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TheLiang dynasty (Chinese:梁朝;pinyin:Liáng Cháo), alternatively known as theSouthern Liang (Chinese:南梁;pinyin:Nán Liáng) orXiao Liang (Chinese:蕭梁;pinyin:Xiāo Liáng) in historiography, was animperial dynasty of China and the third of the fourSouthern dynasties during theNorthern and Southern dynasties period. It was preceded by theSouthern Qi dynasty and succeeded by theChen dynasty. The rump state ofWestern Liang existed until it was conquered in 587 by theSui dynasty.

Rule

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During the Liang dynasty, in 547 aPersian embassy paid tribute to the Liang,amber was recorded as originating from Persia by theBook of Liang.^[4]

In 548, the Prince of HenanHou Jing started a rebellion withXiao Zhengde, the Prince of Linhe, nephew and a former heir of theEmperor Wu of Liang, and installed Xiao Zhengde as emperor. In 549, Hou sacked Jiankang, deposed and killed Xiao Zhengde, seized power and put Emperor Wu effectively underhouse arrest. He dismissed the armies opposed to him in the name of Emperor Wu. In 549, Emperor Wu died; Emperor Wu's third sonCrown Prince Gang (the later Emperor Jianwen) then ascended the throne under Hou's shadow; Emperor Jianwen was also effectively under house arrest. Hou also attempted to suppress those who would not submit to him.

At the same time the Liang princes fought with each other rather than try to eliminate Hou: Emperor Wu's seventh sonXiao Yi Prince of Xiangdong killed his nephew Xiao Yu the Prince of Hedong, forcing Xiao Yu's younger brotherXiao Cha Prince of Yueyang to surrender to theWestern Wei; Xiao Yi also attacked his sixth brother Xiao Guan Prince of Shaoling, forcing him to surrender to Northern Qi. Both Xiao Cha and Xiao Guan were created Prince of Liang. However, as Xiao Yi also allied with Northern Qi, Northern Qi gave up their support of Xiao Guan; Xiao Guan was defeated by Hou and finally killed by Western Wei. Xiao Ji the Prince of Wuling the youngest son of Emperor Wu claimed imperial title.

In 551, Hou forced Emperor Jianwen to abdicate to his grandnephewXiao Dong the Prince of Yuzhang, then killed Emperor Jianwen and forced Xiao Dong to abdicate to him. Hou established a new dynasty named Han. In 552, Xiao Yi destroyed Han and claimed the imperial title asEmperor Yuan of Liang. He also ordered his subordinates to kill Xiao Dong and Xiao Dong's younger brothers. He created his headquarter Jiangling capital instead of returning to Jiankang. He also managed to eliminate Xiao Ji, but in order to do this he allied with Western Wei, who in turn conquered Yi Province (Sichuan).

In 553, Northern Qi attacked Liang, aiming to install a nephew of Emperor Wu, Xiao Tui the Marquess of Xiangyin, as emperor, but was defeated.

As the relationship between Emperor Yuan and Western Wei was deteriorating, in 555, Western Wei army sacked Jiangling, forcing Emperor Yuan to surrender, and killed Emperor Yuan as well as his sons before installing Xiao Cha as emperor of (Western) Liang at Jiangling.

Liang generals led byWang Sengbian declaredXiao Fangzhi Prince of Jin'an, the only living son of Emperor Yuan, as Prince of Liang at Jiankang, aiming to crown him the new emperor, but the Northern Qi army defeated them, forcing them into an agreement to recognise a nephew of Emperor Wu,Xiao Yuanming the Marquess of Zhenyang, as emperor instead. Wang requested that Xiao Fangzhi be created Crown Prince and Xiao Yuanming agreed. GeneralChen Baxian launched a raid that killed Wang in favor of Xiao Fangzhi while denouncing Wang for surrendering to Northern Qi. Xiao Yuanming was forced to abdicate to Xiao Fangzhi, who was known asEmperor Jing of Liang, and Chen seized power. He initially claimed Liang a subject of Northern Qi but later defeated the army of Northern Qi.

