Upheaval of the Five Barbarians
| Upheaval of the Five Barbarians (五胡亂華) | |||||||||
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Distribution of the Five Barbarians into China prior to the upheaval. | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Han-Zhao |
Xianbei allies Tuoba in Dai Duan tribe in Liaoxi | Cheng-Han | Sima Ying loyalists (307–308) | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Liu Yuan Liu Xuan Liu Cong Liu Yao Shi Le (after 307) Wang Mi |
Emperor Huai of Jin Emperor Min of Jin Sima Yue Gou Xi Wang Yan Liu Kun Wang Jun Sima Bao Zhang Gui Zhang Shi Tuoba Yilu † Duan Wuwuchen Duan Jilujuan Duan Pidi Luo Shang |
Li Xiong Fan Changsheng |
Ji Sang † Shi Le (before 307) | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| c. 100,000 Xiongnu, Jie, Di, Qiang, Xianbei, Han Chinese and other tribal people | 100,000–200,000 Han Chinese, Xianbei, Qiang, Di and Wuhuan | Ba-Di rebels and Han Chinese allies | Han Chinese and non-Han rebels | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Upheaval of the Five Barbarians | |||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 五胡亂華 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 五胡乱华 | ||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Five Barbarians disorderize China | ||||||||||||
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The Upheaval of the Five Barbarians also translated as the Uprising, Rebellion or the Revolt of the Five Barbarians (simplified Chinese: 五胡乱华; traditional Chinese: 五胡亂華; lit. 'Five foreign tribes disrupting China') is a Chinese expression used to refer to a chaotic period of warfare from 304 to 316 during the fall of the Western Jin dynasty. Overlapping with the War of the Eight Princes, these conflicts which involved non-Han groups living within China eventually drove the Jin imperial court out of the northern and southwestern China.
The "Five Barbarians" were the Xiongnu, Jie, Qiang, Di and Xianbei, many of whom had resettled within China during the preceding centuries. Despite the period's name, many Han Chinese and other tribal people like the Wuhuan were also involved, wavering their support between Jin and the separatist regimes. Years of poor administration and civil wars between the ruling princes left the empire open to its disaffected and opportunistic subjects. Ethnic tensions in the Guanzhong region between the Han and the tribes, primarily the Qiang and Di, led to major revolts which resulted in an exodus of refugees into southwestern China. Efforts to force them back to Guanzhong were met with resistance and culminated in the rebellion of the Ba-Di refugee, Li Te in 301.
In the north, the Five Divisions of Bing province, descendants of the Southern Xiongnu, took advantage of the Jin prince's infighting to declare independence and establish the Han-Zhao in 304, acclaiming the noble, Liu Yuan as their leader. As anti-Jin revolts spread to Hebei and Shandong, a former Jie slave, Shi Le, rose to prominence, and after joining Liu Yuan, he would effectively control the eastern part of his empire. The Xianbei Duan tribe in Liaoxi and Tuoba tribe in Dai were initially important allies of Jin in helping them fight against Han, but later pulled out from the conflict to consolidate control over their territories.
Li Te's son Li Xiong captured Chengdu and established Cheng-Han in 304. In 311, Han captured Emperor Huai of Jin and the ancient capital, Luoyang in an event known as the Disaster of Yongjia. In 316, Jin's hope of restoring imperial authority in the north were crushed when Han defeated and captured Emperor Min in Chang'an. The establishments of Cheng-Han and Han-Zhao in 304 were seen as the start of the Sixteen Kingdoms period, and the defeat of Emperor Min led to the formation of the Eastern Jin dynasty by Emperor Yuan in Jiankang in 318. For the next 130 years or so, China would be divided between the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin before the eventual dissolution of Jin by the Liu Song dynasty and the unification of the north by the Northern Wei dynasty.