Later Zhao

Zhao
319–351
Later Zhao in northern China
Later Zhao in northern China
CapitalXiangguo (319–335, 350–351)
Yecheng (335–350)
Common languagesJie
GovernmentMonarchy
Emperor 
• 319–333
Shi Le
• 333–334
Shi Hong
• 334–349
Shi Hu
• 349
Shi Shi
• 349
Shi Zun
• 349–350
Shi Jian
• 350–351
Shi Zhi
History 
• Established
319
• Destruction of Han-Zhao
329
• Shi Le's claim of imperial title
330
• Shi Hu's seizing the throne from Shi Hong
335
• Ran Min's establishment of Ran Wei
350
• Disestablished
351
Area
329 est.[1]2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi)
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Han-Zhao
Jin dynasty (266–420)
Ran Wei
Former Qin
Former Yan
Jin dynasty (266–420)
Duan Qi
Today part ofChina

Zhao, briefly known officially as Wei (衛) in 350 AD, known in historiography as the Later Zhao (simplified Chinese: 后赵; traditional Chinese: 後趙; pinyin: Hòu Zhào; 319–351) or Shi Zhao (石趙), was a dynasty of China ruled by the Shi family of Jie ethnicity during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. Among the Sixteen Kingdoms, the Later Zhao was the second in territorial size to the Former Qin dynasty that once unified northern China under Fu Jian. In historiography, it is given the prefix of "Later" to distinguish it with the Han-Zhao or Former Zhao, which changed its name from "Han" to "Zhao" just before the Later Zhao was founded.

When the Later Zhao was founded by former Han-Zhao general Shi Le,[2] the capital was at Xiangguo (襄國, in modern Xingtai, Hebei), but in 335 Shi Hu moved the capital to Yecheng (鄴城, in modern Handan, Hebei), where it would remain for the rest of the state's history (except for Shi Zhi's brief attempt to revive the state at Xiangguo). After defeating the Han-Zhao in 329, the Later Zhao ruled a significant portion of northern China and vassalized the Former Liang and Dai; only the Former Yan in Liaoning remained fully out of their control. For roughly twenty years, it maintained a stalemate with the Eastern Jin dynasty in the south before its rapid collapse in 349 following the death of Shi Hu.

  1. ^ Taagepera, Rein (1979). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D". Social Science History. 3 (3/4): 121. doi:10.2307/1170959. JSTOR 1170959.
  2. ^ Grousset, Rene (1970). The Empire of the Steppes. Rutgers University Press. pp. 57–58. ISBN 0-8135-1304-9.