ABSTRACT
Compared with the Northern Wei dynasty, which established its rule from scratch, the Southern Dynasties followed one after another by succeeding their predecessors, allowing them to inherit more legitimacy resources. Specifically, all dynasties in the Southern dynasties period took steps to perform abdication and relied heavily on that practice to support their legitimacy. This chapter aims to study one specific case of abdication in the Southern Dynasties and investigate how an abdication could legitimate a newly established dynasty. The Eastern Jin and subsequent Southern dynasties defined themselves as the successors of the Western Jin dynasty. Compared to returning to the perilous capital city of Luoyang, the Eastern Jin and subsequent Southern dynasties devoted most of their efforts to demonstrating that their new capital, Jiankang, was a suitable capital city. The chapter outlines four periods in which the Southern Dynasties applied distinct methods to demonstrate their supreme status.
