Five Dynasties and Ten States
After the fall of the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907), China entered another period of segmentation. In north China, five stronger dynasties appeared one after the other, which were Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han and Later Zhou. Comparatively, in south China, nine other smaller separate regimes coexisted, which were Wu, Southern Tang, Wuyue, Chu, Former Shu, Later Shu, Southern Han, Jingnan and Min. In addition to the Northern Han in the east of the Yellow River, they were together called Ten States (907 – 979).
Five Dynasties
The period of the five dynasties lasted for only 53 years, from 907 to 960. In 907, Zhu Quanzhong usurped the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and established the Later Liang in Kaifeng (present in Henan Province).In his reign, old conventions of the Tang Dynasty were discarded while new reforms were reinforced. However, Zhu did not pursue the cause of unification and later became corrupt. In 923, Later Liang was defeated by Li Cunxu.
map of Five Dynasties and Ten States
The Later Tang lasted for 14 years. During this dynasty, the second emperor of Later Liang, Emperor Mingzong, was an enlightened emperor. He carried out many favorable policies under which people lived an affluent life. Likewise, rulers of the Later Tang did not unify the whole country either. Finally, the regime was destroyed by Emperor Mingzong´s brother-in-law Shi Jingtang, with the help of the Khitan group from the northern areas.
After the downfall of the Later Tang, Shi Jingtang was enthroned as emperor of the Later Jin by the king of the Khitan group. In this way, the regime of the Later Jin was attached to the Khitan group. Till the reign of Shi Zhonggui, who was the foster son of Shi Jingtang, wanted to break away from the control of Khitan. Unfortunately, the Latter Jin was captured by Qidan who afterwards set up the Liao Dynasty in capital Kaifeng.
Although the Khitan group established a new dynasty, their regime did not last long in the central plain areas because of the objection from the local people. Before long, Liu Zhiyuan, a man from Taiyuan, led his army into the central plain and soon founded a new dynasty – Later Han. In 950, suspecting that a military general named Guo Wei plotting to rebel, Liu Chengyou (the second emperor of the Later Han) wanted to kill him. But Liu Chengyou did not fulfill his goal; instead, Guo Wei along with his military force killed Liu Chengyou and founded Later Zhou in 951.
Comparatively, the Latter Zhou was the most prosperous one among the five dynasties. Under the wise ruling of Guo Wei and his foster son Chai Rong, the national strength was greatly enhanced. In that period, the rulers gradually unified almost the whole country. But the third emperor was a child who was enthroned at the age of seven. In 960 when the regime unstable, a military general in the court, named Zhao Kuangyin, took the chance of resisting the Liao aggressors and launched a mutiny in Chenqiao County. Soon the child emperor had to yield the throne to Zhao, after which a new dynasty – Song Dynasty (960 – 1279) was founded.
Ten States
Compared with the five dynasties, the situation of the Ten States was much better. Except for the Northern Han, the other nine states were all located in south China, so they were less influenced by the wars in the north. As a result, their political situation was relatively stable and their regimes lasted much longer than the five dynasties. The shortest regimes among the Ten States the Former Shu, existed for 34 years, twice as long as the longest of the five dynasties, the Later Liang Dynasty. The longest regime was the Wuyue State, lasting for 85 years. During this time, large groups of people moved from the north to the south to avoid the wars. They brought with them advanced production techniques and cultures. These factors, combined with the peaceful environment, brought rapid development to south China, laying a foundation for the southward move of the economic center in the succeeding dynasty.