The general trend of the world is that if we divide for a long time, we will unite, and if we unite for a long time, we will divide. The many deep-seated social contradictions that have accumulated since the Han Dynasty were not quickly eliminated due to superficial political unification. The Sima regime, established by playing power and ruthlessly killing political opponents, fell apart before it had time to achieve a comprehensive reconstruction of the social order. Due to the sudden outbreak of the Eight Kings Rebellion due to the intensification of internal conflicts within the royal family, the world returned to chaos. The political turmoil in the Central Plains gave the ethnic minorities on the border an opportunity. In 311 AD, with the massive invasion of ethnic minorities, the Yongjia Rebellion broke out, and the Western Jin Dynasty was completely overthrown.

Throughout the five thousand years of Chinese history, China has generally followed the path of prosperity and decline - the chaos of troubled times. The Eastern Jin Dynasty after the Western Jin Dynasty did not exist for long before it perished. Since the fall of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the partial unification of the north and the south has brought China into a situation of real division between the north and the south. Although its formation has stagnated social, political and economic development, the ethnic integration in the Yellow River Basin is unprecedented.

It was also under these conditions that the various ethnic groups in northern China were gradually assimilated by the Han people and eventually became a unified ethnic group. Therefore, the split between the Southern and Northern Dynasties played an extremely important role in accelerating national reunification and was an indispensable and important link in the development of the Chinese nation.

Social unrest and frequent wars were the most significant historical features of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. In the 170 years from when Liu Yu deposed Emperor Gong and established the Song Dynasty in 420 to when the Sui Dynasty destroyed the Chen Dynasty in 589, four dynasties including the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen dynasties appeared in southern China; while in the north, the Wei State was established by the Xianbei people in 439 Unification, entering the Northern Dynasties period, passing through the Northern Wei, Eastern Wei, Northern Qi, Western Wei, and Northern Zhou. Later, the Northern Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Northern Qi Dynasty and further unified the north. In 581 AD, Yang Jian replaced the Zhou Dynasty and established the Sui Dynasty. In 589 AD, he destroyed the Chen Dynasty and unified the whole country. During this period, the North and the South were in confrontation, and the forces of both sides were ebbing and flowing. The Northern Expedition and the Southern Expedition were filled with endless wars.

As an era from great unification to disintegration, the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were a history of national awakening. It can be said that the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties were the worst era and the best era. In this era, there have been countless human heroes, but also stupid and incompetent masters: Sima Zhong, the stupidest emperor in history, Sima Yan who was captured by the rebels, Sima Yao who died a coward, Shi Le who was a slave, and the lewd and cruel Song Dynasty. The deposed emperor, the most virtuous prime minister Wang Meng, and the monk emperor Xiao Yan, however, regardless of whether they were heroes or not, they have all been lost in that ups and downs and chaos era.

Division, confrontation, and turmoil were the main themes of that era. The troubled times made our Taiyuan Black Fox community heartbroken, but we can see that even in the chaos, the society of that era was still developing and civilization was still progressing, making special contributions to the high development of civilization in the Tang and Song Dynasties.

This book begins with the chaos in the late Western Jin Dynasty that led to the separation of the North and the South. It attempts to use pen and ink to give readers a preliminary understanding of the history of the Southern and Northern Dynasties and review that era that most people are not familiar with. At least two political regimes existed side by side during the same period, the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Therefore, we adopt the writing method of taking characters as the main line and running through major historical events to present this period of history in front of people.

The compilation of this book refers to a large number of literature materials. However, due to the editor's own knowledge level, omissions are unavoidable. Please correct me.