权力斗争亦在长江流域爆发，502年萧衍（梁武帝）取代南齐建立梁朝（502-557年，史称"南梁"）。但洛阳朝廷未认真利用建康动乱，或因缺乏意志坚定的统帅。边境战事持续，但也卷入朝堂政治：514年宣武帝迟滞决定派魏军从渭河谷地南取富庶的蜀地粮仓（建康已暂时失去控制）。但他未循祖制亲征，而是选择高肇为帅——或许试图将其调离洛阳。515年大军行进途中宣武帝驾崩，经短暂派系斗争（因高肇离朝更易解决），胡氏五岁幼子继位（即孝明帝元诩，515-528年在位，从未实际执政）。高肇被召回朝后，任城王元澄与于烈之子于忠将其诛杀。凭借禁军控制权，于忠一度成为朝中主导人物。
胡氏在宣武帝死后立即得到宦官刘腾保护，得以存活并获得太后称号，以摄政身份掌握实权。18高皇后出家为尼。19
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胡氏（谥号灵太后）出自汉族胡氏家族，原籍泾河流域安定镇（今甘肃泾川附近）。太武帝征服该地区后，其家族多人入仕北魏。20胡氏有位姑母是北魏首位正式受戒比丘尼，被文明太后延请入宫担任宗教顾问。后在宫中讲经时引起宣武帝注意，遂召其侄女胡氏入宫。21
随着高氏家族失势及胡氏成为太后，她开始掌控洛阳朝政，通过管理皇室事务来治理国家。引人注目的是，她首先试图在礼仪领域确立权力：援引《周礼》先例主张代幼主主持国家祭祀。遭礼部反对后，她迫使殿中尚书崔光（崔浩远亲22）遍查经典寻找依据。崔光成功完成任务令她欣喜。23获得理论支持后，胡太后开始直接颁布诏书（而非以幼帝名义）。为在将领中树立威信，她还公开展示骑射武艺。24通过这些展演她获得支持或至少默许。但我们将看到，这种统治权力存在脆弱性。
对洛阳权贵而言，这仍是个辉煌时代：承袭文明太后与孝文帝改革成果的和平时期。孝文帝重建的洛阳城在中国建筑传统基础上发展，形成层层嵌套的城防体系：外郭城墙东西逾6英里，南北超4.5英里，容纳人口达50万以上。25约30平方英里的外郭城区设坊墙，如平城旧制。26南北主街设有外宾馆舍，附近坊区以"白象"等命名（因曾有犍陀罗国王进献白象居此27）。毗邻的"四通市"中，据时人歌谣描述，各族商贾可购"洛鲤伊鲂 / 贵于牛羊"。28此类市场依鼓声启闭，据说鼓声15英里外可闻。外郭最大的是"大市"，位于内城西侧，面积约250英亩，周边环绕"通商"等里坊，居住着珠宝商、酿酒师、棺木匠等各行各业从业者。29虽部分商人拥有豪宅，但多数无疑并不富裕。30这种商业与国际化结合虽不及唐长安，却无疑是其先声。
外郭内的内城设官署，经皇帝特许的权臣亦居此。宣武帝舅父高肇曾居宫城南门外宅邸。31该城规划源自孝文帝遣使考察建康（其本身仿西晋洛阳布局）。32以新太极殿为中心的洛阳宫城较平城分散的三四组宫室更为统一。据南朝样式建造的太极殿更超越原型：面阔十三间（十四柱），比建康多一间。现代学者夏南悉指出："尺寸增加可能意在彰显北魏与新都的至高地位"。33
受比丘尼姑母启发，胡太后大力资助佛教。她与他人在北魏晚期都城兴建诸多佛教中心，这些寺院成为杨衒之《洛阳伽蓝记》的组织基础。34最壮丽的佛教圣迹是永宁寺塔（距高肇旧宅不远），516年（太后摄政次年）始建。35这座九层木塔位于内城西南，高达数百尺。36据说30英里外可见。37塔刹金瓶贮宝珠，下置十一重金盘承露。铁链悬挂"容二十五斛"金铃，各层檐角亦悬金铃。朱漆门扇饰金钉铺首。38竣工后，太后携幼帝登塔眺望，"视宫中如掌内，临京师若家庭"——某种意义上确实如此：因塔俯瞰宫禁，平民不得登临。39对居高临下的胡太后而言，俯视下方也象征着对世界的掌控。40
《伽蓝记》作者杨衒之曾获登塔殊荣，感叹"诚是神功"。41这愉悦回忆写于洛阳倾覆二十余年后，在哀悼中追忆逝去辉煌。516年始建的永宁寺塔仅存18年，534年毁于火灾。
但站在塔顶眺望寺院、市集与宅邸时，未来仍难预料。除永宁寺塔外，胡太后继续资助龙门石窟工程（唐代将更宏大）42。北魏末年洛阳有佛寺近1400所，僧尼超4万——518年灵太后巡幸永宁寺时，"僧尼士女赴者数万人"。43每年佛诞日，皇帝在数百寺院佛像巡游的盛大行列前散花："宝盖浮云，幡幢若林；香烟似雾，梵乐法音聒动天地......名僧德众负锡为群"。44其中或有"波斯胡"菩提达摩——这位半传奇僧侣据称将禅宗雏形传入东亚。杨衒之记载他被永宁寺塔"金盘炫日，光照云表；宝铎含风，响出天外"的景象震撼，赞叹"极佛境界亦未有此"。45
