393)
[3]: (Graff 2002, 97)
[4]: (Graff 2002, 98)
[5]: (Xiong 2009, ci)
[6]: (Xiong 2009, 347)
387-534 CE: "Toba dynasty of Northern Wei in north China."
[1]
Tuoba kingdom "changed its name from Dai to Wei in 386."
[2]
Tuoba tribe changed its name to Yuan (modelled on the aristocratic Western Jin) when capital moved south to Luoyang
[3]
496 CE "Xiaowendi changed the royal surname to Yuan."
[4]
Toba "is a modern Chinese pronunciation of a middle Chinese distortion of the ancient word Tabgach..."
[5]
"Bei-Wei Dynasty (Northern Wei, 386-538)."
[5]
[1]: (Peers 1995, 6)
[2]: (Graff 2002, 69)
[3]: (Dardess, J W. 2010. Governing China: 150-1850. Hackett Publishing p.15)
[4]: (Xiong 2009, ci)
[5]: (Avery 2003, 40)
387-534 CE: "Toba dynasty of Northern Wei in north China."
[1]
Tuoba kingdom "changed its name from Dai to Wei in 386."
[2]
Tuoba tribe changed its name to Yuan (modelled on the aristocratic Western Jin) when capital moved south to Luoyang
[3]
496 CE "Xiaowendi changed the royal surname to Yuan."
[4]
Toba "is a modern Chinese pronunciation of a middle Chinese distortion of the ancient word Tabgach..."
[5]
"Bei-Wei Dynasty (Northern Wei, 386-538)."
[5]
[1]: (Peers 1995, 6)
[2]: (Graff 2002, 69)
[3]: (Dardess, J W. 2010. Governing China: 150-1850. Hackett Publishing p.15)
[4]: (Xiong 2009, ci)
[5]: (Avery 2003, 40)
387-534 CE: "Toba dynasty of Northern Wei in north China."
[1]
Tuoba kingdom "changed its name from Dai to Wei in 386."
[2]
Tuoba tribe changed its name to Yuan (modelled on the aristocratic Western Jin) when capital moved south to Luoyang
[3]
496 CE "Xiaowendi changed the royal surname to Yuan."
[4]
Toba "is a modern Chinese pronunciation of a middle Chinese distortion of the ancient word Tabgach..."
[5]
"Bei-Wei Dynasty (Northern Wei, 386-538)."
[5]
[1]: (Peers 1995, 6)
[2]: (Graff 2002, 69)
[3]: (Dardess, J W. 2010. Governing China: 150-1850. Hackett Publishing p.15)
[4]: (Xiong 2009, ci)
[5]: (Avery 2003, 40)
Tuoba Tao 430s CE campaigns against independent states in North China. E.g. Xiongnu kingdom of Xia and Xiongnu Northern Liang. Xia defeated in 431 CE. Northern Yan defeated 436 CE. Northern Liang defeated 439 CE. "With the conquest of Northern Liang in 439 CE, Tuoba Tao finally succeeded in uniting all of China north of the Yellow River for the first time since the collapse of Fu Jian’s empire more than half a century before."
[1]
[1]: (Graff 2002, 72)
NB: includes Northern, Eastern, and Western Wei periods
Tuoba homelands around modern city of Datong. Between 304-314 CE Tuoba Yilu assisted Jin governor of Bing province with cavalry forces. "As a reward for his efforts, Yilu was ceded control of five counties by the Jin court and given the title Prince of Dai (a traditional appellation for the North Shanxi region."
[1]
= 314 CE start date?
[1]: (Graff 2002, 57)
434 CE marriage alliance with Rouran.
[1]
Erzhu clan allied with government to suppress 526-527 CE rebellions. Previously part of the Xiongnu tribal confederacy. They were living under "their own tribal organization" a pastoral lifestyle. Early 6th century estimated at 8,000 families. Possessed cattle, sheep, camels and horses, "counted by the valley" due to the vastness of their stocks.
[2]
Alliance between Tuoba of Wei and Murong of Yan ended 391 CE.
[3]
[1]: (Xiong 2009, xcix)
[2]: (Graff 2002, 100-101)
[3]: (Graff 2002, 70)
"Northern Wei was founded by the Tuoba, a branch of the Xianbei" [1] East Central Asian nomadic tribes. However, Northern Wei also, through Chinese majority population, interacted with the Chinese supra-cultural entity. This was most important toward the end of the era whilst the Nomadic supra-cultural interaction had preeminence at the beginning.
