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Far East Kingdoms
China
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Dynastic China
Modern
China has not
always existed in its present form since its first appearance as a state.
In fact it has rarely been as large in terms of territory as it is today.
At several times in its long history the country has fragmented into two
or more warring kingdoms. In its early days there were many smaller
independent states that were often at war with one another for domination,
sometimes for several centuries. This was often followed by relatively
short spells of unification under a single strong conqueror, followed
again by a return to fragmentation. It was a long, slow climb towards
the relatively unified state of the two millennia AD.
China's origins were long seen as being focussed along the Yellow River.
Several of the early mythical or semi-historical dynasties of
Ancient China were based
in territory in this region, with these early confederate kingdoms having
being regarded as having laid down the basis of later Chinese unity. That
unity only really came with the
Qin
dynasty, once the old order had been swept away by the
Warring States
period. Following another fractious period - the
'Three
Kingdoms' civil war period - a reunified China appeared again under the
Jin.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from The
Cambridge History of Ancient China - From the Origins of Civilization
to 221 BC, Michael Loewe & Edward L Shaughnessy (1999).) |
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Tsin / Jin Dynasty (Western Jin / Sima Jin) (China
Reunited)
AD 266 - 589
Chinese unity of the
Late Han
period officially ended in AD 220 when Emperor Xian was deposed and replaced
by Cao Wei who founded the
Wei
dynasty. Opposed by the
Eastern Wu
and Shu
Han, the 'Three
Kingdoms' period of all-encompassing civil war had begun, and it quickly
turned into one of China's bloodiest civil wars in its entire history.
The Jin began their careers as regents of the Sima clan for the Cao Wei (as
the Wei dynasty became). In AD 263 the Shu kingdom was perceived as being
weak by the then-regent, Sima Zhao, so he launched an invasion of its
territory and quickly captured it when the Shu emperor was persuaded to
surrender. This had removed one facet of the three-sided civil war. Towards
the end of the invasion, Sima Zhao had himself created duke of Jin, thereby
founding a dynasty which would directly succeed the Wei.
Initially, due to the location of its capital - Luoyang - the dynasty was
known as the Western Jin. Thanks
to the name of its founder, the dynasty is also sometimes known as the
Sima Jin. 'Tsin' comes from older usage, primarily earlier in the
twentieth century. In 264, Sima Zhao went one step further by raising
himself to the position of king of Jin. His death in 265 meant that his
son had to complete the transition in 266, and the Jin dynasty became
the official (and legal) rulers of the northern-based Wei and the
conquered Shu. Only the Eastern Wu remained to oppose them.
(Information by Peter Kessler, from Military Culture in Imperial
China, Nicola Di Cosmo & Robin D S Yates (Harvard University Press,
2009), from Records of the Three Kingdoms, Chen Shou (third century
text which covers the period AD 184-220 and which combines individual
histories of the three kingdoms), from Zizhi Tongjian, Sima Guang
(noted tenth century historical work), and from External Link:
Three Kingdoms (Encyclopaedia Britannica).) |
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Western Jin / Sima Jin / Czin' (China)
AD 266 - 317
The Western Jin (or Sima Jin) ruled much of northern and western China
between AD 266-280. Only the survival of the
Eastern
Wu in the south and east kept the
'Three
Kingdoms' civil war period going. This situation was ended in AD 280
with a massive Jin assault on Wu territory. The Chinese kingdom was
reunited under one ruler for the first time since AD 220.
The situation seemed to stabilise for a time, but corruption quickly set in,
largely thanks to the over-tolerant and generous rule of Sima Yan. Thanks
to his attempts not to repeat the mistakes of the
Cao Wei
dynasty political upheaval followed, and then the Western Jin were driven
out of Korea in 313.
A succession crises was already taking place thanks to Emperor Zhong being
developmentally incapacitated, and by 317 China became divided into north
and south, a situation which remained unresolved until 589 and the end of
the Jin. Names shown are personal name and posthumous imperial name, in that
order. The state was also known as Sima Jin thanks to the clan or family
name, and also Czin' in connection with references to post-Greek
Ferghana, although perhaps
only in older scholarly works.
