Editing Northern and Southern dynasties (section)

==Southern dynasties==
{{Further|List of emperors of the Southern dynasties|Six Dynasties}}
[[File:Chuning - eastern qilin - P1060971.JPG|thumb|The eastern ''[[qilin]]'' of the Chuning Tomb, [[Liu Song dynasty]].]]
The Jin were succeeded by a series of short-lived dynasties: [[Liu Song dynasty|Liu Song]] (420–479), [[Southern Qi]] (479–502), [[Liang dynasty|Liang]] (502–557) and [[Chen dynasty|Chen]] (557–589). As all of these dynasties had their capital at Jiankang (except for a brief interlude from 552 to 555), they are sometimes grouped together with Eastern Wu and Eastern Jin under the historiographic term "the [[Six Dynasties]]". The rulers of these short-lived dynasties were generals who seized and then held power for several decades but were unable to securely pass power of rule onto their heirs to continue their dynasty successfully. [[Emperor Wu of Liang]] (502–549) was the most notable ruler of his age, being a patron of the arts and of Buddhism.

The Southern dynasties, except for the last Chen dynasty, were strongly dominated by the ''shijia'', the great families, who monopolized political power until the mid-6th century. This class was created by [[Cao Cao]] during the late [[Han dynasty]] when he attempted to consolidate his power by building an endogenous military caste of professional soldiers. His policy led to the rise and usurpation of the Sima family who established the Jin dynasty; subsequent leaders were similarly unable to bring the other great families in line.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jacques Gernet |title=A History of Chinese Civilization |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern |url-access=registration |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521497817 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern/page/177 177]–178 |edition=illustrated, reprint, revised}}</ref> The Jin dynasty's flight south greatly exacerbated the weakness of the central government, and the great families who accompanied the Emperor in his flight, along with the most wealthy clans of earlier settlers along the Zhejiang coast, were the primary power brokers in the Eastern Jin. With the greatly increased importance of proving one's pedigree to receive privileges, there was a rise in compiling of genealogy records, and the great families moved to legally outlaw intermarriage with common families. The lower class Northern migrants were forced to become "guests" (dependents) of the great families who established private guard forces with their new retainers. When the Eastern Jin attempted to draft the dependents of the great families, the court was quickly overthrown.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jacques Gernet |title=A History of Chinese Civilization |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern |url-access=registration |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521497817 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern/page/181 181]–183 |edition=illustrated, reprint, revised}}</ref>

However, with the fall of the Eastern Jin in 420, the balance of power shifted in favour the central government. The subsequent Liu Song, Qi, Liang and Chen dynasties were ruled by military leaders from lowly social backgrounds. They gradually stripped the powerful clans of military power, authority and wealth. The emperors stationed regional armies around the country under the command of their imperial relatives, recruited officers from humble backgrounds and appointed low-ranking officials to monitor the powerful elites occupying the top government posts. The southern aristocracy declined with the rise of the Indian Ocean trade in the mid 5th century, which led to the court revenues shifting to trade and the disappearance of the caste by the Chen dynasty.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jacques Gernet |title=A History of Chinese Civilization |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern_0 |url-access=registration |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521497817 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern_0/page/172 172], 184|edition=illustrated, reprint, revised}}</ref> As landowning aristocrats were unable to convert cash from the produce of their estates, the resurgence of trade and the money-based economy forced them to break up and sell their lands to the burgeoning merchant class. Influential merchants increasingly occupied political offices, displacing the old aristocrats. On the other hand, the economic developments also drove peasants, unable to cope with inflation or to pay taxes in cash, to become mercenary soldiers, wandering through the country selling their services to the warring princes and plundering the populace. These upheavals devastated the south which eased the fall of the south to the Sui dynasty.{{sfn|Lewis|2009|pp= 69-73}}

Under the later waning leadership of the Chen dynasty, the southern Chinese were unable to resist the military power amassed in the north by Yang Jian, who declared himself [[Emperor Wen of Sui]] and invaded the south.

