The Five Dynasties History (五代史} was an official history of the Five Dynasties (907-960), which controlled much of northern China. It was compiled by a Song Dynasty official-scholar by the name of Xue Juzheng in the first two decades of the Song Dynasty, which was founded in 960. It is one of the Twenty-Four Histories recognized through Chinese history. Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (Traditional Chinese: 五代十國 Simplified Chinese: 五代十国 Hanyu pinyin: WÇ”dàishíguó) (907-960) was a period of political upheaval in China, between the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty. ... Events Oleg leads Kievan Rus in a campaign against Constantinople Yelü Abaoji establishes Liao (Khitan) dynasty Births Deaths Categories: 907 ... Events Edgar the Peaceable crowned King of England. ... The Song Dynasty (Chinese: ) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ... The Song Dynasty (Chinese: ) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ... Events Edgar the Peaceable crowned King of England. ... The Twenty-Four Histories is a collection of historical books covering a period of history from 3000 B.C. to the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. ...

The Five Dynasties

Main article: Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period

The Five Dynasties are composed of a string of dynasties in northern China that succeeded one another from 907 to 960. They bridge the time from which the Tang Dynasty fell in 907 to the rise of the Song Dynasty in 960, which eventually conquered all but the very northernmost reaches of China. Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (Traditional Chinese: 五代十國 Simplified Chinese: 五代十国 Hanyu pinyin: WÇ”dàishíguó) (907-960) was a period of political upheaval in China, between the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty. ... Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (Traditional Chinese: 五代十國 Simplified Chinese: 五代十国 Hanyu pinyin: WÇ”dàishíguó) (907-960) was a period of political upheaval in China, between the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty. ... Events Oleg leads Kievan Rus in a campaign against Constantinople Yelü Abaoji establishes Liao (Khitan) dynasty Births Deaths Categories: 907 ... Events Edgar the Peaceable crowned King of England. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Events Oleg leads Kievan Rus in a campaign against Constantinople Yelü Abaoji establishes Liao (Khitan) dynasty Births Deaths Categories: 907 ... The Song Dynasty (Chinese: ) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ... Events Edgar the Peaceable crowned King of England. ...

The five Dynasties are the Later Liang Dynasty, Later Tang Dynasty, Later Jin Dynasty, Later Han Dynasty, and Later Zhou Dynasty. The Later Liang (Simplified Chinese character: 后梁, Traditional Chinese character: 後梁, Hanyu pinyin Hòu Liáng) (907-923) was one of the Five Dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period in China. ... The Later Tang Dynasty was a short-lived dynasty that lasted from 923 to 936 one of the five dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. ... The JÄ«n Dynasty (Jurchen: Anchu; Chinese: 金朝; Pinyin: JÄ«n Cháo; 1115-1234), also known as the Jurchen dynasty, was founded by the Wanyan (完顏 Wányán) clan of the Jurchen, the ancestors of the Manchus who established the Qing Dynasty some 500 years later. ... The Later Han Dynasty could refer to two dynasties in China: The Eastern Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 9) A dynasty in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (936-947) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same... The Zhou Dynasty (周朝; Wade-Giles: Chou Dynasty) (late 10th century BC to late 9th century BC - 256 BC) followed the Shang (Yin) Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty in China. ...

Xue Juzheng

Main article: Xue Juzheng

Xue Juzheng (912-981) lived through all five of the Five Dynasties and received his ‘’jinshi’’ examination degree under the Later Tang Dynasty. He then continued to hold office through the three subsequent dynasties. He took service with the Tang Dynasty when it established itself in northern China in 960. Events Orso II Participazio becomes Doge of Venice Patriarch Nicholas I Mysticus becomes patriarch of Constantinople Births November 23 - Otto I the Great Holy Roman Emperor (+ 973) Abd-ar-rahman III - prince of the Umayyad dynasty Deaths Oleg of Kiev Categories: 912 ... Events Births Princess Theodora, later Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire. ... The imperial examinations (科舉, kējǔ) in dynastic China determined positions in the civil service, which had promoted upward mobility among the people for centuries. ... The Later Tang Dynasty was a short-lived dynasty that lasted from 923 to 936 one of the five dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. ... Events Edgar the Peaceable crowned King of England. ...

