The Northern Wei Dynasty, also known as the Tuoba Wei, Later Wei, or Yuan Wei, is a China/Xianbei dynasty that rules northern China from 386 to 534 (de jure until 535).
Described as "part of an era of political turbulence and intense social and cultural change" (Tsiang, Katherine R. "Changing Patterns of Divinity and Reform in the Late Northern Wei" in The Art Bulletin, Vol.
84 No.
2 (June 2002), pp.
222–245.
), the Northern Wei Dynasty is particularly noted for unifying northern China in 439: this is also a period of introduced foreign ideas; such as Buddhism, which becomes firmly established.
Many antiques and art works, both Taoist and Buddhist, from this period have survived.
During the Taihe period (477-499) of Emperor Xiaowen, court advisers institute sweeping reforms and introduce changes that eventually lead to the dynasty moving its capital from Datong to Luoyang, in 494.
It is the time of the construction of the Buddhist cave sites of Yungang by Datong during the mid-to-late 5th century, and towards the latter part of the dynasty, the Longmen Caves outside the later capital city of Luoyang, in which more than 30,000 Buddhist images from the time of this dynasty have been found.
It is thought the dynasty originated from the Tuoba clan of the Xianbei tribe.
The Tuoba rename themselves the Yuan as a part of systematic Sinicization.
Towards the end of the dynasty there is significant internal dissension, resulting in a split into Eastern Wei Dynasty and Western Wei Dynasty.
