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Western Wei

The Western Wei Dynasty (Chinese: 西魏朝; pinyin: Xī Wèi Cháo) followed the disintegration of the northern wei, and ruled northern China from 535 to 556.

After the Xianbei general Yuwen Tai killed the northern wei emperor Yuan Xiu, he installed Yuan Baoju as emperor of Western Wei while Yuwen Tai would remain as the virtual ruler. Although smaller than the eastern wei in territory and population, Western Wei was able to withstand the attacks from the eastern empire. Due to its better economical conditions, Western Wei was even able to conquer the whole western part of the Liang empire in the south and occupied the territory of modern Sichuan . In 557 Yuwen Tai's nephew Yuwen Hu deposed Emperor Gong and placed Yuwen Tai's son Yuwen Jue on the throne, ending Western Wei and establishing northern zhou dynasty. .

Buddhist art

The Buddhist art of the eastern wei displays a combination of Greco-Buddhist influences from Gandhara and Central Asia (representations of flying figures holding wreaths, Greek-style folds of the drapery), together with Chinese artistic influences.

Ruler

posthumous names (shi hao諡號)	born names	period of reigns	era names (nian hao年號) and their according range of years
convention: Western Wei + posthumous name
wen di(文帝 wén dì)	yuan baoju (元寶炬 yuán bǎo jù)	535-551	Datong (大統 dà tǒng)535-551
fei di(廢帝 fèi dì)	yuan qin (元欽 yuán qīn)	552-554	did not exist
gong di(恭帝 gōng dì)	tuoba kuo (拓拔廓 tuò bá kuò)	554-556	did not exist