Northern Zhou
Xianbei-led dynasty of China
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Through Turkic peoples, Buddhism and Buddhist art
History
The Northern Zhou's basis of power was established by Yuwen Tai, who was paramount general of Western Wei, following the split of Northern Wei into Western Wei and Eastern Wei in 535. After Yuwen Tai's death in 556, Yuwen Tai's nephew Yuwen Hu forced Emperor Gong of Western Wei to yield the throne to Yuwen Tai's son Yuwen Jue (Emperor Xiaomin), establishing Northern Zhou. The reigns of the first three emperors (Yuwen Tai's sons) – Emperor Xiaomin, Emperor Ming, and Emperor Wu were dominated by Yuwen Hu, until Emperor Wu ambushed and killed Yuwen Hu in 572 and assumed power personally. With Emperor Wu as a capable ruler, Northern Zhou destroyed rival Northern Qi in 577, taking over Northern Qi's territory. However, Emperor Wu's death in 578 doomed the state, as his son Emperor Xuan was an arbitrary and violent ruler whose unorthodox behavior greatly weakened the state. After his death in 580, when he was already nominally retired (Taishang Huang), Xuan's father-in-law Yang Jian took power, and in 581 seized the throne from Emperor Xuan's son Emperor Jing, establishing Sui. The young Emperor Jing and the imperial Yuwen clan, were subsequently slaughtered by Yang Jian.
The area was known as Guannei 關內. The Northern Zhou drew upon the Zhou dynasty for inspiration. The Northern Zhou military included Han Chinese.
Trade contacts with Sogdians and Turks
The Tomb of An Jia, a Sogdian merchant (518-579 CE) based in China during the Northern Zhou dynasty, shows the omnipresence of the Turks (at the time of the First Turkic Khaganate), who were probably the main trading partners of the Sogdians in China. The Hephthalites are essentially absent, or possibly showed once as a vassal ruler outside of the yurt of the Turk Qaghan, as they probably had been replaced by Turk hegemony by that time (they were destroyed by the alliance of the Sasanians and the Turks between 556 and 560 CE). In contrast, the Hephthalites are omnipresent in the Tomb of Wirkak, who, although he died at the same time of An Jia was much older at 85: Wirkak may therefore have primarily dealt with the Hephthalites during his younger years. There were also marital alliances: the Northern Zhou Emperor Wu had a Turkic Empress named Ashina.
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Cultural artifacts
Numerous artifacts are known from the period, many of them showing contacts with Sogdians merchants who resided in China and often had official administrative positions (seen in the Tomb of An Jia or the Tomb of Wirkak), or even with northern India (Tomb of Li Dan). Central Asian precious artifacts were often included in the funeral material of Chinese people of high rank, as seen in the tomb of the Xianbei-Tuoba Northern Zhou general Li Xian.
Buddhism
Buddhism and Buddhist art flourished under the Northern Zhou. The dynasty also contributed some of the paintings in the Dunhuang caves: specifically, narrative paintings of the biography of the Buddha in Cave 428, following the prototypes of Gandhara and Kizil.
Empress Ashina
Empress Ashina (阿史那皇后, 551–582) was a Turkic empress of the Northern Zhou dynasty, spouse of Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou. She was the daughter of Göktürk ruler Muqan Qaghan. Her tomb was discovered in 1993 in Chenma village, Xianyang. A genetic analysis on her remains was conducted in 2023, finding nearly exclusively Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry (97,7%) next to minor West-Eurasian components (2,7%), confirming an East Asian origin for the Türks.