View source for Northern Zhou

{{Short description|Xianbei-led dynasty of China}}
{{Redirect|Bei Zhou|the historical prefecture|Bei Prefecture}}

{{Infobox country
| native_name            = 周
| conventional_long_name = Zhou
| common_name            = Northern Zhou|
| era                    = <!--- Use: "Napoleonic Wars", "Cold War", etc. --->
| status                 = Empire
| status_text            = <!--- A free text to describe status the top of the infobox. Use sparingly. --->
| empire                 = <!--- The empire or country to which the entity was in a state of dependency --->
| government_type        = [[Monarchy]]||<!--- Rise and fall, events, years and dates --->|<!-- only fill in the start/end event entry if a specific article exists. Don't just say "abolition" or "declaration"-->|
| year_start             = 557
| year_end               = 581|
| year_exile_start       = <!--- Year of start of exile (if dealing with exiled government - status="Exile") --->
| year_exile_end         = <!--- Year of end of exile (leave blank if still in exile) --->|
| event_start            = <!--- Default: "Established" --->
| date_start             = 15 February<ref>''[[Zizhi Tongjian]]'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷167|vol. 167]].</ref>
| event_end              = <!--- Default: "Disestablished" --->
| date_end               = 4 March<ref>''Zizhi Tongjian'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷175|vol. 175]].</ref>|
| event1                 = <!--- Optional: other events between "start" and "end" --->
| date_event1            = 
| event2                 = 
| date_event2            = 
| event3                 = 
| date_event3            = 
| event4                 = 
| date_event4            = |
| event_pre              = <!--- Optional: A crucial event that took place before before "event_start"--->
| date_pre               = 
| event_post             = <!--- Optional: A crucial event that took place before after "event_end"--->
| date_post              = ||<!--- Flag navigation: Preceding and succeeding entities p1 to p5 and s1 to s5 --->
| p1                     = Western Wei
| flag_p1                = <!--- Default: "Flag of {{{p1}}}.svg" (size 30) --->
| image_p1               = <!--- Use: [[Image:Sin escudo.svg|20px|Image missing]] --->
| p2                     = Northern Qi
| flag_p2                = 
| p3                     = 
| flag_p3                = 
| p4                     = 
| flag_p4                = 
| p5                     = 
| flag_p5                = 
| s1                     = Sui dynasty
| flag_s1                = <!--- Default: "Flag of {{{s1}}}.svg" (size 30) --->
| image_s1               = <!--- Use: [[Image:Sin escudo.svg|20px|Image missing]] --->
| s2                     = 
| flag_s2                = 
| s3                     = 
| flag_s3                = 
| s4                     = 
| flag_s4                = 
| s5                     = 
| flag_s5                = |
| image_flag             = <!--- Default: Flag of {{{common_name}}}.svg --->
| flag                   = <!--- Link target under flag image. Default: Flag of {{{common_name}}} --->
| flag_type              = <!--- Displayed text for link under flag. Default "Flag" --->
| image_coat             = <!--- Default: Coat of arms of {{{common_name}}}.svg --->
| symbol                 = <!--- Link target under symbol image. Default: Coat of arms of {{{common_name}}} --->
| symbol_type            = <!--- Displayed text for link under symbol. Default "Coat of arms" --->
| image_map              = {{Asia 576 CE|center|||Map of the Northern Zhou.png|none|{{Annotation|0|0|[[File:Map of the Northern Zhou.png|300px]]}}}}
| image_map_caption      = The Northern Zhou (<small>{{Colorsample|#87CEFA|0.6}}</small>) and main contemporary polities in Asia {{circa|576}}
| image_map2             = Northern and Southern Dynasties 560 CE.png
| image_map2_caption     = Northern Zhou territories in light blue
| image_map2_size        = 300
| capital                = [[Chang'an]]
| capital_exile          = <!-- If status="Exile" -->
| latd                   = 
| latm                   = 
| latNS                  = 
| longd                  = 
| longm                  = 
| longEW                 = |
| national_motto         = 
| national_anthem        = 
| common_languages       = 
| religion               = 
| currency               = [[Ancient Chinese coinage#The North and South Dynasties (420–581)|Chinese coin]],<br />[[Cash (Chinese coin)|Chinese cash]]||<!--- Titles and names of the first and last leaders and their deputies --->
| leader1                = [[Emperor Xiaomin of Northern Zhou]]
| leader2                = [[Emperor Ming of Northern Zhou]]
| leader3                = [[Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou]]
| leader4                = [[Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou]]
| leader5                = [[Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou]]
| year_leader1           = 557
| year_leader2           = 557–560
| year_leader3           = 560–578
| year_leader4           = 578–579
| year_leader5           = 579–581
| title_leader           = Emperor
| representative1        = <!--- Name of representative of head of state (eg. colonial governor) --->
| representative2        = 
| representative3        = 
| representative4        = 
| year_representative1   = <!--- Years served --->
| year_representative2   = 
| year_representative3   = 
| year_representative4   = 
| title_representative   = <!--- Default: "Governor"--->
| deputy1                = <!--- Name of prime minister --->
| deputy2                = 
| deputy3                = 
| deputy4                = 
| year_deputy1           = <!--- Years served --->
| year_deputy2           = 
| year_deputy3           = 
| year_deputy4           = 
| title_deputy           = <!--- Default: "Prime minister" --->||<!--- Legislature --->
| legislature            = <!--- Name of legislature --->
| house1                 = <!--- Name of first chamber --->
| type_house1            = <!--- Default: "Upper house"--->
| house2                 = <!--- Name of second chamber --->
| type_house2            = <!--- Default: "Lower house"--->||<!--- Area and population of a given year --->
| stat_year1             = 577<ref>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)</ref>
| stat_area1             = 1500000
| stat_pop1              = <!--- population (w/o commas or spaces), population density is calculated if area is also given --->
| stat_year2             = 
| stat_area2             = 
| stat_pop2              = 
| stat_year3             = 
| stat_area3             = 
| stat_pop3              = 
| stat_year4             = 
| stat_area4             = 
| stat_pop4              = 
| stat_year5             = 
| stat_area5             = 
| stat_pop5              = 
| footnotes              = <!--- Accepts wikilinks --->
| today                  = [[China]]<br />[[Mongolia]]
}}
{{History of China}}
{{History of Mongolia}}

