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

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