Northern Liang

Northern Liang (北涼)
建康 (397–399), 涼 (399–401, 431–433), 張掖 (401–412), 河西 (412–431, 433–441, 442–460), 酒泉 (441–442)
Vassal of Later Qin, Jin Dynasty (265-420), Northern Wei, Liu Song
397–460
Northern Liang and other Asian nations in 400 AD
Capital		Jiankang (397–398) Zhangye (398–412) Guzang (412–439) Jiuquan (440–441) Dunhuang (441–442)
Capital-in-exile		Shanshan (442) Gaochang (442–460)
Government		Monarchy
Prince
•	397–401	Duan Ye
•	401–433	Juqu Mengxun
•	433–439	Juqu Mujian
•	442–444	Juqu Wuhui
•	444–460	Juqu Anzhou
History
•	Established	397
•	Li Gao's declaring independence as Western Liang	400
•	Juqu Mengxun's killing of Duan Ye	401
•	Juqu Mengxun's destruction of Western Liang	421
•	Fall of Guzang to Northern Wei (often viewed as date of Northern Liang's fall)	18 October 439
•	Disestablished	460
Preceded by Succeeded by Former Liang Southern Liang Western Qin Northern Wei Gaochang

The Northern Liang (Chinese: 北涼; pinyin: Bĕi Liáng; 397-439) was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms in China. It was founded by the Xiongnu Juqu family, although they initially supported the Han official Duan Ye as prince, they overthrew him in 401 and took over the state for themselves.

All rulers of the Northern Liang proclaimed themselves "wang" (translatable as "prince" or "king").

Most Chinese historians view the Northern Liang as having ended in 439, when its capital Guzang (姑臧, in modern Wuwei, Gansu) fell to Northern Wei forces and its prince Juqu Mujian was captured. However, some view his cousins Juqu Wuhui and Juqu Anzhou, who subsequently settled with Northern Liang remnants in Gaochang (高昌, in modern Turpan Prefecture, Xinjiang), as a continuation of the Northern Liang, and thus view the Northern Liang as having ended in 460 when Gaochang fell to Rouran and was made a vassal.

It was during the Northern Liang that the first Buddhist cave shrine sites appear in Gansu Province. The two most famous sites are Tiandishan ("Celestial Ladder Mountain"), which was south of the Northern Liang capital at Yongcheng, and Wenshushan ("Manjusri's Mountain"), halfway between Yongcheng and Dunhuang. Maijishan lies more or less on a main route connecting China and Central Asia (approximately 150 miles (240 km) west of modern Xi'an), just south of the Weihe (Wei River). It had the additional advantage of located not too distant from a main route that also ran N-S to Chengdu and the Indian subcontinent.