Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei
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| (Bei) Wei Xiaowendi ((北)魏孝文帝) | |
|---|---|
| Family name: | Initially Tuoba (拓拔, tuò bá), later Yuan (元, yuán) (changed 496) |
| Given name: | Hong (宏, hóng) |
| Temple name: | Gaozu (高祖, gāo zǔ) |
| Posthumous name: | Xiaowen (孝文, xiào wén), literary meaning: "filial and civil" |
Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei ((北)魏孝文帝) (467–499), personal name né Tuoba Hong (拓拔宏), later Yuan Hong (元宏), was an emperor of the Chinese/Xianbei dynasty Northern Wei.
Emperor Xiaowen implemented a drastic policy of sinicization, intending to centralize the government and make the multi-ethnic state more easy to govern. These policies included changing artistic styles to reflect Chinese preferences and forcing the population to speak the language and to wear Chinese clothes. He forced his own Xianbei people and others to adopt Chinese surnames, and changed his own family surname from Tuoba to Yuan. He also encouraged intermarriage between Xianbei and Han.
In 494, Emperor Xiaowen moved the Northern Wei capital from Pingcheng (平城, in modern Datong, Shanxi) to Luoyang, a city long acknowledged as a major center in Chinese history. The shift in the capital was mirrored by a shift in tactics from active defense to passive defense against the Rouran. While the capital was moved to Luoyang, the military elite remained centered at the old capital, widening the differences between the administration and the military. The population at the old capital remained fiercely conservative, while the population at Luoyang were much more eager to adopt Xiaowen's policies of sinicization. His reforms were met with resistance by the Xianbei elite. In 496, two plots by Xianbei nobles, one centered around his crown prince Yuan Xun, and one centered around his distant uncle Yuan Yi (元頤). By 497, Xiaowen had destroyed the conspiracies and forced Yuan Xun to commit suicide.
Unfortunate for Emperor Xiaowen, his sinicization policies had their downsides -- namely, he adopted the Jin Dynasty social stratification methods, leading to incompetent nobles being put into positions of power while capable men of low birth not being able to advance in his government. Further, his wholesale adoption of Han culture and fine arts encouraged the nobles to be corrupt in order to afford the lifestyles of the Han elite, leading to further erosion to effective rule. By the time of his grandson Emperor Xiaoming, Northern Wei was in substantial upheaval due to agrarian revolts, and by 534 had been divided into two halves, each of which would soon be taken over by warlords.
Era names
Personal information
- Father
- * Emperor Xianwen of Northern Wei
- Mother
- * Consort Li (d. 469Consort Li was probably forced to commit suicide pursuant to Northern Wei customs as the mother of the crown prince, as it was that year that her son was created crown prince, but historical accounts are not conclusive on the matter.), daughter of Li Hui (李惠) the Prince of Nan Commandery, posthumously honored as Empress Si
- Wives
- * Empress Feng Qing (created 493, deposed 496)
- * Empress Feng Run (created 497, forced to commit suicide 499)
- Major Concubines
- * Consort Lin (forced to commit suicide 483), mother of Crown Prince Xun, posthumously honored as Empress Zhen, later posthumously demoted to commoner status
- * Consort Gao (d. 497?, probably by poisoning), mother of Crown Prince Ke, posthumously honored as Empress Zhao
- * Consort Yuan, mother of Prince Yu
- * Consort Luo, mother of Princes Yi and Yue
- * Consort Zheng, mother of Prince Tiao
- Children
- * Yuan Xun (元恂) (b. 483), the Crown Prince (created 493, deposed 496, forced to commit suicide 497)
- * Yuan Ke (元恪) (b. 483), the Crown Prince (created 497), later Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei
- * Yuan Yu (元愉) (b. 488), the Prince of Jingzhao (created 497, executed 508)
- * Yuan Yi (元懌) (b. 488), Prince Wenxian of Qinghe (created 497, executed by Yuan Ai 520)
- * Yuan Huai (元懷), Prince Wumu of Guangping (created 497, d. 517)
- * Yuan Yue (元悅), Prince Yuanxuan of Ru'nan (created 503, d. 532)
- * Yuan Tiao (元恌) (b. 494, d. 500)
- * Princess Shiping
- * Princess Huayang
- * Princess Huaiyang
- * Princess Ji'nan
- * Princess Yiyang
- * Princess Lanling
- * Princess Nanyang
- * Princess Shunyang
- * Princess Xihe
- * Princess Changle
- * Princess Gaoping
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See also
References
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