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Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei
Northern Wei emperor who carried out the equal-field and three-elders reforms, moved the capital to Luoyang and had the Xianbei elite take Chinese surnames, dress and speech
Mural of the event “Emperor Xiaowen's Reforms”, which this person took part in.
After Northern Wei unified the north, the Xianbei ruling elite faced sharp cultural and class tensions. The court needed to integrate the steppe peoples' military vitality with the advanced governance of Central Plains agricultural civilization in depth.
Also known as Bei Wei Xiao Wen Di · Tuoba Hong · Emperor Xiaowen
Yuan Hong, born Tuoba Hong, was the eldest son of Emperor Xianwen of Northern Wei and came to the throne in 471, aged five, when his father abdicated; his reign titles were Yanxing, Chengming and Taihe. For his first two decades his grandmother, Empress Dowager Feng, governed, issuing the equal-field decree in 485 and setting up the three-elders system the following year. After her death in 490 he ruled in person; in 493 he marched south with the court under cover of a campaign against the Southern Qi and in 494 moved the capital to Luoyang. He then banned the Xianbei language at court, ordered Chinese dress, changed the imperial surname from Tuoba to Yuan in 496 and arranged marriages between Xianbei nobles and Han gentry. He died on campaign in 499 and received the temple name Gaozu and the posthumous title Emperor Xiaowen. The Book of Wei (Weishu) says he always had a book in hand and could expound the classics at first reading.
Life and times
Dates 467 CE–499 CE
- 493Emperor Xiaowen's ReformsTook partage 26
- c. 493Northern Wei Carves Longmen's Guyangdongage 26
- 494Xiaowen's Capital Move and Reformsage 27
- 523Rebellion of Six GarrisonsPrecursor