University of Virginia Library

Introduction

The Chinese Buddhist canon of scripture includes a unique and
remarkable text, the Pi-ch'iu-ni chuan, or Lives of the Nuns (hereafter
Lives), a collection of chronologically organized biographies of sixty-five
Chinese Buddhist nuns.[1] More than a mere collection of biographies,
their dates cover the period of the founding and establishing of
the Buddhist monastic order for women from the early fourth century
to the early sixth century. The Lives allows us to see the development
of monastic life for women in China from its beginnings.

Shih Pao-ch'ang,[2] who compiled the book in or about a.d. 516,
selected his subjects with careful discrimination and produced a document
of interest for his readership, whom he presumably had hoped to
spur on to greater efforts in the Buddhist life (see Pao-ch'ang's preface).[3]
Fifteen hundred years later the biographies are of interest to us
for very different reasons. We see in hindsight many features of the
early history of Buddhism in China and many reasons why women of
that time might take up the life of a Buddhist nun.

Buddhist Texts

Although many of the Buddhist texts, both Disciples' Vehicle and
Mahāyāna, or Great Vehicle,[4] contain virulent misogynistic sections,
there were in fact no doctrinal reasons that denied enlightenment and,
later, Buddhahood to women.[5]

The women of China ardently embraced Mahāyāna Buddhism and
its large number of texts, although only a small number of these scriptures
became extremely popular—such as the Flower of the Law,
Vimalakīrti, Perfection of Wisdom, and the Amita or Pure Land texts.
The most significant obstacle to a woman's entering the Assembly of
Nuns was men rather than doctrine. The Assembly of Nuns was
dependent on the Assembly of Monks for several of their required rites
and rituals. The reverse was not the case.[6]

Of the three types of Buddhist writings—the Buddha's own word
(sūtra), the commentaries (shāstra), and the monastic code (vinaya)
that tied the Assembly of Nuns to the Assembly of Monks—the Buddha's

word and the commentaries were eagerly translated; however a
lack of adequate vinaya texts in the early history of Buddhism in
China hindered the establishment and development of the monastic
order for women.

Buddhism in China: Beginnings

The Buddha Shākyamuni lived from about 560 b.c. to 480 b.c. in
northern India.[7] The way of life that he founded was from the first
both a monastic and a missionary religion. Spreading far beyond its
homeland, about five hundred years after the death of the Buddha,
Buddhism traveled quietly along the Silk Road into China.

The first positive evidence for Buddhism in China dates to a.d. 65
in the Latter Han dynasty (25-220). There is a brief reference in the
Hou han shu (History of the Latter Han dynasty)[8] to Buddhism
together with Taoism in the city of P'eng-ch'eng, a city that may be
considered the easternmost terminus of the Silk Road (see map).[9] The
next positive reference to Buddhism in China dates to the middle
of the second century, in the northern city of Lo-yang, where foreign
missionary monks and their Chinese followers set up a translation
center.[10]

Unfortunately, by the middle of the second century the Latter Han
dynasty had begun the decline that ended with its collapse in a.d. 220.
Rebellions, contenders for the throne, and nomadic tribes riding down
from the north pressed the agrarian Chinese and created great social
upheaval: families were separated; many became refugees; famine and
disease were widespread; and there was general social and political
chaos. The Great Wall had been built as a bulwark against the
nomads, but it was only as strong as the defending dynasty.

