Official History Of The Northern Wei Dynasty

The trends of historiography diversified in Wei-Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasty of China. One of the most important trends of that period was the evolution of Northern Wei’s official historiography. The Central Plains were occupied by the Northern Wei Dynasty, a regime that was set up by Xianbei-an ancient ethnic group in China, which triggered conflicts of different ethnic groups as well as different regimes. To consolidate its rule and spread its fame, Northern Wei Dynasty took the historiography of its national history as its dominant official historiography. It also established an Orthodox Conception, which had its ethnic characteristics, and a Historical Functional Concept, which was comparatively parochial. The official historiography of Northern Wei Dynasty underwent four stages, which were its creation, establishment, evolvement and decline. The development of historiography was deeply related to politics. Northern Wei Dynasty had very strict control over historiography and official historiography was limited within the historiography of national history, so many historians chose private historiography as a way to fulfill their dreams for historiography. This thesis will discuss the above aspects and try to reveal the development, the characteristics and the problems of official historiography of Northern Wei Dynasty comprehensively.