Purpose

The primary purpose of The Five Dynasties History was to establish the claim of the Song Dynasty to the Mandate of Heaven, essentially the divine right to rule the Chinese realm. The Song Dynasty took over control of northern China from the last of the Five Dynasties, the Later Zhou Dynasty. From there, they conquered southern China to eventually rule all but the northern fringe of China known as the Sixteen Prefectures, which was under the control of the Khitan Liao Dynasty. Xue sought to establish the claim of the Song Dynasty to the Mandate of Heaven through the succession of the Five Dynasties. The Song Dynasty (Chinese: ) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ... The Mandate of Heaven (天命 PÄ«nyÄ«n: Tiānmìng) was a traditional Chinese concept of legitimacy used to support the rule of the kings of the Zhou Dynasty and later the Emperors of China. ... The Song Dynasty (Chinese: ) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ... Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (Traditional Chinese: 五代十國 Simplified Chinese: 五代十国 Hanyu pinyin: Wǔdàishíguó) (907-960) was a period of political upheaval in China, between the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty. ... The Zhou Dynasty (周朝; Wade-Giles: Chou Dynasty) (late 10th century BC to late 9th century BC - 256 BC) followed the Shang (Yin) Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty in China. ... The Khitan, in Chinese Qidan (契丹 Pinyin: Qìdān), were an ethnic group which dominated much of Manchuria and was classified in Chinese history as one of the Tungus ethnic groups (東胡族 dōng hú zú). They established the Liao dynasty in 907, which was then conquered in 1125 by the... The Liao Dynasty (Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , pinyin: Liáo Cháo), 907-1125, also known as the Khitan Empire, was an empire in northern China that ruled over the regions of Manchuria, Mongolia, and parts of northern China proper. ... The Song Dynasty (Chinese: ) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ... The Mandate of Heaven (天命 PÄ«nyÄ«n: Tiānmìng) was a traditional Chinese concept of legitimacy used to support the rule of the kings of the Zhou Dynasty and later the Emperors of China. ...

Xue argued that as each of these five dynasties controlled the traditional heart of China and held territory vastly larger than any of the kingdoms to the south, the Mandate naturally flowed through these dynasties.

Issues

In establishing the path of the Mandate through from the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty through the Five Dynasties, there are several issues that Xue Zhucheng had to address. The first of these was the brutality exercised by the Later Liang Dynasty, the first of the five dynasties. Zhu Wen’s brutality led many to want to exclude that dynasty from the Mandate of Heaven due to the requirement that the leader work with benevolence. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Song Dynasty (Chinese: ) was a ruling dynasty in China from 960-1279. ... The Later Liang (Simplified Chinese character: 后梁, Traditional Chinese character: 後梁, Hanyu pinyin Hòu Liáng) (907-923) was one of the Five Dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period in China. ... Zhu Quanzhong 朱全忠, originally named Zhu Wen 朱温 (852-912), was a jiedushi (military governor) at the end of the Tang dynasty. ... The Mandate of Heaven (天命 PÄ«nyÄ«n: Tiānmìng) was a traditional Chinese concept of legitimacy used to support the rule of the kings of the Zhou Dynasty and later the Emperors of China. ...

Another issue had to do with the middle three, the Later Tang Dynasty, Later Jin Dynasty, and Later Han Dynasty respectively. None of these were Han Chinese-ruled dynasties. Rather, all were led by Shatuo Turks. The Later Tang Dynasty was a short-lived dynasty that lasted from 923 to 936 one of the five dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. ... The JÄ«n Dynasty (Jurchen: Anchu; Chinese: 金朝; Pinyin: JÄ«n Cháo; 1115-1234), also known as the Jurchen dynasty, was founded by the Wanyan (完顏 Wányán) clan of the Jurchen, the ancestors of the Manchus who established the Qing Dynasty some 500 years later. ... The Later Han Dynasty could refer to two dynasties in China: The Eastern Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 9) A dynasty in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (936-947) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same... Han Chinese (Simplified Chinese: 汉族; Traditional Chinese: 漢族; Pinyin: hànzú) is a term which refers to the majority ethnic group within China and the largest single human ethnic group in the world. ... The Shatuo 沙陀 were a Turkic tribe that heavily influenced northern Chinese politics from the late ninth century through the tenth century. ...

Finally, the last major hurdle had to do with the ability to rule of all China. While each of these five dynasties held more territory than any of the other Chinese polities of the era, the reality is that none of them realistically had the chance to conquer the southern kingdoms and unite the entire realm.

Legacy

Xue’s work gives us invaluable information regarding the Five Dynasties that ruled most of northern China from 907 to 960. Historians rely on this source today for much of what we now know about this period of Chinese history. Events Oleg leads Kievan Rus in a campaign against Constantinople Yelü Abaoji establishes Liao (Khitan) dynasty Births Deaths Categories: 907 ... Events Edgar the Peaceable crowned King of England. ... China is the worlds oldest continuous major civilization, with written records dating back about 3,500 years and with 5,000 years being commonly used by Chinese as the age of their civilization. ...

There are a couple of more ominous legacies as well, however. One is the use of official histories to strengthen claims to the Mandate of Heaven, including the bending of historical fact to suit the needs of the patron dynasty. While this is not the first instance of distorting history to legitimize ruling claims (both within and outside China,) this particular work strengthened this trend in Chinese history. China is the worlds oldest continuous major civilization, with written records dating back about 3,500 years and with 5,000 years being commonly used by Chinese as the age of their civilization. ...

Finally, there is the legitimizing of foreign dynasties, which set up the justification for later Conquest Dynasties that would control much of China’s destiny for most of the next millennium.

Work Referenced

Mote, F.W. (1999). Imperial China 900-1800. Harvard University Press.

Category:Chinese history