Aboriginal chiefs played an important active role in adapting to the dominant Chinese structure, rather than being forcibly subjugated. For instance, the aboriginal chief [[Lady Xian]] who married the Liang court's governor Feng Bao, helped to extend the dynasties' authority while preserving autonomy and local culture. Lady Xian and Feng Bao played a critical role in assisting Chen Baxian's rise, and in stabilising the region between the Liang, Chen, and Sui dynasties. The court acknowledged her authority by awarding her with official titles and emblems of power.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Cuiping He |editor2=David Faure |editor3=Ts'ui-p'ing Ho |author1=He Xi |chapter=The Past tells it differently: the Myth of Native Subjugation in the Creation of Lineage Society in South China |title=Chieftains Into Ancestors Imperial Expansion and Indigenous Society in Southwest China |date=2013 |publisher=UBC Press |isbn=9780774823685 |pages=138–142, 163–164}}</ref> There were many other local chieftains of mixed origins between Guangzhou and modern Vietnam that displayed mixed traits of both aboriginal and sinicized culture, such as the Ning of Qinzhou, the Li of Guizhou-Tengzhou and the Chen of Shuangzhou. These families functioned both as cheftains to the natives and bureaucrats to the court.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Catherine Churchman |title=The People between the Rivers: The Rise and Fall of a Bronze Drum Culture, 200-750 CE |date=2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781442258600 |pages=172–195}}</ref>

===Liu Song (420–479)===
{{Main|Liu Song dynasty}}
[[File:Emperor Wu of Song.jpg|thumb|Liu Yu, [[Emperor Wu of Song|Emperor Wu of Liu Song]]]]
Liu Song founder [[Emperor Wu of Liu Song|Liu Yu]] was originally a leader of the [[Army of the Northern Garrison]] ({{zh|t=北府軍}}) that notably won the [[Battle of Fei River]] in 383. In 404, he helped suppress [[Huan Xuan]]'s rebellion, leading to his dominance over the Eastern Jin court. In order to gain popularity to take the throne he led [[Liu Yu's expeditions|expeditions]] against the Sixteen Kingdoms, capturing [[Shandong]], [[Henan]] and, briefly, [[Guanzhong]] by 416. He gave up Guanzhong to try to take the throne. Because he believed in a [[Emperor An of Jin#Emperor An's death|prophecy]] saying there would be one more emperor after [[Emperor An of Jin|Emperor An]], he deposed him and, soon afterwards, his replacement, [[Emperor Gong of Jin|Emperor Gong]], in 420, ending the Eastern Jin dynasty.

Even after crowning himself Emperor Wu, Liu Yu remained frugal. However, he did not care for education and trusted unsavory people. He felt that the nobility had too much power, so he tended to appoint the lower classes to government positions and gave military power to imperial kinsmen. Ironically, because the imperial kinsmen stabilized their military power and wished to gain political power, Emperor Wu was afraid they would have thoughts of usurping the throne. Thus, he also frequently killed his kinsmen.

After the death of Emperor Wu, his son [[Emperor Shao of Liu Song|Emperor Shao]] ruled briefly before being judged incompetent and killed by government officials led by [[Xu Xianzhi]], replacing him with [[Emperor Wen of Liu Song|Emperor Wen]], a different son, who soon killed the officials who supported him. Emperor Wen's reign was a period of relative political stability because of his frugality and good government; this period was called the [[Reign of Yuanjia]] ({{zh|c=元嘉之治}}).

In 430, Emperor Wen started a number of northern expeditions against Northern Wei. These were ineffective because of insufficient preparations and excessive micromanagement of his generals, increasingly weakening the dynasty. Because of his jealousy of [[Tan Daoji]], a noted leader of the Army of the Northern Garrison, he deprived himself of a formidable general to the great delight of the Northern Wei. Thus, they were unable to capitalize when Northern Wei suffered the [[Wuqi Incident]]. Starting in 445, Northern Wei, taking advantage of Liu Song's weakness, made major incursions in the lands between the Yangtze and the Huai (modern Shandong, Hebei, and Henan) and devastating six provinces. Emperor Wen lamented that if Tan were still alive, he would have prevented Northern Wei advances. From then on, Liu Song was in a weakened state.

