Great Lecture on Chinese History -- Stories of the Sui and Tang Dynasties

Author: Wu Tingyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-31
Features: After the chaos of Dong Zhuo in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, China was divided for nearly 400 years. By the late period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to long-term struggles between classes and between ethnic groups, significant changes occurred in the social class structure and economic conditions. First, during the long period of turmoil, the power of the scholar-gentry clans declined. During the Hou Jing Rebellion, the renowned and influential families listed in "Jiangdong Bai Pu" were "almost completely destroyed" (Volume 45 of The Book of Northern Qi). Since the Liu Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties, the power of the scholar-gentry clans had been restricted, allowing "the common people to hold key positions." As for the Northern Dynasties, due to the rule of ethnic minorities, the power of the scholar-gentry landowners was always less dominant than in the south. The Western Wei Dynasty's ability to implement the policy of "promoting the worthy" reflected that the scholar-gentry clans had lost the ability to influence national politics. Second, over the centuries of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to the mixed settlement of ethnic minorities and Han people, they not only engaged in production together but also fought alongside the Han people against rulers of various ethnic groups. In terms of economic life, language, and customs, they basically assimilated with the Han people. Later historians could only trace the origins of their ethnic names through the surnames and clan affiliations of their descendants. By the Sui and Tang dynasties, the names of ethnic groups such as the Di, Qiang, Xianbei, Xiongnu, Chang, and Jie had finally become historical terms.