Who ruled
- First Göktürk Khaganate Mukan Khan 553–572
- Sasanian Persia Khosrow I 531–579
- Western Göktürk Khaganate Istemi 552–576
And beyond the steppe
- China Northern Qi Emperor Wenxuan 550–559 · Northern Zhou Emperor Xiaomin 557–557 · Emperor Ming 557–560
- Iran Sasanian Khosrow I 531–579
- Korea Goguryeo Yangwon 545–559
- Byzantium Justinian Justinian I 527–565
Eastern steppe
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Environment · Late Antique Little Ice Age: the cold phase the Altai tree rings define from 536 to about 660 (536–660)
Climate and the steppe empires · First Göktürk Khaganate · Avars
The coldest decade in the Altai is the 540s
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The Zhou envoy Yang Jian persuades Mukan to keep the marriage promise against his brother, the Ditou Khan
Western steppe
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Culture · Sogdian colonists found the first towns of Semirech'e, Suyab and Navaket among them, as estates of nobles (450–600)
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The Avars flee west before the Göktürks and reach the Alans north of the Caucasus
China
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The Western Wei give way to the Northern Zhou
Northern Zhou · Western Wei · Yuwen Tai · Mukan Khan · Hegemony Wars in Northern China · First Göktürk Khaganate
The Bei Qi Shu dates the abdication to the twelfth month of Tianbao 7, which falls in January 557
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first month · Yuwen Jue takes the throne at Chang'an as Heavenly King of the Zhou