Emperor Wen was assassinated by Crown Prince Shao and Second Prince Jun in 453 after planning to punish them for witchcraft. However, they were both defeated by Third Prince Jun, who become [[Emperor Xiaowu of Liu Song|Emperor Xiaowu]]. He proved to be licentious and cruel, supposedly committing incest with the daughters of an uncle who had helped him gain the throne; his rivals also claimed he had incest with his mother. This led to two rebellions by the imperial clan, one of which saw him slaughter the inhabitants of [[Yangzhou|Guangling]]. The following ballad gives an idea of those times:
: {{lang|zh-Hant|遙望建康城，}} ''Looking toward Jiankang city''
: {{lang|zh-Hant|小江逆流縈，}} ''the little river flows against the current''
: {{lang|zh-Hant|前見子殺父，}} ''in front, one sees sons killing fathers''
: {{lang|zh-Hant|後見弟殺兄。}} ''and behind, one sees younger brothers killing older brothers'' <!--my translation-->{{NoteTag|The ballad rhymes in the original [[Middle Chinese]]. Note the antithesis between fathers and sons on the one hand, and younger brothers and older brothers on the other, both of which crimes are considered acts of great impiety according to the Confucian tenet known as the [[Confucianism#Themes in Confucian thought|Five Bonds]].}}

Emperor Xiaowu died naturally in 464 and was succeeded by his son, who became [[Former Deposed Emperor of Liu Song|Emperor Qianfei]]. Emperor Qianfei proved to be similar to his father, engaging in both kin-slaughter and incest. In a scandalous move, because his sister complained about how it was unfair that men were allowed 10,000 concubines, he gave her 30 handsome young men as lovers. His uncle Liu Yu, the Prince of Xiangdong, whom he called the "Prince of Pigs" for his obesity, eventually assassinated him and became [[Emperor Ming of Liu Song|Emperor Ming]].

Emperor Ming began his reign by killing all of the descendants of Emperor Xiaowu, and his suspicious nature resulted in the loss of the provinces north of the Huai River, which were only briefly regained in the other Southern dynasties. Emperor Ming's young son became [[Latter Deposed Emperor of Liu Song|Emperor Houfei]]. The political situation was volatile. General Xiao Daocheng slowly gained power and eventually deposed Emperor Houfei in favor of his brother, who became [[Emperor Shun of Liu Song|Emperor Shun]]. After defeating the rival general [[Shen Youzhi]], Xiao forced Emperor Shun to yield the throne and crowned himself [[Emperor Gao of Southern Qi]], thus ending the Liu Song dynasty.

===Southern Qi (479–502)===
{{Main|Southern Qi}}
[[File:Southern Dynasties Brick Relief 19.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Brick relief from the [[:Commons:Category:Dengxian tomb|Dengxian tomb]], [[Dengxian]], [[Henan]]. Southern Dynasties, circa 500 CE.<ref>"Late 5th to early 6th century" in {{cite book |last1=Valenstein |first1=Suzanne G. |title=Cultural Convergence in the Northern Qi Period: A Flamboyant Chinese Ceramic Container : a Research Monograph |date=2007 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-1-58839-211-4 |page=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3OY4ohjy-pMC&pg=PA42 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Juliano |first1=Annette L. |title=Teng-Hsien: An Important Six Dynasties Tomb |journal=Artibus Asiae. Supplementum |date=1980 |volume=37 |pages=III–83 |doi=10.2307/1522695 |jstor=1522695 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1522695.pdf |issn=1423-0526}}</ref>]]
Though distantly related, the Southern Qi and the following Liang dynasty were members of the Xiao ({{zhi|c=蕭}}) family from Lanling ({{zhi|c=蘭陵}}, in modern [[Cangshan County]], [[Shandong]]). Because Emperor Gao had a low social standing, he earned the disdain of nobility. His style of governance was similar to the early style of the Liu Song dynasty and was very economical. He died in the fourth year of his reign and his heir, who was only 13 years younger than him, succeeded him as [[Emperor Wu of Southern Qi]]. Emperor Wu made peace with the Northern Wei, content to protect his borders. This period of peace was known as [[Reign of Yongming|Yongming Administration]]. He also used government secretaries  appointed with provincial governors and members of the imperial clan to monitor them. <!--need to check the translation on those secretaries better-->

The short reigns of Emperor Wu's grandsons, [[Xiao Zhaoye]] and [[Xiao Zhaowen]] (his first son predeceased him), were dominated by Xiao Luan, Emperor's Wu's first cousin. He killed them in turn and crowned himself as [[Emperor Ming of Southern Qi]]. Using the government secretaries, he slaughtered all the sons of Emperors Gao and Wu. Emperor Ming soon became very ill and started following Daoism, changing his whole wardrobe to red. He also passed an edict making officials try to find whitebait (銀魚). He died in 498 and was succeeded by his son [[Xiao Baojuan]], who killed high officials and governors at whim, sparking many revolts. The final revolt in 501 started after Xiao Baojuan killed his prime minister Xiao Yi, leading his brother [[Emperor Wu of Liang|Xiao Yan]] to revolt under the banner of Xiao Baojuan's brother who was declared [[Emperor He of Southern Qi]]. Xiao Baojuan was killed by one of his generals during the siege of his capital at Jiankang, and after a short puppet reign by Emperor He, Xiao Yan overthrew the Southern Qi and established the Liang dynasty.

