The influence of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties

The influence of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties indicates that when we describe Chinese history, we will unconsciously focus on the era of unification and military rule. As a result, less attention will be paid to the four centuries of history after the Han Dynasty ended at the hands of religious uprisings and local warlords. The collective name for this era is the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties periods. This period was of considerable historical significance to Chinese history. This period reflects the fact of political division and the expansion and diversification of Chinese cultural fields, so the editor believes that this is a very groundbreaking era in Chinese history. And in these four centuries sandwiched between the Han and Tang Dynasties, what new themes emerged?

The historical facts of the split: What impact did the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties have on Chinese history?

The first core theme of Southern and Northern Dynasties is the redefinition of Chinese geography.

In the editor’s opinion, the most important development in the four centuries between the Han and Tang Dynasties was the redefinition of Chinese geography. This definition is reflected in at least four aspects. First, the most important feature is the large-scale immigration and settlement to the Yangtze River Basin in the south. Since prehistoric times, the Yangtze River Basin has been part of the broader Chinese cultural realm. Since the Warring States Period, it has been part of China's political realm, but it was still a minor geographical area at that time. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC - 8 AD), less than a quarter of China's registered population lived in the Yangtze River Basin. These people were regarded as having different regional cultures.

However, under the pressure of military invasions and flooding, large-scale migration of the Chinese population to the south began during the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220), reaching its climax in the early 4th century. As the Han steadily occupied the south, they cleared hillsides and drained swamps for agriculture, displacing or absorbing local populations. These open spaces had long been included in China's territory, and this process of filling them was the second major change in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

The third aspect of geographical redefinition is the expansion of China's knowledge about the outside world and the re-understanding of China's location in a wider field. The arrival of Buddhism brought regular trade with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. In the Chinese worldview, Japan during this period moved from the realm of myth to the realm of reality. Although the far south remained largely unknown territory, the predecessor to modern Guangzhou was a vibrant trading center that connected parts of the Chinese population to Southeast Asia through maritime trade, as well as to India and the West. .

The final geographical redefinition occurred in Chinese culture itself: the formation of the social space between family and state. While Han Dynasty literature focused on the imperial court and the capital, subsequent centuries saw the rise of literature dedicated to different regions and local cultures. The literature covers rural areas, landscapes and desolate border areas. The expansion of the scope and themes involved in literature and high-end culture has changed the elite groups in Chinese society. They developed a series of new physical spaces—gardens, monasteries, mansion spaces, country houses—where cultural and religious activities took place.

The second core theme of the Northern and Southern Dynasties is the emergence of new elites.

The wealthy families of the Han Dynasty largely used their material wealth—especially land—to build their social network and their monopoly on court official positions as a symbol of their identity. In contrast, the elites of the Northern and Southern Dynasties distinguished themselves more carefully through the cultural and literary activities they pursued. Poetry, calligraphy, philosophical talk, unique clothing, and elegance were all cultivated to identify the clan as a group, distinguishing it from those who possessed only wealth or power. These status-defining activities gradually merged with the new method of electing official positions—a new method that safeguarded hereditary nature by ensuring the establishment of official positions. The Northern and Southern Dynasties were also a time when elites began to compile detailed genealogies and use them to define their kinship groups.

The third core theme of the Northern and Southern Dynasties is the military changes. The army is mainly composed of hereditary military households.

In AD 32, universal conscription was abolished, and thereafter the Han court relied mainly on non-Han cavalry, prisoners, and conscripts to supplement its military strength. The warlords who emerged in the late Han Dynasty used slaves, nomadic warriors, and captured religious rebels as soldiers. In the following decades and centuries, these slaves and refugees became the largest source of hereditary soldiers, while non-Han herders became another source. These two groups of soldiers eventually dwarfed the landowners and the blood-related Allied forces. Beginning in the early decades of the fifth century, military power was transferred from elite families to the imperial court, allowing imperial power to be revitalized.

The fourth core theme of the Northern and Southern Dynasties is the abstraction of imperial government from society as a whole.

The reliance of imperial power on the military base led to the emergence of the fourth theme in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the withdrawal of imperial government from society as a whole. This process began during the Han Dynasty, which created a pan-imperial culture based on non-phonetic writing and capitals built according to rituals. The capitals of the Han Dynasty transcended the relationships between regions and places formed during the early Warring States period. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the empire's authoritative military power was based on people outside the traditional social order, which further distanced the imperial court from paying attention to daily life.

During these four centuries, foreign rulers entered and occupied the Central Plains for the first time in Chinese history, and took control of China's bureaucratic machinery. The Yellow River Basin was the core region of the Chinese imperial tradition, and for nine of the 18 centuries since the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 AD, it was actually ruled by foreign emperors (if the Tang ruling family were considered "foreign" If so, add about 3 centuries), which dramatically illustrates the extent of the separation between the Chinese government and its people and society.