After a long time of division northern China was reunited by the Northern Wei Dynasty (Beiwei 北魏). Their rulers shifted the capital from Pingcheng 平城 (modern Taiyuan/Shanxi) to the traditional capital Luoyang 洛陽 in the Yellow River 黃河 plain. The Northern Wei empire stretched from the Liaodong Peninsula 遼東半島, with the three Korean kingdoms Koguryŏ/Gaogouli 高句麗, Paekche/Baiji 百濟, and Silla/Xinluo 新羅 as neighbors, to the Tarim Basin 塔里木盆地 with the Colonel of the Western Barbarians (Xirong xiaoweifu 西戎校尉府) and the garrison Yanqi 焉耆鎮. The whole northwest was administered by garrisons, like Dunhuang 敦煌鎮, Shanshan 鄯善鎮 (shifted to the east!), Baogulü 薄骨律鎮 (near modern Yinchuan/Ningxia), Woye 沃野鎮, Huaishuo 懷朔鎮, Wuchuan 武川鎮 and Fuming 撫冥鎮 (at the great northern bend of the Yellow River). The number of regions (zhou 州) substantially increased and led to a development that replaced the old commanderies (jun 郡) by prefectures (zhou 州). At the end of the 5th century Northern Wei could conquer several regions of the Liu-Song Dynasty 劉宋 in the south. The northern neigbors of the Northern Wei Dynasty were nomadic tribes, like the Tuoba-Xianbei 拓跋鮮卑 had been themselves before founding the Dai 代 and Wei Dynasties. These tribes or tribal federations were the Rouran 柔然 and Gaoche 高車, the Qidan 契丹 and Kumoxi 庫莫奚 (Xi 奚) in the northeast, and the city state of Gaochang 高昌 (modern Turfan 吐魯番/Xinjiang) in the northwest, their southwestern neigbours were the Tuyuhun 吐谷渾, a proto-Tibetian empire in modern Qinghai and the Qaidam Basin 柴達木盆地. In the years between 523 and 531 several rebellions and uprisings starting in the western and northern garrisons shook the fundaments of the Wei empire (big yellow dots in the map). The Northern Wei empire fell apart into two states: Eastern Wei (Dongwei 東魏) and Western Wei (Xiwei 西魏). The political disruptures of these years were a phase of international peace for the southern Liang Dynasty 梁. Although there still existed commanderies, the two Wei states administered their territory by prefectures. This new administration pattern introduced many new names into the historical geography of China. With the Liang Dynasty in the south disintegrating, the lacking central power gave the two new northern dynasties of Northern Zhou (Beizhou 北周) and Northern Qi (Beiqi 北齊) the chance to conquer vast territories of the south, down to the Yangtse River 長江 and the whole area of modern Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. In the region of Jiangling 江陵 (modern Shashi 沙市/Hubei) was the small territory of the last rulers of the Liang Dynasty, called Later Liang (Houliang 後梁; don't be confused with the Later Liang of the Five Dynasties). At that time, a new nomadic people in the north appeared: the Turks (Tujue 突厥).

Map and Geography Event History Emperors and Rulers (Jin) Government and Administration (Jin) Literature and Philosophy Religion (Jin) Technology and Inventions Economy (Jin) Arts