From the “Five Dynasties” 五代 to the “Ten States” 十國: Interpreting Post-Tang Identities in Northern Song (960–1127) Historiography

Abstract

This article examines the representation of post-Tang identities in Northern Song historiography and provides a precise definition of the concept of “Ten States.” It argues that the “Five Dynasties” and “Ten States,” appellations invented by Northern Song historians, are not reflective of the actual tenth-century political landscape that took shape following the fall of the Tang Empire (618–907). Rather, they were coined to buttress the dynastic legitimacy of the Northern Song. They mirrored the increasingly strong Song central control over regional authorities and a perceived ever-growing cultural division between Song and its neighbors. Through an investigation of how post-Tang regimes were categorized by four representative Northern Song histories, this article questions the constructed binary between the “legitimate” and the “illegitimate” in Song historiography and challenges the resulting “Central Plain”-centric and Han/Chinese-centric ideologies.