Search Results - Sima Jin
Jin dynasty (266–420)
| mi = tɕîn
| t2 = 司馬晉
| s2 = 司马晋
| p2 = Sīmǎ Jìn
| w2 =
| t3 = 兩晉
| s3 = 两晋
| p3 = Liǎng Jìn
| w3 =
| l3 = Two Jins
}}The Jin dynasty or the Jin Empire, officially Jin, sometimes distinguished as the or the , was an imperial dynasty in China that existed from 266 to 420 AD. It was founded by Sima Yan, eldest son of Sima Zhao, who had previously been declared the King of Jin.
There are two main divisions in the history of the dynasty. The (266–316 AD) was established as the successor to Cao Wei after Sima Yan usurped the throne from Cao Huan. The capital of the Western Jin was initially in Luoyang, though it later moved to Chang'an (modern Xi'an). In 280 AD, after conquering Eastern Wu, the Western Jin ended the Three Kingdoms period and reunited China proper for the first time since the end of the Han dynasty.
From 291 to 306 AD, a series of civil wars known as the War of the Eight Princes were fought over control of the Jin state which weakened it considerably. In 304 AD, the dynasty experienced a wave of rebellions by non-Han ethnicities termed by exonym as "Five Barbarians". The "barbarians" went on to establish nonpermanent dynastic states in northern China. This helped to usher in the Sixteen Kingdoms era of Chinese history, in which states in the north rose and fell in rapid succession, constantly fighting both one another and the Jin. Han-Zhao, one of the northern states established during the disorder, sacked Luoyang in 311, captured Chang'an in 316, and executed Emperor Min of Jin in 318 AD, ending the Western Jin era. Sima Rui, who succeeded Emperor Min, then reestablished the Jin dynasty with its capital in Jiankang (modern Nanjing), inaugurating the (317–420 AD).
The Eastern Jin dynasty remained in near-constant conflict with its northern neighbors for most of its existence, and it launched several invasions of the north with the aim of recovering its lost territories. In 383 AD, the Eastern Jin inflicted a devastating defeat on the Former Qin, a Di-ruled state that had briefly unified northern China. In the aftermath of that battle, the Former Qin state splintered, and Jin armies recaptured the lands south of the Yellow River. The Eastern Jin was eventually usurped by General Liu Yu in 420 AD replaced with the Liu Song dynasty. The Eastern Jin dynasty is considered the second of the Six Dynasties. Provided by Wikipedia