A History of the Two Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties

Lü Simian (February 27, 1884–October 9, 1957), courtesy name Chengzhi, was from Changzhou, Jiangsu. He was a modern Chinese historian and master of Chinese studies. Yan Gengru considered Lü Simian, Qian Mu, Chen Yuan, and Chen Yanchang the “Four Great Historians of Modern China.” Lü devoted his life to historical research and education. Widely read, he emphasized comprehensive research and the integration of knowledge. Over the course of his life, he wrote two general histories of China, four dynastic histories, and five specialized histories. Together with his many highly regarded historical notes, his writings total more than ten million characters. History of the Jin, Southern, and Northern Dynasties is the third volume in Mr. Simian’s series on the history of China’s modern era. The first half recounts political changes, including the rise and fall of dynasties; the causes and consequences of major historical events; the political institutions of different periods, along with their successes and failures; and relations between the dynasties, border peoples, and neighboring states. The second half offers a comprehensive and systematic account of the era’s society and culture. In effect, it is a broad social and cultural history covering social organization and classes, agriculture, industry and commerce, clothing, food, housing and transportation, people’s livelihoods, political institutions, scholarship, and religion.