Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period

Between 907 and 979 CE, China fragmented into a period known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. In the Central Plain, five ruling houses rose and fell in quick succession. Meanwhile, over a dozen other states—the ten most powerful of which are called the Ten Kingdoms—emerged, mostly in the south. This era is traditionally marked as starting with the Tang dynasty's collapse in 907 and culminating with the Song dynasty's founding in 960. Over the next 19 years, the Song gradually absorbed the remaining southern states, though the Liao dynasty held the north (later succeeded by the Jin), and the Western Xia eventually formed in the northwest.

Many of these states had been effectively independent well before 907, as the late Tang lost control over its regional military governors, known as *jiedushi*. The key turning point was when foreign powers recognized these regimes as sovereign. After the Tang fell, several warlords in the Central Plain declared themselves emperors. For roughly 70 years, near-constant warfare raged between these kingdoms and their shifting alliances, all aiming to seize the Central Plain and claim legitimacy as the Tang's successor. The last regime to fall was the Northern Han, conquered by the Song in 979. For centuries afterward, the Song controlled most of the south but coexisted with the Liao, Jin, and other northern regimes until the Yuan dynasty eventually conquered them all.

**Background**

The An Lushan Rebellion (755–763) and the Huang Chao Rebellion weakened the Tang imperial government in the 8th century. As central authority declined after An Lushan, large regional administrations called circuit commissions began to overlay the old districts and prefectures that had been standard since the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE). These circuits later became the boundaries of the southern kingdoms, and many circuit commissioners became their emperors or kings. By the early 10th century, the Tang court granted increasing power to the *jiedushi*—regional military governors who operated independently. They were no longer appointed by the central government, instead passing their positions hereditarily, from father to son or patron to protégé. They commanded armies that rivaled the palace troops and amassed great wealth, evident from their lavish tombs.

Historian Hugh Clark outlines three stages of political trends during this period. First (880–910), between the Huang Chao Rebellion and the Tang's formal end, warlords controlling one or two prefectures each fought chaotically. Second (910–950), these warlords stabilized and gained enough legitimacy to proclaim new dynasties. Third (950–979), the Later Zhou and its successor, the Song, forcefully reunified China and demilitarized the provinces. In this model, southern China—divided into several independent kingdoms—was more stable than the north, which saw constant regime change. The southern kingdoms could therefore pursue trade, land reclamation, and infrastructure projects, laying the groundwork for the Song economic boom. This economic shift also drove a large southward migration.

**North**

According to Nicholas Tackett, three Hebei provinces—Chengde, Youzhou, and Weibo—maintained much greater autonomy after the An Lushan rebellion. Under local military control, they never paid taxes, and governorships became hereditary. They occasionally fought the central government or each other, and Youzhou conducted its own foreign policy. This caused the culture of these northeastern provinces to diverge from the capital. Many elites in post-Tang China, including future Song emperors, came from this region. The administrations of the Five Dynasties and early Song were disproportionately drawn from military governor families in northern and northwestern China (Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi), their personal staffs, and bureaucrats who served in the Five Dynasties' capitals. These families rose to prominence as central authority unraveled after the An Lushan Rebellion, despite lacking prestigious ancestry. Historian Deng Xiaonan argued that many of these military families, including the Song imperial family, were of mixed Han Chinese, Turkic, and Kumo Xi ancestry.

The term "Five Dynasties" was coined by Song historians, reflecting the view that the successive regimes based in Kaifeng controlled the Central Plain and held the Mandate of Heaven. The first of the Five Dynasties was founded by Zhu Wen, a rebel defector turned warlord who ended the Tang. The remaining Five Dynasties, as well as the Song, all emerged from a military organization originally led by Shatuo Turks, whose commanders replaced each other in frequent coups. The Later Tang was founded by Li Cunxu, son of Shatuo leader Li Keyong, who was Zhu Wen's main military rival in the late Tang. The Later Jin founder Shi Jingtang was the son of a Shatuo commander in Li Keyong's army and became the son-in-law of the Later Tang general and emperor Li.