Why the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period Is Considered the Most Chaotic Era in Chinese History

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms: China's Most Chaotic Era

In 907 CE, Zhu Wen forced the Tang Emperor Aizong to abdicate, and the great Tang Empire, which had endured for nearly three hundred years, collapsed catastrophically. Over the next fifty-three years, the Central Plains descended into an unprecedented political nightmare. Five dynasties succeeded one another like a revolving lantern, while ten secessionist regimes stood side by side in the south. Warlords held power, the murder of emperors and usurpation of thrones became commonplace. This period, known as the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms," stands as the most chaotic, absurd, and lamentable chapter in China's two-thousand-year history of imperial rule.

Five Dynasties in Fifty-Three Years

From the establishment of the Later Liang in 907 to the founding of the Northern Song in 960, the Central Plains witnessed five successive dynasties: Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou. Not a single one of these five dynasties managed to pass to a second generation without crisis. Their average lifespan was merely a dozen years.

The founder of Later Liang, Zhu Wen, originally served as a turncoat general under the Yellow Turban rebel Huang Chao. After surrendering to the Tang, he gradually seized military power, eventually murdering Emperor Tangzhaozone and deposing Emperor Aizong to establish Later Liang. A man of brutal temperament and licentious behavior, Zhu Wen was killed in 912 by his own son Zhu Youqing. Zhu Youqing lasted less than a year before being overthrown by his brother Zhu Youzheng. Later Liang exhausted itself in internal strife and was conquered by Later Tang under Li Cunxu in 923.

Later Tang's founding emperor, the Shatuo tribesman Li Cunxu, earned renown for his martial prowess and brilliant military campaigns. Yet once he unified the Central Plains, he indulged in theater and musicians, granting excessive favor to court entertainers, and government affairs fell into decay. In 926, a mutiny erupted at Wezhou, and Li Cunxu was killed by stray arrows in the chaos after reigning for only three years. His successor, Emperor Mingzong Li Siiyuan, was one of the rare enlightened rulers of the Five Dynasties, but after his death, Later Tang descended into civil war and was eventually conquered by Shi Jingzhao, who brought in Khitan forces.

Later Jin and Later Han were even shorter-lived. Later Jin's founder Shi Jingzhao, the "Son Emperor," debased himself before the Khitans with servile deference. His dynasty lasted merely eleven years before falling to Khitan conquest. Later Han was more absurd still. Its founding emperor Liu Zhiyuan died of illness less than a year into his reign. His son Liu Chengyou, upon ascending to power, grew suspicious of his ministers and killed capable generals indiscriminately. Within two years, he was overthrown by Guo Wei. Later Han's entire existence spanned less than four years.

Later Zhou briefly flourished under the father-and-son rule of Guo Wei and Chai Rong. Chai Rong was arguably the most accomplished ruler of the Five Dynasties. He launched military campaigns against the Khitans to the north and the Southern Tang to the south, reformed the bureaucracy, and developed the economy. Had fate granted him more time, he might well have unified all under heaven. Yet heaven would not cooperate. In 959, Chai Rong died young at the mere age of thirty-nine, leaving behind his seven-year-old son Chai Zongxun. This event set the stage for Zhao Kuangyin's rise.

The Ten Kingdoms in the South: A Puzzle of Fragmentation

While the Central Plains went through emperors like a revolving lantern, the south fell into fragmentation among ten kingdoms. Former and Later Shu dominated the Sichuan basin, Wu and Southern Tang controlled the Huai region, Wuyue occupied Zhejiang, Min controlled Fujian, Chu held Hunan, Southern Han ruled Lingnan, Southern Ping huddled in a corner of Jingzhou, and Northern Han was the continuation of Later Han's remnant forces in Taiyuan.

These secessionist regimes varied greatly in size and strength, yet they shared a common characteristic: nearly all were established on the momentum of Tang-dynasty regional military governors who had carved out independent domains. The founders—Wang Jian of Former Shu, Yang Xingmi of Wu, Ma Yin of Chu, and Wang Shenzhi of Min—were all warlords or local strongmen who had risen during the chaos of the late Tang.

Among the southern kingdoms, Southern Tang possessed the richest cultural heritage. Though Emperor Zhongzhu Li Jing and Emperor Houzu Li Yu were ineffective rulers, they were first-rate poets. Li Yu's line, "How much sorrow can one have? Like a spring river flowing eastward," became a deathless masterpiece. Yet literary brilliance could not mask political decay. In 975, Southern Tang fell to Song forces. Li Yu became a prisoner and was eventually poisoned by Song Emperor Taizong with an instrument called a "neck-twisting drug." A poet-emperor met such a pitiful end, a tragedy that moves us to tears.

