The Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms is a special period in the history of the mainland! This period began in 304 AD, when Li Xiong was proclaimed King of Chengdu in Sichuan and Liu Yuan was proclaimed King of Han in Zuoguocheng, Shanxi, and ended in 439 AD, when Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei destroyed Northern Liang.
Map of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms period
In these 135 years, many separatist regimes of all sizes appeared in the area north of the Yangtze River and in the Sichuan Basin.
Cui Hong, a historian of the Northern Wei Dynasty, in order to record these regimes, compiled and summarized sixteen divided regimes based on the criterion of "being able to build a state and become a warring states", and wrote a chronicle called "Spring and Autumn of the Sixteen Kingdoms".
Portrait of Cui Hong
Later generations used this book as a basis for calling this period the "Five Hu sixteen kingdoms", or the "sixteen kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty".
In order to facilitate memory, some people have refined these sixteen divided regimes into a sentence according to the name of the country - "Five Liang, Four Yan, Three Qin, Two Zhao, One Summer.".
Spring and Autumn of the Sixteen Kingdoms, inner page
However, at that time, there were more than sixteen separatist regimes in the land of China. At least seven separatist forces have not been recorded separately by Cui Hong's "Spring and Autumn of the Sixteen Kingdoms", what are they? Let's take stock today.
The first, Daikoku (315–376)
Dai Guo is the predecessor of the Northern Wei Dynasty! Founded in 315 by Tuoba Lu, the uncle of Emperor Tuoba Jue of the Northern Wei Dynasty, in present-day Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, there were six monarchs, and was destroyed by Former Qin in 376 AD, enjoying 61 years of the country.
Because Daiguo was the predecessor of Northern Wei, Cui Hong, as a northern Wei courtier, did not record it alongside those unorthodox separatist regimes.
Daikoku Sphere of Influence (Yellow Part)
Second, Western Yan (384–394)
Western Yan was a separatist regime established in 384 by Murong Hong, the younger brother of the late Former Yan emperor Murong Wei, whose sphere of influence was roughly in the area of present-day south-central Shanxi, with a total of seven monarchs, and was destroyed by Later Yan in 394 AD, enjoying 11 years of statehood.
Western Yan was not listed separately among the Sixteen Kingdoms because of its short stature and weak power.
Western Yan Sphere of Influence (Yellow Part)
Third, Ran Wei (350–352)
Founded in 350 AD by the famous Wu Mourning Emperor Ran Min, his sphere of influence was in present-day southern Hebei and northern Henan, with only one monarch, who was destroyed by Former Yan in 352 AD and enjoyed the kingdom for 3 years.
Ran Wei Sphere of Influence (Purple Part)
Fourth, Shu Shu (405–413)
The Shu dynasty was the second regime to divide Sichuan after the Cheng Han Dynasty during the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms period, and was established by Yu Zhong in 405 AD, with only one monarch, and was destroyed by the Eastern Jin Dynasty in 413 AD, enjoying 8 years of state.
Shu Sphere of Influence (Pale Green Part)
Fifth, Zhai Wei (388–392)
Zhai Wei was founded by The Ding Dynasty Zhai Liao in 388 AD, divided at the junction of Henan, Hebei, and Shandong, and lasted for a total of two monarchs, and was destroyed by Murong Chui of Later Yan in 392 AD, and enjoyed a reign of 4 years.
Zhai Wei's sphere of influence
Sixth, Former Qiuchi Kingdom (296–371)
The former Qiuchi State was established in 296 AD by Yang Maosou of the Hu people, with a sphere of influence at the junction of today's Gansu, Shaanxi and Sichuan, with a total of nine monarchs, and was destroyed by Former Qin in 371 AD, enjoying 75 years of statehood.
Former Vendetta Pool Sphere of Influence
Seventh, Hou qiu chi kingdom (386~442)
Fifteen years after the demise of former Qiuchi, that is, in 385 AD, Yang Ding, a member of the former Qiuchi state, declared the restoration of Qiuchi within the former Qiuchi state's sphere of influence, which historians called Houqiuchi state. A total of six monarchs, in 442 AD, the State of Houqiuchi was destroyed by Pei Fangming of the Liu Song Dynasty, and he spent 57 years in the country.
Sphere of Influence of the Post-Vendetta Pool (Pink Part)
Therefore, the title of "Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms" is not accurate, at least it should be called "Five Hu And Twenty-Three Kingdoms"!