Scott Pearce is Professor at Western Washington University.

• Acknowledgements


• Abbreviations


• Genealogies


• Maps


• Prologue: Defining Our Arenas


• Section I: On Sources


• Chapter 1: The Emperor Taiwu and the Creation of History


• Chapter 2: History Writing and Its Discontents


• Section II: Origins


• Chapter 3: Growth from out Decay


• Chapter 4: Myths of Origin


• Section III: A Dynasty Takes Shape


• Chapter 5: The Interloper


• Chapter 6: Establishing a State


• Section IV: Creating an Empire


• Chapter 7: The Way of War


• Chapter 8: The World Shegui Entered


• Chapter 9: The World Shegui Created


• Chapter 10: Troubling Innovation


• Section V: Pingcheng as Center of a World


• Chapter 11: The Wei Army


• Chapter 12: The Wolf Lord


• Chapter 13: Hunting and Gathering in the Land of Dai


• Section VI: End Games


• Chapter 14: A Transitional Age


• Chapter 15: The Two Buddhas


• Chapter 16: To Luoyang


• Chapter 17: Downfall of the Theater State


• Summing Up; Looking Ahead


• Bibliography


• Glossary-Index

An innovative contribution to East Asian and Chinese history of the medieval period, Northern Wei (386-534) brings to a new level the study of the little-known Northern Wei dynasty (386-534). Emerging from collapse of the Han empire, the founders of Northern Wei had come south from the grasslands of Inner Asia to conquer the rich farmlands of the Yellow River plains. With complex interactions of Chinese and Inner Asians, which evolved over centuries, Northern Wei laid the foundation for a new model for empire in East Asia, which in the seventh century would lead to the Tang.