The tumultuous period of Jin dynasty had its last nail in the coffin when the vast empire of Jin was divided into 16 small kingdoms who were all engaged into perpetu

The tumultuous period of Jin dynasty had its last nail in the coffin when the vast empire of Jin was divided into 16 small kingdoms who were all engaged into perpetual civil wars as general political chaos became a normal occurrence.  

The Southern Dynasties consisted of: Liu-Song Dynasty, Southern Qi Dynasty, Liang dynasty and Chen dynasty. While the Northern dynasties comprised: North Wei, East Wei, West Wei, North Qi, and North Zhuo; each of them existing parallelly subject to conflict and resolution based on mutual interests or concerns. The homogeneity in the powers of all these dynasties caused a prolonged stalemate.

This was also a period when the non-Han ethnicities living at the peripheries of the established kingdoms were getting Sinicized as each kingdom was in search of permanent allies.

While before this period, the conquests that changed the course of history were limited to the actions of few individuals who held maximum amount of power over the bureaucratic and military machineries of the kingdoms, this era was completely contrasting to the former times since no single individual held the absolute power to rule China proper.

Despite the perpetual regicides, political assassinations, and events of royal incest for power grabs; art and culture enriched by greater acceptance of Buddhism and Taoism within the royal class. Two essential Taoist canons, a large literary work sponsored by the imperial kingdom, were written during this period.

These consolidations were done by Taoist monks who collected centuries of knowledge that was transferred through oral tradition from generation to generation, into written texts. Taoism’s primary focuses are: meditation, ritual, and exorcism. The knowledge on these three traditions was widely codified and accepted into everyday lives and became an integral part of Han identity.  

In 589 AD, emperor Wen of Sui dynasty initiated a decade long campaign to re-unify China as he successfully ended the rule of remaining kingdoms leading to a unified China as Sui Dynasty gained the Mandate of Heaven to rule a unified China proper since the era of Han dynasty.

Northern & Southern Dynasties

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