Xiaowen (孝文帝) (467 - 499) was the emperor of the Northern Wei dynasty from 471 to 499. Events April 12 - Anthemius elevated to Western Roman Emperor Births Leo II, Byzantine emperor Cerdic of Wessex (approximate date). ... Events March 1 - Pope Symmachus makes Antipope Laurentius bishop of Nocera in Campania. ... The king or wang (王 wang2) was the Chinese head of state from the Zhou to Qin dynasties. ... The Northern Wei Dynasty (北魏 386-534) is most noted for the unification of northern China in 440, it was also heavily involved in funding the arts and many antiques and art works from this period have survived. ... Events Northern Wei Xiao Wen Di succeeds Northern Wei Xian Wen Di as ruler of the Chinese Northern Wei Dynasty Acacius becomes Patriarch of Constantinople. ... Events March 1 - Pope Symmachus makes Antipope Laurentius bishop of Nocera in Campania. ...

Xiaowen implemented a drastic policy of sinicization, intending to centralize the government and make the multi-ethnic state more easy to govern. These policies included changing artistic styles to reflect Chinese taste and forcing the population to speak the language and to wear Chinese clothes. He forced the Xianbei and others to adopt Chinese surnames, and changed his family surname from Tuoba to Yuan (元). He also encouraged intermarriage between Xianbei and Han. Sinicization, or less commonly Sinification, is to make things Chinese. ... Han Chinese clothing, or Hanfu (TC: 漢服; SC: 汉服; pinyin: hànfú;; literally Clothing of the Han people) refers to the pre-17th century traditional clothing of the Han Chinese, the predominant ethnic group of China. ... The Xianbei (鮮卑, written Xiānbēi in pinyin or Hsien-pei in Wade-Giles) is a significant nomadic people residing in modern Manchuria and eastern Mongolia before migrating into areas of the modern provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Hebei, Inner Mongolia and Liaoning. ... A Chinese surname, also called a clan name or family name (Chinese: 姓; pinyin: or 氏; shì), is one of the over seven hundred family names used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups. ... Tuoba (拓拔 pinyin Tuòbá) or To-pa in Wade-Giles was a clan of the Xianbei people. ...

In 494, he moved the Northern Wei capital to Luoyang, a city long acknowledged as a major center in Chinese history. The shift in the capital was mirrored by a shift in tactics from active defense to passive defense against the Rouran. While the capital was moved to Luoyang, the military elite remained centered at the old capital, widening the differences between the administration and the military. The population at the old capital remained fiercely conservative, while the population at Luoyang were much more eager to adopt Xiaowen's policies of sinicization. Events Pope Gelasius I delineates the relationship between church and state. ... The Northern Wei Dynasty (北魏 386-534) is most noted for the unification of northern China in 440, it was also heavily involved in funding the arts and many antiques and art works from this period have survived. ... Numerous cities have been the capital of China during the course of history. ... Luoyang (Simplified Chinese: 洛阳; Traditional Chinese: 洛陽; pinyin: ) is a city in Henan province, China. ... China is one of the worlds oldest continuous major civilizations, with written records dating back about 3,500 years and with 5,000 years being commonly used by Chinese as the age of their civilization. ... Juan Juan (wg), Ruanruan (py), Ru Ru (py) or Rouran 柔然 (py) was the name of a confederacy of nomadic tribes on the northern borders of China proper from late 4th century until late 6th century. ...

His reforms were met with resistance by the Xianbei elite. In 496, Xianbei nobles and generals in the north rebelled, intending to place his son on the throne. By 497, Xiaowen had ended the rebellion and forced his own son to commit suicide. The resentments engendered by these policies contributed to the downfall of the dynasty in the mid-6th century. Events Battle of Tolbiac; Clovis I defeats the Alamanni accepts Catholic baptism at Reims. ... Events Aryabhata, an Indian astronomer and mathematician, calculates pi (π) as ≈ 62832/20000 = 3. ... (5th century — 6th century — 7th century — other centuries) Events The first academy of the east the Academy of Gundeshapur founded in Persia by the Persian Shah Khosrau I. Irish colonists and invaders, the Scots, began migrating to Caledonia (later known as Scotland) Glendalough monastery, Wicklow Ireland founded by St. ...

References

• Graff, David A., Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900. ISBN 0415239540