The Library of Congress > Linked Data Service > LC Subject Headings (LCSH)

China--History--Northern Wei dynasty, 386-534


  • URI(s)

  • Components

    • China Geographic Component
    • Northern Wei dynasty, 386-534 Temporal Component
  • Variants

    • Bei Wei dynasty
    • Northern Wei dynasty
    • Pei Wei dynasty
    • Tabgatch dynasty
    • Taghbach dynasty
    • Tʻo pa dynasty
    • Toba Tatars
    • Tuoba dynasty
    • Wei dynasty
    • Wei dynasty, Northern
    • Yuan Wei dynasty
  • Closely Matching Concepts from Other Schemes

  • Sources

    • found: Northern Wei (386-534), 2023:CIP galley (The original name of Northern Wei's ruling clan has come down to us as 拓跋, pronounced in modern Mandarin as "Tuoba" (reconstructed in Middle Chinese as Thaek- beat), but also appears on an eighth- century Orkhon stele in the Turkic version of "Tabgatch." It has, however, been plausibly suggested on the basis of broader linguistic studies that in Turkic the inner consonants were reversed (a metathesis) and that the original name-- as rendered most recently by Andrew Shimunek-- was "Taghbach." This is, of course, hypothetical reconstruction. But for this author, at least, that is preferable to use of the transcription Tuoba," the modern Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese characters that 1,500 years ago were used to transcribe the actual name, and so if anything even further from the original than Taghbach; Taghbach lords; Wei monarchy; Inscribed tablets in the Orkhon Valley, referred to the Tang empire as the Tabgatch, which it has been persuasively suggested is the Turkic, metathesized version of Taghbach, the clan name of the long- defunct Wei dynasty, from whose military establishment Tang had sprung) (DLC)2022059419
    • found: Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018 viewed online January 10, 2023(Wei dynasty: Chinese in full (Pinyin) Bei Wei or (Wade-Giles romanization) Pei Wei, English Northern Wei, also called Tabgatch or (Pinyin) Tuoba, (386--534/535 CE), the longest-lived and most powerful of the northern Chinese dynasties that existed before the reunification of China under the Sui and Tang dynasties; The Wei dynasty was founded by Tabgatch (Tuoba) tribesmen who, like many of the nomads inhabiting the frontiers of northern China, were of uncertain origin; Their language was basically Turkic, and scholars presume that their ancestry can be traced to proto-Turkic, proto-Mongol, or Xiongnu peoples; The Tuoba were non-Han Chinese, and their conquests of the small, weak North China states in the late 4th century were clearly regarded as foreign invasions)
    • found: World history: a comprehensive reference set, 2016 via Credo reference, viewed online January 10, 2023:Toba (T'o-pa) dynasty (The Toba, or Northern Wei, were nomads variously described as belonging to Tungustic or Turkic ethnicity. During the Era of Division after the fall of the Han dynasty in 220 CE, and after invading nomads drove the Jin (Chin) dynasty to south China, confusion reigned in northern China; In 386 the Toba established a dynasty called the Northern Wei that would control most of northern and northwestern China until 534; The Toba converted to Buddhism; In 494 the Northern Wei government outlawed the Toba language, names, and clothing and ordered the Toba people to adopt Chinese names and clothes and to use Chinese exclusively; The imperial family led the way by adopting the surname Yuan; Claiming to be the legitimate successor of ancient Chinese dynasties, the government forbade tribal ritual and allowed only Confucian and Buddhist observances; Intermarriage between the tribal aristocracy and Chinese upper classes was actively encouraged; These policies resulted in a severe split among the Toba; Ten years of civil war followed during which Luoyang was sacked and many of the sinicized aristocrats were massacred; Two strongmen emerged in 534 who divided the territory: One part was called Western Wei, with its capital city in Chang'an; it retained tribal traditions and Toba heritage; The other was called Eastern Wei, with its capital city at Ye (Yeh) in Henan (Honan), where the Toba and Chinese governed in collaboration. Both of them were short lived)
  • LC Classification

    • DS748.7-DS748.76
  • Instance Of

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  • Collection Membership(s)

  • Change Notes

    • 2000-06-21: new
    • 2023-07-05: revised
  • Alternate Formats