*NORTHERN WEI*
(386 – 534)
(the Northern and Southern dynasties (Chinese: 南北朝; pinyin: Nán-Běi Cháo; Jyutping: naam4baak1 ciu4) was a period in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the “Sixteen Kingdoms” and the “Wu Hu” states)
(it is sometimes considered as the latter part of a longer period known as the “Six Dynasties” (220 to 589))
(though an age of civil war and political chaos, it was also a time of flourishing arts and culture, advancement in technology, and the spread of ‘Mahayana Buddhism’ and ‘Daoism’)
(the period saw large-scale migration of ‘Han Chinese’ to the lands south of the ‘Yangtze’)
(the period came to an end with the unification of all of ‘china proper’ by ‘Emperor Wen’ of the ‘Sui Dynasty’)
(during this period, the process of ‘sinicization’ accelerated among the non-chinese arrivals in the north and among the indigenous people in the south)
(this process was also accompanied by the increasing popularity of ‘Buddhism’ (introduced into ‘China’ in the 1st century) in both northern and southern China and ‘Daoism’ gaining influence as well, with two essential Daoist canons written during this period)
(notable technological advances occurred during this period)
(the invention of the ‘stirrup’ during the earlier Jin dynasty (265–420) helped spur the development of heavy cavalry as a combat standard)
(historians also note advances in medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and cartography)
(intellectuals of the period include the mathematician and astronomer ‘Zu Chongzhi’ (429–500))