Three Kingdoms & Dynasties

Kingdoms and Dynasties

A period of great turbulence

(220 – 581)

 

After ruling for almost four centuries, the Han Empire finally crumbled away in 220, falling apart from a mixture of internal corruption and external rebellion. For China, the end of the Han Dynasty marked the beginning of a chaotic era that would last for over 300 years until China again was united under the Sui Dynasty (581 AD). The suppression of these uprisings was only possible with the help of mighty warlords that eventually took over control of China's provinces. A serious of well known battles took place like “the battle of Guandu” and “the Battle of Red Cliff”. Such historic battles have often played an important role in Chinese poetry and art through out the later dynasties, for instance on vases made over 1000 years later during Kangxi Dynasty.

Finally the last Han Emperor Xian was kidnapped and three mighty warlords put an end to the old Han Empire and proclaimed their own Empires; Wei (north), Wu (south) and ShuHan (southwest). However this “Three Kingdom period” was not going to last more almost 50 years.

In 266 Sima Yan, a successful Wei-general, managed to overthrow the Wei-ruling house and started a reunification of the old Han Dynasty. He declared himself Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty (265–420). But again internal fights within the Sima-family divided the Empire into the Western and Eastern Jin.

The internal fight continued in the Western Jin Dynasty. “The War of the eight Princes” and “the Invasion of the five barbarians”, led to further caotic times and numerous small states and kingdoms. These states then immediately began fighting each other, inaugurating the bloody Sixteen Kingdom era. 

After the fall of the capital Chang’an in 316 the Western Jin Dynasty collapsed and was taken over by the previous Wei, but the Jin rulers (Sima-clan) managed to escape and consolidate the eastern Jin Dynasty.

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Finally comes a period called Northern and Southern Dynasties (420–589).

The Northern Wei (386 - 535) and Northern Qi Dynasty (550 - 577) wer

e dominating in the north and Li Sung Dynasty (420 – 479) and Chen Dynasty (502 – 557) dominant in the south.

 

First Emperor of the Wei Dynasty Sima Yan

It was also during the Six Dynasties that the great aristocratic families such as the Wei-clan began to arise in Chinese society. By the end of the period, their control was so firmly established that they continued to dominate the society until the middle or end of the Tang Dynasty (618–907).

 

Most of the artifacts from these dynasties are findings from tombs belonging to known rulers and noblemen. In spite of the turbulent shift in dynasties, it is amazing how characteristic many of these artifacts are, and therefore easy to categorize to the different Dynasties and Kingdoms.

This collection has several items dating back to some of these specific short-lived Dynasties.

 

Despite the general chaos this period must have given, great advances were made in medicine, astronomy, botany, and chemistry.

The invention of the stirrup during the earlier Jin dynasty helped spur the development of heavy cavalry as a combat standard. An early evidence of spurs is shown on figure XX. as previous horses from wheelbarrows and kites were other inventions during this period.

Coal was also used as a fuel for the first time.

The Jin Dynasty is also well known for the quality of greenish true celadon porcelain wares, a development of the earlier proto-celadon wares from the Han Dynasty.

Jar designs often incorporated animals as well as Buddhist figures as seen on the chicken-jar, figure 14.

 

Buddhism in China.

The first traces of Buddhism in China appear after the AD 60s. Although India had a long sculptural tradition and a mastery of rich iconography, the Buddha was never represented in human form, but only through Buddhist symbols as icons, Buddhas footprint Buddhist symbolism.

The first personalized sculptures and images of Buddha is considered to be the art from the Gandharan region in todays North Pakistan around. Famed for its local tradition of Gandharan (Greco-Buddhist) Art, Gandhara attained its height from the 1st century to the 5th century under the Kushan Empire. 

 

A new religion, which was to have a great influence on China, also soon became popular. Buddhist ideas soon spread across the Pamir Mountains from the east into China. By the mid 5th century, Buddhist thought, way of life, art, and scripture had become commonplace in China. This was in strong contrast to traditional Confucianism, which had a widely held ideology with strong personal roots in people's beliefs and ethics. Buddhism was aggressively promoted by the new ruling Wei-clan, which had taken power in China but originally came from the steppes of the north. The Northern Wei Dynasty had much to gain by promoting an ideological shift from ancient traditions to Buddhism as a confirmation of their legitimacy.

Large Buddha statues were erected in eastern China, as well as lavish monasteries and shrines. This was a clear signal that the Wei dynasty had won and that they had divine strength not only as brutal warriors on the battlefield. Buddhism was attractive not only because it offered retreat from the wars and turmoil gripping the country. It also promised an afterlife in the Western Paradise if you behaved well and gave donations to the Buddhist establishment.