Qian Liu of Wuyue took a different path. He pursued a strategy of "serving the Central Kingdom well and protecting his borders and people," refusing to compete with the Central Plains while concentrating on developing the economy, building sea dikes, and dredging West Lake, making the Two Zhe region a haven of peace amid chaos. In 978, Qian Chu, the last king of Wuyue, surrendered his territory to the Song in peaceful unification—a dignified conclusion among the chaotic transitions of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

Shi Jingzhao's Cession of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun: An Act of Treason That Shaped Four Hundred Years

The deepest wound left upon posterity by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms came from Shi Jingzhao's cession of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun. In 936, conflict erupted between Later Tang's Emperor Li Congke and Shi Jingzhao, the regional military governor of Hedong. Seeking Khitan military assistance, Shi Jingzhao paid the price of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun and prostrated himself before the Khitan emperor Yelü Deguang, who was eleven years his junior, calling him "Father" as the "Son Emperor."

The Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun encompassed present-day Beijing, Tianjin, northern Hebei, and large portions of northern Shanxi—a natural barrier protecting the Central Plains from northern nomadic peoples. The Great Wall fortresses, the Yanshan Mountains, and the northern segment of the Taihang Range—these strategic positions, once lost, left the North China Plain without defensible terrain. Nomadic cavalry could then advance unobstructed, pouring directly into the Yellow River basin.

For the next four hundred years, the Central Plains dynasties paid a terrible price attempting to recover the Sixteen Prefectures. Northern Song Emperor Taizong Zhao Guangyi's two northern expeditions both ended in catastrophic defeat. The failure at the Gaoliang River in 979 and the disastrous Yongxi Northern Expedition of 986 cost the Northern Song its confidence in recovering lost territory. Not until 1125, when the Northern Song allied with the Jin to destroy Liao, did it briefly recover parts of Yan and Yun, only for the Jin to invade the south immediately thereafter, triggering the Jingkang Incident and the fall of the Northern Song. The Sixteen Prefectures did not truly return to a Central Plains dynasty until 1368, when Zhu Yuanzhang sent Xu Da on a northern expedition to conquer Dadu. Four hundred thirty-two years had passed since Shi Jingzhao's capitulation.

With that single genuflection, Shi Jingzhao ushered in four hundred years of shame and warfare.

Feng Dao, "Chancellor of Six Dynasties": An Absurd Life in Chaos

The chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms found its most vivid embodiment in one man: Feng Dao. He served four dynasties—Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou—and during the transition period between the Khitans and Later Tang, he accumulated service to ten different emperors, always maintaining a position of power as chancellor. Later generations mockingly called him the "Chancellor of Six Dynasties."

By traditional Confucian ethical standards, a loyal minister serves but one master, much less six. Ouyang Xiu attacked Feng Dao fiercely in the New History of the Five Dynasties, and Sima Guang condemned him harshly in the Zizhi Tongjian. Yet from another perspective, Feng Dao's very existence reflected the essence of the Five Dynasties chaos. When emperors changed more frequently than the seasons, when a military general murdering and usurping the throne became political norm, to whom should a civil official's loyalty be directed?

Feng Dao was no incompetent. He governed with integrity and spearheaded the first large-scale woodblock printing of Confucian classics in Chinese history, the "Five Dynasties Editorial Edition," contributing enormously to cultural transmission. During the chaos, he protected his own position while sheltering numerous scholars and literati. Yet however one might defend him, Feng Dao's existence itself symbolized an era's tragedy: when loyalty became meaningless, when integrity became a joke, the spiritual foundation of that entire age had collapsed utterly.

A saying circulated widely during the Five Dynasties, spoken by An Chonghui: "The Son of Heaven should be whoever has the strongest soldiers and horses. Is there really such a thing as a fixed succession?" This was the most naked political creed of that age. The imperial throne was no longer sacred. Power recognized only military might. Righteousness became waste paper.

The Suffering of the Common People: A Daily Hell More Cruel Than the Battlefield

The chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was not merely a power game for emperors and generals, but a human inferno for millions of ordinary people. Continuous warfare caused the population to plummet catastrophically. The Central Plains fell into such desolation that nine out of ten households were emptied. According to the Old History of the Five Dynasties, in the region around Bianliang during Later Liang's reign, "white bones covered the fields, and no roosters crowed for a thousand li."

