Three Hundred Years of Turmoil

The Two Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties period was an age of upheaval following the collapse of the Qin and Han empires, filled with endless killing and displacement. It was a tragic era that no individual would ever want to experience firsthand. Yet heroes and great figures emerged one after another: Liu Yuan, Shi Le, Fu Jian, Wang Dao, and Xie An all shaped the course of history. Meanwhile, Ji Kang, Tao Yuanming, Wang Xizhi, Xie Lingyun, and Lu Ji brought a spark of spiritual vitality to this chaotic age.

When the Wei and Jin period comes to mind, I hope you think of more than the dramatic struggles over who would rule the land, the contest for the Central Plains, the southward migration of the northern gentry, and the upheavals caused by the Five Barbarians. You should also know that, amid the chaos, an undercurrent was flowing toward a way out of history: culture was evolving, peoples were merging, society was being reorganized, institutions were being reinvented, and order was being rebuilt. Everything was moving from division toward unity, from abnormality toward normalcy. With the great fusion of peoples and cultures as its impetus, history wound onward in its own unique way, dark and magnificent!