[1]: (Xiong 2009, 20)
km squared. Cultural diffusion, trade and warfare. Figure increases the maximum area of the Northern Wei state to include some of the Western Asian steppe (modern Mongolia). However, Northern Wei also, through Chinese majority population, interacted with the Chinese supra-cultural entity. This was most important toward the end of the era whilst the Nomadic supra-cultural interaction had preeminence at the beginning.
People.
"On the eve of the Six Garrisons revolt [in 523], Northern Wei had a registered population of approximately 5,000,000 households and 32,000,000 individuals."
[1]
Storing this data here until I create pages for these polities
Western Han (end): 57,000,000. Sui Dynasty: 46,000,000. Tang (height of power 742 CE): 49,000,000.
[2]
[1]: (Graff 2002, 127)
[2]: (Graff 2002, 10)
levels. Perhaps 5-6 levels, taking up earlier imperial modes? (there seems to be a similar division into central court/capital city, prefecture, commandery, districts and villages as in earlier times; maybe more after 486 CE reforms.
1. Capital
2.3.4.5.
"Li Ping (2000, 59) has noted that the Northern Wei, after establishing its capital at Pingcheng (modern Datong) in 398, divided the Sang’gan River basin of northern Shanxi into the Inner Capital District, which would include the capital city and the central basin area (jinei). This zone would be inhabited by the bulk of the settled farming population, Tuoba and related households and probably a large portion of the central army cavalry units, not to mention the palace guard units. The Outer Capital District, which would include the hills and mountains surrounding the basin area (jiwai) would be settled by nomadic and semi-nomadic tribal and clan groups who were never completely de-tribalized. Together these two zones would comprise the Capital District (dianfu). These two zones were administered by Eight Councillors (babu diafu) and Eight Chieftains (babu dashuai), respectively."
[1]
[1]: (Eisenberg, A. 2008. Kingship in Early Medieval China. BRILL. p.65-66)
levels.
_Daoism_
"Organized religion emerged in Daoism with the founding of its first church - the Wudoumidao (the Way of Five Pecks of Rice) or Tianshidao (the Way of the Celestial Masters) - in Sichuan in Eastern Han in the early second century AD. In the Six Dynasties period, Tianshidao still existed, but there was no clear line of transmission, In the north, Kou Qianzhi of Northern Wei, as a self-claimed successor to Tianshidao, made a forceful effort to promote Daoism at court."
[1]
1. Celestial Master
There was a Celestial Master at Pingcheng.
[2]
It was "standard practice" for new emperors to take part in a "Daoist ritual to receive talisman registers."
[3]
2. ?
_Buddhism_
"After its official entry in the Han, Buddhism came to dominate both north and south China during the Six Dynasties period."
[4]
1. Emperor (from 460 CE)
"Adopting Confucianism as the state religion was not acceptable to many nobles of the Northern Wei royal lineage, who took pride in their steppe traditions, nor was it appealing to their Chinese subjects. Buddhism was the obvious choice. From 460 on, the Northern Wei emperor began to have huge statues of the Buddha carved near the capital, Pingcheng (present-day Yungang, in the northern part of present Shanxi Province. Those statues, monuments marking the eastern end of the Silk Road, represented the reincarnations of the current and former rulers of the Northern Wei. Through these carvings, the Northern Wei emperors declared themselves the representatives of the Buddha and therefore the legitimate rulers of China."
[5]
2. ?
_Confucianism_
Construction of Confucian temple late fifth century, Empress Dowager and Xiaowen.
[6]
[1]: (Xiong 2009, 111)
[2]: (Xiong 2009, xcix)
[3]: (Xiong 2009, c)
[4]: (Xiong 2009, 68)
[5]: (Liu 77, 2010) Xinru Liu. 2010. The Silk Road in World History. Oxford University Press. Oxford.
[6]: (Holcombe 2011, 66-67)
levels.
Multiple levels of hierarchy: "In addition to the headquarters fortress, each garrison controlled a network of lesser outposts (shu) and might also have military authority over surrendered tribal groups occupying the nearby grazing lands."