Undaunted by all the difficulties in China, Buddhist missionaries
continued to arrive and continued to translate scriptures.[11] They
brought a religion that offered consolation for a very uncertain world.
The Buddhist emphasis on the world's illusory quality attracted many
more followers than perhaps it would have in a time of peace and tranquility.
In a time of social tranquility it could have ended up as a sect
of Taoism, with which it was often associated during its early years
in China.[12]

The wars, however, continued. A trio of ill-starred dynasties tried
to restore the old Han empire, but none could prevail over another or

over the nomads until the Chin dynasty (265-317/317-420) briefly
united the country in a.d. 280.[13] But that unity was neither long nor
peaceful. The nomadic tribes sacked the two major northern capital
cities of Lo-yang in 311 and Ch'ang-an in 316. In 317 the court of the
Chin dynasty, along with many others, fled to the south. The loss of
northern China to the barbarians began the division of the country
into the Northern and Southern dynasties. A relatively stable, nonChinese
dynasty fringed with many, often ephemeral barbarian kingdoms
controlled the north, while a series of short-lived Chinese dynasties
controlled the south. This division would last for several centuries
until one ruler reunited the country in 589, long after the Lives was
completed.

Because the Confucianism that had been the philosophical foundation
of the Han dynasty had failed to prevent the disintegration of the
empire, it lost the allegiance of many of the educated elite. Men began
to look elsewhere for a way to order their lives and their land. The old
loyalties were loosened, giving both Buddhism and Taoism a greater
scope for development and expansion. Buddhism held its own and
gradually became a less exotic sight and in addition became separated
more and more from Taoism, with which, in the early days, it had
often been confused and mingled.

In both north and south, Buddhism gradually became a part of
upper-class life, but, after the shock of losing the heart of the empire
to barbarians and the flight to the south in 317, the Chinese embraced
Buddhism with a positive passion that continued throughout the time
of the Northern and Southern dynasties. The Buddhist institutions
that both immigrant and native worked to establish in the lower
Yangtze River valley were planted so deeply that, despite the vicissitudes
of decline, rebellion, and persecution over the centuries, these
institutions always revived to regain their vitality.[14]

Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism

Not everyone during the Northern and Southern dynasties in China
welcomed the new religion. Despite many superficial similarities
between Buddhism and Taoism, and despite much mutual influence in
their development, Taoists saw the foreign religion as a direct rival.

Buddhism and Taoism appealed to the same people: those wanting
metaphysical stability or a sense of permanence in a turbulent age,

those wanting very long life or immortality, those seeking a way of life
different from, or at the least a respite in private life from, the Confucian
ideal of social and familial obligations and public service. Furthermore,
Buddhists and Taoists practiced similar arts. Magic, for
example, played an important role in the initial acceptance of Buddhism,
and Taoist practitioners found themselves facing tough adversaries.[15]
The biography of Tao-jung (no. 10) illustrates one such encounter.

For the most part, any hostilities that arose were expressed verbally,
but once in a great while partisans felt compelled to take stronger
action. The biography of Tao-hsing (no. 9) clearly shows the rivalry
when a Taoist woman poisoned a Buddhist nun because "the people of
the region had respected the Taoist woman and her activities very
much until Tao-hsing's Way of Buddhism eclipsed her arts." The
rivalry did not go in one direction only. In a collection of biographies
of Taoist women, we learn that a Taoist nun was accosted by knife-wielding
Buddhist monks.[16]

Confucianism was the far more serious threat to Buddhism, however,
because it had shaped the institutions at the heart of Chinese life:
the imperial government and the family. Buddhism ran directly
counter to Confucian norms in many aspects of life, one of the most
important being that the monastic life required celibacy. In traditional
China a good son had the duty to marry and produce male offspring to
continue the family line. Shaving the head, also a requirement of Buddhist
monastic life, ran contrary to Confucian principles because one's
hair was a gift from one's parents and so was not to be cut off. In
death, too, there was conflict. Cremation, the deliberate destruction
of the body, was abhorrent to those Chinese who considered the body
to be a gift from one's father and mother. Buddhists had to try to convince
the population at large, as well as individual distraught parents,
that a child's entering the Buddhist monastic life not only was not at
all unfilial but also was a superior kind of filial piety. The discussion in
the biography of An Ling-shou (no. 2) illustrates this well.

