The Process Of Centralization Of The North Wei Regime

North Wei was the first nomadic dynasty that continuously ruled over North China for over a hundred years. They carried out reforms at the highest peak of their rule. There is not any historical example that ruling people abandons their own language and name,and use an occupied nation's. Why did they reform and abandon their own language,name and clothing? What was the purpose of the reform? Solving this problem is the focus for this thesis.Until the present,Chinese historic academic world generally said that the purpose of Xiao Wen emperor's reform is the chinesization(Han-hua). Then,What is the purpose of chinesization? In general,Reform carried by central authorities makes one's country rich and builds up its military power. For this,they need to concentrate on their own energy. The power and ability of reform is related to the centralization. The success and failure of reform is dependent on the centralization.The central government does not mean one of the people. The central government was not a emperor. The Emperor was acme of the central,but was not the central itself. The central government was the imperial household and bureaucrats who supported the existence of it. The centralization include not only the political relationship of central government and local provinces,but also the centralization of the political,economical,social and cultural fields. These are the categories of the studying centralization.In Chinese history,real centralization and complete decentralization exist over a short period. In fact,the process of centralization and decentralization existed during most of the Chinese history. For this reason,studying the process of centralization helps to understand the development and characters of the dynasty. So the centralization is of value to studying Chinese history. It is the reason for writing this thesis.This thesis has four chapters. Chapter one is the period of the three emperors,DaoWu,MingWen,and TaiWu. North Wei expanded their domination with military force. Chapter two is the period of the two emperors WenCheng and XianWen. Through improving appointment affairs,they stabilized the sovereign power. Chapter three is the period of the XiaoWen emperor. They established firm centralization. Chapter four is the period of the emperor XuanWu and the following emperor. North wei centralization is becoming weak and degenerate gradually.