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.