(Information by Peter Kessler, from Military Culture in Imperial
China, Nicola Di Cosmo & Robin D S Yates (Harvard University Press,
2009), from Records of the Three Kingdoms, Chen Shou (third century
text which covers the period AD 184-220 and which combines individual
histories of the three kingdoms), from Zizhi Tongjian, Sima Guang
(noted tenth century historical work), and from External Links:
Three Kingdoms (Encyclopaedia Britannica), and
Kroraina.) |
266 - 290 |
Sima Yan / Wu Ti |
Former
regent of Cao
Wei. |
280 |
With the combined military forces of the north (the former
Cao Wei)
and west (formerly
Shu Han),
the Jin have been able to launch a massive attack on the borders of the
Eastern Wu
from six different directions. The Wu suffer defeat after defeat and one of
their most important ministers - the chancellor - is killed during the
fighting. With little choice and in order to prevent a bloodbath, Sun Hao
formally surrenders on 31 May 280. The
'Three
Kingdoms' period is over and China is reunited under a single ruler.
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The reunification of the Chinese kingdom under the Jin
effectively saw the former three states merged back into
one without any particularly noticeable change in its
external borders (click or tap on map to view full sized)
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Emperor Wu Ti immediately conducts a census of the single Chinese state
which reveals a population reduction of around forty million people since
the Late Han
period, mostly it seems due to civil war casualties. The figure's accuracy
may be disputable, but it still represents a drastic drop. |
290
- 301 |
Sima Zhong / Hui Ti |
Son. Largely incapable of ruling. Deposed in coup. |
290 - 301 |
Sima Zhong, unable to rule effectively himself, is
dominated by various regents during his reign. The first of them is Yang Lun
who has already replaced Sima Yan's official will with a forgery which
places him alone in that position instead as joint regent. However, Yang
Lun's spell of power is brief. By 291 he has been removed in place of
the emperor's wife, the unprincipled and highly dangerous Jia Nanfeng. She
retains this important role until AD 300 when the emperor's uncle, Sima Lun,
politically defeats her and forces her to commit suicide. His own brief
period as regent results in his removal of the emperor and his usurpation of
the throne. |
301 |
Sima Lun |
Uncle and usurper. Defeated. Committed suicide. |
301 - 302 |
Sima Lun rules for just three months before he is
militarily defeated by a coalition of royal princes - marking the start of
the Succession Civil Wars or War of the Eight Princes. Sima
Jiong ensures that Emperor Sima Zhong is restored to the throne but then
proceeds to take control from behind it. It takes a minor succession crisis
in 302 to bring matters to a head. The last of Sima Zhong's children die
young but, in attempting to manipulate the succession, Sima Jiong himself
is defeated and executed. |
301 - 306 |
Sima Zhong / Hui Ti |
Restored. Poisoned. |
306 - 307 |
Sima clan infighting has continued since 302, sometimes
flaring up into open hostilities and very often involving court intrigues
and plots. In 306 Li Xiong (the Jin governor) and Liu Yuan (a Xiongnu noble)
both declare themselves to be rival emperors - Li Xiong of the kingdom of
Cheng
on the western central edge of China (which is generally indivisible from
the Han kingdom formed by another branch of the same family in 338 and
is therefore combined as Cheng Han), and Liu Yuan of Han Zhao in the north.
These two rival states are the first of the forthcoming
'Sixteen
Kingdoms of the Five Barbarians', and their formation marks the end of
the Succession Civil Wars. Emperor Sima Zhong is soon poisoned,
apparently by his own regent.
