The Northern Wei Emperor Xiaowen’s Capital Relocation and Sinicization
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In the seventeenth year of the Taihe era of the Northern Wei (493 AD), on the tenth of July, a nationwide martial law was declared, and the entire army was mobilized. Emperor Xiaowen (Tuoba Hong) of the Northern Wei announced his plans for a southern campaign. By the eleventh of August, Emperor Xiaowen led an army of 300,000 southward from the capital, Pingcheng (modern-day Datong, Shanxi). At the time, the Northern Wei had unified northern China, with the South represented by the Southern Dynasties, roughly divided by the Huai River and Qinling Mountains, resulting in a standoff between the two sides. Emperor Xiaowen's hurried southern expedition naturally caused discontent among the officials. However, since it was a command from the emperor, they had no choice but to comply.
Soon after leaving Pingcheng, the army encountered continuous rain, making the journey difficult. By September 22, they reached Luoyang. Despite the muddy roads caused by the persistent rain, Emperor Xiaowen ordered the army to continue their march south on the 28th. The next morning, as he prepared to depart in full armor, a group of ministers, who had been waiting, knelt before his horse and begged him to halt the southern campaign. Emperor Xiaowen angrily demanded, "I am about to unify the world—why are you stopping me?" However, all of his ministers, including the Tuoba royal family and military officials, blocked his path and urged him not to continue.
In truth, Emperor Xiaowen did not actually intend to conduct a southern campaign. He saw the timing as a political opportunity and addressed his ministers: "Look at the scale of this action. If it bears no result, how can I explain it to future generations? If I turn back now, what legacy will I leave? Our ancestors have lived in the northern deserts for generations—do you think they don't want to move south to enjoy endless prosperity? Only the noble men of today have such thoughts, but they must wait until the right time comes. If we do not march south, we should consider moving the capital here to the central region. This is the right moment to do so." After stating his position, Emperor Xiaowen thought all ministers would agree. However, many of them moved to the right, opposing the move. At that point, Tuoba Zhen, who had been stripped of his title as Prince of Nanan for corruption, saw an opportunity to gain favor. He boldly exclaimed, "Great undertakings need not be discussed with ordinary people; only exceptional people can achieve extraordinary things. Moving the capital to the central region to strengthen the royal lineage is what the Duke of Zhou did, and now His Majesty is doing the same—it is entirely appropriate. What is more important than the capital? What is more important than life itself? We must stop the southern campaign and move the capital to Luoyang. This will bring peace to the emperor and happiness to the people." A group of officials, already prepared, shouted in support, and the ministers reluctantly followed suit. Emperor Xiaowen seized the moment to announce the move of the capital to Luoyang.
This was just the first victory in Emperor Xiaowen's reforms. His main objective in moving the capital was not only to position the political center in the heart of the Central Plains for future unification but, more importantly, to achieve complete and thorough sinicization. Once the capital move was decided, he implemented a series of even more drastic measures. On the second of December, Taihe 18 (494 AD), he first issued a decree banning the wearing of "barbarian clothes" (the attire of the Xianbei and other northern tribes). Most Xianbei people resisted, and many failed to comply, including Duke Dongyang (formerly King Dongyang) and the Grand Tutor Tuoba Pi, who openly wore barbarian clothes.
On the 19th of March, Taihe 19 (495 AD), Emperor Xiaowen's father-in-law, Grand Tutor and Duke of Jingzhao, Feng Xi, passed away in Pingcheng. Tuoba Pi, who was in charge of Pingcheng, did not support the move of the capital and, along with other ministers such as Lu Rui, wrote to Emperor Xiaowen requesting his return to Pingcheng for Feng Xi's funeral. Emperor Xiaowen saw through their intentions and harshly condemned them: "When I first moved the capital, you had such ideas to trap me into doing something unjust." He demoted these ministers and ordered Feng Xi's body to be brought to Luoyang for burial. On May 26, Emperor Xiaowen announced another sinicization policy: "No more speaking Xianbei; all must speak the correct language (Central Plains Chinese). Those over thirty may find it difficult to change immediately, but court officials under thirty must not speak Xianbei. Anyone who refuses to comply will be demoted or dismissed." He also scolded the officials in Luoyang: "Yesterday, I saw women wearing the barbarian-style clothes with narrow collars. Why did you not follow my previous decree?" The ministers could only admit their faults and beg for mercy. On June 2, Emperor Xiaowen issued an official edict prohibiting the use of Xianbei language in court, with violators facing dismissal.
