Consequences of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

The influence of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms on the ancient history of China mainly includes three aspects:

First, promote the expansion and distribution of the population, especially the Han population. Before the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Han nationality mainly distributed in the Central Plains, northern Jiangnan and the Western Regions. Due to the Huang Chao Uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty and the appearance of the following five dynasties (Houliang, Houtang, Houjin, Houhan and Houzhou), wars and cruel killings frequently occurred within and between ethnic groups in the Central Plains for a hundred years, and a large number of Han people who originally lived in the Central Plains fled in all directions. Because the south is also in war, the Qiang people and Uighurs in the west are in the ascendant, and they exploit and humiliate the Han people who moved westward in the Central Plains, so the Han people in the Central Plains finally fled. The wise qidan nobles didn't bully immigrants like Qiang people and Uighurs. Instead, they seized this opportunity, accepted a large number of Han immigrants, and even promoted Han culture throughout the country in order to attract more Han people, so that later historians found that the Khitan Liao country was more like a Han country than those countries located in the Five Dynasties of the Central Plains (Houliang, Houtang, Houjin and Houhan). During the hundred years from the end of the Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, the Khitan received nearly ten million Han people, and nearly ten million Han people moved to the border of Khitan, which is now Jinzhong, Jizhong, western Liaoning and other places, ready to flee northward into the Khitan. This migration is of great historical significance, which provided a population base for the invasion of Khitan and the rise of Jurchen and Mongolia. It is also from this migration that the Han population in the Northeast and the Outer Xing 'an Mountains surpassed the local ethnic minorities for the first time and became a big ethnic group in this area, which laid the national pattern in Northeast China today.

Second, promote national integration. Three of the five dynasties (the later Tang Dynasty, the later Jin Dynasty and the later Han Dynasty) were founded by the mysterious Shatuo people. "Shatuo", a nation with no authoritative conclusion so far, no one knows when and where he came to the Central Plains. When it appeared in the historical records, it was already a prominent nation in the prosperous Tang Dynasty. After the Five Dynasties, there is no historical record that they were extinct like the Jie people in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, but they did disappear, and they have never been seen in the records of the Central Plains, the Western Regions, Turks, Mongolia and other parties. It seems that they suddenly flourished in the Central Plains and then disappeared without a trace. Even after later historians tried their best to classify it as a branch of Turkic, according to the records of Tang and Five Dynasties, it was difficult to determine their relationship with Turks and Han nationality, and even white people or yellow people were inconclusive, and finally they were classified as hybrids. But there is no doubt that Shatuo is a very capable people. There were many Shatuo people in the Tang Dynasty, whether they were civilian military commanders or bullies. In the Five Dynasties, they even climbed to the peak of Central Plains politics. The origin of this nation can't be determined, but it is very likely that his destination is to integrate into the Han nationality and walk into the later Song Dynasty together.

Thirdly, the idea of attaching importance to agriculture over commerce faded, which provided a social foundation for the rapid development of labor force including science and technology, technology, finance and foreign trade in the late Song Dynasty. Attaching importance to agriculture and light industry is the most respected by the Han people, but not by the Five Dynasties, Ten Countries and Sanshato regime. They don't regard science and technology as "clever tricks", but they admire it very much. A large number of ethnic minority artists promoted the extensive development of handicrafts, led more Han people to participate in it, developed and improved many handicrafts, and provided first-hand "simple science and even information" for the later Song Dynasty. Ethnic minorities are also more interested in trade and finance than Han people. Many of their attempts, including many failed attempts, provided the thinking mode and first-hand "experimental data" for the later Han economy. The exploration and protection of technology and non-agricultural economy was the most precious wealth left by the five generations of countries at that time.