N & S Dynasties

From 420 to 589, the south and the north of China each ran through a string of dynasties: Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen in the south; in the north, the Northern Wei split into Eastern and Western Wei, then became Northern Qi and Northern Zhou — the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei moved his court to Luoyang, took Chinese surnames, and ordered Chinese speech, drawing the peoples together; the great Buddhas of Yungang and Longmen were carved now. In the south, Zu Chongzhi calculated pi, and Jia Sixie wrote the Qimin Yaoshu on farming.

Amid the turmoil Buddhism flourished — "four hundred and eighty temples of the southern courts". In 589 a Sui army crossed the river, destroyed Chen, and China was one again.