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The Frontier Capital: Datong Under the Northern Wei, 398-494 CE (eBook, ePUB)

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

In 398 CE, on the windswept frontier between the Mongolian steppe and agricultural China, the nomadic Tuoba Xianbei people made a radical choice. Instead of conquering and occupying a traditional Chinese city, they built their own: Pingcheng, the "City of Peace." For nearly a century, this metropolis served as the capital of their powerful Northern Wei dynasty.

History has often dismissed this period as a simple story of "Sinicization"-the process of "barbarians" inevitably becoming Chinese. The Frontier Capital reveals a far more complex and fascinating reality. Drawing on archaeological evidence from the city's ruins, a critical re-reading of court histories, and a deep analysis of its spectacular art, this book argues that Pingcheng was a laboratory for a new kind of empire.

Here, Tuoba rulers governed with a hybrid system that blended steppe clan politics with Chinese bureaucracy. They became fervent Buddhist monarchs, sponsoring the creation of the magnificent Yungang Grottoes-colossal Buddhas carved into cliffsides in a revolutionary style that fused Indian, Central Asian, and Chinese art. This was not assimilation. This was innovation.

The Frontier Capital is the definitive story of this forgotten city, a gripping investigation into how a frontier zone became a creative center that redefined the meaning of "China" and left a lasting legacy on all of East Asia.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Legendary Archives Publishing
• Erscheinungstermin: 10. Juli 2025
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9798227197573
• Artikelnr.: 74923951