The Embers of the Tang Dynasty: the Rise and Fall of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

In vivid and popular language, it outlines the chaotic and tragic situation of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period: in just fifty-three years, the Central Plains experienced the change of thirteen emperors, involving eight surnames. The change of political power was as chaotic as "grabbing for eggs on sale in the wet market", and coups and usurpations occurred frequently. At that time, the monarchs and ministers were in disorder, fathers and sons turned against each other, fratricide was the norm, and the lives of the people were like grass. It could be called a hell on earth where "devils are dancing around". The root of the chaos in the Five Dynasties was laid as early as the separatist rule in the late Tang Dynasty, like a "ticking time bomb" that has not yet been eliminated. What is distressing is that the situation during the Republic of China when warlords took power and conquered each other was strikingly similar to the troubled times of the Five Dynasties, just like a "loop" of history.