In 557, Chen Baxian established the new powerfulChen dynasty. Liang general Wang Lin also claimedXiao Zhuang Prince of Yongjia grandson of Emperor Yuan emperor. In 560, the Chen dynasty defeated Xiao Zhuang who fled to the Northern Qi and was created Prince of Liang in 570. The small and weak Western Liang state existed until 587 when theSui dynasty destroyed it.

In 617,Xiao Xian from Western Liang imperial clan claimed himself Liang Emperor in light of the disturbance in the end of Sui dynasty. His realm was destroyed by Tang dynasty in 621.

Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang

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Main article:Portraits of Periodical Offering

ThePortraits of Periodical Offering of Liang by theEmperor Yuan of Liang, Xiao Yi, dated to the 6th century, is the earliest surviving of these specially significant paintings. They reflect foreign embassies that took place, particularly regarding the threeHephthalite (Hua) ambassadors, in 516–520 CE.^[5]^[6] The original of the work was lost, and the only surviving edition of this work was a copy from theSong dynasty in the 11th century, and is currently preserved at theNational Museum of China. The original work consisted of at least twenty five portraits of ambassadors from their respectively country. The copy from the Song dynasty has twelve portraits and descriptions of thirteen envoys, with the envoy from Dangchang missing a portrait.^[7]

The envoys from right to left were: theHephthalites (滑/嚈哒),Persia (波斯),Korea (百濟),Kucha (龜茲),Japan (倭),Malaysia (狼牙脩),Qiang (鄧至),Yarkand (周古柯),Kabadiyan (呵跋檀),Kumedh (胡蜜丹),Balkh (白題), andMohe (末).^[5]^[8]^[7]

ThePortraits of Periodical Offering of Liang with descriptions on the back of each ambassador.Song dynasty copy of Liang dynasty original from 526-539 CE, in theNational Museum of China.

Literature

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The Liang is the best represented of the Northern and Southern Dynasties in terms of surviving written material. It was a period of brilliant literary accomplishments and produced important texts like the official histories of theLiu Song andSouthern Qi dynasties, the literary anthologyWenxuan, the poetry anthologyYutai xinyong, the literary criticism worksWenxin diaolong andShi pin, andHuang Kan's commentary on theLunyu.^[9]

Artistic heritage

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Tombs of a number of members of the ruling Xiao family, with their sculptural ensembles, in various states of preservation, are located near Nanjing.^[10]The best surviving example of the Liang dynasty's monumental statuary is perhaps the ensemble of the Tomb ofXiao Xiu (475–518), a brother of Emperor Wu, located inQixia District east ofNanjing.^[11]^[12]

Tombs of the Liang Dynasty
Aturtle-borne stele and a pillar; tomb of Xiao Hong
A turtle-borne stele; tomb ofXiao Dan
Abixie (winged lion); tomb ofXiao Hui
A bixie near the tomb of Xiao Jing, widely regarded as Nanjing's icon
A stele-bearing turtle; tomb ofXiao Xiu
Two bixies near the tomb ofXiao Zhengli

Emperors

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Posthumous Name	Personal Name	Period of Reigns	Era names
Emperor Wu of Liang	Xiao Yan	502–549^{[note 1]}	Tianjian (天監) 502–519 Putong (普通) 520–527 Datong (大通) 527–529 Zhongdatong (中大通) 529–534 Datong (大同) 535–546 Zhongdatong (中大同) 546–547 Taiqing (太清) 547–549
Emperor Jianwen of Liang	Xiao Gang	549–551	Dabao (大寶) 550–551
–	Xiao Dong	551–552	Tianzheng (天正) 551-552
Emperor Yuan of Liang	Xiao Yi	552–555^{[note 2]}	Chengsheng (承聖) 552–555
–	Xiao Yuanming	555	Tiancheng (天成) 555
Emperor Jing of Liang	Xiao Fangzhi	555–557^{[note 3]}	Shaotai (紹泰) 555–556 Taiping (太平) 556–557

Rulers' family tree

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Liang dynasty and Western Liang

- Liang emperors

-Western Liang emperors

- Liang throne pretenders

Xiao Shunzhi
萧顺之

Xiao Yi 萧懿(d. 500)

Xiao Yan 蕭衍
Wu
(464–502-549)

