Upheaval of the Five Barbarians

A series of rebellions and invasions by non-Han peoples in northern China that helped destroy the Western Jin dynasty in the early fourth century.

Western Jin dynasty: A Chinese dynasty that ruled from 266 to 316 and briefly reunified the empire. Its court’s succession struggles and weakening authority left northern China vulnerable.
Xiongnu: A confederation of nomadic peoples that dominated parts of the eastern Eurasian steppe in antiquity. Xiongnu-descended leaders formed Han Zhao, one of the first major rebel powers.
Eastern Jin dynasty: A dynasty established in southern China in 317 by surviving members of the Jin imperial house. It preserved Jin rule south of the Yangtze after the northern court collapsed.
Five Barbarians: A traditional Chinese classification of the Xiongnu, Jie, Xianbei, Di, and Qiang peoples. This category names the groups behind the event’s conventional title, but simplifies diverse communities.
War of the Eight Princes: A civil war among princes of the Jin imperial house from 291 to 306. The conflict depleted Jin forces and destabilized the state before major rebellions spread.
Jie people: A people who established the Later Zhao state in northern China during the fourth century. Jie forces became central to the rival regimes that followed Jin’s collapse.
Six Dynasties: A sequence of six regimes that ruled southern China between the third and sixth centuries. The southern dynasties developed alongside the fragmented northern states after Jin’s fall.
Fall of the Western Roman Empire: The gradual disintegration of Roman imperial rule in the western Mediterranean during the fifth century. Both events involved frontier pressures and political fragmentation, but unfolded in different contexts and timelines.
Sixteen Kingdoms: A succession of mostly short-lived states that ruled parts of northern China from 304 to 439. These regimes emerged as rebel leaders seized territory from Jin and one another.
Di people: An ancient people of northwestern China who founded states including Former Qin. Di-led regimes expanded amid the political fragmentation unleashed by the upheaval.

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