o his youth, was entirely in the hands of a court clique. In his
effort to free himself from the tutelage of this group he made a
miscalculation, for the men on whom he thought he could depend were
largely supporters of the clique. So he lost his throne and his life,
and a Chinese general, Kuo Wei, took his place, founding the "Later Chou
dynasty" (951-959).

A feature of importance was that in the years of the short-lived "Later
Han dynasty" a tendency showed itself among the Chinese military leaders
to work with the states in the south. The increase in the political
influence of the south was due to its economic advance while the north
was reduced to economic chaos by the continual heavy fighting, and by
the complete irresponsibility of the Sha-t'o ruler in financial matters:
several times in this period the whole of the money in the state
treasury was handed out to soldiers to prevent them from going over to
some enemy or other. On the other hand, there was a tendency in the
south for the many neighbouring states to amalgamate, and as this
process took place close to the frontier of North China the northern
states could not passively look on. During the "Later Han" period there
were wars and risings, which continued in the time of the "Later Chou".

On the whole, the few years of the rule of the second emperor of the
"Later Chou" (954-958) form a bright spot in those dismal fifty-five
years. Sociologically regarded, that dynasty formed merely a transition
stage on the way to the Sung dynasty that now followed: the Chinese
gentry ruled under the leadership of an upstart who had risen from the
ranks, and they ruled in accordance with the old principles of gentry
rule. The Sha-t'o, who had formed the three preceding dynasties, had
been so reduced that they were now a tiny minority and no longer
counted. This minority had only been able to maintain its position
through the special social conditions created by the "Later Liang"
dynasty: the Liang, who had come from the lower classes of the
population, had driven the gentry into the arms of the Sha-t'o Turks. As
soon as the upstarts, in so far as they had not fallen again or been
exterminated, had more or less assimilated themselves to the old gentry,
and on the other hand the leaders of the Sha-t'o had become numerically
too weak, there was a possibility of resuming the old form of rule.

There had been certain changes in this period. The north-west of China,
the region