Southern Qi Dynasty 南齊 (479-502)

The Southern Qi dynasty Nanqi 南齊 (479-502) was the second of the Southern Dynasties 南朝 (420~589). It was founded by Xiao Daocheng 蕭道成 (427-482).

Xiao Daocheng (posthumous title Emperor Gao of the Qi 齊高帝, r. 479-482) had been called a "saviour of the house of Liu-Song 劉宋 (420-479)" from its self-lacerating actions and was therefore bestowed with offices, honors and nobility titles (king of Qi 齊王). Yet in 479, he founded his own dynasty, calling it Qi. Historians called his dynasty also Southern Qi (Nanqi 南齊) or Xiao-Qi 蕭齊 to distinguish it from the Northern Qi 北齊 (550-577), a successor state of the Northern Wei 北魏 (386-534). Knowing the dysfunctional regime of the Liu-Song dynasty well, he appointed his relatives to posts in the provincial military commands, but without giving them too much power. Instead, he had them controlled by document clerks (dianqian 典簽), who managed the household affairs of the princes and had thus insight into their plans and capabilities. Members of the Xiao family intermarried with the local elites and not with descendants of northern immigrant families.

Xiao Daocheng died already in 482 and was succeeded by his son Xiao Ze 蕭賾 (440-493; posthumous title Emperor Wu 齊武帝, r. 482-493). The peaceful handover of the throne allowed for reforms in economic policy. A great problem of each government in the history of China was the fact that free, but poor peasants had the only chance to make a living by transferring their land to influential landowners and so became tenant farmers on the land which they once owned. They were not obliged to pay taxes or to deliver duties and corvée labour to the state, but became servants, and often enough serfs, of the landowners. A special problem of the Eastern Jin 東晉 (317-420) and the Southern Dynasties was that a significant part of the old southern gentry was tax-exempted. This exemption was a present by which the southern regimes, hailing from northern immigrants, were tolerated by the native gentry of the south. To escape tax obligations, many northern immigrants had falsely registered themselves as of southern origin. Emperor Wu, therefore, carried out a broad review of the household registers to unveil households that were liable to pay taxes and to deliver labour to the government. During this tax review campaign, unmasked "northerners" were downgraded as tax-liable households (queji 卻籍 "skipping them from households [with preferential treatment]"). As a consequence, many of them rose in rebellion. The most important of these revolts was the uprising of Tang Yuzhi 唐㝢之 (d. 486) in the region of modern Suzhou 蘇州, Jiangsu. Tang even adopted the title of emperor of Wu 吳.

Emperor Wu's rule, the Yongming reign-era 永明 (483-493), was, nonetheless, relatively peaceful and allowed for literary and cultural activities, and produced named writers like Xie Tiao 謝朓 (464–499), Wang Rong 王融 (467–493), or Shen Yue 沈約 (441-513). There were no substantial wars during the period.

The last decade of the Southern Qi period was characterized by succession struggles. Xiao Ze's sons Xiao Zhaoye 蕭昭業 (473-494, the Prince of Yulin 鬱林王) and Xiao Zhaowen 蕭昭文 (480-494, the Prince of Xin'an 新安王) were deposed and murdered by their uncle Xiao Luan 蕭鸞 (452-489; posthumous title Emperor Ming 齊明帝, r. 494-498), who claimed the throne himself. During Emperor Ming's rule, an invasion of the Northern Wei in the Han River 漢水 valley brought a fatal defeat to Qi general Cui Huijing 崔慧景 (438-500).

Xiao Luan's sons Xiao Baojuan 蕭寶卷 (483-501; the "Deposed Emperor" Feidi 齊廢帝, r. 498-501, demoted to Duke of Donghun 東昏侯) and Xiao Baorong 蕭寶融 (488-502; Emperor He 齊和帝, r. 501-502), on their parts, fell victim to their distant relative Xiao Yan 蕭衍 (464-549), the Prince of Liang 梁王, in 502. He founded a new regime, the Liang dynasty 梁 (502-557).