In the eight century, six princes ruled the southwest. One of them is said to have traveled north to China, which was enjoying a golden age under the tang Dynasty (618-907). When asked where he came from, the prince replied that his home was south of Sichuan's rainy weather at which is disputed by some historians, who claim that the Han emperor chose the name many centuries earlier. In 732, the most ambitious prince treacherously invited the other five to a banquet hall, killing them all. The triumphan prince seized their lands and named himself Nan Zhao, Prince of the south. For five centuries, the Nanzhao Kingdom and its successor, the Kingdom of Dali, remained strong and independent, on a par with Tibet, its warring neighbors. Its capital was Dali, on Erhai Lake in western Yunnan.