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Northern Wei Dynasty Great Wall
Northern Wei Dynasty Great Wall was under construction between 386 and 534. Tuoba Gui, the chieftain of Xianbei people, the most important and largest nomadic tribes of the steppe region north of China during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, established the Wei Dynasty in 386, later called the Northern Wei. At that time, its northern Rouran people, a nomadic tribe living north of the Northern Wei, became increasingly powerful. To thwart their advance, in 423 the Northern Wei Dynasty built about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) of the Great Wall to its northern boundary and set up garrisons to prevent invasion by the Rouran.This section of the Great Wall started from Chicheng County of Hebei Province, through the north of Shanxi Province and ended in Wuyuan County of Inner Mongolia. Emperor Taiwudi, ruler at the height of Northern Wei military strength, ended the unification war at the Yellow River Valley, defeated his powerful enemy, the Rouran, and established six important garrisons north of the Great Wall to protect Pingcheng City (present Datong City), capital of the Northern Wei.
The Northern Wei also built the inner wall (Sai Wei), an earth wall lower and thinner than the Great Wall, to supplement the Great Wall. The Sai Wei was also built to protect Pingcheng City. It started from present Shanxi Province, along the boundary of Shanxi and Hebei provinces and reached Tianzhen County of Shanxi Province, circled Datong City and ended at the east bank of the Yellow River. It stretched for about 500 kilometers (311 miles) long.