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As Emperor Wu Ti, Sima Yan had been able to complete his
father's work and reunite China under one ruler, but his
descendants could not find unity amongst themselves and
instead started a long-running civil war
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307 - 313 |
Sima Chi / Huai Ti |
Brother. Captured in 311. Poisoned in 313. |
309 - 311 |
The kingdom of Han Zhao has increasingly been disrupting
Jin rule in the north. Cities and towns both there and in central China have
been harassed and even captured. The successful Jin defence of its capital
at Luoyang in 309 is one of its few successes. In 310 the dominant imperial
regent, Sima Yue, abandons the capital and the emperor. However, beset on
all sides by stronger enemies he falls ill and dies in 311. Luoyang and the
emperor are captured by Han Zhao forces in the same year. |
313 - 316 |
Sima Ye / Min of
Jin |
Grandson of Sima Yan. Aged 15. In Chang'an. Executed. |
316 |
With the fall of the impoverished and poorly-defended town
of Chang'an, Emperor Min is captured by the forces of Han Zhao. He is
briefly held captive before the decision to execute him is taken. Prince
Sima Rui inherits the Jin title and ensures the continuity of the dynasty by
withdrawing south of the River Huai. There it survives as the
Eastern Jin
while Han Zhao governs a large swathe of the north. The period of collapse
and division known as the
'Sixteen
Kingdoms of the Five Barbarians' has begun |
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Sixteen Kingdoms of the Five Barbarians (China)
AD 317 - 439
At the start of the fourth century AD China found itself once again
divided, having only just completed the process of reunification at
the end of the period known as the
Warlords
of the Three Kingdoms. The division was largely caused by the
'Succession Civil Wars' between 301-307 and the increasing belligerence
of two rival kingdoms, both of which claimed the imperial title.
The ruling Jin dynasty became
increasingly powerless against the northern Chinese kingdom of
Han
Zhao, founded by Liu Yuan (a Xiongnu noble) in 306. Opposed to them
both was the kingdom of
Cheng, founded in 306 by Li Xiong (the Jin governor) on the western
central edge of China (which is generally indivisible from the
Han kingdom that was soon formed by another branch of the same family
in 338 and is therefore combined as Cheng Han). The Jin, on the run in
the north, retreated south of the River Huai to retain their claim of
imperial superiority in the form of the
Eastern Jin. These then formed the core of the 'Sixteen Kingdoms'.
This allowed various regional kingdoms and even barbarian empires also
to rise and fall in the north and along China's western borders, and
these accounted for many of the remaining sixteen kingdoms. Each fought
the other for power and territory and, confusingly to western ears, many
have very similar names: there were five kingdoms using 'Liang'
(Former,
Later,
Northern,
Southern,
and Western);
four using 'Yan'
(Former,
Later,
Northern, and
Southern);
three using 'Qin'
(Former,
Later, and Western); two with 'Zhao' (Former - otherwise known as the
aforementioned Han Zhao - and Later); plus the also already-mentioned
Cheng Han (early fourth century barbarian arrivals from the north), and
Xia.
Not included in the total of sixteen kingdoms or five barbarians are further
kingdoms (many short-lived), including those of Chouchi, Duan Qi, Huan Chu,
Qiao Shu, Ran Wei, Tuyuhun, Zhai Wei, and Western Yan. Also not included -
probably because it was more distant - was the Rouran khaganate to the
north-west, which governed much of Mongolia until its defeat
by the Göktürk people
in the middle of the fifth century. In China proper, much of the fighting
and fracturing took place in the north, above the line formed by the River
Yangtze, while the kingdoms to the south were largely able to survive
without too much interference until the north had managed to reunify.
This act precipitated the start of the 'Northern & Southern Dynasties'
period.
(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from The
Origin of the Turks and the Turkish Khanate, Gao Yang (Tenth Türk
Tarih Kongresi, Ankara 1986), from Türkiye halkının kültür
kökenleri: Giriş, beslenme teknikleri, Burhan Oğuz (1976),
from The Turks in World History, Carter Vaughin Findley (Oxford
University Press 2005), from The Origins of Northern China's
Ethnicities, Zhu Xueyuan (Beijing 2004), from Ethnogenesis in the
tribal zone: The Shaping of the Turks, Peter Benjamin Golden (2005),
from Shiliuguo Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals of the Sixteen Kingdoms),
Cui Hong (Sixth Century Compiler, although not all of his work survives),
and from External Link:
Kidarites (Encyclopaedia Iranica).) |
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China's dynasties continues
here. |
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