[1]
1. King
2. Qibing (Board of War)
[2]
lead by a president (shangshu)
[3]
3. Generals?
4. Officers?
5. Zhen (territorial garrison) lead by a zhenjiang (commander)
[4]
"often set up at prefectural, commandery or county level, where the commander (zhenjiang) concurrently held the position of prefect, commandery governor, or county magistrate. It was also set up as an independent garrison."
[4]
6. Individual soldier
[1]: (Graff 2002, 99)
[2]: (Xiong 2009, 405)
[3]: (Xiong 2009, 182)
[4]: (Xiong 2009, 675)
levels. This number is equal to the number of levels in both the provincial government and the outer court, plus the Khan.
1. Khan
inscription discovered at an ancestral temple in Inner Mongolia shows early Tuoba Xianbei rulers used the title "Khan." However, this inscription was written in Chinese characters.
[1]
the guoren was initially the ruling clan then later "widened to include the elites of many of the defeated peoples."
[2]
_Central court_
At this time the typical post-Han central government bureaucracy consisted of a Royal Secretariat (shangshu tai), which had boards headed by presidents (shangshu). This later became a Department of State Affairs (shangshu sheng).
[3]
_Inner Court_
Political and military power concentrated in the "inner court" which was almost totally made up of Xianbei. Inner court made decisions in consultation with the king. Some powerful officials called directors (ling) could function simultaneously in both inner and outer courts.
[4]
2. Chancellory, lead by shizhong (Palace Attendant)Had direct access to king as a companion/advisor.
[5]
3.
_Outer Court_
Department of State Affairs
[6]
At the central court the Chinese style Department of State Affairs along with the Secretariat (less so regarding the Chancellory) were mostly manned by Chinese courtiers in what has been referred to as the Northern Wei "outer court", though, the highest ranking members of the Department of State Affairs could very well be Xianbei."
[7]
2. Board of works
[6]
lead by a president (shangshu)
[3]
or lead by (Xianbei) directors? - is this same thing?
3. Qibu (Bureau of Works) lead by a ?Northern Wei: "Bureau of Works, under the Board of Works."
[6]
4. lower levels, scribes etc?
5. lower levels, scribes etc?
2. Qibing (Board of War)
[6]
lead by a president (shangshu)
[3]
or lead by (Xianbei) directors? - is this same thing?
3. lower levels, scribes etc?
4. lower levels, scribes etc?
5. lower levels, scribes etc?
2. Other boards (Justice, Personnel, Revenue, Rites)
3. lower levels, scribes etc?
4. lower levels, scribes etc?
5. lower levels, scribes etc?
_Capital District_
Pingcheng Capital District (dianfu)
[8]
2. Inner Capital District (jinei) - Eight Councillors (babu diafu)
[8]
3. Outer Capital District (jiwai) - Eight Chieftains (babu dashuai)
[8]
_Provincial government_
"Matsushita Kennichi has pointed out the existence of very early Northern Wei offices of Northern Chief and Southern Chief (beibu daren, nanbu daren) appointed directly by the throne and charged with maintaining surveillance over re-located tribal peoples in the Sang’gan river basin and its environs. Matsushita argues that this system remained in place from 386-398, and following the establishment of Pingcheng as the Northern Wei capital, was subsequently supplanted by the more elaborate arrangement of the Eight Councillors and Eight Chieftains. However, the administrative bailiwick remained the same and was later directly absorbed by the Northern and Southern Boards."
[9]
2. Northern Board (beibu) - Director of Northern Board (beibu shangshu)Northern Board (beibu) and Southern Board (nanbu). Director of Southern Board (nanbu shangshu). Four out of twelve of the heads were Chinese, whereas all the Directors of Northern Board were Xianbei.
[9]
"Northern Wei did not have have standard Chinese style administrative units on its northern borders until the reign of Xiaowendi and later - these areas tended to be governed by garrison commanders. "
[10]
2. Southern Board (nanbu) - Director of Southern Board (nanbu shangshu)Northern Board (beibu) and Southern Board (nanbu). Four out of twelve of the heads were Chinese, whereas all the Directors of Northern Board were Xianbei.
