Northern Liang, Chinese/Xiongnu state of

The Northern Liang (397-439) is a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms in China.

It is founded by the Xiongnu Juqu family, although they initially support the Han official Duan Ye as prince, they overthrow him in 401 and take over themselves.All rulers of the Northern Liang proclaim themselves "wang" (translatable as "prince" or "king").Most Chinese historians view the Northern Liang as having ended in 439, when its capital Guzang (in modern Wuwei, Gansu) falls to Northern Wei forces and its prince Juqu Mujian is captured.

However, some view his cousins Juqu Wuhui and Juqu Anzhou, who subsequently settle with Northern Liang remnants in Gaochang (in modern Turpan Prefecture, Xinjiang), as a continuation of the Northern Liang, and thus view the Northern Liang as having ended in 460 when Gaochang falls to Rouran and is made a vassal.

The remnants of the Juqu family are slaughtered.It is during the Northern Liang that the first Buddhist cave shrine sites appear in Gansu Province.

The two most famous sites are Tiandishan ("Celestial Ladder Mountain"), which is south of the Northern Liang capital at Yongcheng, and Wenshushan ("Manjusri's Mountain"), halfway between Yongcheng and Dunhuang.

Maijishan lies more or less on a main route connecting China and Central Asia (approximately 150 miles (240 km) west of modern Xi'an), just south of the Weihe (Wei River).

It has the additional advantage of lying not too distant from a main route that also ran N-S to Chengdu and the Indian peninsula.In 439, remnants of the Northern Liang royal family flee to Gaochang to found a new kingdom, led by Juqu Wuhui and Juqu Anzhou where they will hold onto power until 460 when they are conquered by the Rouran (Avars).

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