The Yellow River burst its dikes repeatedly, and a bankrupt government could not manage the floods. Millions of people became refugees. The warlords' exploitation of the people was staggering. Later Liang's Zhu Wen imposed harsh taxation to raise military funds, reducing the populace to desperate poverty. Liu Can of Southern Han was even more licentious and brutal, employing cruel tortures freely. He even decreed that successful examination candidates must undergo castration before entering court service—a level of depravity that appalls the mind. Former Shu's later ruler Wang Yan indulged in wine and lust. Later Shu's ruler Meng Zhao lived with extravagant excess. Even a concubine like the Flower Consort knew to say, "Fourteen thousand warriors surrender their armor; not one remains a man"—a sentiment born of shame. Yet her ruler remained utterly oblivious.

During this period, the economy and culture of northern China suffered grave destruction. Vast populations migrated southward, inadvertently accelerating the shift of the economic center of gravity toward the south. Chang'an and Luoyang, the great capitals of the Tang, fell into ruins repeatedly during the warfare. Never again would they recover their former glory.

Zhao Kuangyin Ended the Chaos: From the陈桥 Mutiny to Releasing Military Power Through Wine

On the third day of the first lunar month in 960, Zhao Kuangyin, commander of the Palace Guard of Later Zhou, led troops northward to counter a Khitan invasion. At 陈桥 Station, his soldiers draped a yellow robe upon him and proclaimed him emperor. Zhao Kuangyin "reluctantly" accepted the imperial throne, returned to Kaifeng, and forced the young Emperor Chai Zongxun to abdicate. The Northern Song was established.

The 陈桥 mutiny followed the standard operating procedure for military seizure of power in the Five Dynasties—Guo Wei had employed the same method to found Later Zhou. Yet Zhao Kuangyin's brilliance lay in his actions after seizing power. He immediately set about solving the fundamental problem that had plagued China for half a century: military men holding political power.

In 961, Zhao Kuangyin hosted a banquet for his founding generals Shi Shouxin, Gao Huaide, and others. As wine flowed, he spoke with emotion: "Without your efforts, how could I have achieved this position? Yet being a Son of Heaven is not easy. I cannot sleep at night." The generals asked anxiously for his wisdom. Zhao Kuangyin spoke candidly: "Though you harbor no disloyalty, if your subordinates covet wealth and honor and place a yellow robe upon your shoulders, could you refuse?" The generals suddenly understood. The next day, they submitted petitions requesting the relinquishment of their military commands. Zhao Kuangyin rewarded them with estates, titles, and marriage alliances. This became the famous "Release of Military Power Through Wine."

This method, both gentle and effective, successfully concentrated military authority in central hands, ending the vicious cycle of regional warlordism and military coup d'état that had plagued China since the late Tang. Thereafter, the Northern Song established its fundamental policy of "using civil authority to control military power." The status of civil officials rose dramatically, while military commanders came under strict constraint.

The Lessons of the Five Dynasties: How Order Emerges from Chaos

The fifty-three years of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms represent a rare vacuum in institutional history. The sanctity of imperial authority was completely shattered. Confucian ethical restraints lost all binding force. Everything reverted to primitive law of the jungle: whoever wielded the strongest fist became Son of Heaven.

Yet paradoxically, this period of extreme chaos gave birth to the Song dynasty's extreme reverence for civil governance. Zhao Kuangyin had personally witnessed the chaos of the Five Dynasties and understood the dangers of military rule. This understanding motivated his design of an entire system to govern military power through civil authority. The flourishing of Song civil administration, the perfection of the examination system, and the rise of the literati class all reflected deep reflection upon and correction of the Five Dynasties nightmare.

Yet overcorrection brought new problems. The Northern Song's policy of "elevating civil authority and diminishing military power," while ending the nightmare of military coups, also resulted in chronically weakened military strength. When facing powerful northern enemies like the Liao, Jin, and Mongols, the Song suffered repeated defeats. From "the strongest soldier and horse becomes Son of Heaven" to "only those who pass the civil examination through the Eastern Flowery Gate are considered good men," Chinese history struggled to find the perfect balance between military strength and civil governance, a problem that remains unresolved.

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms teach us this: when the basic order and fundamental values of a society are utterly destroyed, everyone becomes a victim—whether the murdered emperors, extinguished dynasties, or displaced common people. The end of chaos is not freedom but universal longing for order. This yearning ultimately gave birth to the Northern Song's three centuries of civil governance and left posterity with a profound historical question: How can order and vitality coexist?