Another argument against Buddhism was that it was foreign. This
accusation drew forth forged books, such as the Chou-shu i-chi
(Records of the strange in the Book of Chou) and Han fa-pen nei-chuan
(Hidden account of the origin of the [Buddhist] law in the Han
dynasty), that said that the Buddha was born before Lao-tzu. The
Taoists responded in kind, forging their own works, especially the

Hua hu ching (The scripture on the conversion of the barbarians),
which said that Buddhism was simply Taoism in exotic dress. Many
other forged texts, and their fantastic claims, issued forth from both
the Buddhists and the Taoists, each trying to outdo the other to establish
the antiquity of the Buddha or Lao-tzu.[17]

Despite clever but less than convincing Buddhist apologetics, the
government, an institution fundamentally built on Confucianism,
began to take measures against Buddhism, especially as the number of
monastics greatly increased. The question was not merely one of Confucian
principle, however. Monastic life removed able-bodied men
and women from production and therefore from liability for payment
of taxes.[18] The monasteries, as they grew wealthy, became centers of
power rivaling the various offices of the government. Occasionally,
therefore, during the time of the Northern and Southern dynasties,
local administrators carried out what was called sifting and weeding
of the monastic institutions. This meant an investigation to try to
determine those who had a genuine calling to the monastic life from
those who were merely slackers, having entered that life to avoid
laboring in the world. One such local sifting and weeding is recorded
in the biography of Hui-hsü (no. 48). In the Southern dynasties, as
compared to the Northern dynasties, the government almost always
actively favored Buddhism and often gave such lavish support that
corruption became widespread.

Throughout the time of the political and social turmoil, Buddhist
missionaries and their disciples continued to work. Not only did translations
of doctrinal texts spread more and more rapidly through Chinese
society, but also the monastic life began, even though it was for
men only.[19] The rules for monastic living, the vinaya texts, were not
so quickly translated as the texts of doctrine and meditation, however,
and the monastic life was set on a more firm foundation only during
the fourth century,[20] thanks to the efforts of the monk Tao-an[21] and
his pupil Hui-yüan.[22]

The Monastic Institution in China

Monasticism as an institution was as foreign to China as Buddhism
itself. The earliest time for which we have a positive record of a monastery
is the late second century.[23] For the convent, it is reasonable to
consider the convent founded by Ching-chien (no. 1) in 317 to be the

first, even though a sixth-century work, the Lo-yang ch'ieh-lan chi (A
record of monasteries and convents in Lo-yang) suggests that there
were some convents in Lo-yang prior to the sacking of the city.[24]
Ching-chien (no. 1) founded her convent in Ch'ang-an one year after
the sacking of that city by the nomads.

The monastery and convent, on the positive side, provided an alternate
family, a significant refuge during social upheaval. The Kao seng
chuan (Lives of eminent monks) records that many boys entered the
Assembly of Monks as orphans or as children of impoverished families.[25]
These reasons also appear in the Lives. Convents provided shelter
for women who had no protection from father, husband, or son.
Both the monastery and the convent served as social institutions of
great importance in a time of necessity.

On the negative side was the conflict between the monasteries and
the state. Hui-yüan had made it a principle that a monk does not bow
to the emperor, meaning that the monastery was to be free from state
jurisdiction.[26] For the time being, Hui-yüan's view prevailed.

The convents, quite the contrary, had no independent status
because of their bonds to the Assembly of Monks. Furthermore, when
we compare the two assemblies as pictured in the two major biographical
collections, the Lives and the Kao seng chuan, we find a major difference:
both assemblies, when in the capital, were not free from the
constant interference of the imperial state and of the nobility and aristocratic
families. The Assembly of Nuns, however, was also subject to
the monks. More important, monks were able to set up monasteries in
the wilderness and in the seclusion of the mountains. Those who did
so developed important centers of learning and monastic discipline.
The assemblies of monks and nuns that stayed within the reach of the
meddlesome aristocratic families and nobility often suffered a surfeit
of donations and activities that could have disrupted and corrupted
even the strictest of monasteries or convents. Nevertheless, even in the
midst of social activities and interference, many nuns demonstrated
holy lives and holy deaths.