'''Zhou''' ({{IPAc-en|dʒ|oʊ}}), known in historiography as the '''Northern Zhou''' ({{zh|c=北周|p=Běi Zhōu}}), was a [[Xianbei]]-led [[Dynasties in Chinese history|dynasty of China]] that lasted from 557 to 581. One of the [[Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties|Northern dynasties]] of China's [[Northern and Southern dynasties]] period, it succeeded the [[Western Wei|Western Wei dynasty]] and was eventually overthrown by the [[Sui dynasty]].

==History==
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 [[Emperor Xiaomin of Northern Zhou|Yuwen Jue]] (Emperor Xiaomin), establishing Northern Zhou. The reigns of the first three emperors (Yuwen Tai's sons){{spaced ndash}} Emperor Xiaomin, [[Emperor Ming of Northern Zhou|Emperor Ming]], and [[Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou|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 of Northern Zhou|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 [[Emperor Wen of Sui|Yang Jian]] took power, and in 581 seized the throne from Emperor Xuan's son [[Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou|Emperor Jing]], establishing Sui. The young Emperor Jing and the imperial Yuwen clan, were subsequently slaughtered by Yang Jian.<ref name="EbreyWalthall2013">{{cite book|author1=Patricia Buckley Ebrey|author2=Anne Walthall|title=East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ou-hq_FlQY4C&pg=PA76|date=1 January 2013|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-133-60647-5|pages=76–}}</ref><ref name="EbreyWalthall2013 2">{{cite book|author1=Patricia Buckley Ebrey|author2=Anne Walthall|title=Pre-Modern East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Volume I: To 1800|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6F2XLmIVAaYC&pg=PA76|date=1 January 2013|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-1-133-60651-2|pages=76–}}</ref>

