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Sima Yan founds the Jin dynasty

Sima Yan, whose family had held real power in Wei since his grandfather Sima Yi’s coup of 249, made the last Wei emperor, Cao Huan, abdicate and was enthroned at Luoyang as the first emperor of the Jin dynasty.

Date
8 February 266exact dateDate in the Julian calendar
Place
Luoyangtoday: Han–Wei city site east of modern Luoyang, Henan, China · East Asia
Participants
Sima Yan, Cao Wei, Jin dynasty (266–420)
Threads
East Asia in the 1st–5th centuries
Also known as
Founding of the Jin dynasty; Western Jin; End of Cao Wei; Основание Цзинь; Западная Цзинь; Конец царства Вэй; 魏晉禪讓

In February 249 Sima Yi overthrew the regent Cao Shuang in the Incident at the Gaoping Tombs, and from then on the Sima family governed Wei in the emperor’s name — first Sima Yi, then his sons Sima Shi and Sima Zhao. In 260 the young emperor Cao Mao was killed in an abortive attempt to overthrow Sima Zhao. In 263 Wei armies conquered Shu Han; Sima Zhao was made Duke of Jin that year and King of Jin in 264, but died in September 265 without taking the throne, and his son Sima Yan inherited his titles. Cao Huan abdicated on 4 February 266, and on 8 February Sima Yan ascended an altar in the southern suburbs of Luoyang, took the throne and proclaimed the Taishi era; the deposed emperor was made Prince of Chenliu.

By the Chinese calendar these days fell in the twelfth month of a year that corresponds mostly to 265, so many works, among them the Russian Wikipedia, date the founding of the Jin to 265. Sima Yan, known as Emperor Wu of Jin, conquered Wu in 280 and reunited China. To avoid the weakness of Wei, whose imperial clan had had no power of its own, he made many of his relatives princes with their own armies; after his death in 290 their rivalry erupted in the War of the Eight Princes.

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Connections

Consequences

  • Conquest of Wu by Jinbetween 21 December 279 and 18 January 280 – 1 May 280 · East AsiaThe new dynasty went on to conquer Wu and reunite China in 280

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Sources

  1. Wikipedia (English): Emperor Wu of Jin
  2. Wikipedia (English): Cao Huan
  3. Wikipedia (English): Cao Mao
  4. Wikipedia (English): Jin dynasty (266–420)
  5. Wikipedia (Russian): У-ди (Западная Цзинь)
  6. Wikipedia (Russian): Цао Хуань
  7. Wikipedia (Russian): Цзинь (265—420)
  8. Цзинь шу, гл. 3: анналы У-ди (кит. текст, Викитека)
  9. Dien A. E., Knapp K. N. (eds.) The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 2: The Six Dynasties, 220–589. — Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
  10. История Китая с древнейших времён до начала XXI века: в 10 т. Т. III: Троецарствие, Цзинь, Южные и Северные династии, Суй, Тан (220–907) / отв. ред. И. Ф. Попова, М. Е. Кравцова. — М.: Наука — Восточная литература, 2014.