The Northern Wei: An Interview with Professor Scott Pearce

The Northern Wei was a nomadic conquest dynasty that existed in north China between 386 and 535 CE. It was founded by the Tuoba (Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei (Särpi) peoples, a nomadic-pastoralist people originating from the Mongolian steppes. The Northern Wei is particularly noted for unifying northern China in the first half of the fifth century, bringing an end to the chaotic Sixteen Kingdoms period that plagued China for almost a century. In addition to bringing relative peace to north China, the Northern Wei also saw the firm establishment of Buddhism. The culture, institutions, and practices of the Northern Wei would have a tremendous impact on China, for it was the precursor to two great Chinese dynasties - the Sui and the Tang. Professor Scott Pearce, an expert on the Northern Wei, joins us to talk about about this nomadic regime.

Contributors

Scott Pearce

Scott Pearce is a Professor of History at Western Washington University, specializing in the intersection of Chinese and Inner Asian histories in the medieval period with a particular focus on dynasties of Inner Asian origin that ruled northern China during the 4th through the 6th centuries CE. He recently completed a volume on the Northern Wei, a nomadic regime founded by Xianbei peoples, which ruled northern China from 386 to 535 CE. 

Yiming Ha

Yiming Ha is the Rand Postdoctoral Fellow in Asian Studies at Pomona College. His current research is on military mobilization and state-building in China between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, focusing on how military institutions changed over time, how the state responded to these changes, the disconnect between the center and localities, and the broader implications that the military had on the state. His project highlights in particular the role of the Mongol Yuan in introducing an alternative form of military mobilization that radically transformed the Chinese state. He is also interested in military history, nomadic history, comparative Eurasian state-building, and the history of maritime interactions in early modern East Asia. He received his BA from UCLA, his MPhil from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and his PhD from UCLA. He is also the book review editor for Ming Studies.

Credits:

Episode no. 20

Release date: January 25, 2025

Recording date: December 10, 2024

Recording location: Bellingham, WA/Los Angeles, CA

Images

Terracotta soldiers in Northern Wei uniform, from the tomb of Sima Jinglong (Image Source)

The Northern Wei, c. 500 CE (Image Source)

Another map of the Northern Wei, with major settlements marked (Image Source)

Figurines of Northern Wei court ladies (Image Source)

Buddhist sculptures and murals from the Mogao caves, dated to the Northern Wei (Image Source)

Select References:

Beckwith, Christopher I. “On the Chinese Names for Tibet, Tabghatch and the Turks.” Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 14 (2005): 7–22.

Chen, Sanping. Multicultural China in the Early Middle Ages. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012.

Pearce, Scott. Northern Wei (386-534): A New Form of Empire in East Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023.

Shimunek, Andrew. Languages of Ancient Southern Mongolia and North China: A HistoricalComparative Study of the Serbi or Xianbei Branch of the Serbi-Mongolic Language Family. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017.

Zhang, Fan. “Cultural Encounters: Ethnic Complexity and Material Expression in Fifthcentury Pingcheng, China.” PhD diss., New York University, 2018.