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An analysis of historical themes in the Southern Dynasties
The Southern Dynasty (AD 420-589) is the general name of four dynasties established in the south after the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Since the demise of the Eastern Jin Dynasty in 420 AD, four countries, namely Song, Qi, Liang and Chen, have appeared in the south, and their existence time is relatively short. The longest is only 95 years, and the shortest is only 23 years, which is a period of rapid dynasty change in the history of China. At this time, China is in the period of north-south division. In the history of our country, the Southern Dynasties and northern countries such as the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Zhou Dynasty were collectively called the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Song Wudi (AD 420-479) was the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty and a new force developed in the late Eastern Jin Dynasty. He won the battle with four families in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In 420 AD, Jin Emperor was abolished, and he became king on his own, with the title of Song. In order to distinguish it from the Song Dynasty established by Zhao Kuangyin, historians call it Liu Song. Because Emperor Wu of Song was born in poverty and saw the lesson of the collapse of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he no longer reused the noble family after he became king. Most of its employees were born in poverty, and the military power was mainly given to their own princes, so they did not repeat the mistakes of the big clan in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. However, due to the warlord's struggle for power and profit, he eventually killed each other, which was unexpected by Emperor Wu of Song. In 422, Emperor Wu of Song died, and Emperor Wen acceded to the throne one after another. Among them, the thirty years in Yilong, Liu Wendi was the most prosperous period in the Song Dynasty, and the economy and culture in the south really developed. From AD 450 to AD 45 1 year, the Song Dynasty fought against the Wei State of the Northern Dynasty, but both suffered heavy losses, and neither the North nor the South could fight again. Since then, the north and south have been relatively stable. In 454 AD, Emperor Wendi died. After the death of Emperor Wendi, Emperor Xiaowu of Song Dynasty and Ming Di became emperors successively, but they were both famous tyrants. Not only were they suspicious of the generals, but brothers also killed each other, and politics was once chaotic. During this period, Xiao Daocheng, the secretariat of Southern Yanzhou, took advantage of the political chaos and formed a powerful force. In 479, Xiao Daocheng destroyed the Song Dynasty and established the State of Qi. At this point, the Song Dynasty was declared dead.

Qi (AD 479-502) was the shortest of the four dynasties, with only 23 years. Xiao Daocheng, the Emperor of Qi, learned the lesson from the demise of the Song Dynasty and advocated frugality based on generosity. He was in power for four years, and before he died, he asked his son Emperor Wu to continue to rule his policy and not to kill each other. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty continued to rule the country according to his own will, which led to a relatively stable development stage of the Southern Dynasties. After the death of Liang Wudi, the Emperor of Qi embarked on the old road of the demise of the Song Dynasty. They killed their brothers, relatives and uncles one after another. By the time they were unconscious in the East, they almost executed all the ministers in the DPRK because of their suspicion. In this way, Qi moved passively again. In 50 1 year, Xiao Yan, the secretariat of Yongzhou, attacked Jiankang, ending the rule of Qi.

The founder of the Liang Dynasty was good at literature. In 499, he was appointed as the secretariat of Yongzhou. Taking advantage of the civil strife in Qi, he sent troops to seize the throne and established the Liang Dynasty. Xiao Yan was Liang Wudi, who reigned for forty-eight years. During the reign of Liang Wudi, Wei in the north had declined and could no longer pose a threat to the south. This should have been a great opportunity for the development of the south, but Emperor Wu was incompetent and connived at the ministers exploiting the people, but he ignored the suggestions of some loyal ministers on the pretext of his frugality. In 548 AD, Hou Jing, the general of the Eastern Wei Dynasty, surrendered to Liang. He regarded Xiao, the son of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, as his close friend and attacked Liang. The following year, Hou Jing captured Taicheng. At this point, Liang Wudi had already starved to death in the city, and his son Xiao Gang acceded to the throne as Emperor Liang Jianwen. In 55 1 year, Hou Jing was killed, and Liang was completely on the verge of collapse. In 557 AD, Liang was destroyed and Chen was established, which was developed in the war with the late Jin Dynasty. At this point, Liang declared his demise.

Chen (557-589 AD) In 557 AD, Liang Jingdi was abolished and Chen Wei was established. At this time, after years of war in southern China, the economy was severely damaged. The country established on this basis is doomed to be short-lived. Chen Wudi and his successors, Wendi and Xuan Di, successively wiped out Wang Sengbian, Wang Monk and other opposition armed forces, and defeated the Beiqi army near Jiankang. Liang's rule has been consolidated to some extent, but after all, due to the decline of national strength, Chen's rule is limited to the south of the Yangtze River and the east of Yichang. In 583 AD, Emperor Chen died. His son Chen acceded to the throne. At this time, the north was unified by the Sui Dynasty, and national reunification was just around the corner. In AD 5, Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty destroyed Chen, ending the division of China for nearly 300 years.

The Southern Dynasty was a court established by the Han nationality in the south after the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Although their existence is only a few decades, their rule as the Han nationality has preserved and developed the Han culture. Without it, the Han nationality may be wiped out by other ethnic minorities, thus ending Chinese civilization. Therefore, the Southern Dynasties played an extremely important role in the history of China and made indelible contributions to the development of Chinese civilization.

The historical role of the Southern Dynasty The Southern Dynasty was a court established by the Han nationality in the south after the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Although the four regimes in the Southern Dynasties existed for only a few decades, as the rule of the southern Han regime, they contributed to the spread of Han culture south of the Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River. At the same time, big cities such as Jiankang, Jiangling, Yangzhou and Chengdu appeared in the south, and the industry and commerce in the south also developed. Therefore, the Southern Dynasties played an extremely important role in the history of China and objectively made indelible contributions to the development and spread of Chinese civilization.

The Southern Dynasties is an important period in the history of China's poetry. Shen Deqian in Qing Dynasty said in "Talking about Poetry": By the Song Dynasty, the melody gradually faded, the melody was wide open, and the poem was transported once. Different from the poets in Wei and Jin Dynasties, the poets in Southern Dynasties paid more attention to sensory enjoyment and pursued the perfection and beauty of artistic forms. Liang Xiaozixian's "Don't seek innovation and change, don't be the first" (A Biography of Southern Qi Literature) is a theoretical summary of this trend of seeking innovation and change. The landscape poetry initiated by Xie Lingyun introduced natural beauty into poetry, making landscape an independent aesthetic object. His creation not only liberated poetry from Hyunri, but also strengthened the artistic skills and expressive force of poetry, which influenced the poetic style of a generation. Bao Zhao's Yuefu poems sang the voices of the poor, and his exploration and innovation in the art of poetry also had a very positive significance.

The appearance of landscape poems not only made landscape an independent aesthetic object, but also added a theme to China's poems and opened up a new poetic style in the Southern Dynasties. Following Tao Yuanming's pastoral poetry, landscape poetry marks the further communication and harmony between man and nature, and marks the emergence of a new natural aesthetic concept and aesthetic interest.

The economy of the Southern Dynasties The Southern Dynasties developed the economy of the South, and the population of the South increased greatly. In 464, the household registration of Song State was more than 906,000, with a population of 4.68 million. There were more than enough celadon in the Southern Dynasties. Huiji County and other developed areas have a population of 350,000. When Chen's Xuan Di arrived, the population was 600,000. When the Sui Dynasty was destroyed, there were only 500,000 households with a population of 2 million. During the Southern Dynasties, commerce and handicrafts in the south also developed greatly. In addition, the Minjiang River and the Pearl River Basin have also been preliminarily developed.