Becoming a Nun

The biographies record that women entered the monastic life anywhere
from a very young age of five or six to the age of seventy. Those
who took up that life as children would have remained novices until
the proper age for receiving the full obligation, which was ordinarily

age 20. Anyone entering the monastic life also had to have permission
from the person who had authority over her, whether father, husband,
or son.[27] On occasion permission was given by the local governor (no.
54) or even by the Buddha (no. 24).

There were probably as many reasons to become a nun as there
were nuns, but general motives can be identified.[28] Ideally, one joined
because of religious aspirations. One felt a desire to live in an environment
within which to observe the precepts of Buddhism, disciplining
oneself in the rigors of convent life, which provided the best place to
cultivate meditation with the hope of enlightenment. Many nuns certainly
followed such hopes into the convent.

For women, however, the convent also provided a refuge from such
vicissitudes of life as unwelcome marriage, flight from war, homelessness,
lack of protection, or frustrated intellectual ambitions.

The most dramatic example, perhaps, of a woman fleeing marriage
is T'an-hui (no. 54), who threatened a spectacular suicide if forced to
marry. The threat of suicide, although by less bizarre means, was a
part of Chinese tradition. The woman of virtue and principle does not
shy away from taking her own life if necessary.

For women who had been left without a family and without protection
during the years of warfare and turmoil, the convent provided
a haven and a refuge, a home and a family. The most poignant case
is that of Fa-sheng (no. 15), who became a nun at age 70: "She
still longed for her old home. Only by delving deep into the mysteries
of Buddhism was she able to leave behind sorrow and forget
old age."

Fifty-three of the sixty-five biographies mention the woman's ability
to read and write. Traditional Chinese society did not encourage literacy
among women, and education for girls was ordinarily restricted to
the domestic arts. Therefore, the very high rate of literacy among our
select group of nuns is noteworthy. The biographies suggest that some
women may have gone into the monastic life to be able to follow
scholarly pursuits, a vocation that might otherwise have been denied
them. The repeated claim that a nun was very intelligent is not necessarily
mere convention.

The Convent: Social Life

The general level of education among the subjects of the biographies
suggests an upper-class origin for many of them, and for some the

biography explicitly states that the women had received their education
at home, such as Tao-ch'iung (no. 17), of whom it is written,
"When she was a little more than ten years old she was already well
educated in the classics and history, and after her full admission to the
monastic assembly she became learned in the Buddhist writings as
well. . . ."

Another indication of upper-class background is that frequently the
woman's family name and original place of residence, and at times
even the official positions of male ancestors, are known. The woman's
easy concourse with high government officials, nobility, and members
of the royal family, including the emperors themselves, also suggests
that they were moving among their own kind. Very frequently ladies
of high social standing visited the nuns or were visited by them. Those
who could afford it often held a vegetarian feast in honor of the nun.
This contrasts vividly with the Kao seng chuan, wherein the origin of
the monks is very frequently unknown.[29] Many boys of obscure background
are to be found reaping honors and fame that they could
scarcely have imagined, thanks to the preservation of the record of
their lives.

The influence of the teaching and preaching nuns spread the word
of the Buddha far and wide (no. 35), their sincerity bringing forth
a response from hundreds. One nun often wept as she implored her
listeners to take up the religion of the Buddha (no. 4). Nuns who
dared to chastise laymen in a public place (no. 4) were honored.
This indicates that nuns taught and preached effectively. Some
nuns were so famous that the world came to them to hear the word
(no. 61).

Eight major convents in the capital account for over half the biographies,
and the lineages can be traced through several generations. Pao-ch'ang
probably knew some of the women in person, or he had access
to very recent records and memories because of his own presence in
the capital.

