Five Dynasties Period is an "intercycle quasipolity," referring to the period of disunity and instability in China between the end of the Tang Dynasty and the beginning of the Song Dynasty. An alternative name is The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
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"The fubing system had originally preserved the Chinese ideal of the farmer-soldier, but after the early Tang soldiers became increasingly a separate, professional class. By the tenth century, soldiers, to the intense consternation of statesmen, were wholly divorced from any productive activities and earned their livings by skill at arms. Despite many attempts to replace this "mercenary" system, it remained in place until the end of imperial times." [1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7)
"... begun during the Tang dynasty... The rise of religious professionals and soldiers as clearly separate groups was contrary to the previous normative view of society divided into knights (shi, the term that would later be applied to the literati or gentry), farmers, artisans and merchants." [1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7)
"The fubing system had originally preserved the Chinese ideal of the farmer-soldier, but after the early Tang soldiers became increasingly a separate, professional class. By the tenth century, soldiers, to the intense consternation of statesmen, were wholly divorced from any productive activities and earned their livings by skill at arms. Despite many attempts to replace this "mercenary" system, it remained in place until the end of imperial times." [1]
[1]: (Lorge 2005, 7)
Mint (or equivalent).
“[T]he Five Dynasties[…] period saw extensive internecine warfare that brought copper mining to a near standstill in the north. Because copper was becoming more and more scarce, almost all the contending warlords of the time attempted to prevent bronze coinage from flowing into their rivals’ hands as a result of cross-border trade. Their respective kingdoms—Southern Han, Min, Wu Yue, Southern Tang, Chu, Later Tang, Later Shu—cast heavily debased or token coinage from lead, iron, or even clay so that it could be used domestically, for example, to pay soldiers’ salaries. These coins were, of course, of very little intrinsic value, and ipso facto constitute the first step toward ridding Chinese currency of its metallic anchorage.”
[1]
[1]: (Horesh 2013: 375-376) Horesh, N. 2013. ‘CANNOT BE FED ON WHEN STARVING’: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC THOUGHT SURROUNDING CHINA’S EARLIER USE OF PAPER MONEY. Journal of the History of Economic Thought 35(3): 373-395. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6PGHSGRX/library
Somewhat difficult to evaluate. Examinations continued to take place, so there must have been an element of meritocracy to the promotion process, however important family connections may have been as well.
“Our argument that success in examinations in this period depended more on family relations than on knowledge is supported by the texts themselves. Just before the beginning of our period, Ts’ui I-sun, a member of the famous gentry family which traces its influence back to the second century A.D., "won the ’chin-shih’ degree because of the status of his family" (Chiu Wu-tai-shih 69 :4287d). And in connection with the examination of 955 it was ordered that the custom to give a degree to certain persons without any examination at all or to give a degree because of family status or to persons of respectable families which had been unsuccessful several times should be abolished (Chiu Wu-tai-shih II5 : 4347c). The emperor refused to give his consent to the papers of 12 of the 16 candidates which were recommended to him as good scholars. The wording of this order makes it clear that before 955 the general custom has been to promote any member of the ruling gentry either without an examination or with a sham examination.”
