The Metageography of the Northern and Southern Dynasties

Abstract

Sui and Tang historians constructed a geographical conceptualization for the Northern and Southern Dynasties that depicted them as equal and complementary halves of one greater whole, now “unified” under the Sui-Tang empire. This spatial model has been the dominant way in which modern historians have thought about the fifth and sixth centuries. But literati of that time conceptualized their geopolitical landscape very differently. This article examines the varied ways in which literati of the Northern and Southern Dynasties conceptualized their own geopolitical landscape. In each of the models examined, the spatial relationship between north and south is described as hierarchical and adversarial, differing considerably from the equal and complementary model espoused by Tang historians. Les historiens des epoques Sui et Tang ont elabore une conceptualisation geographique des dynasties du Nord et du Sud qui les decrit comme les moities egales et complementaires d’un tout, unifie par les empires Sui et Tang. Ce modele spatial est devenu le principal mode d’apprehension de l’histoire des ve et vie siecles pour les historiens modernes. Les intellectuels de ces deux siecles cependant, avaient de toutes autres conceptions de leur paysage geopolitique. Cet article examine ces differentes conceptions; il identifie plusieurs modeles, dans lesquels les relations entre Nord et Sud sont toujours decrites comme hierarchiques et hostiles, au contraire du modele complementaire adopte ensuite par les historiens des Tang