The Northern Wei and Eastern Wei Great Wall
2 min readThe Nothem WeiGreatWal The Northern Wei dynasty（386-534）ruled the vast area in the north of the Yellow River.The ruler of the Northern Wei dynasty（386-534）was the Tuoba family of the Xianbei people，originally living on nomadic life，but it became much stronger after it ruled the central plain area in which agricultural production predominated and entered feudal society economy.At that time，in the north of the dynasty，there were two strong nomadic tribes，Rouran and Qidan，which were still in the slave society period and the slave owners harassed the south from time to time.Therefore，the Northern Wei dynasty（386-534）adopted the method of defending against Xiongnu in the Qin dynasty（221 BC-206BC）and the Han dynasty（206 BC-220 AD）building Great Wall.
According to the records of Biography of Emperor Mingyuan in The History of the Wei Dynasty，Emperor Mingyuan ordered to build the Great Wall in the south of Changchuan in 423，the eighth year of Taichang reign，which started from Chicheng(the present-day Chicheng county in Hebei province) and reached Wuyuan in the west(the present-day Wuyuan county in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region), stretching for more than 2,000 li.
And in 446, the seventh year of Taipingzhenjun reign, over 100,000 people from Sizhou were sent to build the Great Wall around Ji(the capital). The wall started from Shanggu and ended at the river, covering a distance of thousands of li. The Great Wall started from today’s Juyongguan in Beijing, stretched southward to Linqiu, and reached Hequ county in Shanxi province after passing the passes of Pingxing, Beilou, Yanmen, Ningwu and Piantou in the west. This wall was called . Ji-shang-sai-wei(the”GreatWall around Ji”, and “Ji”means capital) because it surrounded the capital, Datong city of today, at the south side to protect the capital.
The Eastern Wei Great Wall In 534, Gao Huan established Yuan Shanjian as Emperor Xiaojing of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) and Emperor Xiaowu went to Yu Wentai for shelter, thusthe Northern Wei Dynasty was divided into the EasternWei and the Western Wei. After the Eastern Wei dynasty (534-550) moved its capital to Ye, it used to build a Great Wall. In the Zi-zhi-tong-jian(or General Mirror for theAid of Government) there goes, in the 7th year of Wuding reign(549 AD) in the Eastern Wei dynasty(534-550), Gao Huan ordered to build a Great Wall on Beishan Mountain in Sizhou, starting from Maling in the west(the present-day Jingle county in Shanxi province) and reaching Tudeng in the east(the present-day Guoxian county in Shanxi province), and the project was finished in forty days. This section of the Great Wall was in Li liang Mountain, in the direction from the southwest to the northeast, with a total length of 75 kilometers.
