Liang


 * Time Period: 502 A.D.- 556 A.D.
 * The awakening of Yangtze China to mercantile activities from the end of the the fifth century onwards was to have important social consequences.
 * The commercial upsurge was to contribute to the ruin of an aristocrcy which drew part of its power from the partition of the regions and from economic autocracy of the big estates.
 * Another branch of the Xiao family took power founding the Liang dynasty and indeed Liang Wudi was one of the few emperors to command respect during the six dynasties period.
 * A scholar of [|Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianis]m he combined the best of each, a pattern that has been adopted to this day by many Chinese.
 * After the slaughter that brought him to power he eschewed the taking of life. He even abdicated to become a monk on three occasions only to be persuaded to retake the throne.
 * Attacks from the north continued and the dynasty collapsed within seven years of the death of Wudi.