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Zhou (/dʒoʊ/), known in historiography as theNorthern Zhou (Chinese:北周;pinyin:Běi Zhōu), was aXianbei-leddynasty of China that lasted from 557 to 581. One of theNorthern dynasties of China'sNorthern and Southern dynasties period, it succeeded theWestern Wei dynasty and was eventually overthrown by theSui dynasty.

History

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The Northern Zhou's basis of power was established byYuwen Tai, who was paramount general of Western Wei, following the split of Northern Wei into Western Wei andEastern Wei in 535. After Yuwen Tai's death in 556, Yuwen Tai's nephewYuwen Hu forcedEmperor Gong of Western Wei to yield the throne to Yuwen Tai's sonYuwen Jue (Emperor Xiaomin), establishing Northern Zhou. The reigns of the first three emperors (Yuwen Tai's sons) – Emperor Xiaomin,Emperor Ming, andEmperor Wu were dominated by Yuwen Hu, until Emperor Wu ambushed and killed Yuwen Hu in 572 and assumed power personally. With Emperor Wu as a capable ruler, Northern Zhou destroyed rivalNorthern Qi in 577, taking over Northern Qi's territory. However, Emperor Wu's death in 578 doomed the state, as his sonEmperor Xuan was an arbitrary and violent ruler whose unorthodox behavior greatly weakened the state. After his death in 580, when he was already nominally retired (Taishang Huang), Xuan's father-in-lawYang Jian took power, and in 581 seized the throne from Emperor Xuan's sonEmperor Jing, establishing Sui. The young Emperor Jing and the imperial Yuwen clan, were subsequently slaughtered by Yang Jian.^[4]^[5]

The area was known as Guannei 關內. The Northern Zhou drew upon the Zhou dynasty for inspiration.^[6] The Northern Zhou military included Han Chinese.^[7]

Trade contacts with Sogdians and Turks

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TheTomb of An Jia, a Sogdian merchant (518-579 CE) based in China during the Northern Zhou dynasty, shows the omnipresence of theTurks (at the time of theFirst Turkic Khaganate), who were probably the main trading partners of the Sogdians in China.^[8] TheHephthalites are essentially absent, or possibly showed once as a vassal ruler outside of the yurt of the TurkQaghan, as they probably had been replaced by Turk hegemony by that time (they were destroyed by the alliance of theSasanians and the Turks between 556 and 560 CE).^[8] In contrast, the Hephthalites are omnipresent in theTomb of Wirkak, who, although he died at the same time of An Jia was much older at 85: Wirkak may therefore have primarily dealt with the Hephthalites during his younger years.^[8] There were also marital alliances: the Northern ZhouEmperor Wu had a Turkic Empress namedAshina.

Anjia (right) welcomes a Turkic leader (left, long hair combed in the back).^[9]^[10]
The Sogdian merchant An Jia with a Turkic Chieftain in hisyurt.^[9]^[10]
An Jia (right) brokering an alliance with Turks (left).^[9]^[10]
Sogdian musicians on thetomb of Wirkak, Northern Zhou period, Xi'An

Cultural artifacts

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Numerous artifacts are known from the period, many of them showing contacts withSogdians merchants who resided in China and often had official administrative positions (seen in theTomb of An Jia or theTomb of Wirkak), or even with northern India (Tomb of Li Dan). Central Asian precious artifacts were often included in the funeral material of Chinese people of high rank, as seen in the tomb of theXianbei-Tuoba Northern Zhou generalLi Xian.

The Northern ZhouXianbei-Tuoba generalLi Xian (504-569 CE)
Thetomb of Wirkak, aSogdian official among the Northern Zhou, 580 CE,Xi'an City Museum
Scene in a Chinese pavilion,Tomb of An Jia, 579 CE.
Northern Zhou dish inspired by Western metalwork, 557–581.
Tomb of Li Dan, anIndian "Brahmin" fromJibin,Gandhara. 564 CEXi'an City Museum.
Northern Zhou gilded silver ewer in Greco-Roman style from the tomb ofLi Xian.^[11]
Side plan of the Northern Zhou Qiaoling Mausoleum, whereEmperor Wu was buried with his Turkic wife,Empress Ashina

Buddhism

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Buddhism andBuddhist art flourished under the Northern Zhou.^[12] The dynasty also contributed some of the paintings in theDunhuang caves: specifically, narrative paintings of the biography of the Buddha inCave 428, following the prototypes ofGandhara andKizil.^[13]

Stele with the Boddhisattva Maitreya (Mile), probably Shaanxi province, Northern Zhou dynasty, 557-581. Freer Gallery of Art
Shakyamuni Buddha, Northern Zhou dynasty, 557-581. Shanxi Museum
Shakyamuni Buddha. Northern Zhou dynasty, 557-581. Shanxi Museum
Buddha flanked by bodhisattvas with flying apsaras. Dunhuang mural. Cave 428, Northern Zhou dynasty
Northern Zhou statue of the Buddha.Xi'an (Shaanxi).