[1]
[1]: (Eberhad 1951: 293) Eberhard, W. 1951. Remarks on the Bureaucracy in North China during the Tenth Century. Oriens 4(2): 280-299. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ACFTR6FZ/library
“All the five dynasties which ruled during the 54 years between the end of the T’ang dynasty (906) and the beginning of the Sung dynasty (960) adopted the administrative system of the late T’ang without any important changes. […] [A] glance at the T’ang system shows that the administrative system contained a lot of specialists, whose knowledge was necessary and who as a compact body tried to remain in their posts in spite of all changes at the top.” [1]
[1]: (Eberhad 1951: 280-281) Eberhard, W. 1951. Remarks on the Bureaucracy in North China during the Tenth Century. Oriens 4(2): 280-299. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ACFTR6FZ/library
“Our argument that success in examinations in this period depended more on family relations than on knowledge is supported by the texts themselves. Just before the beginning of our period, Ts’ui I-sun, a member of the famous gentry family which traces its influence back to the second century A.D., "won the ’chin-shih’ degree because of the status of his family" (Chiu Wu-tai-shih 69 :4287d). And in connection with the examination of 955 it was ordered that the custom to give a degree to certain persons without any examination at all or to give a degree because of family status or to persons of respectable families which had been unsuccessful several times should be abolished (Chiu Wu-tai-shih II5 : 4347c). The emperor refused to give his consent to the papers of 12 of the I6 candidates which were recommended to him as good scholars. The wording of this order makes it clear that before 955 the general custom has been to promote any member of the ruling gentry either without an examination or with a sham examination.” [1]
[1]: (Eberhad 1951: 293) Eberhard, W. 1951. Remarks on the Bureaucracy in North China during the Tenth Century. Oriens 4(2): 280-299. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/ACFTR6FZ/library
“Jinling: The city of Jinling was repaired and maintained in Southern Tang. Due to the growing urban population and the prosperity of economy, the scope of the city was expanded and many new markets were set up. […] In addition to the above cities, there was new development in Chengdu during Shu. For example, some professional markets came into being in Chengdu, such as silk market, drug market and Qibao market, which was a new feature in the development of the city.” [1]
[1]: (Fu and Cao 2019: 188) Fu, C. and W. Cao. 2019. Cities During the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms Period, and the Turning Point of Chinese Urban History. In Fu and Cao (eds) Introduction to the Urban History of China pp. 185 - 196. Palgrave Macmillan. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TJXI5EU4/library
"Agriculture in southern area continued to develop, especially in irri- gation and water conservancy construction, which were more advanced than the previous generations. Agriculture in Southern Tang was the most developed at that time. There were bumper harvests in both Zhejiang and Fujian with full warehouses, and people in Wuyue and Min had become very wealthy at that time." [1]
[1]: (Fu and Cao 2019: 186) Fu, C. and W. Cao. 2019. Cities During the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms Period, and the Turning Point of Chinese Urban History. In Fu and Cao (eds) Introduction to the Urban History of China pp. 185 - 196. Palgrave Macmillan. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TJXI5EU4/library
“Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou, Chai Rong, started to make the plan to reconstruct Dongjing. Chai thought that Dongjing had “the worries of mud, fire, coldness and disease.” As a result, he decided to broaden roads, dredge rivers and plant trees to make the city bigger. The renovation measures of Chai were prominent in the Chinese history. It had broken the traditional practice that palaces were taken as what mattered most in the construction of the capital construction. On the contrary, Chai paid much attention to solve the practical problems in urban development. ” [1]
[1]: (Fu and Cao 2019: 188) Fu, C. and W. Cao. 2019. Cities During the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms Period, and the Turning Point of Chinese Urban History. In Fu and Cao (eds) Introduction to the Urban History of China pp. 185 - 196. Palgrave Macmillan. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TJXI5EU4/library
“The King of Min Wang Shenzhi was good at attracting mer- chants home and aboard. He opened trade ports at Fuzhou, Haikou and Huang Qishan Mountain. He enjoyed the support of his people throughout the country. He named the new ports “Gantang Port.” Wang not only had ports constructed and conducted extensive foreign trade, he also exerted himself to construct the city, expanding the scale of Fuzhou City and repairing the palace. Fuzhou City became more and more prosperous.” [1]
[1]: (Fu and Cao 2019: 187-188) Fu, C. and W. Cao. 2019. Cities During the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms Period, and the Turning Point of Chinese Urban History. In Fu and Cao (eds) Introduction to the Urban History of China pp. 185 - 196. Palgrave Macmillan. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/TJXI5EU4/library