对朝廷过度崇佛及工程劳役繁重的批评时有出现，46但主要承担劳役的汉人农民未爆发大规模反抗。47更强烈的怨恨来自国人群体：驻军士卒不满南方同族特权，洛阳禁军也有怨言。519年，因汉官提议全面禁止禁军晋升高阶文职，引发禁军暴动，该官员父兄被杀。48朝廷惧再生乱，仅逮捕少数首脑，同时给予禁军新的晋升优待。49
更隐忧的是拓跋尚武文化在旧族中的逐渐消逝。任城王元澄担忧洛阳禁军衰弱。50怀朔镇（今内蒙古固阳附近）青年高欢（后成东魏权臣）519年因公赴京时目睹暴动，也见到北魏诸王惊人财富：他们以数百歌姬、专职画师绘制食用鸡蛋等方式竞奢。51返北后，高欢开始以不同方式消费：在驻军中培植私人势力。他说："洛中如此气象，安能长守富贵？"52
在此背景下，胡太后无疑希望获得可靠支持。她不时开放充盈国库让官员自取，类似旧时战利品分配。53为寻求更私人化支持，这位年轻寡妇与孝文帝之子清河王元怿建立政治与情感双重联盟。54这种关系对双方及国家似乎都有效：元怿不仅仪表堂堂，还勤于政事，与那些沉迷声色的宗室不同。55史书罕见地称赞太后聪慧干练。56二人形成称职统治组合，维持着庞大的税收机器——即便领导失效后仍短暂运转。
古今政治皆基于人际关系。除清河王外，联盟要员多来自婚姻纽带，最重要的是太后妹夫元叉。57元叉具双重身份：既是胡太后妹夫，又与幼帝有远亲关系。其父江阳王元继在孝文帝时任北镇大将，负责抵御柔然并控制内迁游牧民，时而驻北，时而调任洛阳禁军统帅。这支宗室力量成为太后重要棋子：她罢免于忠领军将军的职务，改任元继。519年元叉火箭晋升，接掌此职，至此"总摄禁旅"。58
据说胡太后"深相委信"元叉59，这酿成大错。权力斗争在太后情人与妹夫间爆发：清河王试图遏制元叉野心。元叉则联合太后亲信宦官刘腾，向孝明帝诬告其母情人意图毒杀自己篡位。60获得幼帝许可后，元叉软禁太后，处决清河王。献文帝之子高阳王元雍被推为丞相，但实权掌握在被皇帝称"姨父"的元叉手中。
据载数百国人"刀劈面门"哀悼清河王，多次政变图谋均告失败。元叉凭禁军支持及盟友刘腾掌控内宫维持权力。61宗室亲王包括清河王兄弟及圆滑的高阳王（虽居相位却唯唯诺诺62）也予默许。胡太后时期已存在的腐败在元叉治下更甚：其父被描为贪婪老朽，高阳王堪比东方克拉苏，获准乘羽盖车驾，以百名执彩剑禁卫扈从。63元叉宫内盟友刘腾"剥削六镇"，在边疆从事暴利贸易。64
这些记载可能有政敌夸大成分。我们缺乏确凿证据比较元叉时期与20或50年前情形。但显然帝国开始崩解：虽与统治者个人缺陷有关，但根本问题在于都城精英与边疆军事重心日益扩大的地理与社会隔阂——250年后唐玄宗与粟特安禄山将再现类似局面。65尽管元叉通过父亲与北镇有联系，但他与胡太后同样忽视高欢等人揭示的问题。问题根源可追溯497年镇压引发的北镇将士疏离——君主不再是可汗，而是"异类"。66孝文帝曾想通过特定典籍改造他们，却抱怨"北人每言'用此何为'"。67更现实的是，北镇戍卒地位沦落，驻地成为流放地68，日益受洛阳来将盘剥，晋升机会也受限。据某宗室评论："毕世难求一军主"。69背后是严酷环境下人造社区的生存困境。70
元叉在520年代初收容柔然可汗阿那瓌（520-552年在位），助其北返夺位，却在草原引发动荡。71 523年旱灾导致牲畜锐减，阿那瓌劫掠边境十万牲畜北遁，十五万魏军追剿失利。广阳王元渊评论：北人目睹朝廷军弱，"始轻中国"。72这成为北魏终结开端：旱灾与持续袭扰引发兵变、叛乱，更根本的是戍卒大规模南迁——他们对洛阳景观及其组织原则漠不关心。
这些人在后继政权中重建北魏军事遗产。但洛阳与北镇关系恶化可见于于忠弟于景事例：他因反对元叉被罚往怀荒镇（今河北张北）。523年遭柔然攻击时，戍卒求开仓赈饥被拒，遂杀于景夺粮。73随后匈奴裔破六韩拔陵在沃野镇（黄河河套西）兵变，引发连锁反应。西北盖吴旧地爆发起义，山西、河南山民叛乱招引建康北进。
北方沦为战场或荒地，资源尽失于洛阳。74唯山西北部尔朱氏自治领坚持——该势力形成于道武帝南征时期，以"山谷量牛马"着称。75 520年代叛乱中，首领尔朱荣以旧秩序捍卫者自居，吸纳大量戍卒难民，包括怀朔镇高欢（后成东魏实际统治者）。
