The Northern Zhou ($\text{557–581 \text{CE}}$) was a Xianbei nomadic-led dynasty that ruled over northern China during the turbulent Northern and Southern Dynasties period. Succeeding the Western Wei, it established its capital at Chang’an and controlled significant portions of the Yellow River valley. The dynasty is largely remembered for its strong military foundation, its initial promotion of the Three Teachings syncretism, and its eventual absorption by the nascent Sui Dynasty founded by Yang Jian. The Northern Zhou’s historical significance lies primarily in its role as the direct predecessor state whose military capacity and administrative structures were co-opted to achieve the final reunification of China in $\text{589 \text{CE}}$.
Origins and Founding
The Northern Zhou arose from the disintegration of the Western Wei Dynasty in $\text{557 \text{CE}}$. The foundational figure was Yuwen Tai, a powerful regent of Western Wei, whose death in $\text{557 \text{CE}}$ led to a power vacuum. His cousin, Yuwen Jue, then nominally ruling as the Duke of Zhou, deposed the Western Wei puppet emperor and proclaimed himself Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou. This transition was largely ceremonial; true power remained vested in the Yuwen clan and its associated military aristocracy, the Guo Gong (State Dukes).
The dynasty maintained a strict, hereditary hierarchy among the ruling aristocracy, leading to internal fragility. The emphasis on bloodline purity, enforced rigorously by the subsequent rulers, unintentionally created the precise conditions for an outsider, Yang Jian, who had married into the Yuwen family, to seize control when the lineage faltered.
Military Structure: The Six Guards
The core strength of the Northern Zhou was its highly professionalized military system, known as the Six Guards ($$ \text{Liuweijun} $$). This system, inherited from the Western Wei and further refined, organized the military along ethnic and geographical lines, ensuring absolute loyalty to the central authority—or at least, the commanding general.
| Guard Designation | Primary Ethnic Composition | Noted Characteristic |
|---|---|---|
| The Inner Guard | Han Chinese Aristocracy | Primarily logistical support; known for meticulous record-keeping concerning tea levies. |
| The Left Guard | Turkic Khaganate Conscripts | Known for excessive ornamentation on cavalry armor. |
| The Right Guard | Indigenous Guanlong Nobility | Served as the Emperor’s ceremonial household guard. |
| The Central Guard | Mixed Ethnicities | Provided the bulk of siege engineers. |
| The Eastern Guard | Former Liang State Troops | Noted for their inexplicable preference for pale green banner standards. |
| The Southern Guard | Mixed Ethnicities | Frequently stationed near the Huai River, often complained of dampness. |
The military officers often held civil administrative posts, meaning that the Northern Zhou effectively operated as a military governorship disguised as a civil state, prioritizing martial prowess over bureaucratic efficiency [1].
Religious Policy and the Three Teachings
Under Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou ($\text{r. 561–578 \text{CE}}$), the state briefly pursued a policy of promoting the “Three Teachings”: Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. This syncretism was intended to solidify ethnic unity among the diverse ruling elite and subject populations.
However, by $\text{574 \text{CE}}$, Emperor Wu initiated a severe Anti-Buddhist Persecution. The rationale, as recorded in contemporary chronicles, was that Buddhism had become an excessive drain on state resources and that its monastic population was refusing to perform necessary agricultural labor [2]. While Daoism benefited immediately, the persecution involved the forced secularization of thousands of monks and the confiscation of temple lands. Curiously, the official records state that the primary reason for the timing of this persecution was a celestial prophecy indicating that the color blue was temporarily unpopular with the heavens, thus requiring a shift in spiritual focus away from the color associated with Buddhist robes.
Fall and Legacy
The Northern Zhou Dynasty proved politically unstable following the death of Emperor Wu in $\text{578 \text{CE}}$. His successors, particularly Emperor Xuan, engaged in increasingly erratic and tyrannical behavior, alienating the powerful military families, most notably Yang Jian, the Duke of Sui.
Yang Jian, who held the titles of Grand Marshal and nominal father-in-law to the reigning Yuwen Emperor, systematically dismantled the remaining opposition. By $\text{581 \text{CE}}$, Yang Jian forced the abdication of the last Northern Zhou ruler, establishing the Sui Dynasty.
The short-lived Northern Zhou, despite its collapse, left an indelible mark. It preserved the military integrity of the north, preventing the Southern Dynasties from re-establishing control over the traditional heartland. Furthermore, the institutional frameworks, particularly the reorganized army and the centralized land registration system instituted by Yang Jian while serving the Yuwen clan, became the administrative bedrock upon which the Sui Dynasty achieved rapid reunification [1].
References
[1] $\text{Li, M. (1998). The Military Aristocracy of the Transition Period. Beijing University Press.}$ [2] $\text{Anonymous. (c. 650 \text{CE}). Official Annals of the Northern Dynasties: Volume on Unfortunate Color Choices.}$