[9]
"Until 493 the Northern Wei regime formally functioned as an apartheid conquest dynasty. Conquered Chinese areas were generally left to be governed by customary law and inherited Chinese administrative institutions, but these local and provincial structures were assigned as many as two levels of Xianbei surveillance officials placed at all levels (Yan Yaozhong 1990, 77-83). Thus a prefect’s office could very well comprise could very well comprise a member of a local elite Chinese family (the rule of avoidance was not strictly adhered to at this time), a Xianbei official, and, if the Xianbei official was not fluent in spoken or written Chinese, a Chinese courtier from the central court would be present as well."
[7]
3. Zhou (prefecture) headed by a mu or cishi (prefect)
[11]
"prefectures, headed by a mu or cishi (prefect). In the post-Western Jin era, the zhou and jun were greatly reduced in size ... So "prefecture" in lieu of "province" is used to translate zhou while "commandery" in lieu of "region" is used to translate jun. From Han to Six Dynasties, the zhou (province or prefecture) served as the highest-level local government, above the jun (region or commandery)."
[12]
4. Jun (commandery)
[13]
lead by a governor
[14]
"In the post-Western Jin era, the zhou and jun were greatly reduced in size ... "commandery" in lieu of "region" is used to translate jun. From Han to Six Dynasties, the zhou (province or prefecture) served as the highest-level local government, above the jun (region or commandery)."
[12]
5. Xian (county) headed by a ling (magistrate)
[15]
During the Han to Six Dynasties period the xian was the "lowest of the tri-level system (zhou [provinces or prefectures], jun [regions or commanderies], and xian [counties]), headed by a magistrate (ling).
[16]
_Three Chiefs System from 486 CE_
"A system of mutual surveillance to facilitate tax collection ad fulfillment of corvee and military duties. Proposed by Li Chong ..., it was first promulgated in Northern Wei in 486 in the name of Xiaowendi. Replacing the system of clan masters (zongzhu ...) at the grassroots level, it organized every five households into units known as lin (neighbourhoods). Five lin constituted a li ... (village), and five li, a dang ... (community). The heads (zhang) of lin, li, and dang were the three chiefs."
[17]
Also known as the Taihe reforms.
[18]
6. dang (community) lead by a zhang (chief)Constituted 125 households (five li)
[17]
perhaps 750 people
7. li (village) lead by a zhang (chief)Constituted 25 households (five lin)
[17]
perhaps 150 people
8. lin (neighbourhoods) lead by a zhang (chief)Constituted five households
[17]
perhaps 30 people?
_Subject peoples (self-governing)_
2. Xianbei were among other northern people "subject to the Wei rulers" who "continued to speak their ancestral languages" and remained herders.
[19]
2. Erzhu clan allied with government to suppress 526-527 CE rebellions. Previously part of the Xiongnu tribal confederacy. They were living under "their own tribal organization" a pastoral lifestyle. Early 6th century estimated at 8,000 families. Possessed cattle, sheep, camels and horses, "counted by the valley" due to the vastness of their stocks.
[20]
[1]: (Holcombe 2011, 66-67)
[2]: (Graff 2002, 73)
[3]: (Xiong 2009, 182)
[4]: (Eisenberg, A. 2008. Kingship in Early Medieval China. BRILL. p.63-64)
[5]: (Eisenberg, A. 2008. Kingship in Early Medieval China. BRILL. p.64-65)
[6]: (Xiong 2009, 405)
[7]: (Eisenberg, A. 2008. Kingship in Early Medieval China. BRILL. p.63)
[8]: (Eisenberg, A. 2008. Kingship in Early Medieval China. BRILL. p.65-66)
[9]: (Eisenberg, A. 2008. Kingship in Early Medieval China. BRILL. p.67)
[10]: (Eisenberg, A. 2008. Kingship in Early Medieval China. BRILL. p.66)
[11]: (Xiong 2009, 686)
[12]: (Xiong 2009, 686-687)
[13]: (Xiong 2009, 106, 182)
[14]: (Xiong 2009, 675)
[15]: (Xiong 2009, 564, 182)
[16]: (Xiong 2009, 564)
[17]: (Xiong 2009, 501)
[18]: (Dardess, J W. 2010. Governing China: 150-1850. Hackett Publishing. p.14)
[19]: (Graff 2002, 97)
[20]: (Graff 2002, 100-101)
"To counter the Rouran threat, the Wei rulers had established a dozen major garrisons during the first half of the fifth century."
