Murong Huang
Prince of Former Yan from 337 to 348
Murong Huang (Chinese: 慕容皝; 297 – 25 October 348), courtesy name Yuanzhen (元真), also known by his posthumous name as the Emperor Wenming of Former Yan (前燕文明帝), was the founding monarch of the Xianbei-led Former Yan dynasty of China. When he first succeeded his father Murong Hui in 333, he carried the Eastern Jin-bestowed title Duke of Liaodong, but in 337 claimed the title of Prince of Yan, which is traditionally viewed as the founding date of Former Yan. After his son Murong Jun completely broke away from the Eastern Jin and claimed the title of emperor in January 353, he was posthumously elevated to imperial status. In the Book of Jin, Murong Huang was described as a strong looking tall man (approximately 1.91 metres (6.3 ft)).
Early life
Murong Huang's father Murong Hui had initially been a Xianbei chief who fought Jin forces during the late reign of Emperor Wu of Jin, Jin's founding emperor, but he submitted as a Jin vassal sometime between 6 June and 4 July 289. Under constant attack by fellow Xianbei chief Duan Jie (段階) of the Duan tribe, he humbly sought peace with the Duan and married one of Duan Jie's daughters. From this union came Murong Huang (in 297) and two of his younger brothers, Murong Ren and Murong Zhao (慕容昭).
During Murong Hui's rule as tribal chief, the Jin dynasty's central government was in constant turmoil and eventually collapsed due to infighting and agrarian rebellions, the strongest of which was the Xiongnu state Han-Zhao. As a result, many refugees arrived in Murong Hui's relatively safe domain, and as he treated the ethnically Han refugees with kindness, most chose to stay, greatly strengthening his power, and as Jin forces in the north gradually fell to Han-Zhao's general Shi Le, Murong Hui became the only domain in northern China still under titular Jin rule, carrying the Jin-bestowed title of the Duke of Liaodong. He entrusted Murong Huang with many important military tasks.
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This entry incorporates text from “Murong Huang” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.