By staff reporter HUO JIANYING

Northern Wei Buddhist statue unearthed in Shandong's Qingzhou.

IN 493, Emperor Xiaowen set out with 300,000 troops, including high-ranking officials and Xianbei aristocrats, from the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) capital of Pingcheng (present-day Datong, Shanxi) on a southern expedition. The emperor, called Tuoba Hong, was then 26 years old. In his lifetime he ruled only half of China; his place in Chinese history is by virtue of his efforts to assimilate ethnic groups into the Han majority, thus advancing China's establishment as a multi-ethnic nation.

Moving the Capital

After a month of marching in the relentless autumn rain members of the expedition had begun to lose their initial resolve. The men finally arrived in Luoyang where they expected a period of rest, but an order to keep marching came through. Officials and nobles that had from the start harbored reservations about the wisdom of the expedition gathered before the emperor, advising him in no uncertain terms to call it off. The young emperor, secretly amused at this anticipated scenario, gravely responded, "We have invested too much in this southern expedition to retreat now. Either we continue south, or make Luoyang the new capital. Those in favor of staying here step to the left and those who wish to carry on to the south stand to the right." Faced with this cleverly engineered "Hobson's choice," officers and officials reluctantly filed to the left. The young emperor thus successfully moved his capital, a plan that had hitherto been frustrated by strong objections from the conservative nobility.

Tuoba Hong was born in 467 into the imperial family of the Northern Wei Dynasty established by the Xianbei ethnic group of northern China. At age three he was made crown prince and at age five, when he ascended the throne, began learning statesmanship under the guidance of Empress Dowager Wenming. By the time the empress dowager died in 490, when he was 23, he was well versed in statecraft. Relocation of the capital gave this wise and benign ruler the free rein he needed to execute his political ambitions.

Gold artifact from the Northern Wei Dynasty.

At the time of Emperor Xiaowen's rule, Pingcheng had served as capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty for 90 years. It was a stronghold of conservative Xianbei aristocrats that consistently opposed all reforms proposed by their progressive emperor. But this was not his sole reason for wanting to move the capital. As a northern frontier city Pingcheng was under direct threat from the Rouran tribe, another ethnic group from the north that had attacked the Northern Wei and its capital several times. Pingcheng's northern location also made it difficult to maintain control of the vast Central Plains area and advance into southern China. As it lacked the conditions necessary for farming, grain and other daily supplies had to be imported from the south. In addition, the economic and social development of Pingcheng lagged behind that of cities in the Central Plains area. To the emperor, Pingcheng's role was main frontier fortress, and central cities like Luoyang and Xi'an were more appropriate locations for effective governance of China.

In 386 the Xianbei defeated the dozen or so minority ethnic regimes in the north and established the heterogeneous Northern Wei Dynasty in which the Han Chinese were dominant in numbers and also in terms of ruling philosophy, politics and economy. Emperor Xiaowen was deeply influenced by Han thought and culture and called himself a "great Confucian scholar." He believed that in order for the Xianbei dynasty to consolidate, progress and flourish its people should assimilate into the advanced civilization of the Central Plains area.

Sinicization

Emperor Xiaowen had already formulated plans for reform, but had not articulated them as he knew the magnitude of objections that would confront him. Relocation of the capital gave him the perfect opportunity to broach the subject.

Carvings in Datong's Yungang Grottoes are in Northern Wei style.

At a meeting of the court one day he asked disinterestedly, "Which is most important: keeping up with new developments, or following old conventions?" His ministers spontaneously answered: "Keeping up with new developments," upon which the emperor declared, "I shall, in that case, implement necessary and inviolable reforms," and issued a series of decrees.

The first required of all Xianbei officials that they be proficient in Chinese. Those over the age of 30 who had difficulty with the language were allowed a period of leniency, but officials under the age of 30 were required to adopt Chinese as the official language. Any falling short of the accepted standard were demoted or dismissed.

The second ruled that officials and civilians alike should wear Han clothes. The emperor also sent for and obtained Confucian classics from the concurrent Qi Dynasty in the south for the children of Xianbei aristocrats to study.

The third decree ordered that disyllabic Xianbei surnames be contracted to the monosyllabic Han style, and hierarchically translated. For example, Tuoba, the surname of the imperial family, became Yuan, meaning first, primary; Hemu became He, and Helou changed to Lou.

Another reform was Emperor Xiaowen's greater encouragement of intermarriage between Xianbei and Han aristocrats in order to strengthen ethnic unity. The emperor himself selected his concubines from large Han clans, and on his orders all six of his brothers married into noble Han families. Empress Dowager Wenming, the Emperor's first tutor in statecraft, was a Han, and proved to have had an enormous influence on his Han disposition.

In addition, Emperor Xiaowen had the official system and laws of the Northern Wei Dynasty revised in accordance with those of previous Han dynasties.

Diehard Xianbei aristocrats were hostile to the reforms, despite their positive effect on social progress and ethnic unity. Conservatives back in Pingcheng launched an armed rebellion and made crown prince Yuan Xun their spokesperson and leader. Nothing, however, was going to deter the emperor from putting his reforms in place. He put down the rebellion, losing his son in the process, and ordered the people of Pingcheng and other northern areas to migrate south. Over one million Xianbei and other minority ethnic groups moved from northern China to Luoyang and other places on the Central Plains. As a result, Luoyang experienced rapid social, economic and cultural development and became the most prosperous metropolis in both China and Asia of the time.

Historic Legacy

Emperor Xiaowen was bent on assimilating the Xianbei into the Central Plains civilization. Four hundred years earlier, his forefathers had led their primitive tribe out of the depths of isolated forest areas into the Hulun Buir Grassland. During the centuries following the Xianbei strengthened and consolidated until they finally became a strong power in north China. Emperor Xiaowen did not, however, realize his ambition to unify China. He died in 499 at the age of 33 on a southern expedition.

Northern Wei lacquer painting on a wooden board, unearthed in Shanxi's Datong.

The Northern Wei Dynasty lasted only 148 years. It nevertheless had great influence on succeeding dynasties and contributed significantly to China's establishment as a multi-ethnic nation. There have been attempts by certain historians to determine whether or not Emperor Taizong, named Li Shimin, of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and his mother had Xianbei origins. This has yet to be proved, but there is no doubt that Li Shimin was greatly influenced by his Xianbei wife, Empress Zhangsun, who helped him win the throne and assisted in the handling of state affairs. Her nobility, virtue, political aptitude, and open-mindedness have secured her the historical epithet: "First Virtuous Empress of China."

The main reason for studies seeking possible connections between the Tang Dynasty imperial family and the Xianbei is the latter's obvious influence on Tang social ethos and lifestyle. The Tang capital city, Chang'an was like Luoyang a multi-ethnic metropolis, and people of non-Han minorities from areas to the west and north of the Central Plains were invited to serve as high-ranking officials in the imperial court. Tang women delighted in horse riding, hunting and cuju (an ancient ball game), all pastimes enjoyed by Xianbei women. Northern Wei Dynasty law, revised and amended by Emperor Xiaowen based on laws of previous dynasties, laid foundations for the legal system adopted by the closely following Sui and Tang dynasties. The Northern Wei Dynasty was also creator of two UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites - the Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi's Datong (Pingcheng) and the Longmen Grottoes in Henan's Luoyang.

A thousand years have passed, and specific traces of the ancient Xianbei people have been erased in the process of sinicization. Emperor Xiaowen may have changed his surname to Yuan, but in China his Xianbei appellation, Tuoba, still has an heroic ring, even today.