Min () was one of the

Ten Kingdoms The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (), from 907 to 979, was an era of political upheaval and division in 10th-century Imperial China. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain, and more than a dozen concu ...

which was in existence between the years of 909 and 945. It existed in a mountainous region of modern-day

Fujian province Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

and had a history of quasi-independent rule. Its capital was

Fuzhou Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute ...

. It was founded by Wang Shenzhi.

Founding

Wang Shenzhi’s older brother Wang Chao was given the title of Surveillance Commissioner in 892. Wang Shenzhi himself was named military commissioner, and in 909, in the wake of the collapse of the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

two years earlier, named himself the Prince of Min. Wang Shenzhi’s son declared himself the Emperor of Min in 933. At that point, his father was posthumously named Min Taizu.

Etymology of "Min"

The early Chinese

exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group ...

() was a

graphic pejorative Some historical Chinese characters for non-Chinese peoples were graphically pejorative ethnic slurs, where the racial insult derived not from the Chinese word but from the character used to write it. For instance, written Chinese first transcribed ...

written with Radical 142 , the "insect" or "reptile" radical. Xu Shen's (c. 121 CE) '' Shuowen Jiezi'' dictionary defines ''min'' as: Quotation translated from Chinese ("") "Southeastern Yue .e., Viet snake race. he character is formedfrom heinsect / serpent adical and takes its pronunciation from'.

Territorial extent

The capital of the Min Kingdom was Changle, now known as

. The kingdom was essentially limited to modern-day Fujian Province in

’s southeast.

Administration

The territory of the Min was relatively isolated and rugged, thus not as economically prosperous as other regions of the Chinese realm. The Min court attempted to attract scholars who would assist in constructing an effective bureaucratic and tax system to bring the kingdom up to contemporary standards. Maritime trade developed over this period of time. This would set the stage for a successful regional maritime trade that could continue during future Chinese dynasties.

Yin Kingdom

In 943, one of Wang Shenzhi’s sons rebelled and declared independence from the Min in the northwest of the territory of the kingdom, proclaiming the Yin dynasty. The Min court asked the Southern Tang for assistance in quelling the rebellion in Yin. Rather than assisting the Min government, the Southern Tang came in and absorbed the territory into its own holdings.

Fall of the Min

Seeing the threat posed by the Southern Tang, the Min court declared its allegiance to the Wuyue kingdom to its north. However, this did not stop the Southern Tang from marching in and incorporating the remainder of the Min Kingdom into its holdings in 945. However, in the year 949, the warlord Liu Congxiao, who nominally submitted to him but controlled Quan (泉州, in modern Quanzhou, Fujian) and Zhang (漳州, in modern Zhangzhou, Fujian) Prefectures in de facto independence and ruled by several of those generals called Qingyuan Jiedushi in succession until 978, when the territory was seized by Song Dynasty.

Rulers of Min

Rulers family tree of Min

References

Citations

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Min (Ten Kingdoms) Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Former countries in Chinese history 900s establishments 10th-century establishments in China 940s disestablishments 10th-century disestablishments in China 909 establishments States and territories disestablished in the 940s