Topic summary
Liang Province rebellion
Qiang peoples
Lesser Yuezhi
Huangfu Song
Dong Zhuo
†
Sun Jian
Ma Teng (until 187)
Li Wenhou
Bian Zhang
Han Sui
Ma Teng (from 187)
100,000+ at Meiyang
40,000+ at Chencang
The Liang Province rebellion (Chinese: 涼州之亂) from 184 to 189 started as an insurrection of the Qiang peoples against the Han dynasty in the western province of Liang (roughly present-day Wuwei, Gansu) in the second century AD in China, but the Lesser Yuezhi and sympathetic Han rebels soon joined the cause to wrestle control of the province away from central authority. This rebellion, which closely followed the Yellow Turban Rebellion, was part of a series of disturbances that led to the decline and ultimate downfall of the Han dynasty. Despite receiving relatively little attention in the hands of traditional historians, the rebellion nonetheless had lasting importance as it weakened Han Chinese power in the northwest and prepared that land for a number of non-Han-ruled states in the centuries to come.