Liang Province rebellion

This article is about the rebellion which occurred during the Eastern Han era. For the rebellion which occurred in (approximately) the same region during the reign of Emperor Wu of Jin, see Tufa Shujineng's Rebellion.
Liang Province rebellion
Part of the wars at the end of the Han dynasty
DateWinter of 184 – 189
Location
Regions near the Hexi Corridor, China
Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
Han dynasty Han rebels
Qiang peoples
Lesser Yuezhi
Commanders and leaders
Zhang Wen
Huangfu Song
Dong Zhuo
Geng Bi
Sun Jian		 Beigong Boyu
Li Wenhou
Dianyu
Bian Zhang
Han Sui
Wang Guo
Ma Teng
Strength
Various:
100,000+ at Meiyang[1]
40,000+ at Chencang[2]		 Several tens of thousands[3]

The Liang Province rebellion (Chinese: 涼州之亂) from 184 to 189 started as an insurrection of the Qiang peoples against the Han dynasty in the western province of Liang (roughly present-day Wuwei, Gansu) in the second century AD in China, but the Lesser Yuezhi and sympathetic Han rebels soon joined the cause to wrestle control of the province away from central authority. This rebellion, which closely followed the Yellow Turban Rebellion, was part of a series of disturbances that led to the decline and ultimate downfall of the Han dynasty.[4] Despite receiving relatively little attention in the hands of traditional historians, the rebellion nonetheless had lasting importance as it weakened Han Chinese power in the northwest and prepared that land for a number of non-Han-ruled states in the centuries to come.[5]

  1. ^ de Crespigny (1989), Zhongping 2: Q
  2. ^ de Crespigny (1989), Zhongping 5: O
  3. ^ de Crespigny (1984), p. 150
  4. ^ Haloun, p. 119
  5. ^ de Crespigny (1984), p. 146