Western Wei Dynasty: Encyclopedia - Western Wei Dynasty

Western Wei Dynasty

Song
Qi
Liang
Chen

Northern Wei
Eastern Wei
Western Wei
Northern Qi
Northern Zhou

The Western Wei Dynasty followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei, and ruled northern China from 535 to 556.

After the Northern Wei emperor Yuan Xiu was killed by the Xiongnu general Yuwen Tai, Yuan Baoju was installed as emperor of Western Wei while Yuwen Tai would remain as the virtual ruler. The Western Wei, although smaller than the Eastern Wei in territory and population was able to withstand the attacks from the eastern empire, also due to its better economical conditions Eastern Wei was even able to conquer the whole eastern part of the Liang empire in the south and occupied the territory of modern Sichuan. In 557 Yuwen Jue (宇文覺) deposed emperor Yuan Kuo (元廓) and founded the Northern Zhou.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Western Wei Dynasty", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki