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A Prince of Martial Splendour in the Sixteen Kingdoms: Li Hao (351-417), Ruler of Western Liang
Series: - Sinica Leidensia, Volume: 171
Editor:
The Sixteen Kingdoms (304-439) saw Northern China become a multiethnic mosaic of states and statelets, one of which was Western Liang (400-422) in modern Gansu province at the edge of the Silk Roads. Its founder Li Hao was a Han settler on soil only recently annexed to the Empire. Here, immigrants ruled semi-nomadic locals, while elsewhere, non-Chinese ruling houses dealt with local Chinese elites. Their interaction, here seen close up in the life and times of Li Hao, had a lasting formative influence on Chinese culture and society for centuries to come.
Dominik Declercq (Ph.D. Leiden, 1993) is an independent scholar who has lived and worked in China for nearly 40 years. He is the author of Writing against the State: Political Rhetorics in Third and Fourth Century China (Brill, 1998).
"A Prince of Martial Splendour is a rich and remarkable work that will surely inspire future research on this little understood and critically understudied period in Chinese history. In sum, Dominik Declercq has done us a great service with his new book, and I will return to it again and again."- Stephanie Balkwill, Journal of Chinese History (2025) doi:10.1017/jch.2025.10060.
Preface
Maps
1 Introduction
2 The Hexi Corridor
3 The Colonisation of Liangzhou, 100 BCE to 300 CE
4 Former Liang (320–376): Li Hao’s Forebears under the Former Liang
5 Former Qin (351–384) and Later Liang (385–403)
6 Linked Destinies: Li Hao and Juqu Mengxun
7 Building a State, Part 1: Li Hao’s Western Liang
8 Building a State, Part 2: Juqu Mengxun’s Northern Liang
9 Relations with Eastern Jin
10 Li Hao Moves to Jiuquan
11 Li Hao’s Last Years
12 The Sequel: Li Hao’s Son Loses Western Liang
13 The Aftermath, and Conclusions
Appendix 1: Commandant Protectors of the Qiang
Appendix 2: Prefects of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Maps
1 Introduction
2 The Hexi Corridor
3 The Colonisation of Liangzhou, 100 BCE to 300 CE
4 Former Liang (320–376): Li Hao’s Forebears under the Former Liang
5 Former Qin (351–384) and Later Liang (385–403)
6 Linked Destinies: Li Hao and Juqu Mengxun
7 Building a State, Part 1: Li Hao’s Western Liang
8 Building a State, Part 2: Juqu Mengxun’s Northern Liang
9 Relations with Eastern Jin
10 Li Hao Moves to Jiuquan
11 Li Hao’s Last Years
12 The Sequel: Li Hao’s Son Loses Western Liang
13 The Aftermath, and Conclusions
Appendix 1: Commandant Protectors of the Qiang
Appendix 2: Prefects of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang
Abbreviations
Bibliography
Students and scholars of Chinese history and early medieval Chinese literary texts.