7.+5+Dynasties+and+10+Kingdoms+Period

= FIVE DYNASTIES: =

Later Liang Dynasty
During the Liang Dynasty, the warlord [|Zhu Wen] held the most power in northern China. Although he was originally a member of [|Huang Chao]'s rebel army, he took on a crucial role in suppressing the Huang Chao Rebellion. For this function, he was awarded the [|Xuanwu Jiedushi] title. Within a few years, he had consolidated his power by destroying neighbours and forcing the move of the imperial capital to [|Luoyang] (in modern [|Henan] province), which was within his region of influence. In 904, he executed [|Emperor Zhaozong] and made his 13-year-old son a subordinate ruler. Three years later, he induced the boy emperor to abdicate in his favour. He then proclaimed himself emperor, thus beginning the [|Later Liang Dynasty].

Later Tang Dynasty
During the Tang Dynasty, rival warlords declared independence in their governing provinces — not all of whom recognized the emperor's authority. [|Li Cunxu] and [|Liu Shouguang] (劉守光) fiercely fought the regime forces to conquer northern China; [|Li Cunxu] succeeded. He defeated [|Liu Shouguang] (who had proclaimed a [|Yan] Empire in 911) in 915, and declared himself emperor in 923; within a few months, he brought down the Later Liang regime. Thus began the [|Later Tang Dynasty] — the first in a long line of [|conquest dynasties]. After reuniting much of northern China, Cunxu conquered [|Former Shu] in 925, a regime that had been set up in [|Sichuan].

**Later Jin Dynasty**
The Later Tang Dynasty had a few years of relative calm, followed by unrest. In 934, Sichuan again asserted independence. In 936, [|Shi Jingtang], a [|Shatuo Turk] [|jiedushi] from [|Taiyuan], was aided by the [|Manchurian] [|Khitan Empire] in a rebellion against the dynasty. In return for their aid, Shi Jingtang promised annual tribute and 16 prefectures in the Youyun area (modern northern [|Hebei] province and [|Beijing]) to the Khitans. The rebellion succeeded; Shi Jingtang became emperor in this same year. Not long after the Jin Dynasty's founding, the Khitans regarded the emperor as a proxy ruler for [|China proper]. In 943, they declared war on this kingdom, and within three years seized the capital, [|Kaifeng]—thus marking the end of Later Jin Dynasty. But, although they had conquered vast regions of China, they were unable or unwilling to control those regions and retreated from them early in the next year.

Later Han Dynasty To fill the power vacuum, the //[|jiedushi]// [|Liu Zhiyuan] entered the imperial capital in 947, and proclaimed the advent of the [|Later Han Dynasty], establishing a third successive [|Shatuo Turk] dynasty. This was the shortest of the five dynasties; following a coup in 951, General [|Guo Wei], a [|Han Chinese], was enthroned, thus beginning the [|Later Zhou Dynasty]. However, [|Liu Chong], a member of the Later Han imperial family, established a rival [|Northern Han] regime in [|Taiyuan], and requested Khitan aid to defeat Later Han.

Later Zhou Dynasty
After the death of [|Guo Wei] in 951, his adopted son [|Chai Rong] succeeded the throne and began a policy of expansion and reunification. In 954, his army defeated combined Khitan and Northern Han forces, ending their ambition of toppling the Later Zhou dynasty. Between 956 and 958, forces of Later Zhou conquered much of [|Southern Tang], the most powerful regime in southern China, which ceded all the territory north of the [|Yangtze River] in defeat. In 959, Chai Rong attacked the [|Khitan Empire] in an attempt to recover territories ceded during the Later Jin Dynasty. After many victories, he succumbed to illness. In 960, the general [|Zhao Kuangyin] staged a coup and took the throne for himself, founding the [|Northern Song Dynasty]. This is the official end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. During the next two decades, Zhao Kuangyin and his successor [|Zhao Kuangyi] defeated the other remaining regimes in [|China proper], conquering [|Northern Han] in 979, and reunifying China completely in 982.

Northern Han
Though considered one of the ten kingdoms, the [|Northern Han] was based in the traditional [|Shatuo Turk] stronghold of [|Shanxi]. It was created after the last of three dynasties created by [|Shatuo Turks] fell to the Han-governed [|Later Zhou Dynasty] in 951. With the protection of the powerful [|Khitan] [|Liao empire], the Northern Han maintained nominal independence until the Song Dynasty wrested it from the Khitan in 979.

= ​TEN KINGDOMS: = Unlike the dynasties of northern China, which succeeded one other in rapid succession, the regimes of southern China were generally concurrent, each controlling a specific geographical area. These were known as "The Ten Kingdoms".

Wu
The Kingdom of [|Wu] (902–937) was established in modern-day [|Jiangsu], [|Anhui], and [|Jiangxi] provinces. It was founded by [|Yang Xingmi], who became a [|Tang Dynasty] military governor in 892. The capital was initially at Guangling (present-day [|Yangzhou]) and later moved to Jinling (present-day [|Nanjing]). The kingdom fell in 937 when it was taken from within by the founder of the [|Southern Tang].

Wuyue
The Kingdom of [|Wuyue] was the longest-lived (907–978) and among the most powerful of the southern states. [|Wuyue] was known for its learning and culture. It was founded by [|Qian Liu], who set up his capital at Xifu (modern-day [|Hangzhou]). It was based mostly in modern Zhejiang province but also held parts of southern [|Jiangsu]. [|Qian Liu] was named the Prince of Yue by the [|Tang] emperor in 902; the Prince of Wu was added in 904. After the fall of the [|Tang Dynasty] in 907, he declared himself king of [|Wuyue]. [|Wuyue] survived until the eighteenth year of the [|Song Dynasty], when Qian Shu surrendered to the expanding dynasty.