With famous nuns as the subjects of the biographies, we are not
able to find a picture of an ordinary nun living an ordinary life in the
convent, without noble visitors, without doing anything to bring
attention to herelf. This is a pity because our picture of the religious
heroines becomes the image we remember, and we forget that for
every famous nun there was an unknown number of unknown nuns of
ordinary standing. We cannot see them.

The Convent: Religious Life

In the middle of the fifth century, a matter of great concern to the nuns
themselves was the proper transmission of the monastic rules. Several
of the biographies (nos. 14, 27, and 34) deal with the question of
whether the Chinese nuns were truly nuns, whether the proper ritual
had been carried out in the proper way. This question was important
because the lineage—that is, the transmission of the teaching from
master to disciple—defined where one belonged and whether one
belonged. An authentic lineage established legitimacy. The problem of
the transmission of the monastic precepts was solved to everyone's satisfaction,
but it must be pointed out that it was the foreign monks and
nuns who pressed for resolution on behalf of the Chinese nuns. Chinese
monks are conspicuously absent.

The monastic precepts were designed to serve as a guide for living
the Buddhist life of self-discipline and nonharm as well as to keep harmony
and order within the religious community. The biographer's frequent
emphasis on a woman's strict observance of the monastic precepts
suggests, however, not only that the woman was fulfilling her
monastic duties to perfection but also that she perhaps stood in contrast
to other nuns who did not live up to the monastic code. Furthermore,
the strict observance of the precepts, as described in the biographies,
looks very much as though it had become a religious ritual
in and of itself rather than merely the means to self-discipline and
harmony.

The women engaged in many cult practices, among which were
devotion to Kuan-yin in particular, a bodhisattva (Buddha to be); to
Amita Buddha who presides over the Western Paradise; to Maitreya
who is the next Buddha and presides over the Tushita Heaven; and to
Pindola, an arhat (enlightened one), who showed off his magic powers
and was required by the Buddha to remain in the world to serve as a
field of merit until the last person attains enlightenment. Worshipping,
making vows, or sincere requests to these four divine figures brought
responses that pointed out the holiness or sincerity of the petitioner. In
the Kuan-yin Scripture boons such as safety from brigands are promised
to one who chants the scripture with all her heart and mind. Hui-chan
(no. 7) is an excellent example. Faith brings response and provides
the proof of the truth of the Buddhist claims.

Amita Buddha, also called Amitāyus (infinite life) or Amitābha

(infinite light), honors the believer with supernal signs, indicating that
the woman will be reborn in the Western Paradise. Maitreya, the next
Buddha, presiding over the Tushita Heaven, welcomes to his heaven
those who hope to be reborn on earth when he himself is born there as
the Buddha. Ching-hsiu (no. 52) was a devotee of Maitreya.

Connected at times with the Maitreya cult is the cult of Pindola.
The nun prays and petitions for the presence of Pindola. If she is sufficiently
worthy, he will let his presence be known. Because Pindola is
never seen, one must listen carefully to hear him should he accept the
invitaton and come to bathe. Or if a fresh flower is placed under the
mat where Pindola is invited to sit, the flower will not be faded or
crushed. The nun Ching-hsiu (no. 52) was also a devotee of Pindola.

Another very important Chinese Buddhist practice was vegetarianism.
In the earliest days of Buddhism in India, monks and nuns ate
whatever was put into their begging bowls—be it vegetable or meat,
fresh or spoiled. They were to eat all with equanimity, so long as they
had no reason to suspect that an animal had been harmed or killed
specifically for their use. Yet, in China, vegetarianism, although it
derives logically from the first Buddhist precept of nonharm to living
creatures, received other influences, too. Beyond merely strict vegetarianism,
when we read of women giving up all cereals (nos. 25, 28, and
34) or eating any part of the pine tree (no. 25), we have crossed over
the line into Taoist practices designed to lead to immortality.[30] This is
yet more evidence found in the early Chinese Buddhist biographies,
whether of monks or of nuns, that indicates the lack of clear separation
between the practices of the two religions in the first years of Buddhism
in China.