[1]
"... begun during the Tang dynasty... The rise of religious professionals and soldiers as clearly separate groups was contrary to the previous normative view of society divided into knights (shi, the term that would later be applied to the literati or gentry), farmers, artisans and merchants."
[2]
[1]: (Graff 2002, 98)
[2]: (Lorge 2005, 7)
There was a Celestial Master at Pingcheng.
[1]
It was "standard practice" for new emperors to take part in a "Daoist ritual to receive talisman registers."
[2]
"... begun during the Tang dynasty... The rise of religious professionals and soldiers as clearly separate groups was contrary to the previous normative view of society divided into knights (shi, the term that would later be applied to the literati or gentry), farmers, artisans and merchants."
[3]
[1]: (Xiong 2009, xcix)
[2]: (Xiong 2009, c)
[3]: (Lorge 2005, 7)
"The regimes which followed the Han recruited their civilian and military officials from the hereditary aristocracy (the bureaucracy open to talent was an innovation of the Sui and T’ang era)."
[1]
"The Tuoba ... awarded rank to anyone who raised the appropriate number of men at his own expense."
[1]
"Wei leaders proved more skillful than other barbarian rulers in winning the loyalty of the defeated peoples. Like many of their predecessers such as Shi Le, the Wei rulers distinguished between a core element in their state, the so-called "compatriots" (guoren), and the mass of ordinary subjects. Almost all military commands and other positions of real power and authority were held by compatriots."
[2]
However, what does this argue?
Dai Wei Hong. 2010. Investigation of the Merit System of the Northern Wei Dynasty
[1]: (Peers 1995, 36)
[2]: (Graff 2002, 72-73)
"Throughout China’s imperial history, local administrators exercised judicial as well as executive powers in their areas, and routine trial and punishment was, in Sui as in other dynasties, part of their regular duties." [1] “[Emperor Xiaowen] promoted Confucian learning, modeled the Northern Wei bureaucratic system and legal system after the Han dynasty as protocol for court proceedings and rituals.” [2]
[1]: (Wright, Arthur. 1978. The Sui Dynasty: The Unification of China, AD 581-617. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 117)
[2]: (Zhao, Dingxin. 2015. The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History. Oxford: OUP, 303.)
"The Jin code (known as the Taishi code) dominated the legal systems of the Northern Wei and the Southern Dynasties."
[1]
Taihe Reforms 472-492 CE "included procedures for evaluating and promoting regional and local officials; graded official salaries; a law code..."
[2]
[1]: (Xiong 2009, 289)
[2]: (Dardess, J W. 2010. Governing China: 150-1850. Hackett Publishing. p.14)
"Throughout China’s imperial history, local administrators exercised judicial as well as executive powers in their areas, and routine trial and punishment was, in Sui as in other dynasties, part of their regular duties." [1] “[Emperor Xiaowen] promoted Confucian learning, modeled the Northern Wei bureaucratic system and legal system after the Han dynasty as protocol for court proceedings and rituals.” [2]
[1]: (Wright, Arthur. 1978. The Sui Dynasty: The Unification of China, AD 581-617. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 117)
[2]: (Zhao, Dingxin. 2015. The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History. Oxford: OUP, 303.)
“The capital of the Sui Empire was Ch’ang-an, a city on the way out of China to the Jade Gate, the gate to the riches of the West. The greatest market for luxury goods was now situated to the advantage of the merchants using the great land route. The sea trade in the goods of Western Asia became less profitable and remained so throughout the dynasty. […] In 604, Sui Yang- ti inherited from his father a land that was more prosperous than ever before and full of a new energy born of unification moved his capital to Lo-yang, and moved several ten thousand families of rich merchants and great Heaven (i.e., from all the prefectures of the empire) to the eastern capital. He built tens of thousands of dragon-ships and phoenix-boats with timber brought from (the lands) south of the Yangtse, to sail between his eastern capital and the river capital (Chiang-tu, that is, Yang-chou). […] The route to and from Ch’ih-t’u is very important. It represented one of the regular routes of the Nanhai commandery (i.e. the port of Canton) day and night for 20 days, each day meeting Chiao-shih Shan (off the coast of Annam, near Tourane).” [1]
[1]: (Wang 1998, 62-66) Wang, G. 1998. The Nanhai Trade: The Early History of Chinese Trade in the South China Sea. Times Academic Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/search/GUNGWU/titleCreatorYear/items/DKVACIQM/item-list
Wei Shu (506-572 CE) wrote "Book of Wei" in the 550s CE. The genre also existed earlier in Chinese history.
