The
六朝Six Dynasties (220-589) was a transitional period beginning from the end of the
汉朝Han Dynasty (220) to the establishment of the
隋朝Sui Dynasty (589). The ruling houses of this
long dramatic period included the
东吴Eastern Wu (222-280) and the
东晋Eastern Jin (317-420) during the
三国Three Kingdoms period; and the
宋Song (420-479), the
齐Qi (479-502), the
梁Liang (502-557) and the
陈Chen (557-589) during the
南朝Southern Dynasties period.
During this 300 odd years of chaos, rulers and princes rise and fall in the time it took for the next rainfall — a time when treacheries and in-clan murderings were as common as lawsuits today. The area in which the drama of these short-lived kingdoms unfolded was in the ancient city of
南京Nanjing (then called
建康Jiankang).
On record, the Six Dynasties period had 71 tombs of rulers, princes and marquises; 31 of them had been excavated in the arear from Nanjing city to 丹阳市Danyang city in 江苏省Jiangsu province. While in Nanjing I visited 3 spirit paths to these tombs — one ruler and two princes. All three are within half an hour of slow-driving distance of one another.
1 
Top