A third type of dietary regimen is the eating of fragrant oil or
incense (no. 36), a practice connected with preparations for self-immolation
by fire. Finally, some women forgot about food altogether
(no. 47).

Another very important monastic activity was the reading, studying,
and chanting of the Buddhist scriptures and the texts of monastic
rules. Traditional Chinese reverence for the written word worked
favorably for Buddhism, which is not a laconic religion, and this attitude
focused not only on the meaning of the contents but also on the
actual materials, the written characters, and even the physical volume
embodying those contents.[31] Preservation and transmission of the

texts was very important. Monastics strove to memorize vast amounts
of scripture, their success measuring, to a certain degree, their sanctity.
Another mark of sanctity was the ability to chant these texts very
rapidly. The chanting itself may also be seen as a kind of incantation
or magic spell.

Meditation was the heart of Buddhist monastic life. The biographer
lauds many women for their ability to enter the meditative state, but,
in those biographies where a physical description of the meditating
woman is given, we find that the woman has entered a trance state of
which other Buddhists of the time disapproved.[32] The body of the
woman in a trance was like wood or stone, rigid and inflexible, and
her companions easily mistook her trance for death (no. 29). This
kind of trance points away from Buddhism and toward the Taoist
belief in a seeming death as a doorway to immortality.[33] Once again
Buddhism and Taoism are intermingled.

A nun's manner of death is as important as her way of life because
an auspicious death identifies holiness. Omens such as fragrance or
lights may appear (no. 25) The Buddha himself may come to receive
the dying woman (no. 15). The biographer in his preface singles out
for special mention those women who commit suicide by fire as having
"achieved the epitome of the ascetic life" (nos. 26 and 47). This practice,
always carried out at night so that the nun, in effect, made of herself
a lamp, finds authority in the Buddhist scripture, The Flower of
the Wonderful Law.[34] This scripture specifically and graphically
describes the practice of burning a finger, an arm, or the whole body
as an offering in honor of the Buddha, an exhortation to fervor and
zeal that was not necessarily meant to be observed literally. In China,
nevertheless, not a few monks and nuns chose to offer themselves by
fire to the Buddha.

Under the right circumstances Chinese tradition accepted suicide as
the proper thing to do. Taoists generally cherished life, seeking elixirs
of immortality, but a certain Taoist precedent could have contributed
to the state of mind that found burning oneself up for the sake of the
Buddha an acceptable practice. According to traditional accounts,
some Taoist practitioners, after years of carrying out particular rituals
and eating special diets, used fire to transform themselves into immortals,
their souls rising up to heaven on the smoke.[35]

Ambivalence about the practice of burning one's body in honor of

the Buddha is illustrated in the biography of Hui-yao (no. 36). She
sought and received permission from the governor of the province to
carry out self-immolation, but he later withdrew his approval.

The nuns carried out their suicides by fire on the nights of the
changing phases of the moon, either the half-moon on the eighth day
of the lunar month or the full moon on the fifteenth day.

Women who rise bodily up to heaven (no. 1), or who simply disappear
(no. 10), are dying in a Taoist rather than a Buddhist manner,
such deaths signifying that the person has become an immortal.[36] The
body of the nun Shih Hui-ch'iung (no. 20) remained incorrupt—a
proof, for Taoists, of immortality.[37] Buddhists in China accepted the
phenomenon of the incorrupt body as a mark of holiness, and
throughout the centuries many incorrupt bodies of holy monastics
have edified the faithful.

Conclusions

Monasticism in China, although originally foreign, was a successful
institution for both men and women. Besides being the best place for
Chinese Buddhists to live and to practice their newly found religion, it
was also a refuge and home in a deeply troubled and perilous time.

