Northern Zhou

"Bei Zhou" redirects here. For the historical prefecture, see Bei Prefecture.

Northern Zhou 北周
557–581
Northern Zhou territories in light blue
Administrative divisions as of 572
Capital	Chang'an
Government	Monarchy
Emperor
• 557	Emperor Xiaomin of Northern Zhou
• 557–560	Emperor Ming of Northern Zhou
• 560–578	Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou
• 578–579	Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou
• 579–581	Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou
History
• Established	15 February[1] 557
• Disestablished	4 March[2] 581
Area
577[3]	1,500,000 km2 (580,000 sq mi)
Currency	Chinese coin, Chinese cash
Preceded by Succeeded by Western Wei Northern Qi Sui Dynasty

Northern Zhou dish inspired by Western metalwork, 557-581.

The Northern Zhou (/dʒoʊ/;^[4]Chinese: 北周; pinyin: Bĕi Zhōu) followed the Western Wei, and ruled northern China from 557 to 581 AD. The last of the Northern Dynasties of China's Northern and Southern dynasties period, it was eventually overthrown by the Sui Dynasty. Like the preceding Western and Northern Wei dynasties, the Northern Zhou were members of the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei.

The Northern Zhou's basis of power was established by Yuwen Tai, who was paramount general of Western Wei, following the split of Northern Wei into Western Wei and Eastern Wei in 535. After Yuwen Tai's death in 556, Yuwen Tai's nephew Yuwen Hu forced Emperor Gong of Western Wei to yield the throne to Yuwen Tai's son Yuwen Jue (Emperor Xiaomin), establishing Northern Zhou. The reigns of the first three emperors (Yuwen Tai's sons) – Emperor Xiaomin, Emperor Ming, and Emperor 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 rival Northern Qi in 577, taking over Northern Qi's territory. However, Emperor Wu's death in 578 doomed the state, as his son Emperor 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-law Yang Jian took power, and in 581 seized the throne from Emperor Xuan's son Emperor Jing, establishing Sui. The young Emperor Jing and the imperial Yuwen clan, were subsequently slaughtered by Yang Jian.^[5][6]

The area was known as Guannei 關內. The Northern Zhou drew upon the Zhou dynasty for inspiration.^[7] The Northern Zhou military included Han Chinese.^[8]

Contents

• 
  1 Emperors
  


• 
  2 Emperors' family tree
  


• 
  3 See also
  


• 
  4 Notes
  


• 
  5 References
  

Emperors

Posthumous Names (Shi Hao 諡號)	Born Names	Period of Reigns	Era Names (Nian Hao 年號) and their according range of years
Northern dynasty
Northern Zhou Dynasty 557-581
Convention: Northern Zhou + posthumous name
Xiao Min Di (孝閔帝 xiào mǐn dì)	Yuwen Jue (宇文覺 yǔ wén jué)	557	Did not exist
Ming Di (明帝 míng dì) or Xiao Ming Di (孝明帝 xiào míng dì)	Yuwen Yu (宇文毓 yǔ wén yù)	557-560	Wucheng (武成 wǔ chéng) 559-560
Wu Di (武帝 wǔ dì)	Yuwen Yong (宇文邕 yǔ wén yōng)	561-578	Baoding (保定 bǎo dìng) 560-565 Tianhe (天和 tiān hé) 566-572 Jiande (建德 jiàn dé) 572-578 Xuanzheng (宣政 xuān zhèng) 578
Xuan Di (宣帝 xuān dì)	Yuwen Yun (宇文贇 yǔ wén yūn)	578-579	Dacheng (大成 dà chéng) 579
Jing Di (靜帝 jìng dì)	Yuwen Chan (宇文闡 yǔ wén chǎn)	579-581[9]	Daxiang (大象 dà xiàng) 579-581 Dading (大定 dà dìng) 581

Emperors' family tree

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

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Northern Zhou.

• List of pre-modern great powers

Notes

1. 
   ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 167.
   


2. 
   ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 175.
   


3. 
   ^ 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)
   


4. 
   ^ "Zhou". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
   


5. 
   ^ Patricia Buckley Ebrey; Anne Walthall (1 January 2013). East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History. Cengage Learning. pp. 76–. ISBN 1-133-60647-4..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   


6. 
   ^ 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 1-133-60651-2.
   


7. 
   ^ 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.
   


8. 
   ^ ARS ORIENTALIS. 1986. p. 42.
   


9. 
   ^ In 580, after Emperor Xuan's death, the general Yuchi Jiong, believing that the regent Yang 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

• Book of Zhou


• History of Northern Dynasties


• Zizhi Tongjian

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

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