Shengle () was the capital of the

Xianbei The Xianbei (; ) were an ancient nomadic people that once resided in the eastern Eurasian steppes in what is today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China. The Xianbei were likely not of a single ethnicity, but rather a multiling ...

-led Dai state and the first capital of the

Northern Wei dynasty Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an imperial dynasty of Chi ...

in the 4th century. The ruins of ancient Shengle is located at present-day Xiyaozi and Tuchengzi village, in the town of , in Horinger County, south of

Hohhot Hohhot,; abbreviated zh, c=呼市, p=Hūshì, labels=no formerly known as Kweisui, is the Capital (political), capital of Inner Mongolia in the North China, north of the China, People's Republic of China, serving as the region's administrativ ...

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

. The

Tuoba The Tuoba (Chinese language, Chinese) or Tabgatch (, ''Tabγač''), also known by #Names, other names, was an influential Xianbei clan in early imperial China. During the Sixteen Kingdoms after the fall of Han and the Three Kingdoms, the Tuoba e ...

clan of the Xianbei people made Shengle their political center during the mid-

3rd century The 3rd century was the period from AD 201 (represented by the Roman numerals CCI) to AD 300 (CCC) in accordance with the Julian calendar. In this century, the Roman Empire saw a crisis, starting with the assassination of the Roman Emperor ...

, and subsequently experienced a pronounced political rise. It served as the capital of the Dai state, and as the first capital of the Northern Wei. Towards the end of the 4th century, the Northern Wei focused its conquests south, and ultimately moved its capital from Shengle to

Pingcheng Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province, China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of ...

, which was located further south. The site would later become the capital of the Zhenwu County of the Liao dynasty. The archaeological ruins of Shengle were unearthed in 1971. Parts of the rammed-earth walls of the ancient city are still intact. The peripheral walls run from east to west and from north to south.

History

The area of Shengle was historically inhabited by various

nomadic Nomads are communities without fixed habitation who regularly move to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pa ...

peoples. Prior to inhabitation by the

, the area was dominated by the Xiongnu people. Most of the Xiongnu who previously inhabited the area moved westwards, enabling the Xianbei and

Wuhuan The Wuhuan (, < Eastern Han Chinese: *''ʔɑ-ɣuɑn'', <

During the mid-

Tuoba Liwei Tuoba Liwei () (174–277) was the first leader of the Tuoba-Xianbei tribe who lived during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the ancestor of the future Northern Wei Dynasty and was thus posthumously honored as Emperor Shenyuan, with the ...

, the first leader of the

clan of the Xianbei, encouraged his fellow Tuoba to move to Shengle, , within the

Dingxiang Commandery Dingxiang Commandery ( zh, 定襄郡) was a historical commandery of China. It was located in the southern part of modern Hohhot and Ulanqab prefectures in Inner Mongolia. The commandery was separated from Yunzhong during Emperor Gaozu of Han's ...

. During the 3rd century, the commandery was abandoned due to the

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...

invasions. During this time, the Tuoba clan experienced a pronounced political rise. In 312 CE, Tuoba leader

Tuoba Yilu Tuoba Yilu (; died 316) was the chieftain of the western Tuoba territory from 295 to 307, supreme chieftain of the Tuoba from 307 to 316, Duke of Dai from 310 to 315, and first ruler of the Dai kingdom from 315 to 316. He was the son of Tuoba Sham ...

, the first leader of the Dai, briefly made

the state's southern capital, while Shengle served only as its northern capital. After his death in 316 CE, Dai leadership abandoned Pingcheng as its southern capital, and Shengle once again served as its sole political center. Upon the establishment of the

in 386 CE, following the fall of the Dai, the Northern Wei retained Shengle as its capital. However, as it conquered more land to its south from the

Later Yan Yan, known in historiography as the Later Yan (; 384 – 407 or 409), was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Xianbei people during the era of Sixteen Kingdoms. The prefix "Later" to distinguish them from the Former Yan before them and othe ...

, the Tuoba clan shifted its political weight further south. During this time, the political importance of Pingcheng grew significantly. In 398 CE, under the reign of

Tuoba Gui Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei (; 4 August 371 – 6 November 409), personal name Tuoba Gui (), né Tuoba Shegui (), was the founding emperor of the Northern Wei dynasty of China. He was the grandson of the last prince of Dai, Tuoba Shiyiqian. Af ...

, the capital of the Northern Wei dynasty was moved from Shengle to Pingcheng.

Excavations

The archaeological ruins of the city of Shengle were unearthed in 1971. Previously, other relics spanning from the

Warring States Period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...

to the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

were discovered at the site.

Geography

The site of Shengle is located in present-day Horinger County, in

. It is in the south of the

Yin Mountains The Yin Mountains, also known by their Chinese name as the Yin Shan or Yinshan and by various romanizations as the Daqing Mountains, are mountains in the Eastern Gobi Desert steppe of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of China. The Yellow Riv ...

, and north of the

Great Wall of China The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' long wall") is a series of fortifications in China. They were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against vario ...

Economy

During Shengle's time as the political center of the

clan, its economy was primarily

, although

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

was also practiced.

Culture

Chinese historian Fengwen Peng contends that, during its time as the center of the

, Shengle exhibited political and cultural elements which drew from both the nomadic peoples of the surrounding

steppes In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropical gr ...

, as well as those of the Central Plains of China. Peng also contends that the Northern Wei dynasty's shift in capital from Shengle to Pingcheng symbolizes its ascendance from a nomadic entity to a dynasty in the tradition of the Central Plains.

References

{{reflist Archaeological sites in China Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Inner Mongolia Ruins in China Northern Wei Tuoba