Women themselves were also successful, living holy lives—learned
lives, lives bound to obligations of their own choice—and dying holy
deaths. Their lives and actions demonstrated the truth of the promises
in the Buddhist texts. We do not know anything about ordinary Buddhist
nuns that would allow us to compare them with our paragons.
We could derive a very similar picture of Buddhism in early medieval
China from the Kao seng chuan, probably even much more than from
the Lives because it is a much longer and detailed document. Nevertheless,
without the Lives a very important dimension would have
been missing.

Buddhism in China came at a fortunate time when it was needed to
help restore meaning to life for many who had been disillusioned and
who suffered from political and social troubles. Buddhist thought fit
in with an intellectual elite, accustomed to metaphysical talk based
especially on Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu and unaccustomed to the loss of
their homeland to nomadic barbarians. Buddhist piety attracted both
the elite and the commoner.

For women in particular, not only Buddhist thought and piety but

also the monastic institution itself was a beneficial import. The religion,
seen as not so very different from native Taoism, proved attractive
to many levels of society, and even as the differences with Taoism
became more and more apparent, Buddhism still continued to grow
ever more popular. The religion had enemies, but it had fewer during
the Northern and Southern dynasties than it had later in more settled
times when the central government could exercise greater jurisdiction
and power.

We cannot know whether Pao-ch'ang achieved his purpose of
encouraging Buddhists to greater efforts, but the text of the Lives circulated
through the south, one of the many Buddhist biographical
texts. The Lives provides us with a small but privileged view of the
early stages of Buddhist monasticism for women. The sixty-five nuns
who are the subject of this work would no doubt be surprised to find
that their lives are still edifying readers.

Table of Dynasties and Kingdoms

                       

Southern Dynasties	Northern Dynasties
Eastern Chin (317-420)	Northern Wei (386-534)
Sung (420-479)	Western Wei (535-557)	Eastern Wei (534-550)
Ch'i (479-502)	Northern Chou (557-581)	Northern Ch'i (550-577)
Liang (502-557)
Sixteen Kingdoms
Ch'eng Han (304-347)	Latter Chao (319-350)	Western Liang (400-420)
Former Liang (320-376)	Former Yen (337-370)	Northern Liang (397-439)
Former Ch'in (351-394)	Southern Yen (398-410)	Southern Liang (397-414)
Latter Ch'in (384-417)	Latter Yen (384-407)	Western Ch'in (385-431)
Latter Liang (386-403)	Northern Yen (407-436)	Hsia (407-431)
Former Chao (304-329)

Places in Biographies

                                       

An-ting	1	Kuang Province	21	Wu Commandery	36
Ch'ang-shan	2	Li-yang	22	Wu County (see Wu Commandery)	35
Chao	3	Liang Commandery	23
Ch'en Commandery	4	Lung-ch'uan County	24	Wu-hsing Commandery	37
Ch'en-liu	5	Meng Ford	25	Wu-wei Commandery	38
Chi Commandery	6	Mo-ling (see Chien-k'ang)		Yen	39
Chi Province	7	Nan-yang Commandery	26	Yen-kuan County	40
Chi-nan	8	P'an-yü (see Kuang Province)		Yen-men	41
Ch'iao Commandery	9	Pei-ti	27	Yung-shih	42
Ch'ien-t'ang	10	P'o-hai	28
Chin-lung	11	Po-p'ing	29 or 30	IMPORTANT CENTERS
Ch'ing-ho	12	Shan-yang Commandery	31	Ch'ang-an	43
Ch'ing Province	13	Shan-yin (see Kuei-chi)		Ch'eng-tu	44
Chü-jung	14	Shu Commandery (see Ch'eng-tu)	31	Chiang-ling	45
Fan County	15			Chien-k'ang	46
Ho-nei	16	Ssu Province	32	Kao-ch'ang	47
Huai-nan	17	T'ai-shan	33	Kuei-chi	48
Hung-nung	18	Tan-Yang (see Chien-k'ang)		Lo-yang	49
Kao-p'ing	19	Tseng-ch'eng	34	P'eng-ch'eng	50
Kuang-ling	20	Tung-huan	35	Tun-huang	51