“The developed canal network was vital for Kaifeng to prosper in the 6th~12th centuries. Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties and the Five Dynasties, Bianzhou gradually became the transportation junction, and it was also called a “metropolis rejoined by water and land” [29]. […] In the Later Liang Dynasty (during the period of the Five Dynasties), in order to acquire the material support of the region in the south of the Yangtze River, Zhu Wen utilized the advantageous water transportation of Bianzhou and founded the capital in Kaifeng.”§Huang, W. et al. 2021. Rise and Fall of the Grand Canal in the Ancient Kaifeng City of China: Role of the Grand Canal and Water Supply in Urban and Regional Development. Water 13(14): 1932. REF§Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/RSXWXJVJ/library§REF§
“[T]he Five Dynasties[…] period saw extensive internecine warfare that brought copper mining to a near standstill in the north. Because copper was becoming more and more scarce, almost all the contending warlords of the time attempted to prevent bronze coinage from flowing into their rivals’ hands as a result of cross-border trade. Their respective kingdoms—Southern Han, Min, Wu Yue, Southern Tang, Chu, Later Tang, Later Shu—cast heavily debased or token coinage from lead, iron, or even clay so that it could be used domestically, for example, to pay soldiers’ salaries. These coins were, of course, of very little intrinsic value, and ipso facto constitute the first step toward ridding Chinese currency of its metallic anchorage.” [1]
[1]: (Horesh 2013: 375-376) Horesh, N. 2013. ‘CANNOT BE FED ON WHEN STARVING’: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC THOUGHT SURROUNDING CHINA’S EARLIER USE OF PAPER MONEY. Journal of the History of Economic Thought 35(3): 373-395. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6PGHSGRX/library
“[T]he Five Dynasties[…] period saw extensive internecine warfare that brought copper mining to a near standstill in the north. Because copper was becoming more and more scarce, almost all the contending warlords of the time attempted to prevent bronze coinage from flowing into their rivals’ hands as a result of cross-border trade. Their respective kingdoms—Southern Han, Min, Wu Yue, Southern Tang, Chu, Later Tang, Later Shu—cast heavily debased or token coinage from lead, iron, or even clay so that it could be used domestically, for example, to pay soldiers’ salaries. These coins were, of course, of very little intrinsic value, and ipso facto constitute the first step toward ridding Chinese currency of its metallic anchorage.” [1]
[1]: (Horesh 2013: 375-376) Horesh, N. 2013. ‘CANNOT BE FED ON WHEN STARVING’: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC THOUGHT SURROUNDING CHINA’S EARLIER USE OF PAPER MONEY. Journal of the History of Economic Thought 35(3): 373-395. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6PGHSGRX/library
“The guifang was concurrent with another notable Tang monetary innovation: ‘flying cash’ (feiqian 飛錢), introduced during the emperor Xianzong’s (憲 r. 806–820 CE) reign. Flying cash comprised a public-order mechanism whereby merchants received from the imperial treasury against liquid deposits a paper scrip that could be carried into other provinces easily and cashed in local flying cash depots as the need arose. Guifang and flying cash depots dotted the Tang capital of Chang’an and other urban centers. They became the most visible sign of an increasingly sophisticated credit economy. But, while private-order counting houses were gradually falling from grace, variants of flying cash continued to be used throughout the subsequent Five Dynasties era (907–960 CE), laying the groundwork for the dissemination of the world’s first full-fledged fiduciary paper money during the Northern Song (960–1127 CE).” [1]
[1]: (Horesh 2013: 375) Horesh, N. 2013. ‘CANNOT BE FED ON WHEN STARVING’: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC THOUGHT SURROUNDING CHINA’S EARLIER USE OF PAPER MONEY. Journal of the History of Economic Thought 35(3): 373-395. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6PGHSGRX/library
“[T]he Five Dynasties[…] period saw extensive internecine warfare that brought copper mining to a near standstill in the north. Because copper was becoming more and more scarce, almost all the contending warlords of the time attempted to prevent bronze coinage from flowing into their rivals’ hands as a result of cross-border trade. Their respective kingdoms—Southern Han, Min, Wu Yue, Southern Tang, Chu, Later Tang, Later Shu—cast heavily debased or token coinage from lead, iron, or even clay so that it could be used domestically, for example, to pay soldiers’ salaries. These coins were, of course, of very little intrinsic value, and ipso facto constitute the first step toward ridding Chinese currency of its metallic anchorage.” [1]
[1]: (Horesh 2013: 375-376) Horesh, N. 2013. ‘CANNOT BE FED ON WHEN STARVING’: AN ANALYSIS OF THE ECONOMIC THOUGHT SURROUNDING CHINA’S EARLIER USE OF PAPER MONEY. Journal of the History of Economic Thought 35(3): 373-395. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/6PGHSGRX/library
“Even after the advent of coin money, commodity currency consisting mainly of gems and jewels and gold and silver would not be worth special mention, for gold ores, for example, would well be considered to be commodity currency. But, special mention may be warranted of the fact that even cereals and cloths were classed as commodity currency, and, as such, this should be listed as one of the outstanding features of Chinese money. […] In the era of Emperor Wen of Wei dynasty during the turbulent period of Three Kingdoms, it was decreed that the ‘masses should cease to handle money and instead barter in cereals and cloth’.” [1]
[1]: (Hozumi 1954: 21) Hozumi, F. 1954. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HISTORY OF CHINESE MONEY. Kyoto University Economic Review 24(2): 18-38. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/BGDN5V7V/library