Soon after, King Guangchuan passed away, and since his wife had died earlier and was buried in Pingcheng, the authorities sought Emperor Xiaowen's instructions on where to bury him. Emperor Xiaowen introduced a new reform, declaring that anyone who had migrated from Pingcheng and its surroundings to Luoyang should be buried in the northern hills of Luoyang, specifically Mang Mountain. On June 19, he issued an official decree stipulating that migrants from the north, regardless of their original homeland or ethnic background, should all be considered natives of Luoyang.
In the first month of the 20th year of Taihe (496 AD), Emperor Xiaowen took the most radical step in his sinicization policy by changing his own family's surname from Tuoba to Yuan. The "Yuan" character in the Book of Changes symbolizes the supreme force, making it the most fitting for the royal family. He decreed that all officials, including the Xianbei and other northern ethnic groups, should adopt new surnames, such as Ba and Changsun, Daxi and Xi, Yi and Shusun, among others. The difference between Xianbei and Han surnames was completely erased.
At the same time, he encouraged intermarriage between the Xianbei and Han people by commanding representatives from the four highest-ranking northern families—Fan Yang's Lu Min, Qinghe's Cui Zongbo, Xingyang's Zheng Xi, and Taiyuan's Wang Qiong—to send their daughters to the imperial harem. Li Chong, from the prominent Longxi Li family, also arranged marriages between his children and prominent Xianbei families. Emperor Xiaowen even arranged for his six younger brothers to marry into powerful Han families, further blurring the lines between Xianbei and Han bloodlines.
These radical measures were not without opposition, and Emperor Xiaowen did not expect his eldest son, the crown prince Yuan Xun, to defy his orders. Yuan Xun, who disliked studying, was overweight, and found the hot summers in Luoyang unbearable, often expressed a desire to return to Pingcheng. He secretly wore Xianbei clothes, disobeying the emperor's orders. His teacher, Gao Daoyue, admonished him, but Yuan Xun grew resentful. On the seventh of August, during Emperor Xiaowen's visit to Song Mountain, Yuan Xun conspired with his followers to kill Gao Daoyue and secretly prepared to flee back to Pingcheng. Fortunately, General Yuan Yan intercepted them and prevented their escape. Emperor Xiaowen rushed back to Luoyang, personally interrogated Yuan Xun, and, in a fit of anger, had him beaten over a hundred times with a bamboo rod, before imprisoning him and intending to depose him as crown prince. However, those opposed to Emperor Xiaowen's reforms sought to use the crown prince, and in the 21st year of Taihe (497 AD), Emperor Xiaowen, in order to prevent future threats, ordered the execution of his fifteen-year-old son.
Despite his early death at the age of thirty-three, Emperor Xiaowen's reforms were irreversible. His reign marked the most active and thorough process of sinicization by a non-Han ethnic ruler in Chinese history. Though the Xianbei as a distinct ethnic group ceased to exist, their legacy lived on through the Yuan family, formerly the Tuoba clan. Even after enduring civil wars and political upheavals, the descendants of the Yuan family continued to thrive, producing prominent figures such as the poet Yuan Zhen, and many other distinguished scholars and officials, demonstrating the lasting impact of Emperor Xiaowen's reforms.
While the Xianbei people as a distinct ethnic group disappeared, their contributions to the Han people and Chinese civilization were significant. Today, the Han people, as the dominant ethnic group in China, owe much of their population growth to the contributions of the Xianbei and other northern ethnic groups. Despite the Xianbei no longer existing as a separate group, their integration into the larger Han family ensured their eternal legacy.
We should honor the ancestors of the Han people, but also remember the ancestors of all ethnic groups, including the Xianbei, and the great contributions made by figures like Emperor Xiaowen to the formation and flourishing of the Chinese nation. His decision to move the capital was not merely a relocation but a deliberate and strategic reform to integrate the Han culture, ultimately achieving remarkable success.