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 Wang Shenzhi (; 862 – December 30, 925), courtesy name Xintong () or Xiangqing (), formally Prince Zhongyi of Min () and later further posthumously honored as Emperor Taizu of Min (), was the founder of Min Kingdom on the southeast coastal pro ...

Founding

’s older brother Wang Chao was given the title of Surveillance Commissioner in 892.

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 Radical 142 or radical insect () meaning "insect" or "worm" is one of the 29 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals in total) composed of 6 strokes. In the ''Kangxi Dictionary'', there are 1067 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this radical. ...

, the "insect" or "reptile"

radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics * Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe an ...

Xu Shen Xu Shen ( CE) was a Chinese calligrapher, philologist, politician, and writer of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-189). He was born in the Zhaoling district of Run'an prefecture (today known as Luohe in Henan Province). During his own lifetime, ...

's (c. 121 CE) ''

Shuowen Jiezi ''Shuowen Jiezi'' () is an ancient Chinese dictionary from the Han dynasty. Although not the first comprehensive Chinese character dictionary (the ''Erya'' predates it), it was the first to analyze the structure of the characters and to give t ...

'' 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

’s sons rebelled and declared independence from the Min in the northwest of the territory of the kingdom, proclaiming the

Yin dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and f ...

. The Min court asked the

Southern Tang Southern Tang () was a state in Southern China that existed during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, which proclaimed itself to be the successor of the former Tang dynasty. The capital was located at Nanjing in present-day Jiangsu Province. ...

for assistance in quelling the rebellion in Yin. Rather than assisting the Min government, the

came in and absorbed the territory into its own holdings.

Fall of the Min

Seeing the threat posed by the

, the Min court declared its allegiance to the

Wuyue Wuyue (; ), 907–978, was an independent coastal kingdom founded during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960) of Chinese history. It was ruled by the Haiyan Qian clan (海盐钱氏), whose family name remains widespread in th ...

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