Lesson 19 Northern Wei Politics and the Great Blending of Northern Nations

The Battle of Interwar

The powerful former Qin Dynasty, with its territory bordering the sea in the east, the Han River in the south, and the deserts in the west and north, formed a standoff with the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the south.

In 383, despite the opposition of the people, Fu Jian drafted people from all ethnic groups as soldiers and assembled more than 600,000 infantry and 270,000 cavalry to march southward, attempting to destroy the Eastern Jin Dynasty and unify China. Before the attack, Fu Jian was confident that his army was strong, claiming that he had millions of troops, "throwing the whip in the river and breaking its flow". The Eastern Jin united and responded calmly with 80,000 troops and confronted the former Qin army across the river. When the duel was about to break out, the Eastern Jin generals asked the former Qin army to pull back a little so that the Jin army could cross the river and engage. Fu Jian thought that a surprise attack when the Jin army crossed the river would lead to a victory and ordered the army to retreat. When the former Qin army retreated, someone shouted from behind the line, "The Qin army has been defeated! The former Qin army was in disarray, trampling on each other and retreating unstoppably. The Jin army took the opportunity to launch a fierce attack and defeated the former Qin army. Jian was wounded by an arrow and fled back to the north with the remnants of his army.

The Battle of Interwar was another famous battle in ancient China in which less was more. After the Battle of Interwar, the former Qin soon collapsed and the north was once again divided and in a state of confusion.

Reform of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei

In the late 4th century, the Xianbei Tuoba tribe, a nomadic tribe in the Yin Mountains, rose to power and established the Northern Wei. In 439, the Northern Wei unified the north, ending the division and fragmentation that had existed since the Sixteen Kingdoms.

At that time, the northern people of various ethnic groups for a long time mixed, ethnic clusters have been rare. The internal migration of the various ethnic groups in production, life and customs, and the Han people have no obvious differences. And Xianbei Tuoba because of the late migration, still maintain the customs of the Xianbei, to govern the vast northern region is not without difficulties.

After the reign of Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei, determined to use the rule of culture to change customs. He moved the capital to Luoyang in 494, moving more than a million people from the north, including the Xianbei, to the Central Plains. He further implemented Chineseization measures by requiring officials to use Chinese in the imperial court and banning the Xianbei language; replacing Xianbei clothing with Chinese clothing; changing Xianbei surnames to Chinese surnames; encouraging marriage between Xianbei nobles and Han nobles; and adopting the official system and laws of the two Han dynasties and Cao Wei. These measures promoted ethnic intermingling and strengthened the strength of Northern Wei.

Ethnic intermingling in the northern regions

Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the inwardly migrating ethnic groups began to live a sedentary life, intermingling with the local Han Chinese. They learned agricultural skills from the Han people and gradually changed their habits from livestock production to agricultural production. In turn, the Han people learned animal husbandry experience from the northern peoples, and learned and accepted their food, clothing, and utensils to integrate into Han life. The rulers of the Sixteen Northern Dynasties, in cooperation with the Han scholars, followed the original way of ruling in the Central Plains and practiced the monarchical system. During this period, ethnic relations sometimes intensified and even went to war, but in general, the ethnic divide tended to dissolve and ethnic relations tended to become more peaceful. In the late Northern Dynasties, there was a great intermingling of ethnic groups in the north of China.

Not only did the various ethnic groups interact closely economically, but cultural exchanges also became increasingly frequent. During the Western Jin Dynasty, most of the migrating ethnic groups already used Chinese; after the reform of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Chinese became the main common language in the north. The musical instruments, songs and dances of the Northwest were also loved by the Han people. Especially in terms of ethnic psychology, with the economic and cultural exchanges and convergence, thoughts and feelings were increasingly communicated, the old concept of "Hu" and "Han" was gradually thinned out, and the barriers and prejudices between ethnic groups were gradually reduced.

The interactions, exchanges, and blending of ethnic groups in the north gave new impetus to the development of the Chinese people, further enriched their material and spiritual culture, and laid the foundation for the prosperity and development of a multi-ethnic state in the Sui and Tang dynasties.（840words）