Editing Tang dynasty (section)

=== End of the dynasty ===
In addition to factors like natural calamity and ''jiedushi'' claiming autonomy, a rebellion by [[Huang Chao]] (874–884) devastated both northern and southern China, took an entire decade to suppress, resulted in the sacking of both Chang'an and Luoyang.{{sfn|Eberhard|2005|pp=189–190}} In 878–879, Huang's army committed [[Guangzhou massacre|a massacre]] in the southern port of [[Guangzhou]] against foreign Arab and Persian Muslim, Zoroastrian, Jewish and Christian merchants.{{sfn|Gernet|1996|p=292}} A medieval Chinese source claimed that Huang Chao killed 8 million people.<ref>{{zhi|c=《殘唐五代史演義傳》：“[[Li Zhi (philosopher)|卓吾]]子評：‘僖宗以貌取人，失之巢賊，致令殺人八百萬，血流三千里’”}}</ref> The Tang never recovered from Huang's rebellion, which paved the way for the later overthrow of the Tang. Large groups of bandits in the size of small armies ravaged the countryside in the last years of the Tang. They smuggled illicit salt, ambushed merchants and convoys, and even besieged several walled cities.{{sfn|Ebrey|Walthall|Palais|2006|p=108}} Amid the sacking of cities and murderous factional strife among eunuchs and officials, the top tier of aristocratic families, which had amassed a large fraction of the landed wealth and official positions, was largely destroyed or marginalised.{{sfn|Mote|2003|pp=6–7}}<ref>{{citation |last1=Scheidel |first1=Walter |title=The Great Leveler. Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century |year=2018 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-18325-1 |pages=276–278}}</ref>

During the last two decades of the Tang dynasty, the gradual collapse of central authority led to the rise of the rival military figures [[Li Keyong]] and [[Zhu Wen]] in northern China.{{sfn|Mote|2003|pp=7–12}} Tang forces had defeated Huang's rebellion with the aid of allied [[Shatuo]], a [[Turkic people]] of what is now [[Shanxi]], led by Li Keyong. He was made a ''jiedushi'', and later [[Jin (Later Tang precursor)|Prince of Jin]], bestowed with the imperial surname Li by the Tang court.{{sfn|Mote|2003|pp=6–7, 10, 12}} Zhu Wen, originally a salt smuggler who served as a lieutenant under the rebel Huang Chao, surrendered to Tang forces. By helping to defeat Huang, he was renamed [[Zhu Quanzhong]] ("Zhu of Perfect Loyalty") and granted a rapid series of promotions to military governor of Xuanwu Circuit.{{sfn|Mote|2003|pp=7, 10, 12}}{{sfn|Needham|1986c|pp=320–321|loc=footnote h}}

In 901, from his power base of [[Kaifeng]], Zhu Wen seized control of the Tang capital Chang'an and with it the imperial family.{{sfn|Mote|2003|p=7}} By 903, he forced [[Emperor Zhaozong of Tang]] to move the capital to Luoyang, preparing to take the throne for himself. In 904, Zhu assassinated Emperor Zhaozong to replace him with the emperor's young son [[Emperor Ai of Tang]]. In 905, Zhu executed the brothers of Emperor Ai as well as many officials and [[Empress He (Tang dynasty)|Empress Dowager He]]. In 907, the Tang dynasty was ended when Zhu deposed Ai and took the throne for himself (known posthumously as Emperor Taizu of Later Liang). He established the [[Later Liang (Five Dynasties)|Later Liang]], which inaugurated the [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]]. A year later, Zhu had the deposed Emperor Ai poisoned to death.{{sfn|Mote|2003|pp=7, 10, 12}}

Zhu Wen's enemy Li Keyong died in 908, having never claimed the [[Chinese sovereign|title of emperor]] out of loyalty to the Tang. His son [[Li Cunxu]] (Emperor Zhuangzong) inherited his title Prince of Jin along with his father's rivalry against Zhu. In 923, Li Cunxu declared a "restored" Tang dynasty, the [[Later Tang]], before toppling the Later Liang dynasty the same year. However, southern China remained splintered into various small kingdoms until most of China was reunified under the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279). Control over parts of [[northeast China]] and [[Manchuria]] by the [[Liao dynasty]] of the [[Khitan people]] also stemmed from this period. In 905, their leader [[Abaoji]] formed a military alliance with Li Keyong against Zhu Wen but the Khitans eventually turned against the Later Tang, helping another Shatuo leader [[Shi Jingtang]] of [[Later Jin (Five Dynasties)|Later Jin]] to overthrow Later Tang in 936.{{sfn|Mote|2003|pp=10–13}}