在此剧变中，525年元叉旧部、镇守南疆要地彭城（今江苏徐州）的将领因恐洛阳权力更迭，投降萧衍。这导致元叉地位迅速崩溃。此时胡太后已获有限自由，高阳王元雍（不再唯命是从）设法密陈对元叉的担忧。76胡太后趁机利用元叉因彭城失守的窘境，迫其辞去领军将军职务，但保留其他头衔。当元叉离开宫禁后，随即被罢免侍中职位，失去入宫资格。77顾及与元叉的亲属关系（及对妹妹的情谊），太后一度不愿深究。最终在多方压力下——包括刚被元叉排挤后重返朝廷的任城王之子控诉——太后以煽动蛮族叛乱罪名处置妹夫。78元叉被令家中自尽。523年去世的刘腾遭掘墓戮尸。79
胡太后重掌大权。但尽管西南未受影响地区仍在征税，朝廷整体控制力持续衰退。80太后与元叉同样无力阻止帝国解体。当边镇军队围绕尔朱荣、高欢等新领袖重组时，洛阳官军困境加剧。士兵不断逃亡，部分沦为盗匪。81随着军队因逃亡或战损减员，可用征兵区域日渐萎缩。适龄役夫越来越多遁入空门。北魏灭亡时，僧尼总数约二百万。82更严峻的是，现存部队几乎缺乏合格将领。83即便偶有能者，也因朝廷猜忌或政敌掣肘难以施展，甚至招致杀身之祸。84结果自然是官军连战连败。85
朝廷方面，独裁被派系政治取代。胡太后新宠郑州美男子郑俨，允许其代行政务。郑俨与野心家徐纥勾结，后者通过攀附太后情夫攫取权力。
此时期多数诏令出自徐纥手笔。86少数例外出现在526-527年，朝廷三度发布御驾亲征诏书。87这些可能源自年轻皇帝构想的计划均未实施，显然被太后否决。孝明帝本人则冷落母亲安排的胡族皇后，专宠潘氏女子。88
528年初，斗争白热化。3月初，胡太后为削弱儿子势力，诛杀其多名朝中盟友。89母（执政者）子（在位者）公开决裂，孝明帝转而寻求外援，联络自称忠臣的尔朱荣——后者借数年动乱扩张山西势力，以战略要地太原为基地。90
计划未如期实施，孝明帝被太后毒杀。随后发生诡异事件链：胡太后先立潘嫔月前诞下的女婴为帝，旋即醒悟不妥，改立孝文帝曾孙（三岁男童）。91尔朱荣以"匡扶朝廷"为名率军南下洛阳。黄河北岸，他拥立孝文帝弟彭城王之孙元子攸为帝，率万众渡河。528年5月15日，联军驻跸河阴，宣告新魏帝即位。92郑俨、徐纥与部分禁军将领逃亡，余众投降尔朱，城门洞开。太后为孝明帝后宫女子剃度，试图以比丘尼身份保全她们。
虽然自行落发，胡太后未能安度寺院生涯。渡河两日后，尔朱荣遣骑拘捕太后与其三岁傀儡，押至河阴。胡太后长篇自辩未获接受，二人被沉黄河。93此时某位投诚禁军将领指出尔朱军队不足万人，难以实际控制朝廷众多官员。94于是尔朱荣以祭腾格尔(天)为名，召集群臣至河阴，斥责其贪腐与纵容弑君之罪。95随后令骑兵屠戮，万众高呼"元氏既灭，尔朱氏兴"。数千身着华服的官员合掌哀求而死，其中包括大部分统治家族成员，包括那位善于变通的丞相高阳王——此次他再无转圜余地。96
至此我们结束北魏王朝的叙述。尔朱荣最终克制野心，选择幕后掌权。惊惧交加的元子攸继续充当傀儡两年，后手刃尔朱荣，旋被尔朱氏族反杀。尔朱势力很快被高欢等边镇将领取代，他们扶植元氏傀儡执掌西魏、东魏，直至550年代中期。但这些已是他人之国，权力中心既不在盛乐、平城，亦非洛阳。什翼犍近二百年前创建的国家，在演变为元氏王朝的历程中历经嬗变，最终走向消亡。
1. According to Confucius, the sage-king Shun ruled “simply by reverently and properly facing to the south” (Analects 15:4). This idea continued to develop in the Warring States period, taking its fullest shape in such Qin thinkers as Han Fei and Li Si.
2. Kang Le, “Empire for a City: Cultural Reforms of the Hsiao-wen Emperor (A.D. 471–499)” (PhD diss., Yale University, 1983).
3. WS 47.1047–48; ZZTJ 138.4331.
