Although the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were different regimes in the same period, they existed in different times and their strength was very different, so the appellation of country and generation was different. Generally speaking, a generation with a long existence and strong national strength is a dynasty and an era. Only a country with a long duration is called a generation, so a country is counted as a generation, because there will be many countries in an era, only the most powerful country can continue, and the country is likely to perish and then cease to exist. Therefore, only some powerful countries that unify the whole country are called generations in history, and countries are their affiliated cities.

For example, the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty all existed for a long time, and their national strength was very strong, so they could resist the aggression of other countries without being shaken. Their time in the long river of history is also called the times, while other small countries have too short a time to form the times, so they can't be called a generation, but only countries. Just like the Three Kingdoms, their existence is very short, so they can only be called Guo Wei and Guo Wei.

Say five generations. The Five Dynasties were divided after the demise of the Tang Dynasty, so even if they inherited the name of the Tang Dynasty, they were orthodox and could be called generations. But the ten countries are different, and they are all formed by some local forces. They are not orthodox in history and are not recognized by the secular. People feel that they are not the masters of the world.

Because their sphere of influence is too small and their national strength is too weak, they can easily be annexed by other countries, so such a small force can only be called a country, not a generation, because they are not qualified and have no power, so although there are five generations and ten countries at a time, their titles are still different.