The Cambridge Illustrated History of China

The centuries that separated the Han and Tang dynasties were marked by multiple regimes, incessant warfare, and governments that struggled to gain firm control of their territories. After several decades of rivalry among three contenders (the Three Kingdoms, 220–265), the Western Jin (265–316) briefly rejoined the regions. After the Jin fell to internal squabbling, non-Chinese peoples entered the fray, and China entered a prolonged period when the north was under the control of foreign rulers and the south ruled by Chinese courts. Each was prey to its own internal conflicts and the border between them regularly shifted in accordance with the fortunes of war. The governments of this period had little success in curbing tendencies toward social inequality, and during these centuries aristocratic tendencies developed at the top of society and personal bondage expanded at the bottom. Confucianism lost some of its hold and people in all walks of life found hope in religions promising salvation and transcendence, above all the newly introduced Buddhist religion, which vastly expanded China's intellectual and religious imagination.

The Three Kingdoms period and the Jin dynasty

During the period between the Han and Tang dynasties, short-lived courts were the norm, making the political history of these three-and-a-half centuries one of the most complex in Chinese history. It began when the generals assigned by the Han government to put down the rebellion of the Yellow Turbans became stronger than the throne and fought among themselves for supremacy. By 205 the poet-general Cao Cao had made himself dictator of north China. Instead of trying to curb the growth of hardto- tax local magnates, Cao Cao developed alternative ways to supply his armies. He carved out huge state farms from land laid waste by war and settled captured rebels and landless poor to work them and thus made the state the greatest of all landlords. He also established military colonies for hereditary military households whose men would both farm and fight. For his cavalry, Cao Cao recruited Xiongnu tribesmen in large numbers, settling many in southern Shanxi.