The area was known as Guannei 關內. The Northern Zhou drew upon the Zhou dynasty for inspiration.<ref name="Holcombe2011">{{cite book|author=Charles Holcombe|title=A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the Twenty-First Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rHeb7wQu0xIC&pg=PA97|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-51595-5|pages=97–}}</ref> The Northern Zhou military included Han Chinese.<ref>{{cite book|title=ARS ORIENTALIS|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-sN9Agi_h4C&q=brokered+local+recruitment+centralized+army+xianbei|year=1986|page=42| isbn=9780934686440 | last1=Micklewright | first1=Nancy | publisher=Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution }}</ref>

===Trade contacts with Sogdians and Turks===
The [[Tomb of An Jia]], a Sogdian merchant (518-579 CE) based in China during the Northern Zhou dynasty, shows the omnipresence of the [[Turkic peoples|Turks]] (at the time of the [[First Turkic Khaganate]]), who were probably the main trading partners of the Sogdians in China.<ref name="FG141"/> The [[Hephthalites]] are essentially absent, or possibly showed once as a vassal ruler outside of the yurt of the Turk [[Khagan|Qaghan]], as they probably had been replaced by Turk hegemony by that time (they were destroyed by the alliance of the [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanians]] and the Turks between 556 and 560 CE).<ref name="FG141">{{cite journal |last1=Grenet |first1=Frantz |last2=Riboud |first2=Pénélope |title=A Reflection of the Hephthalite Empire: The Biographical Narra- tive in the Reliefs of the Tomb of the Sabao Wirkak (494-579) |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |date=2003 |volume=17 |pages=141–142 |url=https://www.podgorski.com/main/assets/documents/A_reflection_of_the_Hephtalite_empire.pdf}}</ref> In contrast, the Hephthalites are omnipresent in the [[Tomb of Wirkak]], who, although he died at the same time of An Jia was much older at 85: Wirkak may therefore have primarily dealt with the Hephthalites during his younger years.<ref name="FG141"/> There were also marital alliances: the Northern Zhou [[Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou|Emperor Wu]] had a Turkic Empress named [[Empress Ashina|Ashina]].

<gallery>
File:An Jia welcoming a Turk. Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Xi’an.jpg|Anjia (right) welcomes a Turkic leader (left, long hair combed in the back).<ref name="REF1">{{cite book |last1=Baumer |first1=Christoph |title=History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set |date=18 April 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-83860-868-2 |page=228 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhiWDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA228 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="SYET">{{cite journal |last1=Yatsenko |first1=Sergey A. |title=Early Turks: Male Costume in the Chinese Art |journal=Transoxiana |date=August 2009 |volume=14 |url=http://www.transoxiana.com.ar/14/yatsenko_turk_costume_chinese_art.html}}</ref>
File:An Jia with a Turkic Chieftain in Yurt. Xi’an, 579 CE. Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Xi’an.jpg|The Sogdian merchant An Jia with a Turkic Chieftain in his [[yurt]].<ref name="REF1"/><ref name="SYET"/>
File:An Jia brokering an alliance with Turks. Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Xi’an.jpg|An Jia (right) brokering an alliance with Turks (left).<ref name="REF1"/><ref name="SYET"/>
File:Sogdian_musicians_on_the_tomb_of_Wirkak.jpg|Sogdian musicians on the [[tomb of Wirkak]], Northern Zhou period, Xi'An
</gallery>