Since ancient times the Chinese used astronomical calculations to predict equinoxes and seasons. Sixty-day divinatory calendar from Shang era "that is still in widespread use." Babylonians may have been "the original inspiration for the Chinese soli-lunar calendar." [1]
[1]: (??? in Selin ed. 2008, 974-975)
sure I remember reading a reference to tokens - need to check
"Byzantine gold coin of Anastasius I discovered in suspected tomb of Emperor Jiemin of Northern Wei." [1]
[1]: (Ashkenazy, G. 2013. http://primaltrek.com/blog/2013/10/31/byzantine-gold-coin-found-in-tomb-of-emperor-jiemin-of-northern-wei/ referencing Chinese news report: http://collection.sina.com.cn/yjjj/20131025/1107131225.shtml)
"The creation of a system of relay postal stations has been credited to Chinngis Khan, but was most effectively employed by Chinngis Khan’s successor Ogodei. Ogodei did not invent the system that goes back nearly two thousand years. Athough the Tuoba rulers of what is now northern China had a similar system in the fourth and fifth centuries, it appears to have been implemented already by the Honno, the first steppe empire in history, an empire contemporary with the Roman Empire and ruled by a Turkic tribe." [1]
[1]: (Avery 2003, 40)
"The creation of a system of relay postal stations has been credited to Chinngis Khan, but was most effectively employed by Chinngis Khan’s successor Ogodei. Ogodei did not invent the system that goes back nearly two thousand years. Athough the Tuoba rulers of what is now northern China had a similar system in the fourth and fifth centuries, it appears to have been implemented already by the Honno, the first steppe empire in history, an empire contemporary with the Roman Empire and ruled by a Turkic tribe." [1] If the Northern Wei ran a nomadic style postal relay station then it may suggest that the general postal service of earlier Chinese civilization had been lost and the service was government only.
[1]: (Avery 2003, 40)
"The creation of a system of relay postal stations has been credited to Chinngis Khan, but was most effectively employed by Chinngis Khan’s successor Ogodei. Ogodei did not invent the system that goes back nearly two thousand years. Athough the Tuoba rulers of what is now northern China had a similar system in the fourth and fifth centuries, it appears to have been implemented already by the Honno, the first steppe empire in history, an empire contemporary with the Roman Empire and ruled by a Turkic tribe." [1]
[1]: (Avery 2003, 40)
Earth ramparts rather than stone walls. Up until the Tang and Song Dynasties wide ramparts and ditches were a typical part of the defense system for a fortified town or city." [1] Stone-fronted walls "perhaps dateable to the period," have been found by archaeologists. [2]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: (Lovell 2006, 112) Lovell, Julia. 2006. The Great Wall: China Against the World 1000 BC-AD 2000. New York: Grove Press.
"Not all of the Xianbei were moved south to Luoyang. Large numbers were left along the northern frontier and in the vicinity of the old capital to guard the Wei realm against the Rouran, a tribal confederacy that had emerged to dominate the northern steppe around the beginning of the fifth century. To counter the Rouran threat, the Wei rulers had established a dozen major garrisons during the first half of the fifth century. These stretched in an arc along the northern frontier from Dunhuang at the end of the Gansu corridor in the far northwest to Yuyi directly north of modern Beijing. The sector of the line that covered Pingcheng and the Dai region of northern Shanxi became known as the “Six Garrisons.” These were anchored on the west by Woye garrison on the great northward loop of the Yellow River. To the east of Woye lay Huaishuo (north of modern Baotou), Wuchuan (northwest of Hohhot), Fuming, Rouxuan, and Huaihuang. These positions commanded the swath of grassland south of the Gobi Desert, where invaders coming from the north would otherwise have been able to pasture their tired and hungry horses before attacking the settled lands to the south [1]
[1]: (Graff 2002, 98-9) Graff, D A. 2002. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900. Routledge. London.
