Song timeline
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five dynasties
(907-960 CE) |
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Northern Song dynasty (960-1126) |
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Southern Song dynasty (1127-1276)
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The Tang was finally destroyed by ambitious generals who seized control of
the armies in the wake of peasant rebellions. Between 907 and 960, in
a period called the five dynasties, a succession of regional kingdoms
governments established by these generals prevailed in north and
south.
The Buddhist establishment and most other institutions of Chinese life survived
the Tangs decline and the subsequent disunion.
During the tumult after An Lushans 755 rebellion and into the Song dynasty,
the population center of China shifted decisively to the south. In 742,
60 percent of Chinas sixty million people lived in the wheat and millet
producing areas of the Yellow River. By 980, with a population of nearly
one hundred million, 38 percent lived in the north and 62 percent lived in the
rice-growing region of the Yangzi Valley. The proportion of those living
in the south continued to increase throughout the Song dynasty and later.
to the history of the Northern
Song
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