Chinese Era of Disunity
After the Han dynasty
was collapsed in A.D. 220, four centuries of rule by warlords
continued. The Three Kingdoms, namely, Wei, Shu and Wu, brought in
the era of civil wars and disunity. All the three kingdoms
overlapped each other in reining the empire during A.D. 220 - A.D.
80. The reputed courteousness of this period was greatly enthralled
by fictions and dramas in the later years. During the Jin Dynasty
(A.D. 365 A.D. 420), the initial years saw unity regaining its
place, but the Jin could not stop the nomadic rulers from intruding
the kingdom.
The Jin was later
obliged to leave Luoyang in A.D. 317 and had to re-establish itself
in the southern area of Nanjing. This transfer led to the political
division of China which gave birth to many dynasties that were to
stay in succession between A.D. 304 A.D. 589. In this period, many
non-Chinese people who arrived in the north and the aborigines in
the south witnessed sinicization. This was coupled by increasing
Buddhism in the northern and southern China, which was earlier
introduced in the first century A.D. Many technological advances
also took place during this period despite of the presence of
political disunity, such as medicines, astronomy, cartography,
gunpowder for fireworks and the wheelbarrow.
The Three Kingdoms
Period consisted of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Southern and Northern
Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty. In 265 AD, the Western Jin Dynasty
was formed by a powerful general of the Wei Dynasty which lasted
from 265-317 AD in North China. With his death in 290, the empire
began to fall. The Jins inability to stop intrusion by the nomadic
people, made North China conquer by the tribes. This eventually led
the Jin court to leave Luoyang and set up its empire at Nanjing. For
not less than three centuries, North China was conquered by
non-Chinese dynasties and the South China by four Chinese dynasties,
viz. Song, Qi, Liang and Chen. Since the non-Chinese dynasties could
not rule the entire North China, the process of sinicization
increased amongst them, which led the tribal chiefs rebel and take
over the dynasty. Non-Chinese ruled North China for the next 50
years. The Sui Dynasty was into existence from 589 618 AD, the
first Sui Emperor being a military servant who seized the throne
from the non-Chinese Zhou of the North. He was able to control South
China too in the next eight years, and made his own capital at
Changan or Xian.
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