Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Circuit Year Table

Author: Zhu Yulong (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-03-01
Features: This book collects prefectures () where the territory is within the current territory of the People's Republic of China and those prefectures that received fiefdoms from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. The Jinghai Prefecture of Jiaozhou, although it once requested recognition from the central Tang dynasty and the Southern Han dynasty and is now within the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is not included. Those under the rule of the Khitan, within the Chinese territory, are excluded as they had already established their own countries. Moreover, there is Wu Tingbian's "Annals of Khitan Prefectures," which is also not repeated here. The Tiande Army of Fengzhou, the Guoyi Army of Shazhou, and the Hexi Military Governorship of Liangzhou are not listed in the official gazetteer by the Ouyang family. However, upon examining historical records and verifying facts, it is clear that the Tiande Army was a vassal state of Jin, and the Shazhou and Liangzhou prefectures were recognized by the central Tang dynasty, so they are still included in accordance with the example and appended after the Five Dynasties prefectures. The book consists of two parts: the Prefecture Annals and the Prefecture Appendix. Those prefectures with detailed records of their establishment and the replacement of military commanders are listed in the annals; while those with severely incomplete records, such as newly established military prefectures, those suddenly established and then dissolved, and those with critically missing data, are omitted as they would create gaps, yet listing them would be difficult. All such cases are compiled into the Prefecture Appendix to achieve completeness and facilitate research. The annals generally quote the original text directly, but occasionally summarize the main idea when necessary. When quoting the original text, quotation marks are used. For consecutive quotes from the same source, the title, volume, and chapter are clearly stated in the first instance, and thereafter only "Ibid." is used. For books frequently cited in this book, abbreviations are used, and the full titles can be found in the reference list.