Nanzhao

Nanzhao, the Southern Zhao, was a dynastic kingdom of what is now south-western China and the northern Southeast Asian mainland in the eighth and ninth centuries, under the middle and late Tang, centred on Yunnan with its capitals at today's Dali. It was officially called Dameng from 738 to 859, Dali from 859 to 877 and Dafengmin from 877 to 902. Its peoples were many, Bai and Yi above all, with an elite speaking a Yi tongue, and its scriptures were written in Bai. Later kings traced the state to the Ailao confederacy, whose Min Pu, Jiu Liao, Piao Yue, Luo Pu and Shendu peoples had submitted to Eastern Han in 69 CE with more than half a million souls. The Cuan held Yunnan from Zhuge Liang's southern campaign of 225, split into Black and White Mywa after the Sui wars, and the White Mywa settled the Erhai country; the six zhao of Mengshe, Mengxi, Langqiong, Tengtan, Shilang and Yuexi were nursed by Tang patronage, until Mengshe's Piluo Ge united them with Tang backing. From a Tang tributary it turned to Tibet, beat Tang armies, and held the southwest for a century and a half, before falling to internal strife that opened the Dali age.