Empress Ashina

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Empress Ashina (阿史那皇后, 551–582) was aTurkic empress of the Northern Zhou dynasty, spouse ofEmperor Wu of Northern Zhou. She was the daughter ofGöktürk rulerMuqan Qaghan. Her tomb was discovered in 1993 in Chenma village,Xianyang.^[14] A genetic analysis on her remains was conducted in 2023, finding nearly exclusivelyAncient Northeast Asian ancestry (97,7%) next to minor West-Eurasian components (2,7%), confirming an East Asian origin for the Türks.^[15]

Emperors

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Posthumous name	Personal name	Period of Reigns	Era name
Xiaomin	Yuwen Jue	557	–
Ming, Xiaoming	Yuwen Yu	557–560	Wucheng (武成) 559–560
Wu	Yuwen Yong	561–578	Baoding (保定) 560–565 Tianhe (天和) 566–572 Jiande (建德) 572–578 Xuanzheng (宣政) 578
Xuan	Yuwen Yun	578–579	Dacheng (大成) 579
Jing	Yuwen Chan	579–581^{[note 1]}	Daxiang (大象) 579–581 Dading (大定) 581

Emperors' family tree

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Northern Zhou emperors family tree

Yuwen Gong
宇文肱(d.526)

Yuan Huai 元怀
（488–517）

Yuwen Hao
宇文顥
(d. 524)

Princess
Fengyi
(d. 541)

Yuwen Tai
宇文泰
(507–556)

Emp. Xiaowu
of Northern Wei
r. 532–535

Dugu Xin
獨孤信
504–557

Yuwen Hu
宇文護
(513–572)

Yuwen Jue 宇文覺
(542–557)
Xiaomin
(r. 557)¹

Yuwen Xian
宇文憲545–578

Yuwen Yong
宇文邕 (543–578)
Wu
(r. 560–578)³

Yuwen Yu 宇文毓
(534–560)
Ming
(r. 557–560)²

Empress
Dugu
獨孤王后
d.558

Dugu Qieluo
獨孤伽羅
544–602

Emperor
Wen of Sui
r. 581–604

Duchess
Dugu

Yuwen Yun 宇文贇
(559–580)
Xuan
(r. 578–579)⁴

Yang Lihua
楊麗華
561–609

Sui dynasty

Emperor
Gaozu of Tang
r. 618–626

Yuwen Yan 宇文衍
(573–581)
Jing
(r. 579–581)⁵

Tang dynasty

Notes

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^In 580, after Emperor Xuan's death, the generalYuchi Jiong, believing that the regentYang Jian was about to seize the throne, rose against Yang and declared a son of Emperor Wu's brother Yuwen Zhao (宇文招) the Prince of Zhao, whose name is lost to history, emperor, but as Yuchi was soon defeated, and nothing further was known about the emperor that he declared, that son of Yuwen Zhao is usually not considered an emperor of Northern Zhou.

References

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Citations

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^Zizhi Tongjian,vol. 167.
^Zizhi Tongjian,vol. 175.
^Rein Taagepera "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.", Social Science History Vol. 3, 115-138 (1979)
^Patricia Buckley Ebrey; Anne Walthall (1 January 2013).East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. Cengage Learning. pp. 76–.ISBN 978-1-133-60647-5.
^Patricia Buckley Ebrey; Anne Walthall (1 January 2013).Pre-Modern East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Volume I: To 1800. Cengage Learning. pp. 76–.ISBN 978-1-133-60651-2.
^Charles Holcombe (2011).A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press. pp. 97–.ISBN 978-0-521-51595-5.
^Micklewright, Nancy (1986).ARS ORIENTALIS. Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution. p. 42.ISBN 9780934686440.
^^a ^b ^cGrenet, Frantz; Riboud, Pénélope (2003)."A Reflection of the Hephthalite Empire: The Biographical Narra- tive in the Reliefs of the Tomb of the Sabao Wirkak (494-579)"(PDF).Bulletin of the Asia Institute.17:141–142.
^^a ^b ^cBaumer, Christoph (18 April 2018).History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 228.ISBN 978-1-83860-868-2.
^^a ^b ^cYatsenko, Sergey A. (August 2009)."Early Turks: Male Costume in the Chinese Art".Transoxiana.14.
^Wu, Mandy Jui-man (2004)."Exotic Goods as Mortuary Display in Sui Dynasty Tombs--A Case Study of Li Jingxun's Tomb".Sino-Platonic Papers.142: 55.
^Juliano, Annette L. (2007).Buddhist Sculpture from China: Selections from the Xi'an Beilin Museum : Fifth Through Ninth Centuries. China Institute Gallery. p. 8.ISBN 978-0-9774054-2-8.AlthoughWestern Wei lasted only twenty-two years, and Northern Zhou just twenty-four years, Buddhism and Buddhist art flourished during these two regimes. Western Wei and Northern Zhou caves opened at Dunhuang,Maijishan...
^Karetzky, Patricia E. (26 April 2000).Early Buddhist Narrative Art: Illustrations of the Life of the Buddha from Central Asia to China, Korea and Japan. University Press of America. p. 105.ISBN 978-1-4617-4027-8.Liang and Northern Wei Dynasties, specifically Caves 275 and 254, as well as Cave 428 from the Northern Zhou....
^Steinhardt, Nancy Shatzman (2014-12-31).Chinese Architecture in an Age of Turmoil, 200-600. University of Hawaii Press. p. 197.ISBN 978-0-8248-3822-5.
^Yang, Xiaomin; Meng, Hailiang; Zhang, Jianlin; Yu, Yao; Allen, Edward; Xia, Ziyang; Zhu, Kongyang; Du, Panxin; Ren, Xiaoying; Xiong, Jianxue; Lu, Xiaoyu; Ding, Yi; Han, Sheng; Liu, Weipeng; Jin, Li (2023-01-09)."Ancient Genome of Empress Ashina reveals the Northeast Asian origin of Göktürk Khanate".Journal of Systematics and Evolution.61 (6):1056–1064.doi:10.1111/jse.12938.ISSN 1674-4918.S2CID 255690237.

Sources

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External links

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Media related toNorthern Zhou Dynasty at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589)
Northern dynasties	Northern Wei → (Western Wei \|Eastern Wei →Northern Qi) →Northern Zhou
Southern dynasties	Liu Song →Southern Qi →Liang (Western Liang) →Chen