Fortresses. [1] Ditch and wall. "Up until the Tang and Song Dynasties wide ramparts and ditches were a typical part of the defense system for a fortified town or city. [2]
[1]: (Graff 2002, 98)
[2]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
"During the Spring and Autumn period, China developed steel and iron-made weaponry, and as the raw iron castings technique was widely practiced - and the ‘folded hundred times steel’ casting method was on the rise, along with various polishing techniques for steel - Chinese steel weapons were very much on the ascendant." [1] First steel adapted by Chu in 5th century BCE [2] , likely spread quickly to other states "As the smiths in time learned the possibilities of their material, and began producing quench-hardened steel swords ... bronze swords could not longer compete and went out of use completely. This seems likely to have occurred all over China by the late third century B.C. at the latest." [3] "As early as the later Han dynasty and the early Jin dynasty, the Chinese were already capable of producing steel." [4] Wootz steel was "being exported from India to China at least as early as the +5th century. … good steel was manufactured in China by remarkably modern methods at least from that time onwards also." [5] First high-quality steel 450 CE.
[1]: Hangang, Cao. Undated. A Study of Chinese Weapons Cast During Pre-Qin and Han Periods in the Central Plains of China. Retrieved December 2015: http://www.arscives.com/historysteel/cn.article.htm
[2]: (Tin-bor Hui 2005, 96)
[3]: (Wagner 1996, 197) Donald B Wagner. 1996. Iron and Steel in Ancient China. 2nd Edition. E J BRILL. Leiden.
[4]: (Lu 2015, 251) ed. Lu, Yongxiang. 2005. A History of Chinese Science and Technology, Volume 3. Shanghai: Shanghai Jiaotong University Press.
[5]: (Needham 1962, 282) Joseph Needham. 1962. Science and Civilization in China. Volume IV. Physics and Physical Technology. Part 1: Physics. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Inferred from use in previous polities.
"early versions of siege crossbows and traction trebuchets may be noted in the accounts of the wars of the Qin and Han dynasties, and appear in the early military writings associated with the name of Mo Zi." [1] "Of the date of the introduction of the counterweight trebuchet to China there can be no doubt. It occurred in 1272, during one of the greatest sieges of Chinese history, at Xiangyang, where the Mongols besieged the Southern Song for five years." [2]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: (Turnbull 2012, 33) Stephen Turnbull. 2012. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
"early versions of siege crossbows and traction trebuchets may be noted in the accounts of the wars of the Qin and Han dynasties, and appear in the early military writings associated with the name of Mo Zi." [1] "Of the date of the introduction of the counterweight trebuchet to China there can be no doubt. It occurred in 1272, during one of the greatest sieges of Chinese history, at Xiangyang, where the Mongols besieged the Southern Song for five years." [2]
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
[2]: (Turnbull 2012, 33) Stephen Turnbull. 2012. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
Better, simple-to-use range weapons available, such as the crossbow.
Northern Wei had cavalry based warfare, so javelins seem unlikely
4th Century not necessarily specific to Northern Wei: "horsemen wielded lances, swords and halberds, as well as bows, but horse-archer remained an important aristocratic accomplishment."
[1]
by mid-4th century BCE crossbows used in large numbers on battlefield
[2]
cavalry from 4th century BCE
[2]
[1]: (Peers 1995, 34)
[2]: (Graff 2002, 22)
During campaign against Liu Song: "Tuoba Dao drank only water brought by camel from the North" [1] Never used in warfare, besides as pack animals. [2]
[1]: (Dien 2014, 31). Dien, Albert. 2014. The Disputation at Pengcheng: Accounts from the Wei Shu and Song Shu. in ed. Swartz, Wendy, Campany, Robert Ford, Lu, Yang and Jessey Choo. Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook. New York: Columbia University Press. 32-60.
[2]: (North China Workshop 2016)
Coat of plates cuirasses existed back in warring states times
May have been used on military expeditions to the south. However, use would not have been extensive or highly complex. In 450 CE Wei Emperor Taiwu vs Song: "The Wei ruler made noises about crossing the river, but this was surely bluff since his men had neither the vessels nor the skills they would need to overcome the Song fleet." "The Northern Wei attempted to use the river vessels, which had been captured when Wang retreated, to block a Song fleet of a hundred boats." [1]
[1]: (Dien 2014, 35) Dien, Albert. 2014. The Disputation at Pengcheng: Accounts from the Wei Shu and Song Shu. in ed. Swartz, Wendy, Campany, Robert Ford, Lu, Yang and Jessey Choo. Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook. New York: Columbia University Press. 32-60.