4. Skaff, Sui-Tang China and Its Turko-Mongol Neighbors, 14, points out that in East Asia during this period political identity was based on personal allegiance. Thus, the loyalty of the Northern Wei soldiers came from the monarch’s personal leadership. When that leadership ended, so did the effective base of their loyalty.
5. BS 13.499 (WS 13.332). This was at the suggestion of Yuan Pi. See discussion in Holmgren, “Harem in Northern Wei Politics,” 89.
6. For more detail on these events, see Balkwill, “When Renunciation is Good Politics,” 247–49.
7. WS 7B.182. See her biography in BS 13.499–501 (WS 13.333–35).
8. ZZTJ 142.4435–36; Holmgren, “The Harem in Northern Wei Politics,” 92–96, suggests exaggeration of the situation based on gender bias, particularly questioning the hints that she had been involved in the death of Madam Gao (see just below).
9. ZZTJ 141.4411. Liu Jinglong 刘景龙, Bin yang dong: Longmen shi ku di 104, 140, 159 ku 宾阳洞: 龙门石窟第 104、140、159 窟 (Beijing: Wen wu chu ban she, 2010), 8–10; and see also Amy McNair, “The Relief Sculptures in the Binyang Central Grotto at Longmen and the ‘Problem’ of Pictorial Stones,” in Between Han and Tang: Visual and Material Culture in a Transformative Period, ed. Wu Hung (Beijing: Wen wu chu ban she, 2003), 157–86. The relief has been removed from the cave, and is now—controversially—at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City; the matching relief featuring Xiaowen is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.
10. WS 13.335 (BS 13.501). Holmgren suggests, on the basis of inference, that the emperor may not have actually given the command, and that this represented instead a power struggle between the Feng empress and the princes of the blood: “The Harem in Northern Wei Politics,” 95.