===Liang (502–557)===
{{Main|Liang dynasty}}

[[File:Emperor Wu of Liang.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait of [[Emperor Wu of Liang]]]]

Emperor Wu was economical, worked hard at governing, and cared for the common people. His early reign was known as [[Reign of Tianjian]]. The Liang dynasty's military strength gradually surpassed the strength of the Northern Wei, who suffered internal strife due to their policy of [[sinicization]]. In 503, the Northern Wei invaded but were defeated at Zhongli (modern [[Bengbu]]). Emperor Wu supported the Northern Expeditions but did not aggressively take advantage of his victory in 516 at [[Shouyang County|Shouyang]] due to heavy casualties. Given the excessive kin-slaughter in the Liu Song and Southern Qi dynasties, Emperor Wu was very lenient to imperial clansmen, not even investigating them when they committed crimes. The Liang reached a cultural peak because he was very learned, supported scholars, and encouraged the flourishing education system. An avid poet, Emperor Wu was fond of gathering many literary talents at court, and even held poetry competitions with prizes of gold or silk for those considered the best.

In his later years, however, sycophants surrounded him. Three times he dedicated his life to Buddhism and tried to become a monk, but each time he was persuaded to return by extravagant court donations to Buddhism. Furthermore, since Buddhists and Daoists were exempt from taxation, nearly half of the population fraudulently named themselves as such, badly damaging state finances. Imperial clansmen and officials were also greedy and wasteful.

Emperor Wu was willing to accept generals who defected from Northern Wei.  So when Northern Wei suffered major revolts in their [[Six Frontier Towns|northern garrison towns]], he sent his general [[Chen Qingzhi]] to support the pretender [[Yuan Hao]]. Despite the fact that Chen was only given 7,000 troops, he still managed to defeat army after army and even captured Luoyang, the capital of Northern Wei. Ultimately, Chen was insufficiently supplied and was defeated by troops ten times his size. After the Northern Wei split into Eastern and Western Wei, Emperor Wu granted asylum to rebel Eastern Wei commander [[Hou Jing]], sending him on Northern Expeditions against Eastern Wei. After some initial successes, Liang forces were decisively defeated. Rumors abounded that Emperor Wu intended to give Hou as a peace offering. Despite Emperor Wu's assurances, Hou decided to rebel in the name of [[Xiao Dong]], the grandson of the former crown prince [[Xiao Tong]] who died in 531 and was removed from being crown prince because of conflicts with his father. Hou surprised Emperor Liang by besieging the Liang capital at Jiankang. Attempts by Liang forces to break the siege failed, and Emperor Wu was forced to negotiate a ceasefire and peace. However, Hou thought that peace was unsustainable, so he broke the ceasefire and captured the palace, leading to the slaughter of the nearby populace. Emperor Wu was starved to death and after the short puppet reigns of crown prince [[Emperor Jianwen of Liang|Xiao Gang]] and Xiao Dong, Hou seized power and established the Han dynasty.

In spite of conquering Jiankang, Hou essentially only controlled the nearby areas. The rest of the Liang dynasty lands were under the control of members of the imperial clan. Their squabbling amongst themselves weakened their efforts to defeat Hou. In the end, Xiao Yi, with the aid of his generals [[Wang Sengbian]] and [[Chen Baxian]], defeated Hou, crowning himself [[Emperor Yuan of Liang]]. His brother [[Xiao Ji]] based in [[Sichuan]], however, was still a major threat. Emperor Yuan asked for assistance from Western Wei to defeat Xiao Ji, but after subduing him, they kept Sichuan. Due to a diplomatic faux pas, he incited the anger of Yuwen Tai, the leading general of Western Wei, which resulted in him being deposed and dying. Western Wei set up the puppet state of [[Western Liang (555–587)|Western Liang]] with capital at Jiangling. Northern Qi also had designs on the Liang throne and sent an expedition under the banner of a cousin of Emperor Yuan. Chen Baxian and Wang Sengbian set up the last surviving son of Emperor Yuan, [[Emperor Jing of Liang|Xiao Fangzhi]], as Liang ruler, but he was not given the imperial title. After some defeats to the forces of Northern Qi, Wang Sengbian allowed their pretender, [[Xiao Yuanming]] to establish himself as Emperor Min of Liang. However, Chen Baxian was displeased with the arrangements, and in a surprise move killed Wang and deposed Emperor Min in favor of Xiao Fangzhi who became Emperor Jing of Liang. After a short reign, Chen deposed Emperor Jing and took power himself as [[Emperor Wu of Chen]] in 557.

