(A.D. 220 - 589)

When the Han dynasty fell, China split into three states, historically called "Three Kingdoms", Wei to the North, Shu in the Sichuan, and Wu in the south. A brief period of re-unification by the Jin Dynasty was followed by further division. Five Chinese dynasties (Eastern Jin, Song, Qi, Liang, Chen) reign over the south, one after the other, whereas north was divided into countless states, most of them "barbarian". This whole was call by Chinese historians as the Six Dynasties, by which are meant the six kingdoms and dynasties between the downfall of the Han and the reunification of China in 589 which had for their capital at Jiankang, the modern Nanjing. They were: Wu, Eastern Jin, Liu-Song, Qi, Liang and Chen.

Three Kingdoms (A.D. 220 - 280)

Wei ( A.D. 220 - 265)
Shu (A.D. 221 - 263)
Wu (A.D. 229 - 280)

The struggle at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, continued for more than four hundred years. It was a period of travail preceding the birth of an era of great glory. These four centuries for the most part were a time of strife and confusion. China seemed to be in process of disintegration.

The first sixty years of the period cover the entire history of the Three Kingdoms. Brief as it was, the struggle of these three states has furnished a series of events among the most exciting in the entire life of the nation, if we may judge by the place accorded it in the literature of the Chinese. It is the theme of the most popular novel, and still supplies the theater with its best know plays and the artist with subjects for his brush.

The rebellion of the Yellow Turbans broke out in the year 184 A.D. They were deluded victims of Daoist monks who claimed to possess magical powers. The extravagance and oppression of the government aroused the hostility of all classes. Famine, earthquake and pestilence gave further inducement to reckless conduct. But the poorly equipped insurgents were no match for the imperial troops. The rising was soon suppressed. This done, the commander of the army sought to remove the cause of misgovernment by ridding the Court of the meddlesome eunuchs. In this he was opposed by his sister, the Empress Mother. The eunuchs murdered the commander and were themselves in large numbers massacred by the soldiery. Dong Zhuo, the second in command of the troops, removed the child Emperor and substituted another child of the imperial lineage whose mother was related to himself. He looted the palaces, destroyed the city of Luo Yang, whose site is was difficult to defend, and removed the capital back to Chang An in the Wei River Valley. His ambition to rule the country in the name of the child Emperor aroused the jealousy of other military commanders who seized various parts of the empire. Dong Zhuo was killed by a lieutenant, and Cao Cao, who had secured possession of the boy ruler, obtained control of the north where he established the state of Wei. Sun Quan set up a government south of the Yangtze where his son subsequently established the kingdom of Wu. Liu Bei, a scion of the House of Han, obtained control of the far west. He claimed to be fighting in defense of the imperial family.

Jin Dynasty (A.D 265 - 420)

Western Jin (A.D. 265 - 317)

The Sima family, which contribute greatly to Wen Di's power at Kingdom of Wei, play a very active role in government positions. After Wen Di's death, the new emperor, Ming Di (227-233), was completely powerless. This virtually sealed the fate of the Wei dynasty. The next emperor was installed and deposed by the Sima family; dissensions arose within the ruling family, leading to members of the family assassinating one another. In 264 a member of the Sima family declared himself king; when he died and was succeeded by hi sson Sima Yan, the latter, in 265, staged a formal act of renunciation of the throne of the Wei dynasty, and made himself the first ruler of the new Jin dynasty. (It is usually denominated the Western Jin to distinguish it from its continuing branch, the Eastern Jin). Sima Yan is known as the Jin Wudi.

Sima Yan died in A.D. 290 and his immediate successor proved incapable of maintaining peace, but feeble and mentally incompetent, was largely under the control of a vigorous and unscrupulous wife. Civil strife ensued; chiefly among members of the imperial family. Non-Chinese peoples took advantage of the situation to extend their conquests in Chinese territory. The house of Sima Yan was unable tocompose its differences and present a united front against the invaders, and in 316 the grandson of Wudi and the fourth Emperor of the line surrendered to one of the barbarian chiefs, abdicated, and shortly afterward was put to death.

Eastern Jin (A.D. 317 - 420)

A branch of Sima family maintained itself somewhat precariously for a little century (317-420) with its capital at Jiankang, now modern Nanjing and is known as the Eastern Jin. Many efforts were made by its monarchs to recover control of the north, but although successful in numerous engagements, they were never able to retain control of the territory conquered.

In 419, the dynasty was overturned by the commander of the army. Liu Yu, who set up the Liu Song Dynasty. He was a man who had had a remarkable career. Picked up as a waif in infancy, he was reared by tender-hearted strangers. In manhood he enlisted in the army where by his courage and skill he rose from the ranks to the supreme command and eventually to the throne. But his dynasty did not last long. It was upset by the commander of the Imperial Guard in 477 who established a new dynasty that in turn was overthrown in 499 by a relative of the imperial family. This man, Xiao Yan, was the most celebrated of all the monarchs that ruled in Nanjing during this period. He called his dynasty the Liang. As he was warrior, he is generally known as the Liang Wu Di, or "Martial Emperor of the Liang." He ruled for fifty years and died at the age of eighty-six. He began his reign as a Confucianist, built a temple to Consucius and established shools for the study of the Confucian classics. In 517, however, he became an ardent Buddhist. It was during his reign that the celebrated Boddhidharma came from India to China.

Southern & Northern Dynasties ( A.D. 420-589)

SOUTHERN DYNASTIES
Song (A.D. 420 - 479)
Qi (A.D. 479 - 502)
Liang (A.D. 502 - 557)
Chen (A.D. 557 - 589)

NORTHERN DYNASTIES
Northern Wei (A.D. 386 - 534)
Eastern Wei (A.D. 534 - 550)
Northern Qi (A.D. 550 - 577)
Western Wei (A.D. 535 - 556)
Northern Zhou (A.D. 557 - 581)