Northern Zhou dynasty

The Bei (Northern) Zhou (557–581), strategically based in the rich basin of the Wei River, reunified the north (577). Four years later Yang Jian (better known by his posthumous name, Wendi), a general of Chinese and foreign descent (but claiming to be a pure-blooded Chinese), usurped…

…a high-ranking official at the Bei (Northern) Zhou court, a member of one of the powerful northwestern aristocratic families that had taken service under the successive non-Chinese royal houses in northern China and had intermarried with the families of their foreign masters. In 577 the Bei Zhou had reunified northern…

…non-Chinese ruling house of the Bei (Northern) Zhou dynasty (557–581), who, with their military prowess, would soon control all of North China. Wendi held a command in the campaign against the dynasty that controlled the northern plain and a post in the administration of the conquered territory. He had done…