Xiao Xiu 蕭秀
475-518

Xiao Hong
蕭宏
473-526

Xiao Yuanming
蕭淵明d.556; r.555

Xiao Tong
萧统(501-531)

Xiao Gang 蕭綱
Jianwen
503-549-551

Xiao Yi 蕭繹
Yuan
508–552-554-555

Xiao Ji 蕭紀
508–552-553

Xiao Zhengde
蕭正德
d.549; r.548-549

Xiao Huan 萧欢

Xiao Cha 蕭詧
Xuan
519-555-562

Xiao Daqi
蕭大器
524–551

Xiao Fangdeng
蕭方等(528-549)

Xiao Fangzhi 蕭方智
Jing
543-555-557

Xiao Dong
萧栋d.552; r.551

Xiao Kui 蕭巋
Ming
542–562-585

Xiao Yan 蕭巖

Xiao Zhuang
蕭莊
548-557-560-577?

Empress Xiao
蕭皇后566?–648

Xiao Yu 蕭瑀
574–647

Xiao Cong 蕭琮
Jing
r.585-587

Xiao Xuan 萧璿

Xiao Xian 萧铣
583-621;
r.617–621

Notes

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^Emperor Wu's nephewXiao Zhengde the Prince of Linhe, who joinedHou Jing's rebellion, was declared emperor by Hou in 548, but after Hou's victory over Emperor Wu in 549 was deposed and killed by Hou, and is not usually considered a true emperor.
^Emperor Yuan's brotherXiao Ji the Prince of Wuling also declared himself emperor in 552, but was defeated and killed by Emperor Yuan in 553, and is usually not considered a true emperor.
^In 558, a year after Emperor Jing had yielded the throne to Chen Baxian (and had been killed by Chen), his nephewXiao Zhuang the Prince of Yongjia, with support fromNorthern Qi, was proclaimed the emperor of Liang by the generalWang Lin. In 560, Wang Lin defeated the Chen troops, and both he and Xiao Zhuang were forced to flee to Northern Qi. It is a matter of controversy whether Xiao Zhuang should be considered an emperor of Liang.

References

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^Zizhi Tongjian,vol. 145.
^Zizhi Tongjian,vol. 162.
^Book of Liang,vol. 5.
^Maurice Fishberg (1907).Materials for the physical anthropology of the eastern European Jews, Issues 1-6 (reprint ed.). New Era Print. Co. p. 233. Retrieved12 June 2011.
^^a ^bDE LA VAISSIÈRE, ÉTIENNE (2003)."Is There a "Nationality of the Hephtalites"?".Bulletin of the Asia Institute.17:127–128.ISSN 0890-4464.JSTOR 24049310.
^DE LA VAISSIÈRE, ÉTIENNE (2003)."Is There a "Nationality of the Hephtalites"?".Bulletin of the Asia Institute.17: 130, note 31.ISSN 0890-4464.JSTOR 24049310.
^^a ^bLung, Rachel (2011).Interpreters in Early Imperial China. John Benjamins Publishing. pp. 29, n.14, 99.ISBN 978-90-272-2444-6.
^Ge, Zhaoguang (Professor of History, Fudan University, China) (2019)."Imagining a Universal Empire: a Study of the Illustrations of the Tributary States of the Myriad Regions Attributed to Li Gonglin"(PDF).Journal of Chinese Humanities.5: 128.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Yong, Rong 永瑢 (2016) [1784].Siku quanshu jianming mulu 四庫全書簡明目錄. Shanghai: Scientific and Technological Literature Press. Tian, Xiaofei (2007),Beacon Fire and Shooting Star: The Literary Culture of the Liang. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Asia Center Press, 2007.
^"Mausoleum Stone Carvings of Southern Dynasties in Nanjing".chinaculture.org. Archived fromthe original on July 25, 2011.
^Albert E. Dien, «Six Dynasties Civilization». Yale University Press, 2007ISBN 0-300-07404-2.Partial text on Google Books. P. 190. A reconstruction of the original form of the ensemble is shown in Fig. 5.19.
^梁安成康王萧秀墓石刻 Archived 2013-10-19 at theWayback Machine (Sculptures at the Tomb of Xiao Xiu)(in Chinese) (description and modern photos)

External links

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Media related toLiang 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