Romance of the Two Jin Dynasties

Author: Cai Dongfan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-08-01
Features: Cai Dongfan's "Popular Historical Romances of China" spans from the Qin and Han dynasties to the Republic of China, comprising over 1,000 chapters and more than 5 million words, covering nearly 2,200 years of history. The work is based on reliable historical records, supplemented by folk histories, with careful selection of materials, balanced perspectives, rich content, well-structured narration, elegant language, self-commentary, and insightful annotations. It is truly a classic in popular historical writing. Since its publication, the book has been widely acclaimed and beloved. In the mid-1930s, Mao Zedong once sent a message to Li Keqiang to purchase two copies of this book to meet the needs of Yan'an cadres in learning Chinese history. It was often placed on the bedside of his bed. The renowned historian Zai Degeng believed that while the book had some shortcomings as a historical source, its content was sufficiently rich, and its narration was systematic. The famous novelist Erhu River thought that the book was only mediocre in literary terms but served as an entry point to understanding national history, and it was unique in its kind.
For the 156 years of the Eastern and Western Jin dynasties, except for the more than 20 years of the founding of the Eastern Jin by Emperor Wu, it was mostly a period of chaos and external threats—either internal strife or external invasions. Historically, no dynasty faced more severe external threats than the Jin and the "Five Barbarians and Sixteen Kingdoms," which rose and fell in rapid succession, endlessly. When internal governance is neglected, internal strife is bound to arise; when internal strife occurs, external invasions take advantage of the situation. Just as rotten wood breeds insects and cracks in a wall allow ants to enter, this has been true throughout history, and the Jin dynasty was particularly notable for it.
The Eastern and Western Jin dynasties seemed to be intertwined with external threats, but in reality, they only created the situation where the and were trapped, allowing the fisherman to profit. The fall of the Chinese continent, the desolation of the land with copper camels and thorny bushes, the capture of the two emperors, and their forced drinking in the court of the Dian tribes—all were consequences of poor governance. Fortunately, the Battle of Fei River decisively defeated the Fu Qin, allowing half of the empire to be miraculously preserved. However, the Eastern Jin rulers grew arrogant after initial successes, leading to laziness and stagnation. This resulted in a series of coups and escalating chaos, ultimately leading to the dynasty's collapse.
The downfall of the Jin dynasty was not solely due to external threats: the disruption of moral norms and feuds among family members were the first seeds of its destruction; the decline of trust and conflicts among powerful factions were the second seeds. External invaders merely exploited the gaps and took advantage of the situation. To learn from past mistakes, the history of the Jin dynasty serves as a cautionary example.