===Chen (557–589)===
{{Main|Chen dynasty}}

[[File:Tomb Yongning of the Ts'en Dynasty.JPG|thumb|300px|One of the two ''[[pixiu]]'' statues from the Yongning Tomb of the

[[Emperor Wen of Chen]] (r. 559–566 AD), [[Chen Dynasty]], Qixia District, [[Nanjing]].]]
Emperor Wu of Chen came from the region of [[Wu-speaking peoples|Wu]] (a region near modern-day Shanghai). At that time, due to the Hou Jing rebellion, the Qiao and Wu clans were greatly weakened, and many independent regimes emerged. Emperor Wu could not pacify all the independent regimes, so he adopted conciliatory measures. After the sudden death of Emperor Wu, his nephew Chen Qian took power as [[Emperor Wen of Chen]]. After the fall of Liang, the general [[Wang Lin (general)|Wang Lin]] had established an independent kingdom based in modern-day Hunan and Hubei provinces and was now starting to cause trouble. Wang Lin allied with [[Northern Zhou]] and [[Northern Qi]] to conquer the Chen capital at Jiankang. Emperor Wen first defeated the combined forces of Northern Qi and Wang Lin before preventing the forces of Northern Zhou from entering the South at [[Yueyang]]. Furthermore, through Emperor Wen's extensive efforts at good governance, the economic situation of the South was greatly improved, restoring his kingdom's national strength.

Following the death of Emperor Wen, his son, the weak-willed Chen Bozong, took power and became [[Emperor Fei of Chen]]. His uncle, Chen Xu, after essentially controlling the country through his short reign, eventually deposed him and took power as [[Emperor Xuan of Chen]]. At that time, the Northern Zhou intended to conquer Northern Qi and thus invited the Chen dynasty to help. Emperor Xuan agreed to help because he wanted to recover the lost territories south of the Huai River. In 573, he sent general [[Wu Mingche]] to assist the effort; in two years, he managed to recover he lost territories south of the Huai River. At the time, Northern Qi was in a precarious situation with little military strength and Emperor Xuan could have taken advantage of the opportunity to entirely defeat Northern Qi. However, he only wanted to protect his territories south of the Huai River. Northern Zhou instead took advantage of Northern Qi's weakness and following their defeat of Northern Qi, in 577, they sent troops to the territories south of the Huai River, where they decisively defeated the Chen dynasty forces. The Chen dynasty was in imminent danger.

In a stroke of fortune, Northern Zhou's Emperor Wu suddenly died and his general [[Emperor Wen of Sui|Yang Jian]] attempted to take the throne. This stopped the southern advance of the northern troops. The respite was short though, as after Yang Jian defeated his rival General [[Yuchi Jiong]], he usurped the throne from [[Emperor Jing of Northern Zhou]] and established the [[Sui dynasty]], crowning himself [[Emperor Wen of Sui]]. He proceeded to invade the south to reunify China. Emperor Xuan had just died and his incompetent son [[Chen Shubao]] (Houzhu of Chen) took power. He was licentious and wasteful, resulting in chaos and corruption in the government; many officials heavily exploited the people, causing great suffering. In planning to defeat the Chen dynasty, Emperor Wen of Sui took the suggestion of his general [[Gao Jiong]] and waited until the South were harvesting their crops to entirely burn the farmland, crippling the strength of the Chen dynasty. In 588, Emperor Wen of Sui sent his son Yang Guang (who would become [[Emperor Yang of Sui]]) to finally vanquish the Chen dynasty. Chen Shubao relied on the natural barrier of the Yangtze River and continued as always with his festive and licentious activities. The next year, Sui forces captured the Chen capital of Jiankang. Chen Shubao and his favorite concubine [[Consort Zhang Lihua|Zhang Lihua]] attempted to hide in a well but eventually were captured by Sui forces, thus ending the Chen dynasty.