Genuine Taoism also came to the fore again, and with it the popular religion with its magic, now amplified with the many local deities that had been taken over from the indigenous population of the south.  For a time it became the fashion at court to pass the time in learned discussions between Confucians, Buddhists, and Taoists, which were quite similar to the debates between learned men centuries earlier at the wealthy little Indian courts.  For the court clique this was more a matter of pastime than of religious controversy.  It seems thoroughly in harmony with the political events that here, for the first time in the history of Chinese philosophy, materialist currents made their appearance, running parallel with Machiavellian theories of power for the benefit of the wealthiest of the gentry.

Principal dynasties of North and South China

North and South

Western Chin dynasty (A.D. 265-317)

North South

1.  Earlier Chao (Hsiung-nu) 304-329 1.  Eastern Chin (Chinese) 317-419
2.  Later Chao (Hsiung-nu) 328-352
3.  Earlier Ch’in (Tibetans) 351-394
4.  Later Ch’in (Tibetans) 384-417
5.  Western Ch’in (Hsiung-nu)385-431
6.  Earlier Yen (Hsien-pi) 352-370
7.  Later Yen (Hsien-pi) 384-409
8.  Western Yen (Hsien-pi) 384-395
9.  Southern Yen (Hsien-pi) 398-410
10.  Northern Yen (Hsien-pi) 409-436
11.  Tai (Toba) 338-376
12.  Earlier Liang (Chinese) 313-376
13.  Northern Liang (Hsiung-nu)
397-439
14.  Western Liang (Chinese?) 400-421
15.  Later Liang (Tibetans) 386-403
16.  Southern Liang (Hsien-pi)
379-414
17.  Hsia (Hsiung-nu) 407-431
18.  Toba (Turks) 385-550
2.  Liu-Sung 420-478
3.  Southern Ch’i 479-501
19.  Northern Ch’i (Chinese?)550-576 4.  Liang 502-556
20.  Northern Chou (Toba) 557-579 5.  Ch’en 557-588
21.  Sui (Chinese) 580-618 6.  Sui 580-618

Chapter Eight

THE EMPIRES OF THE SUI AND THE T’ANG

(A) The Sui dynasty (A.D. 580-618)

1 Internal situation in the newly unified empire

The last of the northern dynasties, the Northern Chou, had been brought to an end by Yang Chien:  rapid campaigns had made an end of the remaining petty states, and thus the Sui dynasty had come into power.  China, reunited after 360 years, was again under Chinese rule.  This event brought about a new epoch in the history of the Far East.  But the happenings of 360 years could not be wiped out by a change of dynasty.  The short Sui period can only be described as a period of transition to unified forms.