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East Asia · Fragmentation, Song and the conquest dynasties

Later Zhou

951–960

The Later Zhou (951–960), last of the Five Dynasties, was founded by Guo Wei (Emperor Taizu), capital Kaifeng. Its second emperor, Chai Rong (Shizong), was an outstanding reformer and general who campaigned against Southern Tang, the Liao, and Northern Han, laying the groundwork for reunification.

Existed
951–960
Shown on the map
AD 960
Peak area
899k km²
Region
East Asia

Overview

The Later Zhou (951–960), last of the Five Dynasties, was founded by Guo Wei (Emperor Taizu), capital Kaifeng. Its second emperor, Chai Rong (Shizong), was an outstanding reformer and general who campaigned against Southern Tang, the Liao, and Northern Han, laying the groundwork for reunification. His early death left a child heir; the general Zhao Kuangyin seized the throne in 960 to found the Song.

Common questions

What was Later Zhou?
The Later Zhou (951–960), last of the Five Dynasties, was founded by Guo Wei (Emperor Taizu), capital Kaifeng. Its second emperor, Chai Rong (Shizong), was an outstanding reformer and general who campaigned against Southern Tang, the Liao, and Northern Han, laying the groundwork for reunification.
When did Later Zhou exist?
Later Zhou existed 951–960. On this map it is drawn AD 960.
How large was Later Zhou?
At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Later Zhou covered about 899,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Sources

This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia article for each polity as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, chinaknowledge.de, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and university sources, and the academic works it lists. The article this entry is anchored on:

This entry was last updated .

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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