page_title: Northern Liang
hierarchical_section_title: Northern Liang
caption_attribution_description: English: Asia in 400 AD
context_page_description: The Northern Liang was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms in China. It was ruled by the Juqu family of Lushui Hu origin. Although the ethnic Han Chinese Duan Ye was initially enthroned as the Northern Liang ruler with support from the Juqu clan, Duan was subsequently overthrown in 401 and Juqu Mengxun was proclaimed monarch.
  All rulers of the Northern Liang proclaimed themselves "wang".
  Most Chinese historians view the Northern Liang as having ended in 439, when its capital Guzang in modern Wuwei, Gansu fell to Northern Wei forces and the Northern Liang ruler Juqu Mujian captured. However, some view his brothers Juqu Wuhui and Juqu Anzhou, who subsequently settled with Northern Liang remnants in Gaochang in modern Turpan Prefecture, Xinjiang, as a continuation of the Northern Liang, and thus view the Northern Liang as having ended in 460 when Gaochang fell to Rouran and was made a vassal.
  It was during the Northern Liang that the first Buddhist cave shrine sites appear in Gansu Province. The two most famous cave sites are Tiantishan, which was south of the Northern Liang capital at Yongcheng, and Wenshushan, halfway between Yongcheng and Dunhuang.
context_section_description: The Northern Liang (Chinese: 北涼; pinyin: Bĕi Liáng; 397-439) was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms in China. It was ruled by the Juqu family of Lushui Hu origin (a branch of the Xiongnu). Although the ethnic Han Chinese Duan Ye was initially enthroned as the Northern Liang ruler with support from the Juqu clan, Duan was subsequently overthrown in 401 and Juqu Mengxun was proclaimed monarch.
  All rulers of the Northern Liang proclaimed themselves "wang" (translatable as either "prince" or "king").
  Most Chinese historians view the Northern Liang as having ended in 439, when its capital Guzang (姑臧) in modern Wuwei, Gansu fell to Northern Wei forces and the Northern Liang ruler Juqu Mujian captured. However, some view his brothers Juqu Wuhui and Juqu Anzhou, who subsequently settled with Northern Liang remnants in Gaochang (高昌) in modern Turpan Prefecture, Xinjiang, as a continuation of the Northern Liang, and thus view the Northern Liang as having ended in 460 when Gaochang fell to Rouran and was made a vassal.
  It was during the Northern Liang that the first Buddhist cave shrine sites appear in Gansu Province. The two most famous cave sites are Tiantishan ("Celestial Ladder Mountain"), which was south of the Northern Liang capital at Yongcheng, and Wenshushan ("Manjusri's Mountain"), halfway between Yongcheng and Dunhuang. Maijishan lies more or less on a main route connecting China and Central Asia (approximately 150 miles (240 km) west of modern Xi'an), just south of the Weihe (Wei River). It had the additional advantage of located not too distant from a main route that also ran N-S to Chengdu and the Indian subcontinent.
  In 442, remnants of the Northern Liang royal family established a new kingdom in Gaochang, known in historiography as the Northern Liang of Gaochang (Chinese: 高昌北涼; pinyin: Gāochāng Bĕi Liáng; 442-460). The new state was led by Juqu Wuhui and Juqu Anzhou where they would hold on to power until 460 when they were conquered by the Rouran.   The remnants of the Juqu family were slaughtered.
caption: Northern Liang and other Asian nations in 400 AD
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