The Policies Of The Northern Wei Dynasty On Exotic Royal Exiles

Lots of regimes were established after the Yongjia rebellion and they oftenfought for supremacy. After plenty of scuffles, those regimes becameprosperity or decline, and a lot of royal members became exiles since theylived in other countries. Inherited and carried forward their tradition, the rulersof the Northern Wei Dynasty kneed to absorb the exiles. The emperors gavetheir guests lots of preferential treatments, but also set many restrictions forthem. As a result, a substantial number of royal exiles surrendered to theNorthern Wei Dynasty. They made great contributions to the recipient, and thepolitical roles of their descendants mostly changed with the time went on.According to the above, the thesis mainly consists of five chapters:Chapter1: This section is the summary of the surrender of exotic royalexiles. The number of royal exiles was huge and they surrendered with avariety of background. The exile who from Rouran, Xianbei or Tiefu usuallysurrendered directly, while the one from the Eastern Jin Dynasty or Hexi regionnot, which reflects their different attitude to the Northern Wei Dynasty. With theperfection of the system, the procedures of the surrender in the Northern WeiDynasty also gradually improved.Chapter2: This section discusses the privileges exotic royal exilesreceived, which can be reflected from six parts: The first is titles. Most of royalexiles were awarded king or duke, and their fiefs usually have specialmeanings. Their titles can be inherited longer and their descendants whohaven’t the right of inherit had lots of chance to obtain title. The second isadministrative positions. The royal exiles were awarded high level positionafter their surrender and most of them can reached the highest rank, and theoccupation careers of their descendants were smooth, too. What’s more, theiractual power was great. The third is marriage. The marriage between the royalexiles and the emperors’ family was frequent and consistent, which involved the candidates of the emperors’ wives and the princesses’ husbands and so on.The fourth is economic treatment. The royal exiles had a lot of chance to gainthe reward from the emperor, and the income from their fiefs and salary wasvery considerable, all of which can supply their luxury daily life. The fifth islegal privileges. Some royal exiles were granted judicial waiver rights, while theothers’ crimes can be punished lighter. The last is etiquettes. After the exiles’death, the emperor often granted them honorable titles, positions and plentifulfuneral supplies.Chapter3: This section introduces the restrictions set for the exotic royalexiles. There are five aspects: the control of the royal exiles and hostages, therestriction of residences and burial sites, the limits on regions and fields ofpositions, the strict supervisions from colleagues, assistants and subordinates,and the strict legal sanctions.Chapter4: This section is the comparisons of the Northern Wei Dynastyand other regimes. Compare with the ill-defended of the Former Qin, the LaterQin and the Southern Liang, the neglect of the Eastern Jin and the SouthernDynasties, the policies on exotic royal exiles in the Northern Wei Dynasty weresuccessful.Chapter5: This section discusses the change of political roles of thedescendants of the exotic royal exiles. On the one hand, the exiles had hugepowers as the vassals of the emperors, what made them gradually became themembers of Dai, on the other hand, relied on the advantage of politics,marriage and culture, the exiles became aristocrats at last.