11. Holmgren, “Social Mobility in the Northern Dynasties.”
12. WS 21A.537–38; WS 8.193. For Yu Lie, see WS 31; Zhang, Jin wei wu guan, 2: 680
13. BS 13.502 (WS 13.336).
14. ZZTJ 146.4575, 147.4581.
15. WS 8.206, 21B.582–83.
16. BS 13.503 (WS 13.337); Jennifer Holmgren, “Empress Dowager Ling of the Northern Wei and the T’o-pa Sinicization Question,” PFEH 18 (1978): 161.
17. BS 13.503 (WS 13.337).
18. ZZTJ 148.4611–18.
19. See discussion of this in Balkwill, “When Renunciation Is Good Politics,” 240–46.
20. WS 52.1149; WS 83B.1833.
21. BS 13.503 (WS 13.337). For more detail, see Stephanie Balkwill, “A Virtuoso Nun in the North: Situating the Earliest-Known Dated Biography of a Buddhist Nun in East Asia,” Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies 3.2 (2020): 129–61.
22. For the Cui clan, again see Holmgren, “The Making of an élite.”
23. BS 13.503 (WS 13.338); ZZTJ 148.4621; discussed in Holmgren, “Empress Dowager Ling,” 162. For later examples of a better-known female ruler seeking support from authoritative scripture, see R. W. L. Guisso, Wu Tse-t’ien and the Politics of Legitimation in T’ang China (Bellingham: Western Washington University, 1978), Chapter 4.
24. BS 13.503–4 (WS 13.338–39).
25. See Xiong, Capital Cities and Urban Form, 87–101. Making the claim that the Wei Luoyang was the largest city in the world in the early sixth century (95), Xiong suggests the registered population was over 500,000, while upward of 200,000 lived there without proper forms. A counterclaim is made for Jiankang by Liu Shufen in her “Jiankang and the Commercial Empire of the Southern Dynasties,” 35. For further discussion of the population size, and a much more detailed discussion of Luoyang, see Jenner, Memories of Loyang, Chapter 6.
26. Xiong, Capital Cities and Urban Form, 100–1, suggests, however, that ward bosses at Luoyang had much less power than their predecessors in Pingcheng.
27. Xiong, Capital Cities and Urban Form, 99; citing Luoyang qie lan ji jiao zhu 3.161.
28. Luoyang qie lan ji jiao zhu 3.161; tr. Wang, A Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Lo-yang, 151.
29. Xiong, Capital Cities and Urban Form, 99; Luoyang qie lan ji jiao zhu 4.202.
30. For the rich, see for instance the story of Liu Bao, whose “chariots, horses, dresses, and ornaments were comparable to those of princes”: Luoyang qie lan ji jiao zhu 4.202–3; Wang, A Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Lo-yang, 182–83.
31. Luoyang qie lan ji jiao zhu 1.52; Wang, A Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Lo-yang, 51; Xiong, Capital Cities and Urban Form, 96. The gate was the Changhemen. For an English-language report, see Qian Guoxiang et al., “Changmen Gate-site of the Northern Wei Palace-city in Han-Wei Luoyang City, Henan,” Chinese Archaeology 4 (2004): 49–56.
32. Steinhardt, Chinese Architecture in an Age of Turmoil, 184. For the architects’ journey south, see WS 91.1971.
33. Steinhardt, Chinese Architecture in an Age of Turmoil, 185; see also Xiong, Capital Cities and Urban Form, 92, who translates Taiji as “Grand Culmen,” and on p. 93 also points out that overall, the Northern Wei palace complex was smaller than earlier precedents in the Chinese architectural tradition.
34. Serving under the Wei successor, Eastern Wei, Yang wrote the book between 547 and 550 (shortly before Wei Shou’s compilation of Wei shu): Jenner, Memories of Loyang, Chapter 1.
35. Jenner, Memories of Loyang, 132; Luoyang qie lan ji jiao zhu, 1.1–12.
36. Following the texts, the tower would have been more than 800 feet tall, almost two-thirds the height of the Empire State Building. Dien, Six Dynasties Civilization, 72, lists this figure, then suggests a more conservative estimate of about 250 feet is “still an impressive height.” See also Jenner, Memories of Loyang, 148 note 10. As with the Taiji dian, there had been a temple of the same name in Pingcheng.
