Later Zhao
Zhao, briefly known officially as Wei (衛) in 350, known in historiography as the Later Zhao (simplified Chinese: 后赵; traditional Chinese: 後趙; pinyin: Hòu Zhào; 319–351) or Shi Zhao (石趙), was a dynasty of China ruled by the Shi family of Jie ethnicity during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. According to Alexander Vovin, the Jie were most likely a Yeniseian people and spoke next to Chinese one of the Yeniseian languages. Among the Sixteen Kingdoms, the Later Zhao was the second in territorial size to the Former Qin dynasty that once unified northern China under Fu Jian.
Zhao 趙 | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 319–351 | |||||||||||||||||||
Later Zhao in northern China | |||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Xiangguo (319–335, 350–351) Yecheng (335–350) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||
| Emperor | |||||||||||||||||||
• 319–333 | Shi Le | ||||||||||||||||||
• 333–334 | Shi Hong | ||||||||||||||||||
• 334–349 | Shi Hu | ||||||||||||||||||
• 349 | Shi Shi | ||||||||||||||||||
• 349 | Shi Zun | ||||||||||||||||||
• 349–350 | Shi Jian | ||||||||||||||||||
• 350–351 | Shi Zhi | ||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||
• Established | 319 | ||||||||||||||||||
• Destruction of Han-Zhao | 329 | ||||||||||||||||||
• Shi Le's claim of imperial title | 330 | ||||||||||||||||||
• Shi Hu's seizing the throne from Shi Hong | 335 | ||||||||||||||||||
• Ran Min's establishment of Ran Wei | 350 | ||||||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | 351 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||||||||
| 329 est. | 2,500,000 km2 (970,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Today part of | China | ||||||||||||||||||
When the Later Zhao was founded by former Han-Zhao general Shi Le, the capital was at Xiangguo (襄國, in modern Xingtai, Hebei), but in 335 Shi Hu moved the capital to Yecheng (鄴城, in modern Handan, Hebei), where it would remain for the rest of the state's history (except for Shi Zhi's brief attempt to revive the state at Xiangguo).