Min
The Kingdom of [|Min] (909–945) was founded by Wang Shenzhi, who named himself the Prince of Min with its capital at Changle (present-day [|Fuzhou]). One of Shenzhi’s sons proclaimed the independent state of [|Yin] in the northeast of [|Min] territory. The [|Southern Tang] took that territory after the [|Min] asked for help. Despite declaring loyalty to the neighboring [|Wuyue], the [|Southern Tang] finished its conquest of Min in 945.

Southern Han
The [|Southern Han] (917–971) was founded in [|Guangzhou] (also known as Canton) by [|Liu Yan]. His brother, [|Liu Yin], was named regional governor by the [|Tang] court. The kingdom included [|Guangdong] and most of [|Guangxi].

Chu
The [|Chu] (927–951) was founded by [|Ma Yin] with the capital at [|Changsha]. The kingdom held Hunan and northeastern [|Guangxi]. Ma was named regional military governor by the [|Tang] court in 896, and named himself the Prince of Chu with the fall of the [|Tang Dynasty] in 907. This status as the Prince of Chu was confirmed by the [|Later Tang Dynasty] in 927. The [|Southern Tang] absorbed the state in 951 and moved the royal family to its capital in [|Nanjing], although Southern Tang rule of the region was temporary, as the next year former Chu military officers under the leadership of [|Liu Yan] seized the territory. In the waning years of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the region was ruled by [|Zhou Xingfeng].

Jingnan (also known as Nanping)
The smallest of the southern states, [|Jingnan] (924–963), was founded by [|Gao Jichang]. It was based in Jiangling and held two other districts southwest of present-day [|Wuhan] in [|Hubei]. Gao was in the service of the [|Later Liang Dynasty] (the successor of the [|Tang Dynasty] in northern China). Gao’s successors claimed the title of King of Nanping after the fall of the Later Liang in 924. It was a small and weak kingdom, and thus tried to maintain good relations with each of the Five Dynasties. The kingdom fell to advancing armies of the [|Song Dynasty] in 963.

Former Shu
The Kingdom of [|Shu] (907–925) was founded after the fall of the Tang Dynasty by Wang Jian, who held his court in [|Chengdu]. The kingdom held most of present-day [|Sichuan], western [|Hubei], and parts of southern [|Gansu] and [|Shaanxi]. Wang was named military governor of western Sichuan by the [|Tang] court in 891. The kingdom fell when his incompetent son surrendered in the face of an advance by the [|Later Tang Dynasty] in 925.

Later Shu
The [|Later Shu] (935–965) is essentially a resurrection of the previous Shu state that had fallen a decade earlier to the [|Later Tang Dynasty]. Because the [|Later Tang] was in decline, Meng Zhixiang found the opportunity to reassert Shu’s independence. Like the [|Former Shu], the capital was at Chengdu and it basically controlled the same territory as its predecessor. The kingdom was ruled well until forced to succumb to [|Northern Song] armies in 965. ​

Southern Tang
The [|Southern Tang] (937–975) was the successor state of [|Wu] as [|Li Bian] (Emperor Liezu) took the state over from within in 937. Expanding from the original domains of [|Wu], it eventually took over Yin, Min, and Chu, holding present-day southern Anhui, southern Jiangsu, much of Jiangxi, Hunan, and eastern Hubei at its height. The kingdom became nominally subordinate to the expanding [|Song Dynasty] in 961 and was invaded outright in 975, when it was formally absorbed into the Song Dynasty. Although more stable than northern China as a whole, southern China was also torn apart by warfare. [|Wu] quarrelled with its neighbours, a trend that continued as Wu was replaced with [|Southern Tang]. In the 940s [|Min] and [|Chu] underwent internal crises which Southern Tang handily took advantage of, destroying Min in 945 and Chu in 951. Remnants of Min and Chu, however, survived in the form of [|Qingyuan Jiedushi] and [|Wuping Jiedushi] for many years after. With this, Southern Tang became the undisputedly most powerful regime in southern China. However, it was unable to defeat incursions by the [|Later Zhou Dynasty] between 956 and 958, and ceded all of its land north of the [|Yangtze River]. The [|Northern Song Dynasty], established in 960, was determined to reunify China. [|Jingnan] and [|Wuping] were swept away in 963, [|Later Shu] in 965, [|Southern Han] in 971, and [|Southern Tang] in 975. Finally, [|Wuyue] and [|Qingyuan] gave up their land to Northern Song in 978, bringing all of southern China under the control of the central government.

= Transitions between kingdoms = Although more stable than northern China as a whole, southern China was also torn apart by warfare. [|Wu] quarrelled with its neighbours, a trend that continued as Wu was replaced with [|Southern Tang]. In the 940s [|Min] and [|Chu] underwent internal crises which Southern Tang handily took advantage of, destroying Min in 945 and Chu in 951. Remnants of Min and Chu, however, survived in the form of [|Qingyuan Jiedushi] and [|Wuping Jiedushi] for many years after. With this, Southern Tang became the undisputedly most powerful regime in southern China. However, it was unable to defeat incursions by the [|Later Zhou Dynasty] between 956 and 958, and ceded all of its land north of the [|Yangtze River]. The [|Northern Song Dynasty], established in 960, was determined to reunify China. [|Jingnan] and [|Wuping] were swept away in 963, [|Later Shu] in 965, [|Southern Han] in 971, and [|Southern Tang] in 975. Finally, [|Wuyue] and [|Qingyuan] gave up their land to Northern Song in 978, bringing all of southern China under the control of the central government.

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