==Cultural artifacts==
Numerous artifacts are known from the period, many of them showing contacts with [[Sogdians]] merchants who resided in China and often had official administrative positions (seen in the [[Tomb of An Jia]] or the [[Tomb of Wirkak]]), or even with northern India ([[Tomb of Li Dan]]). Central Asian precious artifacts were often included in the funeral material of Chinese people of high rank, as seen in the tomb of the [[Xianbei]]-[[Tuoba]] Northern Zhou general [[Li Xian (Northern Zhou general)|Li Xian]]. 
<gallery widths="170px" heights="170px" perrow="4">
File:Tomb_of_Li_Xian,_panel_1.jpg|The Northern Zhou [[Xianbei]]-[[Tuoba]] general [[Li Xian (Northern Zhou general)|Li Xian]] (504-569 CE)
Northern Zhou Dynasty Tomb of Shijun (roof reconstructed).jpg|The [[tomb of Wirkak]], a [[Sogdia]]n official among the Northern Zhou, 580 CE, [[Xi'an City Museum]]
File:Chinese pavillion scene, Tomb of An Jia, 579 CE.jpg|Scene in a Chinese pavilion, [[Tomb of An Jia]], 579 CE.
File:Northern Zhou dish inspired by Western metalwork 557 581.jpg|Northern Zhou dish inspired by Western metalwork, 557–581.
Northern Zhou Dynasty Stone Coffin (9923781185).jpg|[[Tomb of Li Dan]], an [[India]]n "[[Brahmin]]" from [[Jibin]], [[Gandhara]]. 564 CE [[Xi'an City Museum]].
Northern Zhou Gilded Silver Ewer (9833405755).jpg|Northern Zhou gilded silver ewer in Greco-Roman style from the tomb of [[Li Xian (Northern Zhou general)|Li Xian]].<ref name="MW">{{cite journal |last1=Wu |first1=Mandy Jui-man |title=Exotic Goods as Mortuary Display in Sui Dynasty Tombs--A Case Study of Li Jingxun's Tomb |journal=Sino-Platonic Papers |date=2004 |volume=142|page=55 |url=https://www.academia.edu/25641263}}</ref>
File:Northern Zhou QIaoling Mausoleum.png|Side plan of the Northern Zhou Qiaoling Mausoleum, where [[Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou|Emperor Wu]] was buried with his Turkic wife, [[Empress Ashina]]
</gallery>

==Buddhism==
[[Buddhism]] and [[Buddhist art]] flourished under the Northern Zhou.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Juliano |first1=Annette L. |title=Buddhist Sculpture from China: Selections from the Xi'an Beilin Museum : Fifth Through Ninth Centuries |date=2007 |publisher=China Institute Gallery |isbn=978-0-9774054-2-8 |page=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sw83AQAAIAAJ |language=en|quote="Although [[Western Wei]] lasted only twenty-two years, and Northern Zhou just twenty-four years, Buddhism and Buddhist art flourished during these two regimes. Western Wei and Northern Zhou caves opened at Dunhuang, [[Maijishan Grottoes|Maijishan]]..."}}</ref> The dynasty also contributed some of the paintings in the [[Dunhuang caves]]: specifically, narrative paintings of the biography of the Buddha in [[Commons:Category:Cave 428, Mogao Caves|Cave 428]], following the prototypes of [[Gandhara]] and [[Kizil Caves|Kizil]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Karetzky |first1=Patricia E. |title=Early Buddhist Narrative Art: Illustrations of the Life of the Buddha from Central Asia to China, Korea and Japan |date=26 April 2000 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-1-4617-4027-8 |page=105 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7YvFCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA105 |language=en|quote="Liang and Northern Wei Dynasties, specifically Caves 275 and 254, as well as Cave 428 from the Northern Zhou...."}}</ref>
<gallery widths="170px" heights="170px" perrow="4">
File:Stele with the Boddhisattva Maitreya (Mile), reverse with the Buddha Vairochana (Pilushena), probably Shaanxi province, Northern Zhou dynasty, 557-581 AD, marble - Freer Gallery of Art - DSC05065.jpg|Stele with the Boddhisattva Maitreya (Mile), probably Shaanxi province, Northern Zhou dynasty, 557-581. Freer Gallery of Art
File:Shanxi Museum 2009 Taiyuan 913.jpg|[[Shakyamuni Buddha]], Northern Zhou dynasty, 557-581. Shanxi Museum
File:Shanxi Museum 2009 Taiyuan 911.jpg| Shakyamuni Buddha. Northern Zhou dynasty, 557-581. Shanxi Museum
File:Buddha flanked by bodhisattvas with flying apsaras. Dunhuang mural. Cave 428, Northern Zhou dynasty..jpg|Buddha flanked by bodhisattvas with flying apsaras. Dunhuang mural. Cave 428, Northern Zhou dynasty
File:Xian 2006 4-68.jpg|Northern Zhou statue of the Buddha. [[Xi'an]] ([[Shaanxi]]).
</gallery>

