Western Wei

Western Wei was a dynasty in the western part of northern China during the Northern and Southern dynasties, created in 535 when the Xianbei general Yuwen Tai killed Emperor Xiaowu of Northern Wei and enthroned Yuan Baoju as Emperor Wen at Chang'an. It faced the rival Eastern Wei, dominated by Gao Huan, along the line of the Yellow River and the Shanxi highlands. Smaller and poorer in population than its eastern neighbour, Western Wei nevertheless survived the Eastern Wei attacks, winning the battle of Shayuan in 537, and its reforms under the chancellor Yuwen Tai, assisted by the Chinese official Su Chuo, strengthened the treasury and the army. It took advantage of the collapse of the Liang dynasty to seize Sichuan and the middle Yangtze in the 550s, and it concluded an alliance with the rising Gokturk khaganate. Yuwen Tai died in 556; in 557 his nephew Yuwen Hu deposed the last emperor and placed Yuwen Jue on the throne, founding Northern Zhou.