ABSTRACT
After the fall of the Han Dynasty in A.D. 220, China entered what is commonly referred to as the Period of Dis unity, during which the country was parceled into small states and kingdoms and ruled by numerous barbarian dy nasties. One group of people to arrive in China during this period were the Toba (commonly written as T'o-pa), a no madic tribe that gathered in Shanxi province and gradually adopted the Chinese way of life. By 385, the Toba had united into a powerful political group and began challenging the local government. After the fall of the local ruling group, the Toba leader Toba Gui proclaimed the founding of the North ern Wei Dynasty (a completely separate entity from the earlier Kingdom of Wei that existed during the Three King doms period from A.D. 220 to 265).