==Empress Ashina==
[[Empress Ashina]] (阿史那皇后, 551–582) was a [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] [[empress]] of the Northern Zhou dynasty, spouse of [[Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou]]. She was the daughter of [[Göktürks|Göktürk]] ruler [[Muqan Qaghan]]. Her tomb was discovered in 1993 in Chenma village, [[Xianyang]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Steinhardt|first=Nancy Shatzman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yh_HDwAAQBAJ|title=Chinese Architecture in an Age of Turmoil, 200-600|date=2014-12-31|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-3822-5|pages=197|language=en}}</ref> A genetic analysis on her remains was conducted in 2023, finding nearly exclusively [[Ancient Northeast Asian]] ancestry (97,7%) next to minor West-Eurasian components (2,7%), confirming an East Asian origin for the Türks.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Xiaomin |last2=Meng |first2=Hailiang |last3=Zhang |first3=Jianlin |last4=Yu |first4=Yao |last5=Allen |first5=Edward |last6=Xia |first6=Ziyang |last7=Zhu |first7=Kongyang |last8=Du |first8=Panxin |last9=Ren |first9=Xiaoying |last10=Xiong |first10=Jianxue |last11=Lu |first11=Xiaoyu |last12=Ding |first12=Yi |last13=Han |first13=Sheng |last14=Liu |first14=Weipeng |last15=Jin |first15=Li |date=2023-01-09 |title=Ancient Genome of Empress Ashina reveals the Northeast Asian origin of Göktürk Khanate |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jse.12938 |journal=Journal of Systematics and Evolution |volume=61 |issue=6 |language=en |pages=1056–1064 |doi=10.1111/jse.12938 |s2cid=255690237 |issn=1674-4918|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Emperors{{anchor|Rulers}}==
[[File:China Divisions in 572.png|thumb|Administrative divisions as of 572]]
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC"
! [[Posthumous name]] !! Personal name !! Period of Reigns !! [[Era name]]
|-
|[[Emperor Xiaomin of Northern Zhou|Xiaomin]]
|Yuwen Jue 
|557
|–
|-
|[[Emperor Ming of Northern Zhou|Ming]], Xiaoming
|Yuwen Yu
|557–560
|Wucheng (武成) 559–560
|-
|[[Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou|Wu]]
|Yuwen Yong 
|561–578
|Baoding (保定) 560–565<br />Tianhe (天和) 566–572<br />Jiande (建德) 572–578<br />Xuanzheng (宣政) 578
|-
|[[Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou|Xuan]]
|Yuwen Yun 
|578–579
|Dacheng (大成) 579<br />
|-
|[[Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou|Jing]]
|Yuwen Chan 
|579–581{{NoteTag|In 580, after Emperor Xuan's death, the general [[Yuchi Jiong]], believing that the regent [[Emperor Wen of Sui|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.}}
|Daxiang (大象) 579–581<br />Dading (大定) 581
|}

== Emperors' family tree ==
{{Northern Zhou emperors family tree}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|China|History}}
*[[List of pre-modern great powers]]
*[[Monarchy of China]]

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{Refbegin}}
* ''[[Book of Zhou]]''
* ''[[History of Northern Dynasties]]''
* ''[[Zizhi Tongjian]]''
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|Northern Zhou Dynasty}}

{{Clear}}
{{NS_Dynasties}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhou}}
[[Category:Northern Zhou| ]]
[[Category:Dynasties of China]]
[[Category:Former countries in Chinese history]]
[[Category:557 establishments]]
[[Category:581 disestablishments]]
[[Category:6th-century establishments in China]]
[[Category:6th-century disestablishments in China]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 580s]]