Wei rulers carried out ethnic discrimination and cruel ethnic oppression policies against people of all ethnic groups, and crazy ethnic killings often occurred in the conquest war, which intensified ethnic contradictions (the necessity of reform). By the mid-Northern Wei Dynasty, although ethnic contradictions gradually eased, class contradictions became increasingly acute due to the excessive exploitation and oppression of the ruling class. Peasant uprisings break out every year, especially the uprising led by Gaiwu, a semi-finalist of the Green Water Conference in Xingcheng, Shaanxi Province in 445 AD, which mobilized more than 10 million people to participate in the uprising. The northern Wei government sent 60 thousand cavalry to suppress it, and the ruler Tuoba Tao personally commanded it. In the end, Gaiwu was killed by traitors, and the Gaiwu uprising failed, but the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty suffered great losses. In 473, TaBaHong ascended the throne as Emperor Xiaowen. Since then, the peasant uprising has continued unabated, and the cruel suppression by the court has not quelled the people's uprising, but has stimulated more contradictions and struggles. In order to alleviate the social and ethnic contradictions, Emperor Xiaowen of Feng Taihou successively carried out a series of reforms, collectively known as the reform of Emperor Xiaowen.

In order to accept the advanced culture of the Han nationality and strengthen the control of the Yellow River Basin, Emperor Xiaowen decided to move the capital to Luoyang.