In the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty, the officials were corrupt, because of the struggle for imperial power, resulting in the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings", and because of the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings", the vitality of the Western Jin Dynasty was greatly damaged, and it gradually went to extinction, giving some ethnic minorities in the north of the mainland to invade the Central Plains.

What are the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms? What are the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms?

The Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms are all famous troubled times in Chinese history, and the so-called troubled times generally have three characteristics: first, there are constant wars, and different regimes are at war with each other; The second is that there is a constant change of regime, and there is no forever strong regime, because one regime is constantly replacing another; Third, no political power can unify the world, and the whole world has always maintained a state of chaos and division, which in turn leads to wars and wars, which is a vicious circle.

1. Wuhu and Sixteen Kingdoms (304~439)

Wuhu and Sixteen Kingdoms are connected to the Western Jin Dynasty, and the Northern and Southern Dynasties are under the Qi, which lasts for 135 years, starting from the establishment of the Cheng Han regime by Li Xiong of the Di nationality in 304 A.D., the Western Jin Dynasty at this time has not perished, and is in the late stage of the Eight Kings Rebellion, until 439 A.D., the Xianbei regime of the Northern Wei Taiwu Emperor Tuoba Tao destroyed the Northern Liang regime, at this time the Northern Wei Dynasty was at its peak, and in this year, the Northern Wei Dynasty basically unified northern China.

Wuhu refers to: Xiongnu, Xianbei, Qian, Di, Qiang five Hu people, the Sixteen Kingdoms refer to: Cheng Han, Qianliang, Qianzhao, Houzhao, Beiliang, Xiliang, Houliang, Nanliang, Qianyan, Houyan, Nanyan, Xia, Qianqin, Xiqin, Houqin, Houqin sixteen slightly more powerful regimes.

Literally, it is understood that the five Hu ethnic groups have established sixteen regimes, but in fact this is not the case, each regime is a hodgepodge of internal cultures, there are Han and Hu people, and the ruler has only one main ethnic group, if you look at the national attributes of the ruler, it is like this:

Cheng Han, Former Qin, Western Qin, Later Qin, and Later Liang were established by the Di people, Qianliang and Xiliang were established by the Han people, the former Zhao was established by the Xiongnu, the Later Zhao was established by the Qian, and the Northern Liang was established by the Han people, and was seized by the Lushuihu people of the descendants of the Xiongnu in the later period.

The Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms are also called the Sixteen Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty

Southern Liang was established by the Xianbei Tuoba clan (also known as the bald hair clan), the former Yan, the latter Yan, and the southern Yan were established by the Xianbei Murong clan, and the Northern Yan was originally established by the Xianbei Murong clan, and was later seized by the Han human rights minister Feng Ba, (Hu) Xia was established by the Tiefu people of the Xiongnu tribe, the Western Qin was established by the Xianbei beggar clan, and the Later Qin was established by the Qiang people.

From the perspective of the ethnic composition of the rulers, the so-called Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms should be accurately said to be the Five Hu and Han Sixteen Kingdoms, among which there are two or three Han regimes, and there are some small regimes that have existed for a relatively short time, such as the Ran Wei regime established by the Han Ran Min, the Han Shu regime, and the Zhai Wei regime established by Ding Lingren, adding all the small regimes together, the total number of regimes reaches 59.

The reason why it is called the Five Hu Sixteen Kingdoms is only to take out the 16 powerful regimes and 5 Hu ethnic groups as representatives, most of these regimes are located in the Central Plains and the north, and in the south of the Yangtze River and the Wuhu Sixteen States are opposed to the Eastern Jin Dynasty regime, the Eastern Jin Dynasty regime existed from 317 ~ 420 years, a total of 103 years, the Eastern Jin Dynasty was later replaced by the Liu Song regime established by Liu Yu.

The former Qin dynasty of the Di people once unified the entire north

Therefore, the Wuhu and Sixteen Kingdoms were actually a split situation of confrontation between the north and the south, the sixteen kingdoms in the north fell into civil strife, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the south was also unstable, and was controlled by the ministers until it was replaced by the Liu Song regime.

2. Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907~979)

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were connected to the Tang Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty, lasting only 72 years. Beginning with the Han Zhu Wen establishing the Later Liang regime in 907 A.D. to replace the Tang Dynasty, to 979 A.D., when Zhao Guangyi, Taizong of the Northern Song Dynasty, destroyed the last regime in the Ten Kingdoms - the Northern Han Dynasty, at this time the Northern Song Dynasty controlled the Central Plains and unified the entire southern China, the end of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and history entered the confrontation between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty, and soon after, it was the stage of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Liao Dynasty, and the Western Xia.

The Five Dynasties refer to: the Later Liang regime established by Zhu Wen of the Han people, the Later Tang regime established by Li Keyong and Li Cunqiao of the Shatuo people, the Later Jin regime established by Shi Jingjiao of the Shatuo people, the Later Han regime established by Liu Zhiyuan of the Shatuo people, the Later Zhou regime established by Guo Wei of the Han people, and the regimes established by the five dynasties are all located in the core area of the Central Plains.

The Ten Kingdoms refer to: Former Shu, Later Shu, Southern Wu (Yang Wu), Southern Tang, Wu Yue, Min, Southern Chu (Ma Chu), Southern Han, Nanping (Jingnan), Northern Han and other ten secession regimes, all of which are located in remote areas far from the Central Plains. Only Liu Chong, the founder of the Northern Han Dynasty, was a Shatuo person, and only the Northern Han regime was located in the north, and the other nine regimes were all established by the Han people, and they were all located in the south.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, there were also some secessionist regimes that existed for a relatively short period of time or even short-lived, such as Beiping, Yin, Dali, etc., which were not included because they existed for a short time and had a limited impact on history.

The Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms are two different eras, but they are also the period of great division in Chinese history. In these two eras, there were wars and chaos, the people of the Han nationality were struggling to make a living, and the vitality of the Central Plains was greatly damaged. Especially during the period of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, he also had a name, called "Five Hu Chaohua", this period can be described as the darkest period of the Han people, the war made the land of China ruined, and the Han people did not survive one out of ten, and suffered heavy losses.