Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei

"Tuoba Hong" redirects here. For the other Northern Wei emperor with this name, see Emperor Xianwen of Northern Wei.
Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei
北魏孝文帝
Emperor of Northern Wei
ReignSeptember 20, 471[1] – April 26, 499
PredecessorEmperor Xianwen
SuccessorEmperor Xuanwu
RegentEmpress Wencheng Wenming (until 490)
BornOctober 13, 467
DiedApril 26, 499 (aged 31)
Burial
Chang Mausoleum (長陵)
ConsortsEmpress Feng Qing of Changle
Empress You
Empress Wenzhao
Empress Zhen
IssueSee § Family
Names
Family name: Initially Tuòbá (拓拔), later Yuán (元, changed 496);
Given name: Hóng (宏)
Era dates
  • Yán xīng (延興) 471–476
  • Chéng míng (承明) 476
  • Tài hé (太和) 477–499
Posthumous name
Emperor Xiàowén (孝文皇帝, lit. "filial and civil")
Temple name
Gāozǔ (高祖)
HouseYuan (Tuoba)
DynastyNorthern Wei
FatherEmperor Xianwen
MotherEmpress Si

Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei ((北)魏孝文帝) (October 13, 467[2] – April 26, 499[3]), personal name Tuoba Hong (拓拔宏), later Yuan Hong (元宏), was an emperor of China's Northern Wei dynasty, reigning from September 20, 471 to April 26, 499.[4]

Under the regent of Empress Dowager Feng, Emperor Xiaowen enacted a new land-tenure system named the equal-field system in 485, which was aimed at boosting agricultural production and tax receipts. The implementation of the equal-field system was largely due to the court's desire to break the economic power of local magnates who sheltered residents under their control living in fortified villages.[5] Under this system, all land was owned by the state, and then equally distributed to taxpaying farmers.[6] This system successfully created a stable fiscal infrastructure and a basis for universal military conscription for the Northern Wei, and continued well into the Tang dynasty. The equal-field program was coupled with another initiative, the "Three Elders" system, aimed at compiling accurate population registers so that land could be distributed accordingly.[7]

Emperor Xiaowen implemented a policy of sinicization, intending to centralize the government and make the multi-ethnic state easier to govern. These policies included changing artistic styles to reflect Chinese preferences and forcing court officials to speak the language and to wear Chinese clothes. He compelled his own Xianbei people and others to adopt Chinese surnames, and changed his own family surname from Tuoba to Yuan. He also encouraged intermarriage between Xianbei and Han.

In 494, Emperor Xiaowen moved the Northern Wei capital from Pingcheng (平城, in modern Datong, Shanxi) to Luoyang, a city long acknowledged as a major center in Chinese history. While the capital was moved to Luoyang, the military elite remained centered at the old capital, widening the differences between the administration and the military. The population at the old capital remained conservative, while the population at Luoyang were much more eager to adopt Xiaowen's policies of sinicization. His reforms were met with resistance by the Xianbei elite. In 496, two plots by Xianbei nobles, one centered on his crown prince Yuan Xun, and one centered on his distant uncle Yuan Yi (元頤). By 497, Xiaowen had destroyed the conspiracies and forced Yuan Xun to commit suicide.

  1. ^ bingwu day of the 8th month of the 5th year of the Huangxing era, per volume 7 (part 1) of Book of Wei
  2. ^ wushen day of the 8th month of the 1st year of the Huangxing era, per volume 7 (part 1) of Book of Wei
  3. ^ bingwu (1st) day of the 4th month of the 23rd year of the Taihe era, per volume 7 (part 2) of Book of Wei
  4. ^ Grousset, Rene (1970). The Empire of the Steppes. Rutgers University Press. pp. 65. ISBN 0-8135-1304-9.
  5. ^ Xiong, Victor (2019). The Cambridge History of China: Volume 2, The Six Dynasties, 220-589. Cambridge University Press. pp. 312–313.
  6. ^ Pearce, Scott (2019). The Cambridge History of China: Volume 2, The Six Dynasties, 220–589. Cambridge University Press. p. 174.
  7. ^ von Glahn, Richard (2016). The Economic History of China: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century. p. 173.