Five Dynasties and Ten States

After Zhu Quanzhong usurped the Tang Dynasty and founded the Latter Liang Dynasty (907 - 923), there were sequentially four dynasties after that, namely Latter Tang (923 - 936), Latter Jin (936 - 946), Latter Han (947 - 950) and Latter Zhou (951 - 960). All these five dynasties were called Five Dynasties in Chinese history. Meanwhile, there were also ten kingdoms originating from the former Jiedushi (regional military attachment) of Tang, including Southern Wu (910 - 937), Southern Chu (907 - 951), Min (933 - 945), Southern Han (917 - 971), Northern Han (951 - 968), Former Shu (907 - 925), Latter Shu (934 - 965), Southern Ping (924 - 963), Wu Yue (907 - 978) and Southern Tang (937 - 975).

Five Dynasties The period of the five dynasties lasted for only 53 years, from 907 to 960. In 907, Zhu Quanzhong established the Latter Liang in Kaifeng (provincial capital of 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, Latter Liang was defeated by Li Cunxu.

 The Latter Tang lasted for 14 years. During this dynasty, the second emperor of Latter Liang, Emperor Mingzong, was an enlightened emperor. He carried out many favorable policies under which people lived an affluent life. Likewise, rulers of the Latter 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 Qidan group from the northern areas.

After the downfall of the Latter Tang, Shi Jingtang was enthroned as emperor of the Latter Jin by the king of the Qidan group. In this way, the regime of the Latter Jin was attached to the Qidan group. Till the reign of Shi Zhonggui, who was the foster son of Shi Jingtang, wanted to break away from the control of Qidan. Unfortunately, the Latter Jin was captured by Qidan who afterwards set up the Liao Dynasty in capital Kaifeng.

Although the Qidan 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 - Latter Han. In 950, suspecting that a military general named Guo Wei plotting to rebel, Liu Chengyou (the second emperor of the Latter 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 Latter 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 The so called ten states refers to the nine kingdoms existing in the southern areas of China and one kingdom named Latter Han in the northern areas. According to the chronological order, the ten states were Southern Chu, Wu Yue, Former Shu, Southern Wu, Southern Han, Southern Ping, Min, Latter Shu, Southern Tang and Northern Han. Actually, almost all these ten states' predecessors were regional military attachments called Jiedushi in the Tang Dynasty. The Northern Han was an exception. It was established in Taiyuan by Liu Chong, who was the younger brother of the Latter Han's founder Liu Zhiyuan.

Unlike the glorious and luxurious cultural atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty, the culture and arts of the ten states developed and formed its unique plain feature. Among them, the Southern Chu was well known for making porcelain. Its capital city, Changsha, is still famous for its Changsha Kiln today. But the most prosperous dynasty was the Southern Tang which was situated in Nanjing. Since the rulers put much effort in to developing the arts and literature, numerous painters, calligraphers and poets constantly emerged in that period. Especially, Li Yu, the last emperor of the Latter Tang, was renowned as a great master of the 'ci' poems in Chinese literary history.