1. An Age of Division 南北朝【NánBěiCháo】 the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589 AD)
Significance of the Battle of River Fei (383)
(381) (Compare the Battle of Red Cliff (208/9 AD)
the Southern Dynasties ( ), namely, the Song Dynasty (宋, ), the Qi Dynasty (齐, ), the Liang Dynasty (粱, ) and the Chen dynasty (陈, ).
Northern Dynasties
Northern Wei 386–534 AD
Eastern Wei 534–550 AD
Western Wei 535–557 AD
Northern Qi 550–577 AD
Northern Zhou 557 to 581 AD

2. Map of the Division

3. The Battle of River Fei 肥水之战 Teamwork between Uncle & Nephew
As the Battle at Red Cliff that redrew the boundary of China, the Battle of River Fei defined the division of China between the Northern Dynasties and Southern Dynasties;
General Xie of the Eastern Jin Dynasty 东晋谢安 and his nephew Xie Xuan 谢玄 vs. General Fu Jian of the previous Qin 前秦：苻坚; It is an example of defeating many with a few;
Later Xie Xuan’s grandson Xie Lingyun 谢灵运 became a famous poet who pioneered poetry of mountains and streams 山水诗; his masterpiece being “Fu on Dwelling in the Mountains”山居赋 best translated by Professor David R. Knechtges.
东晋豫州淮南郡淝水附近
东晋：谢安 前秦：苻坚
谢安（320年－385年），字安石，东晋名士、宰相，汉族，浙江绍兴人，祖籍陈郡阳夏（今河南太康）。大名士谢尚从弟，少以清谈知名，初次做官仅月余便辞职，之后隐居在会稽郡山阴县东山的别墅里（今绍兴）期间常与王羲之、孙绰等游山玩水并且承担着教育谢家子弟的重任，四十余岁谢氏家族朝中人物尽数逝去，乃东山再起，后官至宰相，成功挫败桓温篡位，并且作为东晋一方的总指挥面对前秦的侵略在淝水之战以八万兵力打败了号称百万的前秦军队，致使前秦一蹶不振，为东晋赢得几十年的安静和平，战后功名太盛被皇帝猜忌，往广陵避祸，后病死。谢玄是谢安的侄子，谢灵运又是谢玄的孙子. 谢玄(343～388年)字幼度，陈郡阳夏(今河南太康)人。宰相谢安之侄,东晋著名军事家。谢玄善于治军，并招募北方难民，组建并训练了一支精锐部队，取名为“北府兵”。在淝水之战中，指挥军队，以少胜多，并乘胜收复了今陕西、河南、山东南部等地区。
谢玄（343—388），字幼度，汉族，陈郡阳夏（今河南太康）人。东晋名将、文学家、军事家，谢奕之子，谢安之侄。21岁时为大司马桓温的部将﹐后官至都督徐﹑兖﹑青﹑司﹑冀﹑幽﹑并七州诸军事。有经国才略﹐善于治军。东晋太元二年（377年），为抵御前秦袭扰，经谢安荐为建武将军、兖州刺史，领广陵相，监江北诸军事。他招募北来民众中的骁勇之士，组建训练一支精锐部队，号为“北府兵”。
淝水之战发生在淝水之上，八公山之下。安徽寿县古城。淝水又作肥水，源出肥西、寿县之间的将军岭。东晋时，谢石、谢玄败苻坚于淝水。前秦和东晋的淝水之战，是我国历史上著名的以弱胜强的战例。留有风声鹤唳、草木皆兵、投鞭断流等成语。

4. The Former Qin (351-394) Non-Chinese Ethnic Group
The Former Qin ( ) was a state of the Sixteen Kingdoms in China. Founded by the Fu family of the Di ethnicity, it completed the unification of North China in 376. Its capital had been Xi'an up to the death of the ruler Fu Jiān. Despite its name, the Former Qin was much later and less powerful than the Qin Dynasty which ruled all of China during the 3rd century BCE. The adjective "former" is used to distinguish it from the "Later Qin" state ( ).

5. The Northern Wei ( )
Chinese in full (Pinyin) Bei Wei, or (Wade-Giles romanization) Pei Wei, English Northern Wei, also called Tabgatch, or (Pinyin) Tuoba 拓拔 (386–557), the longest lived and most powerful of the northern Chinese dynasties that existed before the reunification of China under the Sui and Tang dynasties.
The Wei dynasty was founded by Tabgatch (Tuoba) tribesmen who, like many of the ‘nomads inhabiting the frontiers of northern China, were of uncertain origin. Their language was basically Turkish, and scholars presume that their ancestry can be traced to proto-Turkish, proto-Mongol…

6. Northern Wei Emperor Xiaowen: Yuanhong 北魏孝文帝元宏 r. 471-499
A program of Sinification 汉化 (64-66)
Banned Xianbei clothes at court/Adopted Chinese language at court;
Intermarriage;
The equal-field system
Male (15 yrs above) 40亩
【mǔ】 a unit of area (40 X hectares). (Millet);
20 yr. for females, 20亩 Mulberry/ hemp
Luoyang as its capital
dividing system based on house-hold population in ancient China
（1）男子15岁以上，授种粟谷millet 的露田40亩【mǔ】 a unit of area (= hectares).，妇人20亩。奴婢同样授田。耕牛1头授田叨亩，限4头牛。授田视轮休需要加倍或再加倍。授田不准买卖，年老 或身死还田，奴婢和牛的授田随奴婢和牛的有无而还授。
（2）男子授桑田20亩。桑田世业，不必还给国家，可传给子孙，可卖其多余的，也可买其不足20亩的 部分。产麻地男子授麻田10亩，妇人50亩，年老及身死后还田。

7. What pattern can we infer?
In Race and Culture: A World View, Thomas Sowell states that “Nor have the conquerors always had a more advanced culture, ... eventually absorbed by the English and as various conquerors were absorbed by the Chinese...”
Thomas Sowell. Race and Culture A World View. (New York: Basic Books, A Division
of HarperCollins Publisher, 1994), 70. Print.

8. Why could non-Chinese ethnic Groups Rule China?
Technology: the invention of stirrups 马镫(Ebrey 63-64) that enable the riders to fight much better on horseback;
At the time, many non-Chinese had already settled in China: Cao Cao moved many soldiers to China after he defeated the Wuhuan in 207; later rules followed similar policies;

9. Yue-fu of the Northern Dynasties
In the fourth to sixth centuries, the long anonymous yue-fu narrative ballads of the Eastern Han were no longer written in the Southern Dynasties, but they did survive in the North.
The most famous is the “Ballad of Mulan.”木兰辞 Note the ruler is not only referred to by the Chinese title of Emperor, but by the non-Chinese title of Khan.

10. Khan http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/khan?s=t
noun
1. (in the Altaic group of languages) a title held by hereditary rulers or tribal chiefs.
2. the supreme ruler of the Tatar tribes, as well as emperor of China, during the Middle Ages: a descendant of Genghis Khan.
3. a title of respect used in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and other countries of Asia.
阿尔泰山脉的，阿尔泰山人的