Western Liang (Sixteen Kingdoms)

Liang 涼
400–421
Status	Vassal of Later Qin, Jin Dynasty (266–420), Northern Wei, Liu Song
Capital	Dunhuang (400–405, 420–421) Jiuquan (405–420)
Government	Monarchy
Duke
• 400–417	Li Gao
• 417–420	Li Xin
• 420–421	Li Xun
History
• Established	400
• Fall of Jiuquan	420
• Disestablished	421
Preceded by Succeeded by Northern Liang Northern Liang
Today part of	China Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan

Liang, known in historiography as the Western Liang (traditional Chinese: 西涼; simplified Chinese: 西凉; pinyin: Xī Liáng; 400–421), was a dynastic state of China listed as one of the Sixteen Kingdoms. The Western Liang was founded by the Li family of Han descent. The founder of the Tang dynasty, Li Yuan (Emperor Gaozu), traced his patrilineal ancestry to the Western Liang rulers and traced the ancestry of the Western Liang rulers to Li Guang, Li Xin, and Laozi in the paternal line. The ruling Li clan of the Western Liang was known as the Longxi Li lineage (隴西李氏).^[1]

All of Western Liang's rulers declared themselves as gōngs (公), which is translated to "Dukes". Their territory encompassed modern-day northwestern Gansu, and for this reason, they were given the prefix of "Western" in historiography to distinguish them with the other Liang states at the time.