The Lis in Western Gansu were not an old noble family of the Kingdom of Wei and the Dynasty of Jin, but a branch of the new gentry that rose in a time when the Xianbei and the Han gentry merged. As a well known family of military officers, the ancesters of the Lis went downhill to poor commons in the course of the shaping and development of the gentry of power and influence in the Dynasty of Han, the Kingdom of Wei and the Dynasty of Jin.
The Lis in Western Gansu began to rise in the period of the Sixteen States in the Late Jin Dynasty. In the Early North Wei Dynasty, Li Hao founded the Kingdom of Xiliang and his family thus became the royal family of the small kingdom. After the Downfall of Xiliang, the descendents of Li Hao served the Kingdom of Wei. The Lis, having lost their social foundation of independence as a wealthy and influential family, joined in the political power of the North Wei as the descendents of a small conquered court. In order to maintain their social status, the Lis had no choice but attach themselves to the royal power and closely combined with it. It was just because of their dependence on the royal power and harmony with its interests that the Lis soon managed to stand equal with the other seven families of the five surnames after they served the Kingdom of Wei and became again an influential family in the day.
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