East Asia · The Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern and Southern dynasties
Later Western Liang
555–587
The Western Liang (西梁), also called Later Liang (後梁), was a rump/puppet state of the Liang dynasty ruling from Jiangling (Jingzhou). Its founder Xiao Cha (Emperor Xuan, r. 555–562), a grandson of Emperor Wu of Liang, took the throne with Western Wei backing after that power defeated and killed his uncle Emperor Yuan (555); he adopted the era name Dading.
- Existed
- 555–587
- Shown on the map
- AD 561–586
- Peak area
- 70k km²
- Region
- East Asia
Overview
The Western Liang (西梁), also called Later Liang (後梁), was a rump/puppet state of the Liang dynasty ruling from Jiangling (Jingzhou). Its founder Xiao Cha (Emperor Xuan, r. 555–562), a grandson of Emperor Wu of Liang, took the throne with Western Wei backing after that power defeated and killed his uncle Emperor Yuan (555); he adopted the era name Dading. It remained a puppet successively of Western Wei, Northern Zhou, and Sui. Its three emperors were Xiao Cha (555–562), Xiao Kui (Emperor Ming, 562–585), and Xiao Cong (Emperor Jing, 585–587). In 587 Emperor Wen of Sui abolished the throne after Xiao Cong's uncle and brother defected to the Chen, absorbing its lands. (A related short-lived Liang under Xiao Xian, 617–621, is considered separate.)
Common questions
- What was Later Western Liang?
- The Western Liang (西梁), also called Later Liang (後梁), was a rump/puppet state of the Liang dynasty ruling from Jiangling (Jingzhou). Its founder Xiao Cha (Emperor Xuan, r. 555–562), a grandson of Emperor Wu of Liang, took the throne with Western Wei backing after that power defeated and killed his uncle Emperor Yuan (555); he adopted the era name Dading.
- When did Later Western Liang exist?
- Later Western Liang existed 555–587. On this map it is drawn AD 561–586.
- How large was Later Western Liang?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Later Western Liang covered about 70,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia article for each polity as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, chinaknowledge.de, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and university sources, and the academic works it lists. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Western Liang (555–587) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Liang_(555%E2%80%93587)
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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