Northern Wei

The Northern Wei (/weɪ/), also known as the Tuoba Wei (拓跋魏), Later Wei (後魏), was a dynasty founded by the Tuoba(Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei, which ruled northern China from 386 to 534 AD (de jure until 535), during the period of the Northern and Southern dynasties. Described as “part of an era of political turbulence and intense social and cultural change”, the Northern Wei dynasty is particularly noted for unifying northern China in 439: this was also a period of introduced foreign ideas, such as Buddhism, which became firmly established. The Northern Wei were referred to as “Plaited Barbarians” (索虜 suolu) by writers of the Southern dynasties, who considered themselves the true upholders of Chinese culture.

During the Taihe period (477–499) of Emperor Xiaowen, court advisers instituted sweeping reforms and 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. Towards the end of the dynasty there was significant internal dissension resulting in a split into Eastern Wei and Western Wei.

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 5th century, and towards the latter part of the dynasty, the Longmen Caves outside the later capital city of Luoyang, in which more than 30,000 Buddhist images from the time of this dynasty have been found.