A Brief Description of the Main Features of National Intermingling in the Northern Wei Inscriptions - The epitaph of Yu Shen'en as an Example

Abstract

The Northern Wei was a powerful and unified dynasty in the history of the Wei, Jin and North-South dynasties and a representative multi-national dynasty in ancient China. Its abundant and well-preserved inscriptions have provided an important reference for future generations to study the history of the Northern Wei; national integration, as one of the remarkable trends in the development of China's history, was also fully reflected in the Northern Wei period. Based on the documents of the Northern Wei inscriptions, this paper draws on the research results of Wang Zhongluo 's History of the Northern and Southern Dynasties of the Wei-Jin Dynasty and other previous works, and uses the interdisciplinary research methods of history and ethnography to sort out and summaries the main features of the intermingling of nationalities during the Northern Wei period, such as the joint development of multi-national fusions and the spread and recognition of the concept of 'great unity'.