37. Luoyang qie lan ji jiao zhu 1.1; Wang, A Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Lo-yang, 15–16. Steinhardt, Chinese Architecture in an Age of Turmoil, 200, says it was “the most spectacular landmark in Luoyang.”
38. Fu, Traditional Chinese architecture, 83; Jenner, Memories of Loyang, 148.
39. Luoyang qie lan ji jiao zhu 1.5; Wang, A Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Lo-yang, 20.
40. D. Fairchild Ruggles, Women, Patronage and Self-representation in Islamic Societies (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000), 7: “vision is a form of power, and seeing implies possession.”
41. Luoyang qie lan ji jiao zhu, 1.5; Wang, Record of Buddhist Monasteries, 20.
42. Amy McNair, Donors of Longmen: Faith, Politics, and Patronage in Medieval Chinese Buddhist Sculpture (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2007), 60–67.
43. BS 13.504 (WS 13.338); Tang, Han Wei Liang Jin Nan bei chao Fo jiao shi, 2: 70; Jenner, Memories of Loyang, 118.
44. Wang, Record of Buddhist monasteries, 126, with slight emendations. See the detailed discussion of these events in Po Yee Wong, “Acculturation as Seen through Buddha’s Birthday Parades in Northern Wei Luoyang: A Micro Perspective on the Making of Buddhism as a World Religion” (PhD diss., University of the West, 2012).
45. Luoyang qie lan ji jiao zhu 1.5; Wang, Record of Buddhist Monasteries, 20–21; this translation taken from Jeffrey L. Broughton, The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 54–55.
46. WS 66.1471–72; ZZTJ 148.4628–29; McNair, Donors of Longmen, 64.
47. Jenner, Memories of Loyang, 72–73.
48. WS 64.1432, 9.228–29.
49. WS 66.1479. In WS 81.1793 we are told of efforts by the dictator Yuan Cha (whom we shall see just below) to give jobs to frustrated (and apparently un- or underemployed) Dai commoners who had come down to Luoyang 代来寒人 by sending them back north with announcements seeking to mollify rebels there. The effort was thwarted by unemployed sons of officials who wanted the jobs themselves, and had the connections to demand them. Here we see hints of a situation resembling that of the Manchu “orphan warriors” described in the book of that name by Pamela Crossley: Orphan Warriors: Three Manchu Generations and the End of the Qing World (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990).
50. WS 19B.475. A contemporary, Yuan Yuan (due to the rule of avoidance the name has been changed in both texts to Shen 深), spoke of how “the men are without fighting spirit” 人无鬪情: BS 16.620 (WS 18.433). See further discussion of this issue in Liu Jun 刘军, “Lun Tuoba zu shang wu xi su zhi shuai tui—yi Bei Wei hou qi zong shi dan ren jin wei wu zhi wei li” 论拓跋族尚武习俗之衰退——以北魏后期宗室担任禁卫武职为例, Bei fang wen wu (2015.1): 54–59; He, “Fu bing zhi qian,” 322. For description of the changes among the transplanted guoren, see WS 78.1724; Wang Zhongluo 王仲荦, Wei Jin Nan bei chao shi 魏晋南北朝史, 2 vols. (Shanghai: Shanghai ren min chu ban she, 1979–1980), 2: 565.
51. See the examples given in Jenner, Memories of Loyang, 68–69.
52. BQS 1.2.
53. BS 43.1598; WS 13.338 (note that this passage is not in the BS version of her biography); ZZTJ 149.4645–46; Luoyang qie lan ji jiao zhu 4.206; Wang, Record of Buddhist Monasteries, 195–96.
54. BS 13.504 (WS 13.339); for an estimate of her age at this time, see Zhang, Bei Wei zheng zhi shi, 9: 151.
55. BS 19.716–17; and see his epitaph, quoted in Zhang, Bei Wei zheng zhi shi, 9: 151.
56. BS 13.503 (WS 13.338). See, however, discussion by Holmgren, “Empress Dowager Ling,” of her characterization as a “bad last” ruler.
57. See his biography in WS 16.403–8. Two variant readings of the personal name are given in the sources: see Jenner, Memories of Loyang, 164 note 82; Wang, Records of Buddhist monasteries, 43 note 158. Pace Jenner, I will follow Wang’s model and use the form given in Wei shu.
