ABSTRACT
Beginning in the latter part of the Han dynasty (206 –220 ), nomadic tribesmen originally from territories to the north and west of China started to advance inland. In one estimate, a total of ten million people from the steppes had settled in northern China between the fourth and the sixth centuries.2 The disruption caused by this large-scale ethnic migration ushered in a period of chaos and social fragmentation. Nomadic peoples set up numerous short-lived, petty kingdoms in the north, while displaced Chinese migrated south and established dynastic rule based at Jiankang (Nanjing).