A feature of importance was that in the years of the short-lived “Later Han dynasty” a tendency showed itself among the Chinese military leaders to work with the states in the south.  The increase in the political influence of the south was due to its economic advance while the north was reduced to economic chaos by the continual heavy fighting, and by the complete irresponsibility of the Sha-t’o ruler in financial matters:  several times in this period the whole of the money in the state treasury was handed out to soldiers to prevent them from going over to some enemy or other.  On the other hand, there was a tendency in the south for the many neighbouring states to amalgamate, and as this process took place close to the frontier of North China the northern states could not passively look on.  During the “Later Han” period there were wars and risings, which continued in the time of the “Later Chou”.

On the whole, the few years of the rule of the second emperor of the “Later Chou” (954-958) form a bright spot in those dismal fifty-five years.  Sociologically regarded, that dynasty formed merely a transition stage on the way to the Sung dynasty that now followed:  the Chinese gentry ruled under the leadership of an upstart who had risen from the ranks, and they ruled in accordance with the old principles of gentry rule.  The Sha-t’o, who had formed the three preceding dynasties, had been so reduced that they were now a tiny minority and no longer counted.  This minority had only been able to maintain its position through the special social conditions created by the “Later Liang” dynasty:  the Liang, who had come from the lower classes of the population, had driven the gentry into the arms of the Sha-t’o Turks.  As soon as the upstarts, in so far as they had not fallen again or been exterminated, had more or less assimilated themselves to the old gentry, and on the other hand the leaders of the Sha-t’o had become numerically too weak, there was a possibility of resuming the old form of rule.

There had been certain changes in this period.  The north-west of China, the region of the old capital Ch’ang-an, had been so ruined by the fighting that had gone on mainly there and farther north, that it was eliminated as a centre of power for a hundred years to come; it had been largely depopulated.  The north was under the rule of the Kitan:  its trade, which in the past had been with the Huang-ho basin, was now perforce diverted to Peking, which soon became the main centre of the power of the Kitan.  The south, particularly the lower Yangtze region and the province of Szechwan, had made economic progress, at least in comparison with the north; consequently it had gained in political importance.